Be Active as a Part of the Church!

Sermon Series: I’m Supposed to do WHAT?!?!

Sometimes people will ask very serious questions but do so beginning with wrong presuppositions.  One of the questions that I think many people wrestle with is the question, “Why do I keep gaining weight?”  Many people who ask this question struggle to find an answer because they have begun with a presupposition that says, “My lifestyle is such that I should not be gaining weight.”  When they ask the question, “Why do I keep gaining weight?” they do so believing that their current habits and lifestyle shouldn’t be causing them to gain weight.  As a result they won’t consider the type of food they have in their refrigerators or their pantries.  They won’t consider how often they are eating out at fast food restaurants.  They won’t consider their exercise habits or their daily routines.  They begin with the assumption that those things are fine - that their eating and exercise habits and daily lifestyle is better than most other people’s and so they shouldn’t struggle with weight gain.  That’s bad thinking and bad reasoning.  And while that may seem like a silly example, the reality is that kind of thinking and reasoning takes place more often than you would imagine.  So we have to be careful to avoid that kind of thinking and reasoning.  One of the things that we must be as believers in Christ is good thinkers.  A lot of what our culture believes about God and the Bible is inaccurate.  And a lot of their (and sometimes even our) inaccurate understandings are the result of bad thinking and bad presuppositions.  One area where this is particularly true is our thinking on, understanding of, and belief about the church.  Chances are that you have experienced this first hand and may not have even realized it.  Many of you, when you are talking about church or inviting someone to church, have probably encountered one of our culture’s most popular rebuttals, “I just don’t believe in organized religion.”  I’m going to argue this morning that that objection is the result of bad thinking and reasoning and that as believers in Christ we do need to be actively involved in a sound, Bible believing and teaching church that is active in ministry. 

(My guess is that when many of you hear that you immediately ask the question ‘why?’  “Why do I need to be actively involved in a church?”  My objective today is to help you answer that question by asking right questions and finding the answer to those questions in Scripture.)

When people object to church or ‘organized religion’ it’s often because they have asked the question, “Why do I need organized religion?” and haven’t found an answer that they can get really excited about.  Let me suggest from the start that while this is a popular question for both those who believe in Christ and those who do not believe in Christ it is not the right question to be asking.  Listen to the question again, “Why do I need organized religion?”  At the heart of that question is a very self-centered presupposition.  When an individual starts to ask that question he or she has taken the stance that the things in life are ultimately purposed for us.  What’s really being asked is “How is church or organized religion going to benefit me?”  And when they begin to try to answer that question there isn’t an answer that makes church or religion stand out from other groups or activities that they may be involved in.  They look at church and see a list of rules and regulations – a bunch of things they can’t do.  They look for affirmation and acceptance – but too often they just find judgment and condemnation.  Their friends at work or the people they meet at the bar are far less judgmental and far easier to get along with.  They look for a place where they can be made much of or where they can find great delight – but they can find these things in places outside the church and outside of religion.  So what’s the big deal?  Where’s the need?  Church and religion just don’t seem all that beneficial to them.

I know a guy who really wrestles with this question.  If you asked him if he believes in God he would say ‘yes.’  But neither he nor his wife sees any value in being involved in a church.  They have a group of friends which provide them with a sense of community and acceptance.  They have restaurants and bars that they like to visit where they find enjoyment and fun.  And while they might admit that church could provide a sense of community and a time of enjoyment, they also believe that church or religion might place upon them rules and regulations that these other places don’t.  So they choose to pursue God in their own ways, by their own means, and without being involved in a larger group of Christians.

Let me be clear that there are personal benefits to being involved in a healthy church.  When you’re involved in a healthy church there is an incredible sense of community and fellowship.  When you’re involved in a healthy church there is incredible support and strength as you are involved in doing life together with other believers in Christ.  When you’re involved in a healthy church there is an incredible sense of purpose and joy as you pursue God’s kingdom work and see how God works through your group.  There are incredible personal benefits to being a part of a church.  But if we try to compare church with things that our culture offers we’re never going to find that the church entertains us or makes much of us as well as some of the other things in our culture.  But the good news is – those are just the answers to the wrong question that we’re asking.  That’s why we have to start asking the right question.

I would argue that a better question to ask is, “Why did God choose to establish and use the church rather than send us out as lone ranger Christians?”  There is a significant difference between this question and the question we opened with.  At the heart of this question is God.  I would argue that this is a much better question to begin with because when an individual begins to ask this question he or she has taken the stance that the things in life are ultimately purposed for God.  The individual is looking to answer a question about God and His purposes instead of attempting to answer a question that puts his or her preferences first.  The individual is also able to look to a subjective, unchanging source – the Bible – for answers.  When attempting to answer the question, “Why do I need church or organized religion?” each individual will answer that question differently making an absolute answer impossible to arrive at. 

My desire in the rest of our time is to look at a text of the Bible and to attempt to answer the better question, “Why did God choose to establish and use the church rather than send us out as lone ranger Christians?”  The text I think will best help us answer this question is Ephesians 4 and as we examine the verses there I’m going to suggest that God chose to establish and use the church rather than send us out as lone ranger Christians because the church is better equipped than individuals to represent God and to bring Him glory.  And if that is true then our active participation in and involvement in church is important for the glory of God.

As we begin investigating Ephesians 4 I want you to look at Paul’s word choices with me and pay attention to how closely our salvation is tied to our partnership with other believers.  Paul begins in verse 1 by saying, “I . . . urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called . . .”  What is the calling that Paul is making reference to here?  It’s the call to salvation by grace through faith in Jesus, right?  So in other words Paul is saying, “I want you to live in a manner worthy of your calling to salvation.”  God has called us to saving faith in Jesus – and how we live should now reflect that.  Now listen to the words that Paul uses in verses 2 and 3.  “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  There is no need for humility, gentleness, or patience if God has called us to ‘lone ranger’ Christianity.  Humility, gentleness, and patience are absolutely essential though if one is going to be in relationship with and partnership with other people.  Then Paul uses the phrase ‘bearing with one another’ and the words ‘unity,’ and ‘bond.’  Those are all words that imply close relationships with other individuals.  Paul understood our salvation to encompass more than just the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternity with God.  Paul understood that after receiving God’s gift of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ there would no longer be a ‘lone ranger’ mentality.  When we receive God’s free gift of salvation we are saved from sin and it’s consequences, but we are also saved to be a part of the church.  Now look at the language of verses 4 through 6.  “There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”  Paul begins verse 4 by saying there is ‘one body.’  That’s important because in just a few verses he is going to distinguish between the idea of a ‘body’ and the individual ‘members’ or parts that make up the body.  Paul puts that phrase at the beginning of several other single things that we as believers stand firmly in our belief in.  We believe in one Holy Spirit.  He is the third person of the Trinity as revealed to us in Scripture.  There aren’t many different spirits that dwell within those who have received salvation.  I don’t get one while you get another.  If that was the case we would have two BIG theological problems.  Either God doesn’t really dwell in each believer in Christ in the form of the third Person of the Trinity (which is what Jesus promised before He ascended into Heaven) and we are inhabited by little ‘s’ spirits instead of the big ‘S’ Spirit.  Or each of us is inhabited by a separate big ‘S’ Spirit of God, but then God no longer exists as a Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) but rather as Father, Son, and Holy Spirits – with as many Spirits as there are believers – which certainly doesn’t line up with what the Scripture teaches.  So we stand firm in the belief in one Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, who ultimately is our one hope.  Our hope in salvation is that we who were once far from God and separated from Him might be reconciled to Him and brought back into a relationship with Him.  If the one Holy Spirit is residing in us that is evidence that our one hope is sure – our sins have indeed been atoned for and God has in fact drawn close to us again because He is dwelling inside of us.  So we steadfastly affirm one Spirit, one hope, and one Lord – Jesus Christ, the only one who can provide salvation.  He alone took on flesh and humanity.  He alone lived a life of perfect righteousness and was without any sin.  He alone bore the sins of humanity.  He alone endured the wrath of God for sin.  He alone shed His perfect blood and died as a substitute.  And He alone rose again defeating both sin and death.  There is no other Lord and Savior than Jesus, the Son of God.  In addition to affirming these things we also steadfastly affirm one faith.  Jesus makes an incredibly exclusive statement in John 14:6 when He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  It’s impossible to misunderstand what Jesus was saying here.  He wasn’t saying that he was ‘a’ way, ‘a’ truth, and ‘a’ life.  The presence of the direct article before each of those words in the Greek is incredibly clear.  There is only one way of salvation and that is through faith in Jesus.  Now you can choose not to believe it – but you can’t make an argument that that isn’t what Jesus meant when He said it.  We stand steadfast in our belief in one saving faith.  God isn’t on top of some hypothetical mountain that all religions are leading up to.  There is one way to God and that is through faith in Jesus Christ.  Then Paul says there is one baptism.  We believe in that as well and recently had a message on that.  For time’s sake we aren’t going to dive into that right now, but I’d encourage you if you missed that message to check out the blog under the resources tab at escalatechurch.com and read the sermon overview posted on August 1^st titled Get Baptized!  And finally Paul says there is one God and Father.  These are things that Paul says we as believers in Jesus steadfastly affirm.  And when it comes to one God, one Lord, one Spirit, one hope, one faith, and one baptism we say ‘yes’ and ‘amen.’  But there are so many of us who hear ‘one body’ and we say, “well that’s debatable.”  Paul says that we are saved to be a part of one body – the church!  And when we walk in a manner worthy of our calling to salvation we are going to be doing that in active participation in a local church!

Verses 7 through 14 give another strong piece of evidence for why God chose to establish and use the church rather than send us out as lone ranger Christians.  In those verses we find that God has given believers in Christ unique spiritual gifts for “the equipping of the saints.”  Read those verses and then pay particular attention to what Paul says in verse 7.  Paul says, “but grace was given to each one of us . . .”  Paul explains here that every believer in Christ is the recipient of a grace gift.  What Paul is writing about here is different from the grace that is extended to us in salvation.  Yes, each individual who trusts in Jesus as Lord and Savior receives a gift of grace – salvation.  But every believer in Christ also receives a grace gift from God that He intends to be used for the good of the church.  In verse 11 he gives some examples of some of the grace gifts that God gives, “and He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers . . .”  The calling and gifting as apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers are examples (not a comprehensive list) of some of the grace gifts that God gives to certain believers in Christ.  As Paul continues into verse 12 he continues to expound on why God gives those unique grace gifts to each individual – “to equip the saints.”  To equip the saints for what?  “For the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”  Are you tracking with what Paul was explaining to the church at Ephesus.  Not only was grace given for salvation and to be a part of the church, but uniquely given grace gifts are given to each individual believer in Christ so that they can each play a part in building up the church.  We are to work together as a church to bring those who haven’t trusted in Christ to saving faith in Him (“until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God”) and to help those who have trusted in Christ as Savior and Lord to grow in the maturity of their faith (“to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” – vs.13).  When those who are not believers in Christ come to faith in Him, it brings great glory to God the Father as the author of our salvation.  And when those who were once far from God are able to draw close to Him once again and grow in the likeness and image of Jesus it brings great glory to Him.  Being the church therefore has everything to do with the glory of God and very little to do with our own wants and desires.  That is why Escalate Church is committed to striving to Lift Up, Build Up and Grow Up.  Our strivings as a church are for God’s glory – not our own.  We are striving to ‘Lift Up’ the name of God in our praise and worship, ‘Build Up’ the kingdom of God by proclaiming the good news of the Gospel to those who have not trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and ‘Grow Up’ those who have trusted in Christ in the maturity of their faith.  We are committed to those things because we believe that is why God has established and chosen to use the church and that we accomplish those things better when we are cooperating together as the church.

Verses 15 and 16 provide a third piece of evidence for why God chose to establish and use the church rather than send us out as lone ranger Christians.  In those verses we find that God designed individuals to be different parts of one bigger body in which Christ is the head.  The establishment of the church wasn’t just something that happened by accident.  God designed the church and did so like a body.  When God created our bodies He made different parts to do different things.  When those different parts are doing what they were designed to do, it causes our bodies to work well.  The lungs have to be doing their job in order for our bodies to receive oxygen.  The heart has to be doing its job in order for our bodies to receive blood.  Our eyes have to do their job in order to see.  And our ears have to do their job in order to hear.  You get the picture.  This is exactly what Paul articulates in his letter to the church at Corinth.  The Corinthian church had started to misunderstand their grace gifts.  They believed that the gift one received had direct correlation to how highly God esteemed them.  They taught that some grace gifts were of greater value than others and that each individual ought to aspire to have the ‘greater’ grace gifts.  But in Paul’s first letter to this church he spent some time straightening out this misconception.  He explains in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 that they each received specific grace gifts from God as a part of His design and that they shouldn’t aspire to have a different gift, but that they should work hard at using the gift God has given them as a part of the church so that the church can function as it ought to for the glory of God. 

We have to be honest enough with ourselves to understand that the question, “Why do I need organized religion or the church?” is a bad question to ask.  It starts with a faulty presupposition that assumes the things in this life are purposed for us.  Then we have to be willing to ask the better question, “Why did God choose to establish and use the church rather than send us out as lone ranger Christians?”  At the heart of this question is the right understanding that the things in this life are purposed for God.  And the answer to that question is God chose to establish and use the church rather than send us out as lone ranger Christians because the church is better equipped than individuals to represent God and to bring Him glory.  The church is here to bring God glory.  And as believers in Christ the one thing that every one of us ought to be committed to is bringing great glory to God.  The Bible teaches that the best way for us to do that is by being actively involved in a church.  So if we are serious about bringing great glory to God we’ll be serious about being an active part of a church.  The last question is simply are you willing to make that commitment.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” – Hebrews 10:24-25