The Kind of Church God Wants (2)

21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. 22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Six times the Apostle Paul makes a direct reference to the “church,” in these twelve verses. Another four times Paul refers to the church using the personal pronoun, “it.”

One thing is clear from the New Testament: The church of the Lord Jesus Christ occupies a dominant place in the lives of Christians!

I believe in the absolute, essential, indispensable, role of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ still today.

We have a couple of young boys in our community who enjoy roller-blading down our driveway. This morning as I was leaving for church they saw me in my suit clothes and asked if I were going to work. I told them I was going to church and asked if they attended church. One of the young boys said, “We go sometimes.” To which I responded, “Yea, I have a lot of members you go sometime, too!”

Why would any truly, born-again believer not want to be a part of the house of God? The Psalmist said,

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? 4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. (Psalm 42:1-4, KJV)

ILLUSTRATION: A preacher was once approached by a group of unbelieving men and asked, “Preacher, you don’t really believe a person has to go to church in order to go to heaven do you?” The preacher thought a moment and then responded by saying, “Let me ask you a question. ‘Why would you want to go to heaven to spend an eternity with those you work so very hard to avoid here on earth? Why go to heaven where you will spend an eternity worshipping and praising One whom you never worshipped or praised here on earth?’”

This morning’s message is entitled, “The Kind of Church God Wants.” Northgate Baptist Church, what kind of church are we? Are we the kind of church God wants?

As a church, we have recently adopted some very challenging strategy goals. We are already beginning to see the improvements we planned with the cleaning of our educational facilities, the clearing out of clutter, new electrical outlets, new LED lighting, new baseboards in the children’s church facilities and classrooms. And that is just a beginning. We entered into an agreement this past week to have the exterior of our sanctuary, steeple, storage building and the sidewalks cleaned by pressure washing.

A few years ago, I received from our Association offices and the SC Baptist State Convention a letter requesting a supplement to our ACP (Annual Church Profile). As the pastor here, I was asked to complete certain statements or questions about our church profile.

Listen to some of the questions it asked and see if these questions move your heart as it did my own.

1. Which one statement below best describes your church? Mark only one:

o We are a loving and caring fellowship.

o We have several cliques in our church.

o A number of the people in our church are angry with one another.

o We have unresolved conflict in our church.

o The people in our church enjoy being together.

o Our church is unified.

Those are realistic descriptors of many of our churches. I believe several of the phrases could describe our church, but a better question might be “what kind of a church does God want us to be?”

Using this list from our ACP let me give you four characteristics or qualities I pray we will become.

I. A LOVING AND CARING CHURCH

Our Lord Jesus Christ taught that His followers and thus His church should be known by such traits that were evident in the life of the Lord Jesus Himself.

John 13:12–16 (NKJV) 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.

John 13:34–35 (NKJV) 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 15:12 (NKJV) This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

John 15:17 (NKJV) These things I command you, that you love one another.

1 John 3:11 (NKJV) For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,

Matthew 9:36 (NKJV) But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

Matthew 9:37–38 (NKJV) 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

T/S – This leads us to our next characteristic I hope to see us develop as a church.

II. A PRAYING CHURCH

Now it is difficult to track the number of people actually praying in our church. Usually those who consistently participate in prayer within the church are those whose lives show the greatest consistency in their Christian walk.

Again, the ACP report asked some hard questions regarding the prayer ministry of our church. Once again, how would you respond to the following question?

Our church prays corporately, consistently and systematically for:

o The fulfillment of the Great Commission

o Unreached People and Unreached Places

o Specifically by name, for lost people

o Missions and Missionaries

o The Planting of New Churches

o Every church member, at least once a month

o The strength and health of our church and others

I am very excited to tell you about a brand-new prayer ministry which you can choose to join. It’s called “Watch and Pray.” There are details in the bulletin but basically this will be a one hour time of prayer Tuesday mornings at 9:00 a.m. We will pray for our Country, Community and our church each Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m. (We also want to begin to offer special prayer for those who have a special need or concern at the close of our morning worship each Sunday.)

James 5:16 (NKJV) Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Acts 4:31 (NKJV) And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Last of all, What kind of church does God want us to be? A loving and caring church, a praying church, but also,

III. A REACHING CHURCH

So, let’s look one last time at the ACP Report that asks some hard-hitting questions about our outreach and evangelism efforts as a church. For example,

Including all church services, outreach events, individual witnessing opportunities and other forms of sharing the Gospel, what is your best estimate of the number of South Carolina residents that have been presented the Gospel and given a chance to respond to it through the efforts of your church and church members?

Let’s allow these questions to challenge us as a church or church member as a Christian, to be more committed to reaching others with the Gospel message!

Matthew 28:18–19 (NKJV) 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”

Acts 1:8 (NKJV) “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

John 20:21 (NKJV) So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Luke 14:23 (NKJV) Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.’

Conclusion:

In praying about the kind of church we are and the kind of church we need to become, I listed four qualities in no certain order or preference.

But what I hear God saying is that there is a priority order. His priority begins with prayer. We must first become a praying church before any of our other ambitions as a church can ever be achieved. Until we get on our knees, we’ll never get on our feet.

Therefore, the kind of church God wants Northgate to become follows this pattern:

A PRAYING CHURCH - A church down on her knees.

A REACHING CHURCH - A church witnessing and winning.

A LOVING AND CARING CHURCH - A church truly concerned about the needs of others both with our church and our community.

I believe that’s the kind of church God wants us to be. The last question is, “What kind of church do you want us to be?”

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