“What are the ordinances of the church?”

Series: The Church [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

August 25, 2019

Introductory Comments:

In my office, I have some different pictures of my family. I don’t have those pictures because I forget what my family looks like. I can identify them in a lineup at any time. I have pictures of them because I love them and I want to focus on them. 

We’re continuing our series on the Church where we are learning what it means to be the church of Jesus Christ. 

Today, we will learn about the ordinances of the church. We’re going to learn that the ordinances of the church help us remember and focus upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Before we get into this, let’s pray together and ask God’s Spirit to lead us. 

(prayer)

At First Baptist Church Bartow we believe that there are two ordinances of the church, and we will look at both of those this morning. 

Before we get into the two specific ordinances, let’s talk about what ordinances are. 

Our first area of concentration is this:

I. The ordinances of the church are opportunities to focus on the Gospel. [on screen]

Many of you may not know what an ordinance is when it comes to the church. You may hear the word “ordinance” and think of a city ordinance. 

Well, that’s not what we’re talking about this morning. 

We call these ordinances because they were ordained, decreed, or commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ. These two ordinances are clear from the lips of Jesus Himself, as we’ll see later in the sermon. Anytime Jesus says to do something we must pay attention. 

These two ordinances, or sacraments as they are sometimes called, are not only ordained by Jesus Himself but they are also beautiful reminders of the Gospel and they are opportunities for us to focus on the Gospel. Listen to what the Bible says about this: 

Speaking of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus says in Luke 22:19 “ . . . Do this in remembrance of me.” [on screen]

Also, we’ll talk about this more later, but Paul says of baptism in Romans 6:5, “For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.” [on screen]

The ordinances help us focus on Jesus and His work. 

We’ll see this even more as we explore the ordinances in just a moment. 

The early Protestant Reformers used to say that the ordinances were visible words of the Gospel. I like that. We hear the Gospel preached with audible words and see the Gospel displayed with visible words through the ordinances. 

So, we hear the Gospel preached through sermon and Bible study, we sing about the Gospel through musical worship, we fellowship because of the Gospel, we give for the sake of the Gospel, and we see the Gospel displayed in the ordinances of the church. 

Let’s look now at the ordinances. 

First, . . .

II. We remember the Gospel in the Lord’s Supper. [on screen]

The beginnings of the Lord’s Supper go back to the last meal that Jesus and His apostles would share before His crucifixion. 

Jesus and the apostles were all Jewish and they were preparing to celebrate the Passover meal: the meal which remembered God’s grace in passing over the people of Israel when all the first-born of Egypt died, and they remembered God’s deliverance of them from Egyptian slavery. 

The apostles did not fully understand that they would soon celebrate a greater Passover found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

So, they gathered together and Jesus spoke of what was to come in His crucifixion. Listen to the account of this in Matthew 26:26-30. 

26 As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 But I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until