Sermon Tone Analysis

What is a disciple?

a follower of Jesus that you have spiritual reproduced yourself in their life.

One life-to a life-for life.

Teaching them to observe all things that Jesus has commanded us.

Disciples who make disciples who make disciples.

How do you make a disciple?

Follow One, Win One, Lead One.

How does the church make disciples?

Or what is the role of the local church in the great commission?

What purpose does the church serve in this most important commission?

Mission Statement: Faith Baptist Church exists to equip and inspire people to know and become like Jesus unto the glory of God.

Paul puts it this way in v. 1

You have been called- plural, speaking in terms of the corporate body- walk worthy church, of the calling to which you have been called.

Walk in a worthy manner church!

How do we do that?

If we are going to walk worthy, if we are going to function the way God intended us to function, especially in terms of the making disciples then

I. We must eagerly and expeditiously maintenance unity in our local church (vv.

2-3)

If we are going to have a worthy walk in the eyes of God as a church, and if we are going to be proficient at accomplishing the great commission, then we must be eager to maintenance the unity of the church that God has already provided for us.

How do we do that?

Humility!

What does that mean?

No one better than anyone else.

Every member putting the needs of the part of the body ahead of its own.

Gentleness- mildness, leniency, considerateness, meekness

Patience- steadfast endurance, forbearance, longsuffering, long-fuse-ed-ness

Bearing with one another in love- lit.

putting up with one another in love (self-sacrificial love)!

Illustration: Sharon putting up with my messy side of the closet, Putting up with my wife’s last person in the building syndrome- big deal, you put up with it!

Why?

Because we love each other!

Doesn’t mean we don’t need to change, or we can’t have conversations about difficult issues, but it does mean we don’t quit on each other.

We bear with one another in love- always.

What does that mean for our church?

We really gotta love each other!

Many churches what is the first inclination of people when there is a problem?

Fight or flight!

Why?

No deep fellowship!

Fellowship is all about what we have in common.

The more we have in common the more fellowship we can have.

Deep fellowship requires that we have the gracious working of the gospel in common with one another.

This is exactly what life on life ministry does.

It moves past surface level fellowship (potluck fellowship), and it encourages one another ministry- encouraging, exhorting, admonishing.

It involves weeping with one another and rejoicing with one another, it involves praying for one another, holding one another accountable.

That is deep fellowship- so that when the urge to fight or flight comes we can respond instead in what?

In love- because we truly love each other!

What does Jesus want for his church?

humility, gentleness, patience, putting up with each other in love!

That is what it looks like to walk worthy of your calling church!

Being continually eager[1]to maintenance the unity (oneness) of the Spirit

ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης·

in the bond which is peace.

To be eager v. — to have or show keen interest, intense desire, or impatient expectancy.

The idea of haste or to hasten in the sense of expediting the process!

‘Yours is the initiative!

Do it now!’

What is the natural inclination of our corrupted sin nature when there is a breach in unity?

Do we naturally expedite the process of reconciliation and forgiveness.

I don’t know how many times I have counseled believers to quickly and eagerly go to the offending party and seek peace and forgiveness and reconciliation.

But, what do we naturally want to do?

Put it off, shrug it away- why?

Because it is uncomfortable and we are not adept at seeking unity and peace.

But, what happens in a local church over time when the members of the body do not eagerly and expeditiously maintenance unity?

To maintenance- God has already provided the unity for us- ours is the oneness we enjoy of the Holy Spirit.

It is a spiritual union like the unity of the triune God himself enjoys.

Ours is a spiritual unity already provided for us through the Holy Spirit which Jesus made possible through the cross!

Jesus has done everything necessary for there to be unity in the church!

We do not have to manufacture unity- it is already ours through our common bond in Christ!

All we have to do is maintenance it!

How do we maintenance unity?

ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης·

in the bond which is peace.

Peace is the bond in which our unity is kept.

This peace flows out of the peace that is afforded to us with God through our salvation in Jesus Christ.

Ultimately this peace must be directed at one another.

As we seek to maintenance unity, as we seek to live out the oneness that Jesus has made possible for us through his cross- peace between the people of this church should become increasing evident.

This peace does not come from our own innate ability.

This kind of peace is a fruit of the Spirit of God.

What does that mean for our church and our ability to maintenance unity?

We must become a church full of people who are walking in step with the Spirit.

We must allow ourselves to be influenced by the word of God and the Holy Spirit of God.

We must seek to show humble dependence upon the Spirit at all times so that we might produce the fruit of the Spirit and not the lust of the flesh.

That means we must become a spiritually mature and growing church.

Following the command to maintenance unity Paul gives us a series of acclamations of oneness!

Our oneness is God intended and God provided in the one body the church.

It flows out of His own oneness.

It is found in the one Christian faith, made possible by the one baptism of the Holy Spirit whereby we are united to Christ, and it is as strong and indestructible as our one God and Father of all- who is over all and through all and in all.

All that to say- that if we are going to walk worthy as a church to the call of God- we must eagerly and expeditiously maintenance unity.

Or you could ask our original question- How does the church make disciples?

The church must make disciples in the context of unity.

If we are going to walk worthy, if we are going to function the way God intended us to function, especially in terms of the making disciples then

II.

We must graciously and “giftedly” serve in our local church (vv.

7-10)

If we are to walk worthy of our calling as a church- and if we are to function as God intended us to function- especially in making-disciples we must all, by God’s grace and according to His spiritually gifting all of us, serve in our local church.

Every member or part of the body, that God has uniquely graced and spiritually gifted, must function as God intended for the church to grow and walk worthy.

GRACE! it is all by His grace- was given to who? each one of us.

How much grace and in what manner?

according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

God, in his own wisdom and providence has given every believer gifts to use in service in the local church.

To support this statement Paul quotes from Psalm 68:18

Ephesians 4:8 (ESV)

8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”