Transcript

Why Are We Here?

1 Corinthians 10:31
Sunday, October 2, 2005
Pastor Randy Smith

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1. What is the PURPOSE of the church?

• Glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31)

2. What is the MINISTRY of the church?

• Equip and mature the saints (Eph. 4:11-12)

3. What is the MISSION of the church?

• Evangelism and missions (Mt. 28:18-20)

4. Who are the MINISTERS of the church?

• Every Christian (1 Cor. 12:7)

5. Who is the SHEPHERD of the church?

• Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 5:4)

6. Who are to EVANGELIZE in the church?

• Every Christian (2 Ti. 4:5)

7. Who are to SERVE in the church?

• Every Christian (Eph. 4:12)

8. Who is the PASTOR'S primary audience on Sunday morning?

• Primary - God, Secondary - Christians (1 Pet. 4:11)

9. What is the PASTOR'S primary purpose in each sermon?

• Glorify God by equipping the saints (Col. 1:28-29)

10. What is GOD'S primary goal for the Christian?

• Christlikeness among His children (Rom. 8:29)

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Try to picture if you would, a military unit without any direction during a time of warfare: Untrained individuals trying to fly planes, soldiers shooting at each other instead of the enemy, orders from officers disobeyed at will, a spirit of disunity amongst the ranks and no clear battle plan for victory. It's not difficult to imagine the outcome. I believe we would all agree these soldiers would be heading for disaster with no chance of winning the conflict. Possibly when we view the situation from this perspective, we can understand why the church is so weak and often defeated.

The Christian life is frequently compared to a time of warfare (2 Cor. 10:4). We are enlisted as soldiers (2 Ti. 2:3-4). We are armed with weapons (Eph. 6:17). We are under a General (Rev. 19:11). We are called to "fight the good fight" (1 Ti. 1:18; 6:12).

However, when we survey God's mighty army, we observe: countless who are unwilling to engage in the battle, causalities increasing from friendly fire, disunity amongst the ranks, disobedience and distrust in the commanding officers, an inability to identify the true enemy and confusion in regard to our purpose and mission.

Since we are not what we are expected to be, we should not be surprised that so little is being accomplished in the church and so many of the saints are often disgruntled, injured and confused.

Although sin and carnality greatly contribute, I believe a major part of the problem is that so many Christians fail to understand the purpose of the church. How did you do on our little quiz? The book of Judges makes it clear - when every man does what is right in his own eyes, we are heading on a crash course for disaster. Therefore this morning, as we prepare for a time of testimony and the Lord's Supper, I would like to refocus and reorient ourselves as to our purpose here at the Grace Tabernacle.

According to our Constitution: The purpose of the Grace Tabernacle is to glorify the God of the Scriptures by promoting His worship, equipping and maturing the saints of God, while declaring the Good News of salvation to everyone in our whole area and around the world all to the praise and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe that is an excellent statement. Let's break it down into three parts.

1. THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH

First, the overarching purpose of the church is to glorify God. This means we do not exist for our programs or the desires of the people. Though these will benefit, our ultimate purpose in being here is to bring God glory. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 we read, "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

Every word that we sing, every ministry we create, every decision we make, must chiefly be made for the glory of God. This means God is the primary recipient (or audience) of every conversation, every act of service and every Bible lesson. Even God's opinion of this sermon is the one that counts the most. As the Puritans would say, "We preach to an audience of One."

This means we are not to be man-pleasers because God's approval is the only approval that really matters (Gal. 1:10; Col. 3:22). In Romans 3 Paul said, "Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar." Regardless of what people might think in their human speculations, our acceptance in the eyes of the Lord is of primary importance. For He is the only One to whom each of us will need to give an account (Rom. 14:12). And the more influence we have been entrusted with, the more responsibility we bear before the Almighty (Heb. 13:17). Remember Paul in 1 Corinthians 4? "But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord" (1 Cor. 4:3-4).

Therefore every activity we do, whether inside or outside of the church, must be done for the glory of God, regardless of the cost, the unpopularity or the inconvenience.

The glory of God, as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures, is the standard to which all of our activities must pass. And as each of us adopt this standard and wave this banner, our purpose will be God-centered and our direction will be like-minded. Only then will God be glorified and the church be unified because we are all heading in the same direction.

2. THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH

The next two points of our purpose statement are the two primary ways we glorify the Lord. If the glory of God were a coin, these would be both sides of the coin. Let's first look at the ministry of the church. Then we'll look at the mission of the church. According to our purpose statement, the ministry of the church is called "equipping and maturing the saints of God."

Equipping the saints

I believe Ephesians 4:11-12 best identifies principle of equipping the saints. "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ."

These verses teach that God has equipped the church with various officers to accomplish a very specific purpose. I wish to direct your attention primarily to the final office mentioned in verse 11 called pastor-teacher. This is the role we commonly refer to as pastor or shepherd or elder or overseer.

There is still a false view of clericalism that permeates the church today - the belief that the work of the church is to be done only by those who are paid to do it. From the church's inception, an incorrect distinction has been drawn between the clergy and laity.

It was the Reformation in the sixteenth century that exposed this erroneous view by rediscovering the "priesthood of all believers" (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6), but the "ministry of all believers" has yet to receive a full acceptance in many Christian circles.

According to biblical teaching, every Christian is given a diverse blend of spiritual gifts. And every Christian is called to a specific ministry within the church where he or she can use his or her gifts to serve others unselfishly for the glory of God (1 Cor. 12:7). So it is not the pastor's responsibility to do all the service, it is his job, according to verse 12 to "equip…the saints for the work of service." Every Christian is a minister. There is no way a pastor has neither all the time nor the abilities to do everything that is necessary in a church.

Equipping (katartismos), a medical term originally used for the setting of bones, is the primary responsibility of the pastor. As Peter and John refused to wait on tables at the expense of the teaching the Word and prayer (Ac. 6:4), prayer and the Word of God are the most important tools used to equip Christians for service. It is the pastor's duty to help and encourage God's people to discover, develop and exercise their spiritual gifts. "Thus in instead of monopolizing all ministry himself, (as John Stott once said) he actually multiplies ministries (and ministers)" (Ephesians, p. 167).

Often in the Bible, the church is called the Body of Christ (Col. 1:18). Christ is our head and we are individual parts of His body. Like any human body, each part has a specific function. What happens if one part refuses to fulfill its responsibilities? The whole body suffers.

The church is no different. Each of you has a God-given endowment of spiritual gifts to function in a specific ministry in this church better than anyone else. When you refuse to serve in the church, not only are you sinning against God, but you are also causing the whole spiritual body of which you are a member, to suffer.

Since this principle is so crucial, verse 12 teaches us that pastors have been given to the church to "for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, which is the intermediate goal to fulfill the ultimate goal which is "the building up of the body of Christ."

Maturing the saints

The other internal ministry of the church according to our purpose statement is to mature the saints. Serving in the church is once indication of Christian maturity. Other aspects include: Faithful evangelism, consistent church attendance, commitment to personal and corporate prayer, devotion to the Word of God, engagement in regular fellowship and the list continues. Generally speaking, when we consider the maturation of the saints, we are talking about believers consistently conforming to the image of Christ both in character and conduct.

Once again pastors, along with others, have been given to the church to mature the saints to Christlikeness. Therefore it is not the pastor's responsibility to entertain or appease or promote a personal agenda. It is his responsibility as he cooperates with the Holy Spirit to make you more like Jesus (Rom. 8:29). And this is to be done though biblical instruction and personal example.

Paul said it best in Colossians 1:28-29. "We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me."

In the future, I would like to implement an elective program that offers classes on specific topics such as: Introduction to Christianity, marriage and parenting and financial principles, church history and theology, Bible study and prayer methods, evangelism training and specific ministry instruction (including, but not limited to elders and deacons, teachers and assistants, nursery workers and greeters). Again, the list continues. I would also like to see us resurrect our adult Sunday school with each class acting as a "church within the church" and each class under the oversight of a specific elder. I would like to see all the growth groups aligned with specific Sunday schools.

The purpose of all this? To better equip you for the work of service and mature you further into the image of Christ - all for the glory of God!

3. THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH

So when we assemble together, our purpose is not to evangelize the lost. That's the goal of a "seeker-sensitive" church. We gather to equip and mature and comfort the believers through solid, non-compromising biblical instruction. In other words, our ultimate concern is for the filled seats on Sunday morning, not the empty seats. Put another way, we gather for the purpose of the saved, we scatter for the purpose of the lost. The church service is geared for believers, but a sign should be placed over the exits of our church: "You are now entering your mission field."

This thought brings us to our third point: The mission of the church, which is reaching out to the lost. The classic text along these lines is found in Matthew 28. We call it our Great Commission - Although in many churches it should be called the Great Omission: "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age'" (Mt. 28:18-20).

The evangelization of the world to Christ is our mission. This means we are to prioritize the need to get the gospel into the hands of the lost and trust the Holy Spirit to bring them to salvation. We have a responsibility to get God's truth to those overseas through our missionaries and also to get the gospel to those in our own Jerusalem through the members of this church. This is a primary responsibility we all share. Are you obedient to Christ for doing your part in this mission?

I personally believe many of you are. Yesterday we witness dozens from our church at Lake Como Day, not to mention the countless that are frequenting the boardwalk to share their faith. I know many of you are witnessing to your family and friends and coworkers and neighbors.

In your bulletin we are advertising a "Fundamentals of the Faith" class for those interested it or new to the Christian faith. This is another tool you can use to disseminate the basic truths about Christianity to those in your life. Russ has been conducting evangelism training classes. Many of you have learned "on the job" so to speak by going out with our experienced evangelists from this church.

My time is coming to an end, but Matthew 28:18-20 helps us put this entire sermon in perspective. Jesus did not leave His church clueless or without a strategy. According to Matthew 28 we are to go. We are to seek out the lost in the hopes of winning them to Christ. We are then to baptize those who profess Jesus as their Savior (we'll be celebrating that in three weeks right here at this church). Then we are to teach them to observe all that Christ commanded us. We covered this in the first half of the sermon when we spoke of equipping and maturing the saints.

The goal of our church is not to add converts, but rather to add fully equipped mature disciples of Christ prepared to make a difference in the kingdom as they make more disciples of Christ. That is our Lord's purpose for this church, is it yours?

In Matthew 28 Jesus concluded, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mt. 28:20). We have His word on it. His power will not fail us. He will build His church and use us in the continual cycle of reaching the unsaved with the gospel and maturing them into fully committed disciples.

In keeping with the military metaphor that began this sermon, R.C. Sproul once said, "The most effective churches that I know are churches where the ministerial staff devote many hours in training and mobilizing their congregations to be mighty armies of saints, as they minister to a dying world" (Ephesians, p. 103).

When you gave your life to Christ, you enlisted in God's army. You are on the winning team, but that does not negate your responsibility to look away from yourself and follow the Lord by fulfilling His expectations for the church.