Our rescue by Jesus should result in a life that looks like Jesus and that leads others to Jesus...

This week we have been looking at the eighth statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This eighth statement addresses what we believe as a church about what is referred to is church mumbo jumbo talk as “Christian living”. This statement summarizes the answer to the question “How are we supposed to live as followers of Jesus? What should drive how we live out our lives as followers of Jesus here on earth?" The eighth statement of our doctrinal statementstates:

We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.

So far, we have discovered that God’s transformational activity in our lives not only rescues us from our rebellion so that we can experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for. In addition, God’s transformational activity in our lives results in us living lives that increasingly reveal and reflect Jesus.

As followers of Jesus, we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion not because we brought anything to the table. Instead, we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion because of God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world through His Son Jesus. Also, while good works do not result in salvation, the good works that flow from God’s transformational activity in our lives provide the proof of salvation. We were rescued by God so that we would live our lives in a way that is engaging in God’s kingdom mission to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to others.

In addition, we discovered that, because we were created in God's relational image, we show our love for God by how we love others around us. That is why, for Jesus, what is most important when it comes to obeying God is not an either or proposition; it is a both/and proposition. We show our love for God when we love our neighbor. Conversely, we show a lack of intimacy with God when we are indifferent or hostile toward our neighbor.

You see, when we love God with our total being, In addition, we show and reveal our love for God by how we love and serve others. Our doctrine and theology should be evidenced in how we live our lives in relationship with fellow followers of Jesus and in relationship with those who are far from God. As followers of Jesus, we are called to care, love and serve the poor and marginalized that are in our midst. The church has a responsibility to reflect Christ’s heart for the poor and the marginalized by meeting their pressing needs as well as sharing with them their profound need for Christ.

We also discovered that the letters that make up the Bible reveal for us the reality that there are spiritual forces that are opposed to God, the Kingdom of God and followers of God. In church mumbo jumbo talk, this is often referred to as Spiritual Warfare. Simply put, spiritual warfare is a multidimensional war against selfishness, rebellion and sin that every follower of Jesus experiences. As followers of Jesus, we are constantly in a battle against the world, which are those things in the world around us that are at odds with God and place themselves in opposition to God. In addition, we are constantly in battle with our flesh, which is our old selfish and rebellious nature before we became followers of Jesus, and the devil and his forces.

We achieve victory over these forces that oppose us as followers of Jesus requires allowing the Holy Spirit, through prayer and reading and reflecting upon God’s Word, to expose areas of selfishness and rebellion and the areas of vulnerability to those areas of selfishness and rebellion around us. As God reveals areas of either selfishness or rebellion, or vulnerability to the world, the flesh or the devil, as followers of Jesus, we are to confess that selfishness and rebellion and reject the lies that the world, flesh or devil are trying to sell us.

Then, as followers of Jesus, we are to replace the lie that is being sold to us with the truth of the message and teaching of Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we have been armed with the presence of the Holy Spirit, the truth of the message and teachings of Jesus, and the power of prayer, to win the spiritual battle against the forces of evil that oppose Jesus and His followers.

But not only do we live our lives as followers of Jesus on the defensive against the spiritual forces of evil. In addition, we are to live our lives as followers of Jesus on the offensive in order to advance God’s kingdom mission in the world. This is what is stated in the final sentence of the doctrinal statement that we are looking at, which states “In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed”. We see Christ’s commission to His followers recorded for us just a few chapters later in the gospel of Matthew. Let’s look at that commission together, beginning in Matthew 28:18:

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."

Now whether you regularly attend church or whether this is your first Sunday in church; whether or not you regularly read the Bible, you are probably at least somewhat familiar with what Jesus says here. You are probably familiar with Jesus words here because this is one of the two sayings of Jesus that are described with the adjective great. Jesus here is giving His followers a mission; and that mission is to make disciples of all nations.

The phrase “go and make disciples of all nations” in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally reads “as you are going, make disciples of all nations”. God is not commanding us to go. God is commanding us to make disciples as we go. In other words, as followers of Jesus, we are to strive to make disciples, or followers of Jesus, as we are living our day to day lives in the spheres of influence that we have been given.

Now a natural question that arises here is “well how are we supposed to make disciples? And how do we know that we are actually being successful in making disciples?” First, we are to make disciples by going to those who are far from God. Whether at home, at school, at work, or in our relationships; in whatever sphere of influence we have; we are commanded to live our lives as missionaries that are engaging, investing, and inviting those who are far from God to become followers of Jesus. We do not need to go to a foreign country to be a missionary. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be missionaries wherever we are. And in your day to day life, God has already positioned you in areas of influence where you can be a missionary to those who are far from God.

Second, we are to make disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism, as we will discover later in this series, is an outward act that serves to publicly identify one as being a follower of Jesus.  So a major part of discipleship is to be used by God to bring those who are far from God to a place where they place their confident trust in God’s transformational activity and publicly identify themselves through baptism with Jesus as a follower of Jesus and with the kingdom mission that He has given us as His followers.

Third, Jesus explains that we are to make disciples by “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you”. Now the word observe, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to persist in obedience. In other words, a disciple of Jesus will naturally grow in their faithfulness and obedience to Jesus over time. While there may be occasions where a follower of Jesus commits sin, a follower of Jesus, over time, will live a life that is becoming more like Jesus in character and conduct.

And as followers of Jesus and as a church, we are called to create environments where people are able to understand and embrace the message and teachings of Jesus in a way that results in their spiritual growth and spiritual good. That is why we are such huge proponents of community groups here at City Bible Church. That is why we create environments such as the Adult Bible Fellowship and Kids Konnection on Sunday mornings. That is why we create environments such as AWANA and Fusion student ministries. We desire to create environments where followers of Jesus can explore faith, grow in their faith, and experience and become a part of a genuine and authentic community of followers of Jesus.

At the church where I serve, we summarize how we engage in God’s kingdom mission to make disciples this way: “City Bible Church is a city within a city that is striving to reveal and reflect Christ as we love and serve the city”.  We are a community of believers that desires to reveal and reflect Jesus in word and deed. We are a community of believers that has been strategically placed here by God to engage our community with the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel in a way that reflects Jesus. We are a community of believers that has been given a kingdom mission to love and serve our community in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus in real and practical ways to our community.

We desire to be a church that creates environments where we can love and serve our community in real and practical ways that provide an opportunity to share the love of Jesus and the message of the gospel. And we desire to be a church of missionaries that are genuinely and authentically following the message and teachings of Jesus in our spheres of influence in a way that is investing and inviting those who are far from God to come to experience the forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

Now this leads us back to the question that will run throughout this series, which is “Dave does what we believe about the how we live our lives as followers of Jesus really matter?” And the answer to that question leads us to a timeless truth about why it really matters. And that timeless truth is this: What we believe about how we are to live our lives as followers of Jesus really matters because our rescue by Jesus should result in a life that looks like Jesus and that leads others to Jesus.

You see, what we believe about how we live our lives as followers of Jesus really matters because we have been rescued by Jesus so that we can live in a relationship with Jesus that reveals and reflects Jesus in our character and conduct. What we believe about how we live our lives as followers of Jesus matters because we are to live our lives in a way that loves God with our total being and that shows our love for God by how we love and serve those among us.

What we believe about how we live our lives as followers of Jesus matters because we are to live our lives as the hands and feet of Jesus that meets the pressing and practical needs of those around us so as to expose their profound need for Jesus as they see Jesus in us. What we believe about how we live our lives as followers of Jesus matters because we are to live our lives in a way rejects the lies, temptations and desires of those things that oppose Jesus so that we can reveal Jesus by our response to those lies, temptations, and desires.

And what we believe about how we live our lives as followers of Jesus matters because we are to live our lives in a way that leads others to follow Jesus and experience a growing relationship with Jesus that comes as a result of experiencing forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that they were created for through Jesus.

So here is a question to consider: How are you living your life as a follower of Jesus? And do you think that how you are living your life as a follower of Jesus matters?  

How "Doing" flows from "Loving"...

This week we are looking at the eighth statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church, which summarizes the answer to the question “How are we supposed to live as followers of Jesus? What should drive how we live out our lives as followers of Jesus here on earth?" So let’s look at this eighth statement of our doctrinal statement together:

We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.

Yesterday, we looked at that the phrase God’s justifying grace refers to God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world which results in a person being declared “not guilty” of having a problem with God as a result of their selfishness and rebellion. By contrast, the phrase sanctifying power refers to the process where a follower of Jesus is becoming more and more like Jesus in character and conduct.  

In addition, we saw that justification and sanctification are not separate in time, as God transformational activity in our lives that results in us being declared not guilty of having a problem with God also brings us into a relationship with Jesus that results in us becoming more like Jesus as we live a life that loves and serves Jesus and others.

God’s transformational activity in our lives not only rescues us from our rebellion so that we can experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for. In addition, God’s transformational activity in our lives results in us living lives that increasingly reveal and reflect Jesus.

We also saw that while good works do not result in salvation, the good works that flow from God’s transformational activity in our lives provide the proof of salvation. We were rescued by God so that we would live our lives in a way that is engaging in God’s kingdom mission to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to others. Now a natural question that arises here is “Well how exactly do we know what those good works are that God has prepared beforehand for us to be doing?”

That’s a great question, which leads us to the second sentence of the doctrinal statement that we are looking at this morning, which states “God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed.” We see Jesus Himself provide the answer to this question in Matthew 22:37-40:

And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment. "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'  "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

Notice Jesus answer here. Notice Jesus does not say that the most important thing is to try harder and do better. Jesus does not say that the most important thin involves either knowing or doing. Instead, in verses 37 and 38, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, which was part of the Hebrew Schema. The Schema was the Jewish people’s confession of faith. The schema would be recited by all Jewish people as part of their daily prayers and was committed to memory.

This answer would not have surprised those listening and would have seemed like the right response. But Jesus did not stop there. Instead, Jesus continued His answer by departing from the Schema to quote a seemingly obscure verse of the Law found in Leviticus 19:18. Not only did Jesus seem to be changing the Schema by adding this verse, Jesus was stating that this verse held equal weight and significance as the Schema.

The problem for the Pharisee’s, and us today, is that Jesus did not say that these two commandments were an either or proposition. Jesus did not give us the option to be on the fence, uncommitted, apathetic, or an agnostic toward God as long as we loved our fellow man. The idea of loving God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind conveys a sense of total commitment. We would communicate this thought today by saying that we should love God with our total being. So, on one hand, what was most important when it came to following God was to love God with their total being.

On the other hand, however, Jesus did not say that we could love God with our total being and be indifferent or hostile to our fellow man. You see, even though we have not seen God, His relational image is imprinted on each one of us. We were created for relationships, both vertically with God and horizontally with others in authentic community. And because we were created in His image, we show our love for God by how we love others around us.

That is why, for Jesus, what is most important when it comes to obeying God is not an either or proposition; it is a both/and proposition. We show our love for God when we love our neighbor. Conversely, we show a lack of intimacy with God when we are indifferent or hostile toward our neighbor. Now, if that was not enough, Jesus hammered this point home by saying that "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." But what does that mean?

During Jesus day, the Hebrew Scriptures were classified into three main sections; the Law, the Writings, and the Prophets. In essence, what Jesus is saying is that all of the commandments of God can be summed up in these two interconnected commands. But how can that be? So, can we just ignore the rest of the commands in the Bible if we just love God and one another?

Think of it this way: If what is most important to God in terms of obedience is loving God with our total being and loving our neighbor as ourselves, then sin would be defined as love of self over God and over our neighbor who was created in His image.  So, if that is the case, then let me ask you a question. If we were to live our lives consistently loving God with our total being and by loving our neighbor as ourself, would we ever sin? If we always loved God and others, would we lie? Cheat? Steal? Murder? Gossip? Slander? Be divisive? Commit adultery? Be involved in pornography?

You see, when we love God with our total being, He receives glory. As the source of life and the Creator and sustainer of all things, God desires, deserves, and demands our devotion. In addition, we show and reveal our love for God by how we love and serve others. The letters that make up the Bible are not simply about doctrine and theology that is to be preserved and taught in its purity.

The letters that make up the Bible reveal for us a life to be lived and a message to be proclaimed that is able to impact the world and transform lives. Our doctrine and theology should be evidenced in how we live our lives in relationship with fellow followers of Jesus and in relationship with those who are far from God. As followers of Jesus, we are called to care, love and serve the poor and marginalized that are in our midst. The church has a responsibility to reflect Christ’s heart for the poor and the marginalized by meeting their pressing needs as well as sharing with them their profound need for Christ.

Now a natural question that arises at this point is “Well Dave that sounds great, but how exactly are we to do that, because I really struggle with living out a life that loves God and that loves and serves others, especially those who are nothing like me?” That’s a great question, which the next section of the doctrinal statement that we are looking at this morning addresses: “With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil.”

The letters that make up the Bible reveal for us the reality that there are spiritual forces that are opposed to God, the Kingdom of God and followers of God. In church mumbo jumbo talk, this is often referred to as Spiritual Warfare. Simply put, spiritual warfare is a multidimensional war against selfishness, rebellion and sin that every follower of Jesus experiences. As followers of Jesus, we are constantly in a battle against the world, which are those things in the world around us that are at odds with God and place themselves in opposition to God. In addition, we are constantly in battle with our flesh, which is our old selfish and rebellious nature before we became followers of Jesus, and the devil and his forces.

How we achieve victory over these forces that oppose us as followers of Jesus requires allowing the Holy Spirit, through prayer and reading and reflecting upon God’s Word, to expose areas of selfishness and rebellion and the areas of vulnerability to those areas of selfishness and rebellion around us. As God reveals areas of either selfishness or rebellion, or vulnerability to the world, the flesh or the devil, as followers of Jesus, we are to confess that selfishness and rebellion and reject the lies that the world, flesh or devil are trying to sell us.

Then, as followers of Jesus, we are to replace the lie that is being sold to us with the truth of the message and teaching of Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we have been armed with the presence of the Holy Spirit, the truth of the message and teachings of Jesus, and the power of prayer, to win the spiritual battle against the forces of evil that oppose Jesus and His followers.

But not only do we live our lives as followers of Jesus on the defensive against the spiritual forces of evil. In addition, we are to live our lives as followers of Jesus on the offensive in order to advance God’s kingdom mission in the world.

Friday, we will see Jesus explain how we are to be on the offensive...

Rescued from rebellion toward transformation....

At the church where I serve we have been spending our time together looking at what we believe as a church as it is contained in the doctrinal statement of our church. This week, I would like for us to look at the eighth statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This eighth statement addresses what we believe as a church about what is referred to is church mumbo jumbo talk as “Christian living”.

This statement summarizes the answer to the question “How are we supposed to live as followers of Jesus? What should drive how we live out our lives as followers of Jesus here on earth?" So let’s look at this eighth statement of our doctrinal statement together:

We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.

Now as we have talked about throughout this series, to fully understand what is being communicated in this statement, we first need to understand what all the church mumbo jumbo talk words in this statement mean. So, as we have done throughout this series, I would like for us to break down this statement into parts so that we can come to a better understanding of what is being said here.

First, let’s take a minute and unpack the phrase “We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose.” God’s justifying grace refers to God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world which results in a person being declared “not guilty” of having a problem with God as a result of their selfishness and rebellion. As we talked about earlier in this series, we are declared righteous, or made right with God, and declared not guilty of having a problem with God as a result of Jesus willingness to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful life so God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life.

Thus God’s justifying grace results in a person entering into the eternal relationship with God that they were created for. By contrast, the phrase sanctifying power refers to the process of sanctification. Now sanctification is the church mumbo jumbo talk word for the process where a follower of Jesus is becoming more and more like Jesus in character and conduct.  This process of sanctification, or becoming more like Jesus in our character and conduct, is both positional and progressive in nature.

Positionally, we are sanctified, or set apart to be in relationship with Jesus and live like Jesus, at the moment that we become followers of Jesus. In addition, as we continue to grow in our personal relationship with Jesus, we experience the progressive aspect of sanctification over time as we become increasingly like Jesus.

And because of that reality, justification and sanctification are not separate in time, as God transformational activity in our lives that results in us being declared not guilty of having a problem with God also brings us into a relationship with Jesus that results in us becoming more like Jesus as we live a life that loves and serves Jesus and others.

Thus, while justification and sanctification may be thought of as separate theological processes or concepts, they are not separate experiences. You see, God’s transformational activity in our lives, not only rescues us from our rebellion so that we can experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for. In addition, God’s transformational activity in our lives results in us living lives that increasingly reveal and reflect Jesus. We see this reality most clearly in a section of a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to early followers of Jesus at the church of Ephesus. In Ephesians 2:8-10, we see the Apostle Paul say the following:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Now if you grew up in church or have spent any time in church, you are probably at least somewhat familiar with these verses. But what if we were to communicate these verses without the church mumbo jumbo talk words? What would these verses sound like?

If Paul was writing these verses in the language we use in our culture today, these verses would sound something like this: “You see, God demonstrates the abundance of His kindness and generosity toward you as a follower of Jesus in that you have been rescued as a result of His transformational activity through Jesus. Your rescue is the result of God’s transformational intervention and activity and not your performance. Your rescue is a gift from God and was not earned as a result of what you have done for God. So there is no reason for you to brag about why you have done. Instead your rescue should result in you bragging about God”.

Notice that Paul does not say that you have been saved by your faith. Instead Paul states that you have been saved through faith. In other words, faith is not a work that we do for God. Instead faith is placing our confident trust in what God has done for us through Jesus life, death, and resurrection.

As followers of Jesus, we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion not because we brought anything to the table. Instead, we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion because of God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world through His Son Jesus. So there is no basis for a follower of Jesus to brag about what they have done for God. The only basis for bragging is in what God has done.

Now so often, we as followers of Jesus tend to stop at verse 9. However, Paul is not done. Instead, in Ephesians 2:10, we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us the reality that as followers of Jesus, we have been created by God and rescued by God through Jesus for a lifetime of activity for Jesus, which God prepared before we created so that we would live our lives for Jesus. 

You see, while good works do not result in salvation, the good works that flow from God’s transformational activity in our lives provide the proof of salvation. We were rescued by God so that we would live our lives in a way that is engaging in God’s kingdom mission to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to others.

Now a natural question that arises here is “Well how exactly do we know what those good works are that God has prepared beforehand for us to be doing?” That’s a great question, which leads us to the second sentence of the doctrinal statement, which states “God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed.”

We see Jesus Himself provide the answer to this question in an answer to a similar question that He was asked in a section of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. Let’s discover this answer together, beginning in Matthew 22:34:

But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

To understand what is happening in this story, we need to understand the context in which this conversation is taking place. The Jewish religious leaders of the day, seeing Jesus as a threat to their power and positions, began to question Jesus and His authority in an attempt to undermine His growing influence. One group of religious leaders, the Pharisee’s, attempted to trap Jesus with a question about paying taxes to Caesar.

When Jesus avoided their trap of offending either the crowds or the Roman authorities, the Sadducees, the other leading Jewish religious group of the day, took their shot at discrediting Jesus and His authority with a theological question about His doctrinal position on the resurrection. However, the religious leaders plan to discredit Jesus was backfiring, as the growing crowds were amazed at Jesus teaching.

As the crowds continued to gather and grow in the temple, an expert in the Law approached Jesus to test Him with the question “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” This expert in the Law, a scribe, in essence asked Jesus “What’s most important” from God’s perspective?

Tomorrow, we will look at Jesus answer his question…

"What is the church supposed to be doing?"

This week we are looking at the seventh statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This seventh statement addresses what we believe as a church about the church. This statement summarizes the answer to the question “What is the church? Who can be a part of the church? And what is the church supposed to be doing?"

Wednesday we looked at a section of a letter in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Ephesians, where we discovered the timeless truth that what we believe about the church really matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world. You see, what we believe about the church matters because of the reality that even though God does not need us to do anything, God chooses to use us and invites us as followers of Jesus to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world.

We also discovered that how the church, which is made up of individuals throughout the world throughout history who have been rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separated them from God as a result of responding to what God has done through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and leader, reveals itself in the world is through local gatherings that meet in communities throughout the world.

 You see, the global church, which refers to all followers of Jesus who are a part of the church throughout the world, makes itself known in local communities throughout the world through smaller gatherings of followers of Jesus in the community which are known as the local church. However, for the local church to be the vehicle that God uses to reveal and reflect Jesus to the local communities that they gather in, those who are partners in the kingdom mission that God has given the church must be followers of Jesus. That is what is meant by the phrase “whose membership should be composed only of believers.”

While everyone can attend a local church, not everyone can partner and participate in every aspect and activity that makes up the kingdom mission that God has given the local church. Now a natural question that can arise at this point is “Well Dave that sounds great, but what exactly is the church supposed to be doing?” That is a great question. And in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Acts, we discover the answer to that question. So let’s discover that answer together, beginning in Acts 2:42:

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

Luke, who is the writer of this letter, brings us into this section of the book of Acts by revealing for us several timeless practices that these early followers of Jesus embraced as part of this new movement called the church. First, we see that these early followers of Jesus intentionally gathered together corporately. The early followers of Jesus began to gather together in the temple courts to meet together in community.

Luke tells us that these followers of Jesus gathered together in community to participate in three major activities. First, they gathered together devoting themselves to the apostles teaching. In other words, they gathered together to hear the Apostles share the message and teachings of Jesus. They gathered together in large groups in order to hear a preacher preach. Preaching has always been preeminent and prominent in the lives of followers of Jesus.

 Second, these early followers of Jesus gathered together in community for the breaking of bread. The breaking of bread here refers to the Lord’s Supper, or communion. Third, Luke tells us that they gathered together for times of corporate prayer. And in the same way today, as part of God’s community called the church, we are called to gather together corporately in community with one another to experience and encounter God through the preaching of His word, through the celebration of communion and through times of group and corporate prayer.

God grows, equips, and empowers His followers to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world through preaching, communion, and prayer as we gather together in community with one another as His followers. Luke then reveals for us several additional practices that these early followers of Jesus embraced in community together as part of this new movement called the church in Acts 2:44-45:

  And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.

Luke continues by stating that these followers of Jesus were gathered together in community and were selling their property and possession and were sharing with them all as they had a need. What Luke is revealing for us here is that the church recognized the needs of the poor and marginalized in their midst and took the necessary steps to minister to those needs.

The early church recognized that everything that they had was a gift from God and they chose to respond to that gift by investing their time, talents, and treasure towards meeting the needs of others and advancing God’s kingdom mission. And in the same way, as followers of Jesus we are to invest our time, our talents, and our treasure that God has so generously given us into His kingdom mission by ministering to the needs of those around us.

And this investment is not simply to be focused inward toward other followers of Jesus. We are to invest our time, talent, and treasure outward in a way that engages and invests in the lives of those who are in the community, but not a part of the community called the church. Luke then gives us an additional glimpse into the life of the early church in Acts 2:46:

  Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

Here we see Luke reveal for us the reality that these early followers of Jesus not only to gathered together corporately once a week in a community that was marked by genuine and authentic unity. These early followers of Jesus also scattered throughout their community to experience community with one another. Notice what Luke says in verse 46. The church was day by day continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house.

The church is to gather and scatter. The church is to gather for large corporate times and is also to scatter into smaller groups within the community. And as these early followers of Jesus scattered into their communities, they continued to connect with one another in the areas of influence that they had throughout the community. These early followers of Jesus were doing life together in community with one another.

This is why we believe so strongly in community groups here at City Bible Church. Community groups afford the opportunity for followers of Jesus to scatter into the community and develop intentional environments where people can grow in their relationship with God while developing encouraging relationships that foster accountability and spiritual growth in the community. And we are called by God to scatter into our communities so that we can be in a position to invest and invite people to be a part of what God is doing.

Luke then explains that these early followers of Jesus were praising God. These early followers of Jesus were responding to who God was, what He had done, and what He had promised to do by worshipping the Lord. And in the same way today, we are to respond to God’s transformational activity in our lives through Jesus Christ by living in a way that, whether we are gathered together corporately in community, or scattered into the community, is worthy of God as an act of worship to God that is pleasing to God.

You see, worship, simply put, is a response. Worship is a lifestyle lived in response to who God is, what God has done, and what God has promised to do. But not only were they praising God; Luke tells us that these early followers of Jesus were having favor with all the people. These early followers of Jesus were respected by all the people; by believers and nonbelievers; by religious and irreligious; by seekers and skeptics. Regardless of whether they bought into the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, this new movement called the church was respected by all the people.

And the respect that these early followers of Jesus had earned by being the good news in the lives of those who were far from God resulted in the opportunity for these early followers of Jesus to share the good news and be the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus and His message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel so that they would have the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for. We see this reality revealed for us in verse 47:

  And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Luke records for us that the Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved.  As these early followers of Jesus gathered together in community to hear the word of God, to pray for one another and to proclaim the message of the gospel through the celebration of communion; as these early followers of Jesus invested their talents and treasure serving God by serving others in community with one another; as these early followers of Jesus scattered throughout the community into smaller groups that invested their time living life together in supportive and encouraging relationships that fostered spiritual growth and accountability, God’s transformational intervention and activity was impossible to ignore.

Hearts were captured, lives were changed and transformed, and the number of people who became followers of Jesus grew. And, in the same way today, when we gather together in genuine and authentic community to worship the Lord and listen to the message and teachings of Jesus; when we scatter into smaller groups throughout the week to grow in our relationship with God while developing encouraging relationships that foster accountability and spiritual growth in the community; when we serve the Lord by serving others through the exercise of our spiritual gifts in ministry; when we invest and invite others to explore the claims of Christ and the message of gospel through evangelism; we are the church.

You see the church is not somewhere we go; the church is something we are. And what we believe about the church really matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world.    

So here is a question to consider: How do you view the church? Do you view the church as somewhere you go? Do you view the church as a place that provides you spiritual goods and services to consume? Do you only go to church because of that the church can do for you? Or do you view the church as something you are?

Do you view the church as a place to partner together with others followers of Jesus to invest your time, talents, and treasure for the good of others? Do you view the church as an opportunity to be a part of a community of followers of Jesus that are making a difference in the community for the advancement of God’s kingdom in the community?

Because, as we have discovered this morning, what we believe about the church matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world.

What we believe about the church really matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world...

This week we are looking at the seventh statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This seventh statement addresses what we believe as a church about the church. This statement summarizes the answer to the question “What is the church? Who can be a part of the church? And what is the church supposed to be doing?" So let’s look at this seventh statement of our doctrinal statement together:

We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

This week we are going to cover the first half of this statement. Yesterday we talked about the reality that we believe that the church is made up of individuals who have been declared not guilty and have been rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separates them from God as a result of responding to what God has done to rescue them from their selfishness and rebellion through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and leader. While everyone is invited to attend church so that they can hear the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel and explore faith, not everyone is a part of the church. To be a part of the church, one must have a personal relationship with Jesus as a result of believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

And as a result of being rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and leader, as followers of Jesus we are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, which is the next phrase in the statement that we are looking at this morning.

Now that led us to the next little phrase in this sentence, which is “of which He is the head”. In other words, as followers of Jesus, we are a part of the body of Christ, the church, and Jesus is the head of the body of Christ, the church. But what exactly does that mean? In a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Ephesians, we see the Apostle Paul provide to us the answer to this question? So let’s look at this section of this letter and discover the answer together, beginning in Ephesians 1:15:

For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might  which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,  far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

In this section of this letter to the members of the church at Ephesus, we see the Apostle Paul pray for the members of the church at Ephesus church to be filled with the knowledge of God in spiritual wisdom and revelation. So Paul here is praying that the Holy Spirit would give the members of the church of Ephesus that capacity to understand and live in light of who God really is. Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit would make fully known to the members of the church of Ephesus who God is.

In addition, as part of that prayer, Paul prayed that the members of the church at Ephesus would be able to wrap their minds around God’s inexhaustible power as seen in His Son Jesus Christ whom He raised from the dead and who is seated with Him in the Heavenlies. Today, we will look at what the Apostle Paul says next in verses 22-23:

And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

It is in these two verses that we see Paul answer the question “What is the church?” In the second half of verse 22 Paul reiterates the reality that God gave Jesus Christ as head over all things. But this morning, did you notice who God gave Jesus to: God gave Jesus, who is head over all things, to the church. In other words, God gave His son Jesus, who is large and in charge over all of the creation, to the church.

Now when Paul states that God brought Jesus to a position of being large and in charge over His church, it is important to understand that Jesus is not simply the CEO of an organization. Instead, Paul explains that the church is His body. You see, the church is not an organization. The church is an organism. The church is Jesus body, of which He is the head. The church is not mine. It is not the Elder’s, or the Deacon’s, or even yours as the congregation. The church is Jesus’. He does not sit on top of a board. As the head of His body, we are a part of Him.

You see, when we recognize who Jesus is and respond to what He has done to rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion by placing our confident trust in Jesus as our Lord and Leader, we become part of His body. And as part of His body we are a called out community of believers that is placed in a distinctive environment to be distinctively different. It is not by happenstance that we are here at this time, at this place. We were placed here by Jesus, as part of His body.

Now a question that could arise here is “Well, Dave, why would Jesus place us here?” Paul provides the answer to that question in the last half of verse 23 when he states that the church is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. But what does that mean? Now this phrase does not mean that we fill out Jesus, as though Jesus was lacking something that we needed to give Him. Instead, the meaning of this statement is much deeper, something mystical.

You see, the church is not somewhere we go, the church is something that we are. What the Apostle Paul is conveying here is that the church is the vehicle that Jesus uses to reveal Himself to the world. When we become followers of Jesus, we are united in Christ by the Holy Spirit and become part of His body. And as part our identity as a follower of Jesus, we experience God as we come together as the called out community called the church. And Jesus, by His Spirit, uses the church, which is His body, as a vehicle to reveal Himself to the world.

To try to wrap our minds around what Paul is saying here, let’s look at it from another perspective. When we read the gospels, we see what Jesus did in His body. We see God enter into humanity to take on flesh. We see Jesus filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit at His baptism to accomplish the kingdom mission that He was give to reveal and explain God to the world, die for our sins, and be raised from the dead.

When we come to the Book of Acts, we see what Jesus did in His body, the church. We see what followers of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit did to accomplish the kingdom mission that they were given. And in the same way, Jesus is still at work in His body, which is the vehicle that He uses to reveal Himself here in Bullhead City and throughout the world as we live our day to day lives as followers of Jesus.

Now this leads us back to the question that will run throughout this series, which is “Dave does what we believe about the church really matter?” And the answer to that question leads us to a timeless truth about why it really matters. And that timeless truth is this: What we believe about the church really matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world. You see, what we believe about the church matters because of the reality that even though God does not need us to do anything, God chooses to use us and invites us as followers of Jesus to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world.

Now this reality leads us to the next sentence in the statement we are looking at, which is “The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers.” In other words, how the church, which is made up of individuals throughout the world throughout history who have been rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separated them from God as a result of responding to what God has done through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and leader, reveals itself in the world is through local gatherings that meet in communities throughout the world.

You see, the global church, which refers to all followers of Jesus who are a part of the church throughout the world, makes itself known in local communities throughout the world through smaller gatherings of followers of Jesus in the community which are known as the local church.

However, for the local church to be the vehicle that God uses to reveal and reflect Jesus to the local communities that they gather in, those who are partners in the kingdom mission that God has given the church must be followers of Jesus. That is what is meant by the phrase “whose membership should be composed only of believers.” While everyone can attend a local church, not everyone can partner and participate in every aspect and activity that makes up the kingdom mission that God has given the local church.

Now a natural question that can arise at this point is “Well Dave that sounds great, but what exactly is the church supposed to be doing?” That is a great question. And in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Acts, we discover the answer to that question. We will look at that answer on Friday...

"The True Church?"

At the church where I serve, we have been spending our time together looking at what we believe as a church as it is contained in the doctrinal statement of our church. This week I would like for us to spend our time together by looking at the seventh statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This seventh statement addresses what we believe as a church about the church. This statement summarizes the answer to the question “What is the church? Who can be a part of the church? And what is the church supposed to be doing?" So let’s look at this seventh statement of our doctrinal statement together:

We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

This week we are going to spend our time together covering the first half of this statement. We will spend the final two weeks of this series addressing the second half of this statement, which refers to the Lord’s Supper, or communion and baptism. As we have talked about throughout this series, to fully understand what is being communicated in this statement, we first need to understand what all the church mumbo jumbo talk words in this statement mean. So, as we have done throughout this series, I would like for us to break down this statement into parts so that we can come to a better understanding of what is being said here.

First, let’s take a minute and unpack the phrase “We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone.” When this statement uses the phrase “true church” this phrase refers to the reality that just because a person attends church, that does not mean that they are a part of the church. And just because a person does not attend a church, that does not means that they are not a part of the church.

Another way that this concept is talked about is referred to as the visible vs. the invisible church. The visible church is comprised of all who claim the name “Christian” and who gather together for worship and participation in the Lord's Supper, or communion, and Baptism.  The visible church contains both believers and non-believers; that is, there are people in the visible church who are not really involved in a genuine and authentic relationship with Jesus as a result of being rescued by Jesus from the selfishness and rebellion that separates them from God.

By contrast, the invisible Church is comprised of those who actually have been rescued by Jesus and have a relationship with Jesus. You see, while we can visibly see everyone who is in church on a Sunday, it is invisible to us who actually has a relationship with Jesus and who does not have a relationship with Jesus. That is what is being referred to by the phrase “the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone.”

Now the word justified is a big fancy 50 cent theological word that simply means to be declared not guilty. How we are declared not guilty of having a problem with God as a result of our selfishness and rebellion against God is by God’s grace, which is the next phrase in this sentence. “God’s grace” refers to God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world to pursue and rescue fallen humanity throughout history through Jesus life, death, and resurrection.

And how we experience God’s grace in our lives is through faith in Christ alone. When we talk about faith, faith refers to placing one’s confident trust in the nature and character of God and His activity in the world that results in one believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

So, putting all these church mumbo talk words together, we believe that the church is made up of individuals who have been declared not guilty and have been rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separates them from God as a result of responding to what God has done to rescue them from their selfishness and rebellion through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and leader.

While everyone is invited to attend church so that they can hear the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel and explore faith, not everyone is a part of the church. To be a part of the church, one must have a personal relationship with Jesus as a result of believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. And as a result of being rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and leader, as followers of Jesus we are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, which is the next phrase in the statement that we are looking at this morning.

Now you might be thinking to yourself “What does that even mean?” As we discovered last week, one of the activities of the Holy Spirit in the lives of followers of Jesus is that the Holy Spirit unites us in Christ and to one another to form the body of Christ the church. This means, that, on a mystical level, when God sees His followers, He see them “in Christ”.

As we talked about a few weeks ago the phrase “in Christ” refers to the reality that when God the Father looks at us as followers of Jesus, He does not simply see us. Instead, He sees us in Christ. Right now, in a mystical and spiritual way, God the Father sees you, in Christ, in Heaven. As followers of Jesus we are part of the church, which is the body of Christ here on earth. But even now, we are mystically and spiritually a part of the body of Christ in Heaven.

Now that leads us to the next little phrase in this sentence, which is “of which He is the head”. In other words, as followers of Jesus, we are a part of the body of Christ, the church, and Jesus is the head of the body of Christ, the church. But what exactly does that mean? In a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Ephesians, we see the Apostle Paul provide to us the answer to this question? So let’s look at this section of this letter and discover the answer together, beginning in Ephesians 1:15:

For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might  which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,  far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

In this section of this letter to the members of the church at Ephesus, we see the Apostle Paul pray for the members of the church at Ephesus church to be filled with the knowledge of God in spiritual wisdom and revelation. So Paul here is praying that the Holy Spirit would give the members of the church of Ephesus that capacity to understand and live in light of who God really is. Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit would make fully known to the members of the church of Ephesus who God is.

In addition, as part of that prayer, Paul prayed that the members of the church at Ephesus would be able to wrap their minds around God’s inexhaustible power as seen in His Son Jesus Christ whom He raised from the dead and who is seated with Him in the Heavenlies.

Tomorrow, we will see the Apostle Paul reveal the answer to the question….