Proclaim and Protect

Protect and Proclaim

What would your great-great-great grandfather think if he walked into one of our worship services?

Even if he joined our second service, do you think we’d blow his hair back?

Now what about you walking into your descendants’ worship services 100 years from now?

Where would your hair be?

Time brings changes.

They aren’t all good but they certainly aren’t all bad.

The church reflects society so clothes will change, music will change, building will change.

But one thing can never change.

If we are to be the church, we must lovingly proclaim and lovingly safeguard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What has changed at First Baptist?

I watched a pastor do a state of the church message last week.

I’m not really into that kind of thing but there is some validity to looking back just a little ways and seeing how we’re holding up considering the circumstances.

So how did we fare?

I pulled some numbers and compared 2021 with 2019 - post-Covid, more or less, and pre-Covid.

Our worship attendance in 2019 averaged 285 each Sunday.

In 2021, we averaged 255 but that’s a little misleading.

In 2019, we didn’t live stream so we had 285 people on average worshipping and fellowshipping in this room together.

In 2021, an average of 30 households join us by live stream each week - mostly via Facebook.

So when you subtract that number from our in-person attendance, we have roughly 60 fewer folks worshipping together in this room each week - that’s a decline of 21% and that’s mostly in line with what other churches have experienced.

I want to encourage those who join by live stream, if you are physically able it’s time to consider returning to the house.

If you are frightened of Omicron, wait a month or so - it will burn itself out fairly quickly - this thing is on it’s last leg.

Come on back - as we say on our podcast bumper, nothing can replace real Christian community.

And if you are physically unable to join, we are grateful to God that He used this pandemic to drive us to proclaim the gospel in a way we’ve never done it before.

It is a blessing to us to know that you are able to be a part of the church that you have known and loved for years but can’t physically get here anymore.

God bless each and every one of you.

And - to the few of you who are scattered all over the United States - we pray the message in song and in preaching points you to Jesus each and every week.

What about Sunday School?

In 2019, we averaged 300 in classes and small groups during Sunday school every week.

In 2021, we averaged 182.

Our group participation is down about 40% over pre-Covid and that’s concerning.

If you want to connect to a body of believers, if you truly want to belong, you’ve got to be a part of a group.

We’re going to work on this and if you have ideas, we would love to hear them.

Email me, call, text, grab me after the service - grab any of the staff or deacons and give us your input.

Worship is great but the strength of the church is in its groups.

Finally web traffic.

Austin has been working diligently on our website along with the entire team.

Had no clue Sasquatch had those skills but he does and he’s done an excellent job.

He’s in the process now of optimizing it for mobile devices as we’ve found that the vast majority of folks access us via phone or tablet.

This number is a bit - astounding - to me.

In 2020, we had 2,783 unique individuals access our website.

That’s not 27 people who accessed the website 100 times each.

That’s 2,783 unique, one of a kind, individuals - that’s roughly equivalent to 10% of the population of Jones County.

That represents a 227% increase in traffic over 2019.

That’s unreal.

As far as budget and giving - we have been incredibly consistent in our giving.

Our finance team is so confident in our giving that we’ve increased the budget by roughly 4% for 2022.

Things are getting more expensive and we’ve been impacted by that too.

The budget is a challenge - it is a very large budget - but it isn’t a challenge God hasn’t provided for.

I encourage you to continue or start tithing.

And I encourage you to give a little extra to the Great Commission Offering each month to support national, international and local missions.

So enough stats.

All of those people and all of that come comes together at this place for one singular purpose.

We are here to loving proclaim and lovingly safeguard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are beginning a study of 1 Timothy and Titus today.

In those letters, Paul instructs Timothy and Titus on how to be the church.

And being the church all wraps around the gospel.

Paul’s going to talk about a lot of topics about the church, but the topic he chose first was this: The church must lovingly proclaim and lovingly safeguard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Timothy was a very young elder and a student of Paul.

He traveled with Paul preaching about Jesus and establishing churches everywhere they went.

When Paul was headed to Macedonia, typically Timothy would have traveled with him.

But not this time.

This time Paul wanted Timothy to stay in Ephesus.

The church had some very influential people who had gone of the reservation and weren’t teaching the gospel anymore.

That had to be fixed.

We studied Ephesus when we studied Revelation.

It was the third largest city in Rome.

It was a tourist destination.

It was a business hub.

It was a worship and entertainment mecca.

People from all over the western world and beyond traveled to Ephesus.

And all of those people, brought their beliefs and philosophies.

Think Atlanta.

Ephesus was a lot like Atlanta.

Atlanta has everything going for it that Ephesus did.

Lots and lots of people, coming from everywhere to enjoy life in the sunbelt.

Bringing their philosophies and ideas.

And slowly changing Atlanta’s culture.

Remember what we said a few years ago.

Not that long ago, Atlanta had over 200 evangelical churches inside 285.

Now it has about 20.

20 small churches to service several million people.

Ephesus had one Christian Church.

Can you imagine the stress on that one little, counter-cultural church?

There was hot and cold money, power, every type of hedonism that man could think of man could do in Ephesus.

All of that - and one little, counter-cultural Christian church.

1 Timothy 1:1–11 ESV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

This is the word of the Lord, thanks be to God.

Be the church.

That’s our new mission statement.

For as long as I’ve been here, our mission statement has been Find Jesus Give Jesus.

It has been our guiding principle - proclaim Jesus so people will know Jesus and want to tell others about Jesus.

Be the church includes that mission but adds to the focus a little bit.

Because we are the church, we must be the church.

The right question to ask here is, what do those preacher words mean?

Everyone has an idea of what it means to be the church.

I suspect a number of us could get together and tell church stories - good and bad - for days.

But after we sort out all of the stories, what in those stories tells us what a church is supposed to be?

Mission Creep

Mission creep means you start with one goal but over time you add more and more and more until one day your job is unrecognizable.

And more than likely, you’re probably killing yourself trying to keep up.

It happens to every organization.

That’s why every so often you’ll hear a corporation announce it is going to streamline.

It’s picked up too much - it’s got to get back to the basic.

1 Timothy is our calibration document - it’s our job description - it lays out a lot of how a church is supposed to operate.

And not just the ancient church - Paul’s instruction is timeless.

As we study we’re going to hear things we’ve heard before and we’ll nod our heads and know we’ve done good.

But there will be some things we might not have done so well.

And there will be new things - and a couple of those are very challenging things for us.

So - where to start?

With the main thing, of course.

The Main Thing

1 Tim 1:11 “in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.”

The main thing is the gospel and Paul uses a most unusual word for his relationship to it.

“I have been entrusted.”

Entrusted means two things.

Entrusted means to keep it pure and it means to keep it going.

That’s Paul’s mission statement.

Keep the gospel pure and keep the gospel going.

Now he’s enlisted Timothy

Timothy was ordained as an elder and then he was entrusted with the gospel.

And everywhere they went, they preached, city to city, church to church, Jesus lived a sinless life.

He was crucified by sinful men and raised to new life by the power of the Father.

All so we could be forgiven and be made right with God.

That’s the same message they preached everywhere.

Relentlessly, unchanging - every time.

That message started at Gray Baptist in 1905.

Some women, entrusted with the message started a Sunday School.

A pastor was called - the message was preached and entrusted to everyone who has become a part of Gray Baptist - now known as the First Baptist Church of Gray.

The gospel has been entrusted to us.

To keep it pure.

To keep it going.

Because it’s the only power we have.

Romans 1:16 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Truly, the gospel is our only function.

It’s what all of this - this entire complex - all we do and everywhere we go.

It’s the good news of our salvation.

And it is the good news of everyone who WILL believe’s salvation.

While we were helpless.

While we were of no use to God whatsoever.

Jesus became our hope.

1 Timothy 1:2 ESV

To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Grace, mercy and peace is more than just saying, “Dear Timothy,” in a letter.

These are the three things you and I as Christ followers have.

Grace .

We have salvation given to us as a free gift - totally undeserved yet given to us without reservation.

Mercy.

This isn’t just pity because Jesus looks at us and see sheep without a shepherd.

It’s pity based on our relationship.

The Father chose to love us before the foundation of the world.

It’s one thing to have pity on the vagrant on the street.

It’s something entirely different to have pity on your battered and abused family member.

Your spouse, your child, your best friend.

And Peace.

This has nothing to do with our state of mind and a lack of mental turmoil.

It is peace with God.

Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

We don’t fear the one who can destroy body and soul in hell - we are at peace with Him because of Jesus.

Listen - this is the message entrusted to us.

The message we must keep pure and we must keep going.

This is our treasure.

The Problem

The problem in Ephesus was so much mission creep that the original mission got lost.

And I’m not sure they even realized it.

Paul tells Timothy 1 Tim 1:5 “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

I suspect if you asked those that were teaching the things they were teaching, they would reply that they have a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.

There are hundreds if not thousands of churches now who are adamant that they are teaching love from a pure heart, with a good conscience and a sincere faith.

So who is teaching the wrong message?

How do we determine if what someone is teaching is the pure gospel or a false gospel?

Paul gives the answer by telling what a pure gospel doesn’t do.

Just by the way - Paul’s so aggravated at this church that he’s sputtering.

We don’t see this in translation - but in the original language it’s obvious - he’s either got so much running through his head so fast or he’s so outdone with these folks that he can’t finish his sentence.

Verse 4 just stops - mid thought - and he moves on to the next point.

He’s been entrusted with the gospel, to keep it pure and here these people are...

So how do we determine if someone is teaching a pure gospel or a false gospel?

Does the message lead us to Jesus or somewhere else?

1 Tim 1:4 “nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.”

Their teaching promoted speculations.

Ideas, opinions - speculation is sometimes translated controversy.

In verse 6 Paul says they “have wandered away into vain discussion.”

Senseless babbling is another way to put it.

They are saying things that when you dig into them, they do not make good walking around sense.

They “promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.”

What is the stewardship?

It’s another word for God’s plan.

And what is God’s plan?

John 3:17 ESV

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

There is the plan.

If the message leads anywhere other than there, chances are great the teacher has wandered away.

Does the teacher want to be a celebrity?

Not all celebrity preachers and teachers are false teachers, but if they are a celebrity, we need to ask a very serious question.

Why do they do what they do?

Paul warns the Ephesians - 1 Timothy 1:7 “desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.”

I’ve listened to a few name brand folks speak and every third word in their sermon is promoting their new book.

Back in the day when I’d listen to radio preachers, I timed a couple of them.

The first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes of their 30 minute program was fundraising.

That left 10 minutes for the message.

This kind of relates back to the previous point - does the message lead you to Jesus or does it lead you someplace else?

How does the message encourage us to live?

When someone trust Jesus for salvation, their life necessarily changes.

They don’t change it - but the Holy Spirit starts changing them from the inside out.

You don’t change someone from the outside in.

It’s obvious that mixed in with their myths and genealogies they were also teaching that people must do the 10 commandments.

It’s apparent because this sin list in verse 8 - 10 follow the exact order of the 10 commandments.

People that are lawless, disobedient, ungodly, sinner, unholy and profane.

That’s the first 4 commandments.

Remember what we said lawless was - that’s a total disregard for God.

Listen and try to track with me here.

If I tell you that to be a good Christian, you must follow the Sabbath rules perfectly.

And you do great for a little while - but one day you get free tickets to the Falcon’s game.

And you really want to go.

But you know you’ll have to miss church and there is nothing holy about the Falcons - it’s probably not even good football.

But you want to go.

What have you got to do to go?

You have to disregard God, don’t you?

So what has their teaching done for you?

It’s made you lawless.

Now stay with me because its important you don’t misunderstand this.

“Those that strike their mothers and fathers” - that’s the 5th commandment.

“Murders” - that’s commandment 6.

This one has to open our eyes a bit - “the sexually immoral [and] men who practice homosexuality”

That commandment 7 - “You shall not commit adultery.”

I wish we had time to noodle that because of what our culture is teaching right now.

“Enslavers,” - Commandment 8 - Do not steal - and that includes people.

“Liars and perjurers,” - Commandment 9 - Do not bear false witness.

And then “whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,” which includes commandment 10 and everything else he didn’t get to.

So what is he saying about the 10 commandments?

Paul is saying they are good in their proper context.

Yes, teach them.

Especially to unbelievers.

Because when we take the law to heart and we really, really try to do it with all of our heart, it crushes us.

And that’s one of it’s purposes.

God uses the law to remind us that nothing we can do can save us.

Society tells us that we are inherently good, and that’s not true.

If people are, why do politicians makes rules for you and me and then jet off to vacation resorts and not follow the rules themselves?

If people are inherently good, why does the United States give away over $51.05 Billion dollars in foreign aid while we have people with debilitating mental conditions living under the second street bridge in Macon?

We are not inherently good - the law proves it.

The law proves we need a savior.

So we preach Christ and Him crucified.

And when we place our trust in Him, the Holy Spirit gives us grace, mercy and peace.

And we begin to notice over time, that we are doing the commandments better than ever because we are following Jesus.

To be the church is to lovingly proclaim and lovingly safeguard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Updating the gospel is such a temptation.

We are born just like everyone else singing a Freddy Mercury and Queen song, “I want it all…& I want it now.”

The problem in that is one word - now.

These “certain people” fancied themselves superior teachers.

You can see them all around us right now.

People in the news saying parents aren’t smart enough to raise their own children.

Child raising is best left to the experts.

You do realize that’s unGodly right?

The basic unit of Christendom is the family

These “certain people” fancied themselves superior teachers.

They see themselves as great and they want to be recognized as great.

So they invent stories and methods and mix it with familiar stories to teach you how to have it all right now.

This might sound weird, but follow me here, ok?

The problem - the difference we, as Christ followers must identify and cling to is this - we live in a different now.

Are we so silly to think, that if God created the heavens and the earth 13.7 billion years ago,

Are we silly enough to think that 60, 70, 80, golly, even 101 years like Ms. Vera Lee is today - that that is all there is?

God created us to enjoy Him and glorify Him forever.

We aren’t working for today.

We don’t want people to only be helped for their lifetime on earth.

We want them helped for their eternal lifespan.

There is only one message that can do that.

It is the “gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which,” we have been entrusted.

To be the church, this has to be our banner.

We preach Jesus and Him crucified.

To save whosoever will come from their sins.

To give them grace, and mercy, and peace.

For their eternal lifetimes.

Please follow Jesus today.

Christ follower, repent from our lack of enthusiasm and gratitude about being saved.

Satan uses the worries and cares of life to drown out the good news that we are going to have it all.

But stop - listen for the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit whispering into your soul, “Jesus loves you.”

“Jesus will never leave or forsake you.”

“I know it’s hard, but you will make it.”

“Rest your weary head on my shoulder.”

Maybe start the year by coming to the altar and praying a prayer of repentance and gratitude.

And dear friend - please - we want you to hear the same voice we hear.

Won’t you come to Jesus?

Won’t you trust Him to do for you what you can’t do for yourself?

Come let me pray with you to be saved right after we pray.

Let us pray.