A Model Church For A Modern World

Introduction

Singing it like we mean it. I mean, that’s that’s the way to sing that song. Good job, Ed. Before I begin tonight, one more thank you I’ve left out in our multiplication of our video system. Is Chris and Timothy helped run the wires and put up the TV over here so that they could see it. Our young people can see it now. So I appreciate them for their efforts in that, Gary’s minor involvement there. No, Gary did a great bulk of the work too, and we appreciate these guys for what they’re able to do. We have a few visitors tonight who weren’t here this morning. We thank all of you for coming. And we have a spot filled that was empty this morning. They made it back, John.

They’re here, watching your kids for you. But it’s it’s good to have everybody here tonight as we continue the thoughts that we began this morning from that grand text of Ephesians chapter 3, verse 21. One of my favorites in the New Testament. I have a lot of favorites, but one of my favorites in the New Testament, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. To all generations, forever and ever. Amen. And now I take you to 1 Timothy 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 15. This may be a familiar text as well. 1 Timothy 3 15. Paul is writing the young evangelist, and in case he might be delayed, he says, now, Timothy, I’m writing this so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

The way you and I conduct ourselves as the people of God contains some significance, does it not? And the way we conduct ourselves corporately, and whether what we do together and individually is a reflection of truth, is the only way, as we saw this morning, that we can adequately give glory to God. Knowing what the church is by God’s design will help us significantly from corrupting his intentions. And that’s what this lesson is about tonight. To be the model church and to avoid many of the areas in which God’s design has been corrupted by folks in the name of trying to serve him and please him. My question is, how does God build a church? How does God build a church? Is the church with whom I am involved, and that’s really the way we ought to say that, is the church with whom I am involved, is it really of Christ?

A church is not of Christ, merely because a sign says so. Now, when all of the debating has been done as to whether the sign needs to say church of Christ, and there are a lot of folks today who think that they can be more effective in doing God’s work by saying simply, for example, the Decker Prairie Church and putting that on the sign. Because of Christ carries some stigma attached to it. You know, after all, as has been said about those who claim to be church of Christ, they think they’re the only ones going to heaven. And my argument of that simply is everybody who is of Christ pleases the Lord. But again, just because the sign says that doesn’t mean that it’s so. But if you’re truly of Christ, both collectively and what we do corporately together and how we live our individual lives, then we’ll be pleasing to God.

But you have to be of Christ for that to be so. And so when all the debating about that, you know, people have all kinds of misconceptions and misunderstandings because of that name on the sign. So here’s what you do. You take of Christ off, and guess what? They still have all the same misconceptions and misunderstandings that they had before. And they’re going to ask this, Decker Prairie Church. What kind of church? The same thing they’re going to ask anyway. And they’re still going to have denominational concepts that have to be explained in terms of what the Bible teaches. We’re going to have to do a better job of talking to people about the Lord’s church and its undenominational nature. That we’re talking about, that’s a proper name on the sign.

And that’s why we put big C for church. But really, it’s little C. Church is usens, as we can say out here in the Hicks area here. We’re usens, we’re the church. And you know what? When we unassemble here in a little while, we’ll still be the church. We’ll just be unassembled. We’re the called out body of believers. And you know, yes, we’re to be the pillar in support of truth, as we read in this place, but as we go out there, we’re to be the pillar in support of truth by the way that we live and by the way Timothy conducts himself and the way we are to conduct ourselves, as Paul writes there. I’ve just got to say something else about removing of Christ from the sign.

I said, you’re still going to have the same problems. And at the same time, I’m a little concerned about removing of Christ. What’s wrong with that? Now, having said all of that, I’m a little concerned that we may appear to, and I know that wouldn’t be the purpose of those that have done it, but we may appear to people. You know, they’ve driven by this sign a hundred million times, people up and down, hard and store road. Those people aren’t of Christ anymore. They used to be of Christ. Now they’re not of Christ anymore. I’d hate to send that kind of signal, wouldn’t you? And again, in evangelism, is that really going to help you? Perhaps that stigma exists, oh, those church of Christ people. Not because Christians have been mean, rude, and unkind.

Let us not be mean, rude, and unkind in our attempts to reach people. Let us be humble as we try to dispense that saving message. More on that in a moment. Oh, there’s probably been occasions when people have been mean, rude, self-righteous, and unkind, but we’re not going to be that way. And I don’t know anybody in this group that way. But a lot of times that stigma is attached because people have heard truth. And they did not like what they heard. They heard the firm foundation. And they didn’t like it. And they didn’t like the implications of what they’ve heard. And so they have a negative thought in their mind about church of Christ. So I’m a little concerned about moving of Christ from the side.

Now, having said that, let’s go to the other side. I get a little concerned when people of the Lord’s body have denominational concepts about the Lord’s body. We’re not right because we’re church of Christ. And people start talking about church of Christ this and church of Christ that, and they think just as denominationally as the world does. Again, we’re little see church, and we’re only of Christ if we are the pillar and support of truth in our lives. It’s always what Christ thinks about us that makes us a church, the Decker Prairie Church of Christ. And we learn that from those two chapters that address the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3. And I’ll tell you, at least five of them were struggling to be of Christ.

He had some warnings to issue. He told them they needed to repent or their candlestick would be removed. And that’s really what matters. Oh, but it says here at Sardis, and I don’t know if they had a sign or what the sign might have read. It may not have said church of Christ. I don’t know that they even had a sign where they meant, met. But they couldn’t have said, well, we’re the start of church of Christ. It’s written right out there on the sign. Jesus said, you better wake up. You have a name, that you’re alive. But you’re dead. And it’s always going to boil down to this. And I’ll tell you what else those letters tell us. Doesn’t necessarily mean that we were vibrant and alive in the past.

We might have been vibrant and alive in the past, but not vibrant and alive in the present, like the Ephesian church, too, that had left their first life. We may have really been of Christ at some point, but strayed away from that. Again, it’s what Christ thinks about us right now. So getting back to our question about how God builds a great church. One and only one way. When people, when people submit and obey. And that’s what we were talking about this morning. Christ being the head of the church, which is his body. Him being the head, that means us in the body are submitting to the direction that the head is telling us to go. That’s the only way to build a church. Now you can say we have a church, and you can put Christ on the sign or any other biblical name.

But that doesn’t make it so. That doesn’t mean the Lord regards it as so. That’s the only way a church can be built. And people talk about restoring the New Testament church. The only way it can be restored in our time is when people submit and obey. And that’s what brings him glory. And I will just add this little addendum. Just because you’re recognized on the roll, because you are considered a member of a local church. A church that claims to be of Christ does not mean that the Lord approves of you necessarily. And again, the letters to the seven churches bear that out. There were only a few in Sardis who had not soiled their garments. And so this lesson is going to warn about three faulty approaches that result from a misunderstanding of the nature of the church.

1. It's Not About Attracting the Masses

And when you understand the nature of his glorious church, you will know what it is and what it is not about. The model church for a modern world. A lot of folks have the concept that it’s about attracting the masses. So many today have changed the way they do church to be more appealing to the outsider. The danger with that kind of an approach is that it usually means compromise because you’re going to have to alter what the church is by God’s design to make it attractive to many outsiders. And that’s why in our modern times, I didn’t know this too much when I was a kid, and that wasn’t very long ago. Live bands. How many churches? I don’t know that I ever heard of one, maybe one or two, but had live bands and contemporary worship.

Oh, there were youth groups sponsored by churches and sponsored by the treasury of the local church. And there were some social programs and services, but man, that thing has blossomed into all sorts of stuff in our time. We’ve got divorce recovery, grief, counseling, daycare for kids, and by all means, brief and entertaining lust. And church is about, and you see this all the time now in advertisement. Church is about. Church is happy. Church is providing the consumer what he wants. More about that in point three. Is it about the numbers? Does God want people for people’s sake? Let me tell you a story in the Bible that says that ain’t so. And I’m not going to have to spend a lot of time here.

The flood. You know, that’s pretty big boat. We could have gotten some more folks in there with those animals. Eight souls. Eight souls. God numbered them for us. Eight souls saved by water. 1 Peter 3 mentions that. There were a lot of people that died when that flood came. Eight souls. If that doesn’t tell us anything, God doesn’t want numbers for numbers’ sake. And when you start bringing in numbers for numbers’ sake, I’ll tell you what you’re going to get. You’re going to bring in folks in the church who are not of Christ. That’s what’s going to happen. And sometimes what the church needs is subtraction. Like in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. When the immoral person in Corinth was being tolerated because of his, even though he was practicing sexual immorality that people in the world would unapprove of.

So if we just start appealing to people who don’t really want to build the church, the Lord’s way, and how is that again? Submission and obedience. Who don’t really want to submit to him in every respect and truly let Christ be the head of the church and the head of their lives? You start compromising that, and you’ll bring people into the fold who are not really of the fold. Is it numbers for numbers’ sake? In John chapter 6. Jesus, the crowd is swelling, the crowd is growing. He says, You seek me because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life in John chapter 6. And then as a result of the hard teaching that he did about discipleship, many withdrew and would not follow him anymore.

And he said, He didn’t say, Oh, come back, come back. I need the numbers. I need the people. He turned to his disciples and said, His closest followers. What about you guys? Will you also go away? Does that story tell us it’s just about numbers? For numbers’ sake. One of the greater problems local churches have always faced and will always face are people within her number who are not pursuing Christ’s likeness. One more passage in this vein. 2 Peter chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 8, when it talks about applying all diligence with your faith and add to your faith those various qualities, he says, if these qualities are yours and are increasing, 2 Peter 1.8, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You know what that passage says by implication? There are some within the body of Christ who leave off in the pursuit of these things. They stop giving diligence to their faith, and they become what? Barren and unfruitful. And we learned in John chapter 15 what happens to the person who becomes unfruitful. He’s cut away from the vine in John 15. That’s always been something that’s plagued the Lord church. And I’ve got to tell you, frankly, I’m concerned about those of us who are second generation Christians. There’s really no such thing. I told you that before. I mean, really, it’s about you and the Lord. It’s first generation. But if we grew up among the Lord’s people, sometimes we can find ourselves just going through the motions because we’ve always gone through them and not invest ourselves fully in our faith.

And I’ll tell you, if we’re not being like Christ, even in such areas as envy and jealousy, we don’t put those up there in the big sin category. You know, we know those are the sexual sins, lust and homosexuality and adultery. That’s the big stuff. But James said, where there’s jealousy and envy, there is disorder and every evil thing. That can be in a local church who has on its sign we’re of Christ. So that’s not what it’s about. Point number one concludes here. A model church for a modern world involves humble seekers. Those who simply humbly want to submit to the king, Jesus Christ, who want to be imitators of God as beloved children. And everything that follows that in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 1, walking in love as Christ did, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, they want to have their footsteps, their thinking, their behavior, their attitudes, their perspective about life governed by the Savior Jesus Christ.

2. Corrupting God's Blueprint With a Humanitarian Emphasis

Humble seekers of truth. And regardless of what that means in their lives and where that takes them. We don’t want to fill this building with those who don’t want to seek after Christ. We don’t want to bring in proud folks who won’t submit themselves to the will of God. Or we won’t be of Christ if we compromise his message. Point number two. There’s Ephesians 5. Point number two. So many folks today want to corrupt God’s blueprint for the local church by developing a humanitarian emphasis. Tell you why I think that is. People want to feel good about their church. And if they can be active providing things for the community that seems to be helping them, things that they like, then they feel like we’re doing some good.

And so many churches have developed this societal focus where we’re going to help out the community. People are hungry. And so we start a food pantry. How generous is that? We’re going to feed hungry people in the Decker Prairie Tombaugh community, Magnolia. If you’re hungry, we’ve got a food pantry, we’ll give you some food to eat. How generous in giving. But don’t you think about this? What if we’re feeding people who are refusing to work? Lazy.

Paul would say, if a man doesn’t work, neither should he eat. And here we are dispensing food to the lazy. And I want to tell you, that’s being done in some places. We’re not helping those folks by encouraging them in laziness. Now, if you think being Jesus’ disciple means that you need to volunteer in this kind of fashion. Well, there’s soup kitchens and there’s places in our communities, downtown Houston, you can volunteer to be a server at those kinds of places. That’s what you think Christianity has to involve for you. And certainly, if we see a brother or a sister in need, we’re to respond to that need and not wait for the church to do it. James chapter 2. Just our whole attitude toward the poor needs to be that of compassion.

And yes, there are some people without opportunity and without advantage, and they need assistance. But listen, the church, as a collective entity, was never given that responsibility by the Lord. And again, it comes down to submitting to his blueprint. When it comes to meeting the physical needs of people, it was always limited to those who are in Christ. The widows of their number in Acts chapter 6. The widows that were spoken of in 1 Timothy chapter 5, who were widows indeed. Or the poor saints in Judea. It was called a ministry to the saints in 2 Corinthians. There’s no ministry to non-saints like this anywhere in the New Testament. The reason why is when you feed a hungry stomach, guess what happens tomorrow? That stomach gets hungry again and again and again.

And I’ll tell you what Jesus said: the poor you have with you always. Remember when Judah’s subjection was to Mary’s lavish anointing of the Lord? Oh, we could have taken this expensive perfume and we could have sold it for a lot of money and we could have given to the poor. And Jesus said, No, she has anointed me for my burial. This is a unique occasion. I’m about to die. She has anointed me for my burial. He says, The poor you have with you always. Perhaps that’s the reason why he did not give the church a mission to feed the hungry people of the world. And the people they did assist in a financial way in meeting needs was always saints. But I want to tell you, even that wasn’t all saints in every circumstance.

You read 1 Timothy 5.16. You mark that verse down. You take it home and you read it. 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 16. This is God’s blueprint. When he says, if a widow has dependents, let them assist her. And then what follows that? Some of you know what follows that.

You circle that verse. There’s no other verse like it in the New Testament. You circle that verse. That’s a part of the blueprint. That tells us something very important right here. Let not the church be burdened. This is not our overarching mission to feed hungry people, not even our own people. Let dependents do that. Her own family, if at all possible. Now he doesn’t say, get her, let her be overlooked, let her be neglected. He’s not saying that. He’s just saying, let not the church be burdened. Now, what is the implication of that statement? Instead, the Lord’s church is about dispensing the information that saves people’s souls. Again, the church is the pillar and support of truth. That’s our overriding mission. What did Jesus say about his words?

He said, if you asked of me, I would give you living water. And that living water would swell up inside a person unto eternal life. He said, I am the living bread. Do you see the implications of those statements? Probably getting a little thirsty. Somebody’s probably already gone to the water fountain. If you’ve gone to the water fountain since 5 o’clock, well, it says 6 o’clock back there. Almost 6 o’clock. If you’ve gone to the water fountain, guess what? You’re going to get thirsty again. You’re going to eat a meal shortly, hopefully. And guess what? Tomorrow morning you’re going to wake up, you’re going to get hungry again. Going to need to eat again. You see, here’s what Jesus came to provide. Satisfying our thirst. Satisfying our hunger.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. And I’ll tell you what we’re about. We’re about providing what people need to satisfy their greater hunger and thirst spiritually. And I’ll tell you, if we don’t do that work, or if we get distracted in this humanitarian emphasis, who else is going to do that work? How many groups out there are dispensing truth that sets free? Very few. And what is done here is about dispensing eternal life in the message that we give. To know Him, to know God and His Son, His eternal life, as we saw last week in John 17 and verse 3. We’re giving a message that is soul reviving, life elevating, and hope giving. That’s our mission, folks, as a church.

3. Corrupting God's Design With a Consumer Mentality

Let’s not get sidetracked in what the world applauds and what our government wants us to be as a church. Let’s be God’s model and God’s design, his blueprint in a modern world. And now we hinted at this in point number one as we come to our final point tonight. A lot of folks want to corrupt God’s design by developing a consumer mentality. So many folks come to church with the consumer mentality. People make decisions where they will worship on the basis.

Don’t think folks numbered among those of Christ haven’t also developed that mentality. What can the church do for me? If that is your focus, you need to change it. Need to change it right now.

Today’s consumer wants to get lost in the crowd sometimes. They don’t want to do too much. They don’t want too much to be expected from them. They seek a marginal, occasional, even a minimal commitment. It’s my time, and I’ve got ways I want to spend it. They want the services to be lively and entertaining, including the preaching, and yes, we should strive and give every effort and give our best to God. But every sermon will not be scintillating and entertaining and fun when you are dispensing the whole counsel of God. Everything that is profitable. Acts 20 and verse 20, Acts 20 and verse 27. The issue is not what can the church provide for me. It is not what can I get, but what can I give?

Not what I can collect or receive, but what I can contribute. Listen. This must not be viewed as a place of taking.

This should instead be viewed as a place of giving. This is not about how people can serve me. This is about how I can serve others. And most local churches I’ve known have struggled with the consumer mentality to some degree. People continually assessing things in the local church on the basis of how things have been done to me. They’ve never invited me into their home. They didn’t invite me. They didn’t speak to me. Who have you invited? Who have you gone out of your way to speak to? Let me tell you. What that reflects, that attitude, that’s me. And that’s not his blueprint for the church. I’ll tell you even further. That nauseates our Lord. Do you think it was me? When he was about to die on the cross and he went around that room and washed every one of those apostles’ feet, including the one who was going to betray him?

Was that all me? Was that all me when he died upon the cross? When you’re busy serving, you don’t have time to care about who is serving you. The amount of the sacrifice, the extent of the challenge doesn’t matter. I would most gladly spend and be expended for your souls, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 15. We’ve got to rid ourselves of this mentality of how people are reacting to me. It’s not of Christ. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, Jared quoted on Wednesday night. Choose you this day whom you will serve. I will tell you what attitude you have is your business. But I’ll tell you what we each need to decide. I’m going to have a servant’s heart.

Not the consumer mentality. And not because I’m special, but because Jesus is something special and I owe him everything. I’m only doing what I ought to be doing, as we talked about last Sunday night. As long as we are devotees at the shrine of self.

Take up your cross, Jesus said. And follow me. Verse 25: He who wishes to save his life shall lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake shall find it. And I want to tell you that has to penetrate to our whole lives. It has to penetrate into our homes and the way we live there. So often there’s a disconnect. Those kinds of thoughts are for church only. When church is assembled and assemblies. No. It’s a way of life. Take up your cross and follow me. Lose your life for my sake and find it. So many times, people instead of the servant’s heart have the attitude, well, I’m not going to sacrifice and I’m not going to serve in this marriage unless the other person does, unless he or she serves too.

That’s not it. That’s not the serving heart. I’m not going to be kind and submissive. Because they’re not kind. I’m not going to display loving leadership. I’m not going to take anything on the chin ever. After all, I’m an American. Don’t I put up with that? I’m not going to turn the other cheek. I’m not going to patiently endure the errors of others. I’m not going to love my enemies. I’ll give lip service to praying for my enemies, but I won’t really pray for them. I’m not going to deny my lusts. But I’m going to continually give in to what self wants. I’m not going to serve like Jesus did. But I’m still going to be a member of the church of Christ. No, you’re not.

And it doesn’t matter if your name’s still on the roll. It’s all about me. And I’m still going to attend the worship services regularly because it’s right. But the fact is, when it’s me, it isn’t right. When Jesus spoke of the model church, he said, by this, all men will know that you are my disciples. And he wasn’t talking about lip service to love. If we say we love God, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. That is severe. Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and truth. Being the Lord’s church is about truth. We saw that this morning. Being the Lord’s church is about diligence, as we saw in 2 Peter chapter 1.

Conclusion

It’s about prayer. And what all of those things are about is about being godly. God focused in our lives. If I might summarize what it means to be the church in any era at any time, I would start with these things right here. Your choice to love God and submit to his truth is where your involvement in his glorious eternal plan begins, and your determined, enduring pursuit must follow.

And all I can tell you is they’re tough for me too. What I said about Matthew 16, 24, and 25, those are some of the hardest verses to live. But if we’re going to be of Christ, we must pursue those things. Don’t develop the consumer mentality. We must develop a servant’s heart to truly be like Jesus. Make me a servant. Just like your son. If that’s the kind of heart you have, and you’re still outside of Christ, you need to submit to his will. That’s how churches are built. And by your obedience to the Lord, your turning from sin and repentance, you’re being baptized. You can be a part of his glorious church and begin bringing glory to God the way he intended. If we can assist you in doing that, come now as we stand and sing.