Your Christianity and Your Church

Sunday Evening: What Is A Healthy Church? • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

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This series is from Mark Dever's Book "What is A Healthy Church?". Every believer is responsible before God for what their church becomes, not just the pastor and leaders.

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1 Corinthians 12:18–21 NASB95

But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

1 Corinthians 12:18–21 NASB95

1 Cor 12

What Are You Looking For In A Church?

1 Cor 12:

What Are You Looking For In A Church?

In my lifetime as a Christian, even as a teen who grew up in church, when it come to people joining or leaving a church, there is a phrase that seems to just roll of the tongue of the dissatisfied...

“The church doesn’t have what we are looking for”.

What do you think is the typical response when I ask them “What is it you are looking for?”

99.9% of the time the answer has always been the same “I don’t know”.

Even when the pastor an leadership are pointing the church in the right direction, people still use that same line of thinking...

We just don’t like the direction the church is going?

If the church is going in a biblical direction, then what is the problem with the direction we are going?

“The ideal church is a place with...”

What do you think are some things people identify to complete that sentence?

Beautiful music…what is beautiful music?…no guitars/drums?…choir? violins?…music that glorifies God…contemporary?…traditional?…sing what people listen to on the radio?...

Preaching…sermons are good and meaningful, but not heavy handed…biblical, but not boring…practical but not picky and legalistic...

preacher himself — intense scholar who loves doctrine and never smiles, funny guy with great stories, family counselor, someone who always has something “facebook worthy” to post...

People are the in the same place in life…they understand what you are going through because they are going through it…just out of college, like you…have young children, just like you…nearing retirement, just like you…shop at Walmart, just like you…

Opportunities to get involved…places to serve, places to do good…big on evangelism, big on missions, big on helping the poor…does it provide opportunities for you in the children’s ministry, does it have fun and exciting kids programs?

Alive in the Spirit — lots of new things, new songs, people are quick to listen to his voice, quick to watch for his work, quick to believe He can do remarkable things…tired of being around tradition lovers and Spirit quenchers...

Has a certain feel to it — feels like what you are used to…coffee house atmosphere, mall or old chapel…want to constantly be in that state of nostalgia with certain sights, smells or sounds like what you grew up in...

The point of all this is to get us thinking about what we value most in a church!

What words would you use to describe what a church should be?

Who is responsible for what your church becomes?

Galatians 1:6 NASB95

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;

Consider the recipients of these words in Scripture...

Galatians 1:6 NASB95

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;

The whole church, not the pastors alone...

1 Corinthians 5:1–13 NASB95

It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.

Paul didn’t tell the pastors or staff to care of the problem of the adulterous relationship, he told the church to take care of it.

The majority of the letters in the New Testament are addressed to actual, local churches!

I am sure the pastors were listening to the words of Paul, Peter, James and John as they addressed their congregations and that they intended to lead their congregations to respond to whatever instructions were given.

Together, we are all responsible for what MBC becomes!

It is not just my job, it is not just the leaderships job…you and all the members of this church are responsible for what this church becomes.

Yes, I and all the leaders will stand before God and give account for how we lead this congregation

Hebrews 13:17 NASB95

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.

Every disciple of Christ will give an account for whether or not we have gathered together regularly with the church, spurred the church on to love and good deeds, and fought to maintain a right teaching of the hope of the gospel

Hebrews 10:23–25 NASB95

Hebrews 10:23–35 NASB95

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

Before we can make any efforts towards a more healthy church, it is important for us to gain some biblical insight to what a Christian is and how that relates to church life.

Heb 10:23-25

We need to see the urgency of our need for a healthy local church.

Many believers tend to view their Christianity as a personal relationship with God and not much else.

Yes many acknowledge there are personal implications to how we live, but do we take the time to consider how our relationship with God necessitates a number of secondary personal relationships?

God wants to establish us in relationships with actual flesh and blood, step on your toes kind of people.

“If you call yourself a Christian but you are not a member of the church you regularly attend, I worry that you might be going to hell.” — Mark Dever, What is A Healthy Church? p.21

He is not saying that joining a church makes you a Christian..but he does say that to cause us to see the importance of the church in the life of the believer and to spark a passion for the church like that of Christ.

Also when you consider what the New Testament speaks regarding the believer and the church, there very well could be truth in his statement…in other words, it is possible for someone to claim Christ and not be member in good standing of a local church and be bound for hell…consider what it means to be a Christian.

What A Christian Is.

How would you define a Christian?

First and foremost, a Christian is someone who has been forgiven of his/her sin and been reconciled to God the Father through Jesus Christ.

Repentance of sin, faith placed in the perfect life, substitutionary death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Reached the end of himself and his own moral resources.

Recognizes he has defied God’s plainly revealed law, has given his life over from worshipping and loving things more than God.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 NASB95

For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God,

If God asked you, “Why should I let you into my presence?” what would be your response?

If God asked you “Why should I let you into my presence

Most would give the answer “because I trusted in Jesus”…but I’m going to challenge you to go deeper than that…a deeper answer that communicates your understanding of the gospel. (May need to camp out here for a few moments and let it all sink in)

"you shouldn’t let me in…I sinned and owed a debt too big for me to pay…yet because of your great promises and marvelous grace and mercy, I depend upon the blood of Jesus Christ shed as a substitute for me…he payed my moral debt and satisfied your holy and righteous requirements, and removed your wrath against sin”

Going deeper in your answer as a plea to be declared righteous in Christ is the beginning of discovering how you can experience freedom from sin’s enslavement.

You recognize those idols can never be satisfied…you recognize that God was satisfied with the work of Christ…you have been purchased out of condemnation by His blood and you are now free!

For the first time, the Christian is now free to turn his back on sin…not just replace it with some other enslaving sin…you now have the desire for Christ and for him to rule your life.

A Christian is someone who has been reconciled to God in Christ!

Second, by virtue of being reconciled with God, a Christian is someone who has been reconciled with God’s people!

After Adam and Eve were banished from the garden what happened to the next relationship of Cain and Abel?

Cain murdered Abel…why?…because Adam’s act of breaking fellowship with God resulted in an immediate break in fellowship among all human beings…since Adam pushed God off the throne and tried to place himself upon it, we’re not going to let some other person take it from us…it is every man for himself!

What are the two greatest commandments?

matt 22

Matthew 22:34–40 NASB95

But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

love God with all your heart…love your neighbor as yourself…these two commandments go together…the first produces the second, the second proves the first.

In Christ, what happens to the relationship between Jews and Gentiles and by extension, all those who are in Christ?

Ephesians 2:14–16 NASB95

For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

Eph 2

Ephesians 2:19 NASB95

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,

Ephesians 2:21 NASB95

in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,

Being a Christian makes you part of a family, a fellowship, and a body.

Being reconciled to God also means being reconciled to his people...

Adoption illustration..children don’t adopt their parents, their parents adopt them…the child receives the last name of the parents…they share bedrooms with siblings…they attend family functions…they do not play the role of a family member, they ARE a family member, they became a child of someone and a sibling of others.

That describes all of us…we are all adopted into the family of God and given the same last name…Christian!

Ephesians 1:5 NASB95

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

Now we are part of the whole family of God.

Hebrews 2:11 NASB95

For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

It is a fellowship… a partnering...

1 Corinthians 1:9 NASB95

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Cor 1:9

1 Corinthians 5:2 NASB95

You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

It is a body, bound together by our individual decisions but also bound together by the person and work of Christ…that is why it would be foolish for us to think we can exist without the other parts of the body!

1 Corinthians 12:21 NASB95

And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

It is impossible to answer the question of what is a Christian without ending up in a conversation about the church!

at least if we are going to think biblically about it…there are many metaphors in the New Testament regarding the church...

Never does the NT conceive of the Christian existing on a prolonged basis outside the fellowship of the church…the church is not really a place, it is a people…God’s people!

Joining A Church

A Christian joins a local church because it is the expression of what Christ has made him…a member of the body of Christ.

Being united to Christ means being united to every Christian…that universal union must be expressed in the existence in a local church.

Other than a few references to the universal church ( and the bulk of Ephesians), most references to the church in the NT are to local churches.

The relationship between our membership in the universal church and our membership in the local church is a lot like the relationship between the righteousness God gives us through faith and the actual practice of righteousness in our daily lives.

At the moment of salvation, we are declared righteous…yet we are still called to actively BE righteous.

Those who happily continue to live in unrighteousness call into question the genuineness of their belonging to Christ.

See ; ;

So too, it is with those who refuse to commit themselves to a local church.

“Committing to a local body is the natural outcome — it confirms what Christ has done. If you have no interest in actually committing yourself to an actual group of gospel-believing, Bible-teaching Christians, you might question whether you belong to the body of Christ at all!” — Mark Dever, What is A Healthy Church? pg. 27

Again listen carefully to the writer of Hebrews

Hebrews 10:23–37 NASB95

In other words, if our relationship with God is authentic, it will translate into our daily decisions, even if the process is slow and full of missteps.

We cannot become complacent in our idea of possessing the righteousness of Christ if we are not pursuing a life of righteousness…the same is true with our concept of belonging to the universal church without pursuing life together with an actual local church…

A true Christian builds his life into the lives of other believers through the concrete fellowship of the church...

no one fully arrives…we are all still fallen people who need accountability…we need instruction…we need fellowship with God’s people…we need you and you need us!

As we live together as a covenant community, we demonstrate the reality of being reconciled to God and each other.

We demonstrate to the world we have been changed because we increasingly show a willingness to put up with, to forgive, and even to love a bunch of fellow sinners.

We can’t demonstrate love, joy, peace, patience or kindness while sitting by ourselves…we demonstrate it when the people we have commited to loving give us good reason NOT to love them, but we do anyway.

The church gives a visual presentation of the gospel when we forgive one another like Christ forgives us, when we commit to one another like Christ commits to us, and when we lay down our lives for one another like Christ did for us.

Giving An Account

Who is responsible for thinking about what the gathering of people called the church should be like?

Pastors and church leaders — definitely

Every Christian — absolutely

“Being a Christian means caring about the life and health of the body of Christ, the church. It means caring about what the church is and what the church should be because you belong to the church, Christian.” Mark Dever, What is A Healthy Church? p. 29

Acts 9:4 NASB95

and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

When Paul persecuted the church, Jesus identified Himself so closely to the church, that Paul was persecuting Jesus himself.

Yes pastors and church leaders will stand before God and be accountable for how they led the church.

Based on the Scriptures below, what do you think God will look at regarding your life in the church?

1 Corinthians 12:22–26 NASB95

On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

1 Timothy 5:17 NASB95

The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

Are you ready for God to call you into account for how you have loved and served the church family? Do you know what God says the church should be?

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