What Does a Church Do? - Part 3

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This sermon is the fifth sermon in a series of messages on the Church of Jesus. The series has been describing what a church is and what it does. This message continues the theme of the previous two messages in talking about the mission of the church and the tasks involved in fulfilling that mission.

Written Excerpts:

Introduction:

We have been taking a look at the church of Jesus for the last few weeks, trying to define it and describe it according to the Scriptures. Remember that even though the titles of each sermon read, “a church” to emphasize each individual/local church; yet, keep in mind that the points we are making also apply to “the church” as a whole.

Isn’t it amazing that the Son of God went back into heaven after His resurrection and left the job of reaching the rest of the world to a small group of disciples? It really is phenomenal that the gospel has spread as much as it has. The Lord is truly the head of His church and He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. (Gates are defensive; not offensive “weapons.”)

In the passage of Scripture that was read a little earlier [Acts 11:19-30] I see several things worth noting before we continue with the outline I’ve been using in these messages.

1. There was a “scattering” after the persecution arose; but the people who were scattered took the message into new areas. If the persecution hadn’t happened the scattering wouldn’t have happened, and the new disciples wouldn’t have happened.

2. When the Jerusalem church heard about the new converts, they sent representatives to “encourage” them, and even more people became believers.

3. There is mention of Barnabas and Saul (Paul) teaching the disciples for a year, and the impact in the city was great enough that the disciples got a new “nickname.” – “Christians.”

4. When hard times hit because of famine, the Christians rise to the task and provide relief – carrying out the same kind of compassionate work that Jesus did when He was on earth.

This passage is a small representation of the kind of thing that has characterized the church ever since its beginning.

Today I want to continue our discussion of the things that a church does. I remind you again that I have been using the term “community” with each of the tasks we’ve mentioned just as an added emphasis on the fact that what the church does, it does as its individual members work together in community.

We have already mentioned:

I. The church is a worshiping community.
II. The church is a sacramental community.
III. The church is a disciple-making community.
IV. The church is an accountability community.

There is no doubt a number of other things we could mention that would be included in the tasks, purpose and mission of the church, but I want to just focus on 3 more today.

V.        The church is a nurturing community.

In one sense of the word, the church nurtures each other whenever they hold each other accountable as we talked about last week. But there is more than accountability involved with nurture.

I’m going to go through a quick review of Scriptures that include the words, “one another,” which I shared a number of weeks ago. These verses provide prime examples of the kind of things the church ought to be doing as it nurtures its members.

(This is not an exhaustive list of responsibilities that believers have toward each other.)

A.        Love one another

Jn. 13:34   A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 

Jn. 15:17 These things I command you, that you love one another. 

Rom. 12:10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 

Love is much more than saying nice words (although we ought to be saying nice things). It is more than warm fuzzy feelings. It is doing loving things and treating each other in a loving way, even if we don’t feel all that loving at the moment.

Remember there is such a thing as “tough love.” This probably gets more into the area of “correction” and “accountability” that we talked about last Sunday.

B.        Serve one another

Jn. 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another’s feet.

Gal. 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 

These verses emphasize the matter of trying to find ways to be a servant for one another. Jesus said whoever will be greatest, let him be servant of all.

C.        Unity with one another

Rom. 15:5 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 

1 Cor. 12:25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 

In other words, do not treat some people in the body better than others – that would destroy unity and foster offenses.

D.        Comfort one another

Heb. 3:13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 

1 Thess. 4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. 

1 Thess. 5:11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. 

The pastor should not be the only person that calls or visits those in the congregation who are missing church or going through tough trials and adversity in their lives.

E.        Pray for one another

Gal. 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 

This undoubtedly means doing more than pray, but prayer certainly is the primary way we help carry burdens.

Jam. 5:16 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. 

VI.       The church is a witnessing community.

When we talk about the church being a witnessing community, we are obviously including the task of disciple-making that we spoke about last week. To make disciples, we must witness to the unsaved/lost about Jesus and lead them to a saving faith in Christ before we can disciple them and instruct them in how to live out the faith.

But, witnessing involves more than helping people know Christ (evangelism), and teaching to follow Christ (discipleship). Witnessing also involves being the “light of the world” and the “salt of the earth.”

Matt. 5:13-16 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. ¹⁴ You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

The church needs to be the tool that God uses to shine the light of truth on the lies, deceit, and perverse ideas of the world. The church needs to be a witness for godliness and morality in a culture that is going farther and farther away from standards of moral decency. The church needs to be proclaiming God’s standards of holiness and righteousness for people to follow as portrayed in His Word. But far too often the church is following the standards of Hollywood just like the rest of the world.

I’ve quoted Dr. Francis Schaeffer before, but he states in one of his books (The Great Evangelical Disaster), “there was a segment of the church that simply accommodated the ideas and standards of society and provided no confrontation or challenge to it.”

(goodreads.com/quotes) "Truth demands confrontation. It must be loving confrontation, but there must be confrontation nonetheless.” ~ Francis Schaeffer

The church should and must stand up and witness the truth about the sanctity of life, about the sanctity of sexuality, and about the sanctity of liberty. The church should witness to the truth of a biblical worldview in spite of the godlessness that permeates all areas of life around us.

It does not matter who seeks to destroy these timeless truths. They may be educators or movie stars, judges or politicians, Republicans or Democrats. We are dying spiritually and morally in our society because far too long the church has not adequately witnessed to the truth.

(Sharon Herald, 2/19/20) The movie is a romantic comedy, about Stewart’s character, Abby, planning to propose to her girlfriend, Harper, at a holiday party – even though Harper has not yet come out to her conservative parents.

VII.     The church is a praying community.

Lk. 19:45-46 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, ⁴⁶  saying to them, "It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"

Mk. 14:38 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 

Lk. 18:1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 

Acts 6:4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word." 

Acts 12:5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. 

1 Tim. 2:1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 

This is just a sampling of Scripture regarding the need for prayer among God’s people. 

A search in the NT for the number of times the word “pray” (or some form of it) appears, and the result was 159 times.

Genuine, biblical, sincere prayer changes us and brings us closer into alignment with God’s Word and God’s will. Prayer is our main weapon in the spiritual warfare against the powers and principalities and spiritual darkness in this world. S.D. Gordon said, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you can’t do more than pray UNTIL you have prayed.

We’ve seen answers to prayer here among our people. We know that God has answered prayers that we have prayed time and again. But I believe we haven’t seen anything close to what God wants to do if he can only find church people desperate enough to intercede in prayer.

Conclusion:

I have been trying to describe what a church does. 

I would say that many of us are doing most of these things that we’ve talked about. But I happen to believe that none of us have risen to the level of dedication to God’s mission that we can and ought to reach.

Closing song: Make Me a Blessing