Sermon Audio

If someone said, “The Bible nowhere says that God is a Trinity.” How would you prove that person wrong? No verse in the Bible says, “God is a Trinity.” So, could you demonstrate it from Scripture? Of course you can! You would take all that the Bible says about the nature of the Father, The Son, and The Spirit, and when you put it all together, the only way to make sense of it all is the doctrine of the Trinity. Sunday, we will see the same is true with church membership.

Last week, we discussed the authority and responsibilities that Christ has given to every local congregation. We highlighted that every local congregation has the authority and responsibility to protect right doctrine, install and remove officers, and protect its membership and ministry. This Sunday, I will explain why we have formal church membership at FBC and why churches throughout Christian history have believed it scriptural. While it’s true that there isn’t a specific verse saying, “Thou shalt join a local church,” the concept of an identifiable membership in a local congregation is everywhere in the New Testament. The word “member” is used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, as Paul describes the local church in Corinth as the body of Christ there. However, we often associate the word “member” with joining a club. When we look for that kind of membership in the New Testament, we certainly don’t find it. The New Testament picture of a local church’s covenant membership is more akin to embassies of a grand kingdom rather than a club or organization. When all of Christ’s commands for the local assemblies are brought together, having a defined, mutually understood membership is necessary for a church to obey all that Jesus commands for the gathered congregation.

This Sunday, we continue our study on the doctrine of the church and how we are called, as a congregation, to make disciples for God’s glory. If you have not heard the previous two sermons on the church, I would encourage you to listen to them on the podcast or the church’s website. The first sermon dealt with the nature of the church, and the second, the church’s mission and purpose. Each of these sermons builds upon the previous foundation. This Sunday, we examine what Scripture says regarding church polity, a crucial aspect of our understanding of the church. Polity refers to the church’s organization and governance. If you surveyed 100 churches, you would find vast differences in how the church is organized and governed, even among godly, Bible-preaching churches. If we all read from the same Bible, why is this so?

Simply put, two sets of texts speak of human authority and governance in the local church. One set speaks of the congregation as the earthly authority, and the other speaks of the pastor or elders’ authority, calling the congregation to submit to them. There is so much variation in how churches govern themselves because some elevate the congregational texts over the texts that speak of elders. Therefore, some churches refuse to follow the pastors that God has given and are characterized by divisions and disunity. These churches fight or split because of the carpet color, the photocopier, or any number of day-to-day decisions.

On the other side, some elevate the texts about the pastor - elders’ authority over the congregational texts, and you have pastors who rule like kings. The pastor’s word is law and imposed on the church, which leads to cult-like dictatorships and often ends in leaders abusing authority & damaging the church in a myriad of ways. This is not the model of authority that Jesus intended for His church. This Sunday, we will take the biblical texts regarding congregational and pastoral authority and show how they harmonize with one another to give us the complete picture of Jesus’ commands for the polity of the local church. Christ has given the local church as His instrument to make disciples; therefore, seeing the whole picture is imperative. This Sunday will be far more informational than exhortative as we examine the authority and responsibility Jesus has given us all in order that we may function as a body, every member working together.

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Last week, we examined the nature of the church and saw that the New Testament overwhelmingly stresses the local church rather than the universal in its teachings. The Bible does speak of the church as the invisible, worldwide, universal body of all believers everywhere, but never to the exclusion of the local churches, which are the only place the exhortations, commands, and blessings can actually be lived out. We also studied several descriptions of the church (body of Christ, bride of Christ, temple of God) and saw how they apply to both the universal and the local church. This Sunday, we ask, "What is the church’s mission," and, "Why does the church exist?" Jesus succinctly gave the church’s mission right before He ascended into heaven. At the very end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus provides the church with her marching orders (Matt. 28:18-20). We are to make disciples. That is the church’s mission. Therefore, everything we do must contribute to that mission or spring from it. Sunday, we will discuss what making disciples means and how we do that as a congregation, not just individually. Making disciples is our mission, but that is not why we exist as the church. Our purpose in all things is to glorify God. God created everything, including His people, to glorify His name. To demonstrate this, we will examine several passages (Isa. 48:9-11; Eph. 1:3-14) but focus on 1 Peter 2:9-10. There, Peter calls the church God’s chosen race, His royal priesthood, and His holy nation - Then, he tells us why the church has been given these titles and responsibilities. "...that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (v.9). Finally, we will see how the church makes disciples and glorifies God as a congregation in the example of the first local church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:42-47). I understand this is a lot of information to absorb in one sermon, and I tend to talk fast. So, below, I have given my outline and verse references (also attached to this email in printable form) if you want to take notes easily or study the passages beforehand. May God be glorified in our hearts and assembly this Sunday

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For the next few months, we will be doing something very different from our regular practice at FBC. Over the past seven years (with a few pauses), we have worked expositionally through the books of the Bible. The preaching of God’s word in this way must remain the steady diet of the church as we strive to feed on the whole counsel of God. That is not going to change. But, for some time, I have been convicted about neglecting to teach what Scripture says about the church, who we are called to be, and what we are responsible for doing as a congregation. So, over the next seven or eight weeks, we will examine what the Bible says about the nature of the church, its governance, its mission, offices, ordinances, membership, and discipline. To do this, instead of taking a book and work verse by verse, we must do "systematic theology." Systematic theology is examining a subject or doctrine that is taught progressively all through the Bible by bringing all the relevant texts together to understand it as a whole. This approach, while necessary, is not without its challenges. It is easy to take verses out of context when we are not studying straight through a book. But this type of study is necessary to get a full orbbed, view of what the Bible says about certain truths. One of which is the church. Our ultimate goal in this series is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the church as revealed in the Bible, and to be faithful to what God has called the church to be and do. Jesus is passionate about His church and we must be too, for the church is God’s chosen instrument to glorify Himself in the world. In Ephesians 3:9-10, Paul says that God appointed him to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, and continues saying, "9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

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On October 22, 2023, we began the book of Hebrews. This Sunday, almost a year later, we come to the final passage in the book. Throughout the book, the author shows Jesus’ superiority over all things. With exegesis of multiple Old Testament passages, he proved that Jesus fulfills God’s purposes in the Old Covenant and His promises in the New Covenant. Then, the Hebrew Christians were urged to run with endurance and endure suffering as God’s loving discipline because Jesus is better. Chapters 12 & 13 were filled with commands demonstrating what it means to live like Jesus is better. If Jesus is better, let brotherly love continue, aid those in prison, honor marriage, and obey your leaders. In 13:18-25, the final section, through the author’s request for prayer and his prayerful benediction, he explains where the power comes to live like Jesus is better. Though we are to emulate godly examples and understand right doctrine, the power to follow Christ faithfully comes only from God. Before concluding his "word of exhortation," the author himself asks these readers to pray for him and his companions because they desire to act honorably in all things. Even the author, who has been exhorting these wavering Christians in truth, knows he cannot live faithfully without the power of Christ and the prayers of the saints. In the same way, he prays that God would "equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever" (v. 21). In this benediction, we see that the faithfully maturing Christian life (that endures hardships as discipline and acts honorably in all things) only grows strong as it grows more aware of its weakness and more dependent upon Christ in all things. "Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things" (v. 18).

I. Pray For One Another (v. 18-21)

II. Depend Upon God’s Power In Christ (v. 20-21)

III. Closing Remarks That Reveal His Heart (v. 22-25)

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