Committed to Christ

Introduction

During the Q & A you all did with me prior to calling me to be your pastor I was asked what my vision for the church would be for the next five or so years? I answered that I had no specific answer other than to get to know the people, follow God’s Word, and develop a vision and mission that corresponds with God’s Word and is contextualized to our church. First, I wanted to be faithful to the Lord. Second, I wanted to love you as the flock God had put under my care.

That said, I began using language that has become somewhat of a montra to me for our church. I’ve said it before and part of it is stated in our bulletin. We at Vista Baptist Church are committed to the Christ, the Church, and the Commission. Such a vision is broad enough to fit any church, including our own. Thus, this evening in the wake of a conference on church planting and missions, with my being here five years approaching, our church growing, and many important pending decisions coming up, I want to state the vision and mission we should have as a church, some ways in which we do and are seeking to implement it and some ways in which we can be more faithful to God’s calling upon us as a local church.

This evening I want to focus on the first commitment we should have as individuals and as a local church. We should be committed to Christ.

Body

BI: Vista Baptist Church is owned by Christ, so we should be commited to the Christ (Matthew 16:13-20).

Explanation

That the church belongs to Christ is explicitly stated Matthew 16:18. It is His church and He will build it.

Moreover, the church is described as the body of Christ under Him as its head on numerous occasions: universally (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:30; Colossians 1:18) and locally (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). The universal church is all believers in all time and places. The local church are formal congregations with recognized members and officers. Vista Baptist Church is a local church, so it is a temporal and local expression of the universal church.

Jesus is said to be the head of the church as a husband is to a wife (Ephesians 5:22-33). There is a sense of mutual belongingness between spouses. Lauren is my wife and no one else's. She is mine. In a similar way, the church belongs to Christ.

Jesus is said to be the LORD (John 20:28; Acts 2:36; 10:36; Romans 10:9) and have all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).

We are His sheep and He our shepherd (Psalm 23; Isaiah 40:11; John 10:14-18; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2, 4; John 21:15-19).

Jesus is the one who stands in the midst of the seven churches and makes demands of them in the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:9-3:22).

The idea of being committed to Christ must be the foundation of our church. And serves as the foundation for the subjects of the next two commitments. They build upon and flow out of this first commitment.

Application

This means that we we are committed confessionally, communally, and constitutionally to Christ.

1. We must commit to Christ confessionally

To be committed to Christ confessionally means that doctrinally we agree with, teach, preach, and listen to doctrine that is consistent with the teachings of God’s Word. Scriptural and historical precedent suggests that we own a confession of faith that summarizes these doctrines so that our membership, those seeking membership, and the outside world knows what we believe. Moreover it helps us to ward off false teaching both within and without. Confessions and creeds give guard rails to the preach and teaching ministries of the church and provide the foundation for all other ministries.

The biblical rational for this comes from our belief that the Bible is the Word of God (Psalm 19:7-11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). That as such it teaches a consistently and authoritatively and that it can be systematized and summarized in an orderly and logical manner (2 Timothy 1:13; Jude 3; Deuteronomy 6:4; Philippians 2:5-11).

Though we now confess the most recent edition of the Baptist Faith in Message and it does serve well for large association of churches that associate for the purpose of missions, I commend the Second London Confession to you to read and consider as the main confession of our local assembly. In a way you already own it because you submit to my preaching and teaching which is in line with it. Moreover, a few of the ministries we support or consider supporting already hold to it.

That said, what about those who say no creed but Christ and the Bible? Isn’t such a statement self-defeating? Is it not a creed that is not found within the Bible or said by Christ? Moreover, what contradictory claims made about Christ by those who claim to hold the Bible as the Word of God? Such examples are found in mormonism and Jehovah’s witness.

Do we need explain what we mean by the Bible and Christ? Are there other teachings of Scripture that must be confessed to even affirm both the Bible and Christ?

Therefore, a church seeking to be faithful to Christ should own a confession that faithfully, clearly, and succinctly declares the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith and also the distinctives of that respective body on secondary matters.

2. We must be committed to Christ communally.

To be committed to Christ communally is to be a church that practices the ordinary means of grace, including the ministry of the Word, prayer, and the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We already practice these.

The ministry of the Word is reading, preaching, and teaching from the Holy Scriptures in our assemblies (Scripture taught and preached: Acts 2:42-47; 20:26-30; 2 Tim 4:1-5; 2:15, God gifts the church with people to do this: Ephesians 4:11-12, and Scripture read: 1 Timothy 4:13).

The ministry is of prayer is public prayer and includes the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Prayer for ministry: Rom. 15:30; Eph. 6:19; Phil. 1:19; Col. 4:3–4; 1 Thess. 5:25, singing prayers: Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16, and prayer for all people (1 Timothy 2:1-2; 8). I do believe we could include more psalm singing in our services as we rarely sing any.

The ministry of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper are exactly what they sound like (Christ’s Baptism: Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:32-34 andChristian Baptism: Acts 2:38-41; 8:12; Matthew 28:18-20; The Last Supper (Matt 26:26-29; Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:18–20; 1 Cor. 11:23–25; and the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42-47; 1 Cor 10:14-22; 11:17-34) . We baptize those who make credible profession of faith and we invite such persons with credible profession and Christian baptism to take of the Lord’s Supper. I do believe we should offer it from time to time during the morning of the services as we are unwittingly excommunicating elderly members who aren’t comfortable driving at night and also those who do not gather in the evening, but are otherwise faithful members.

Another way to express that we committed to Christ communally is to say that our worship regulated by God’s Word, doing only what is expressly commanded or is exemplified in a positive light in the New Testament. This principle I will expound next sermon

3. We must commit to Christ constitutionally.

To be to Christ constitutionally means that our polity and membership are grounded in and consistent with what we confess. This is a logical next step from being confessional. The Bible is the Word of God. It is sufficient for doctrine and practice. A church constitution is a formal statement of the churches polity and practices. Thus, our constitution should conform to what we confess, so far as what we confess is drawn from the Holy Scriptures.

Such formality in church life is demonstrated in the biblical prescriptions for officers (1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-16; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 5:2), the biblical demand to care for worthy widows and have a list of them (1 Timothy 5:9-16), the commands and examples of church discipline (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 2 Corinthians 2:5-11), and the recognition of insiders and outsiders (1 Corinthians 5:12-13; 14:23-25). A written constitution that orderly presents biblical practice is wise.

To be committed to Christ is to be committed to sound doctrine and practice. That said, as our church reforms in accordance with the Word, then we need to amend our constitution to formally align with what we believe.

This will have to happen anyways if our church owns the Second London, removes negligent members, and higher a second pastor of some sort. That is not to say such decisions have been or will be made. It is simply to state that our documents beliefs and practices must be portrayed in our documents if we are to have a consistent trajectory of abiding by God’s Word and being committed to Christ. The same thing could be said of our church covenant. I’m doubtful that most members know what it says or abide by some of its extra-biblical demands. If we are unwilling to discipline members for violating the church covenant we either need to evaluate the biblical basis of our current church covenant and change it to be more biblical and clear or begin enforcing it. I suggests the prior.

More on the nature of biblical polity and practices will be discussed under the heading of being committed to the church. For now, it is sufficient to say that our commitment to church polity and practice must be grounded in a prior commitment to Christ as the Lord of our local church.

Conclusion

Thus, vision and mission of Vista Baptist Church starts on the foundation of our shared individual and formal corporate commitment to the Christ. The Christ is the one I speak of every week, who is God the Son incarnate, the seed of the woman, Abraham, and David, and the promised Messiah. He is the one who lived in perfect righteousness and died as a substitute for all those who come to Him by faith. He rose on the third day. He ascended into heaven. He now builds His church by the power of the Holy Spirit through the ministry of local churches. He calls, justifies, sanctifies, and equips His people. He intercedes for them in Heaven and will return to bring them into their final rest upon the new earth, having gotten rid of sin, death, and the Devil forever. All who trust in the Christ shall be saved. All who deny Him shall perish. He is the Lord of the church universal and this local congregation. Thus, as body of believers we shall “follow the Lame wherever he goes” (Revelation 14:3). In summary: Vista Baptist Church is owned by Christ, so we should be commited to the Christ.