The Question for Today's Church, Part 7

We are looking at the question and quest for today's church, helping you come to grips with what is the kind of church that God himself commends versus the kind of church that God condemns. Based on our study of seven churches in Asia Minor, five of those churches were told to repent, all given a condemnation from the Lord, but two of them were not. Two of them were commended highly by our Lord. And so we have to ask ourselves the question as a church today, what kind of church are we? Are we the kind of church that God would commend?

If he was to write a letter to us, would he say, there are a few of you who, if you don't change, if you don't repent, I'm coming to your church. Or if Christ was to write a letter to our church, would he say, I commend you for your work of faith and your service of love and the desire you have to honor and glorify my name. What kind of church are we? So important that we understand what the Bible says concerning how a church is to be.

And so we've looked at that question and try to answer it by helping you understand that we must be a church where the word of God is absolutely paramount. That is God's word is highly esteemed above everything else, where the worship of God is is passionate, where the transfer of any kind of affection never even remotely exists in the lives of the people of the church, because they are sold out completely on adoring one individual. And that's Jesus Christ, our Lord, where the word of God is, is paramount, where the worship of God is passionate and where the will of God is preeminent.

That is a church desiring to fulfill God's will in their lives, yearning for his desire to take place in their lives. And then fourthly, where the ways of God, the ways of God in that church are prominent. That is, they yield to the decrees of God. They want to follow God's will. They recognize God's sovereignty, his control over all of life's events. And the work of God becomes very prominent in the life of that church. And then where the work of God among the people is prevalent, not only in godliness, but in giftedness, because we want to grow in our relationship with Christ and we want to serve others around us.

So the work of God becomes extremely prevalent in the church. The sixth principle is this. We need to understand that the church that God commends is a church where the witness of God is potent and pleasant, where the witness of God is potent and pleasant. In other words, there is great power exemplified in the ministry and outreach of that church. Listen, if the word of God is paramount and the worship of God is passionate, and the will of God is preeminent, and the ways of God are prominent, and the work of God is prevalent, the witness of God will be potent and pleasant.

In other words, God is at work in the life of the church in such a way that their outreach is astounding. And that's the kind of church that God commends. And that's why the Bible says in Acts chapter 1, all the things that the Lord Jesus began to do, all right, because He would leave it with the apostles to complete.

Yes, the work of redemption was completed by our Lord, but the work of reconciliation and the proclamation of that message continues through His church. And the book of Acts is a book about how it is the acts of the Spirit operate in the lives of people that are committed to following the Lord, where the witness of God is so powerful that it literally turns Jerusalem upside down, where the witness of God is so powerful that God, in spite of all the persecution the church faces, moves the church literally around the world to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.

We have to ask ourselves, is the witness of God potent in our lives individually as well as corporately? God knew that He would have to leave His Spirit with His men, that when He ascended up on high, He would give His Spirit to men. That's why He told them to tarry in Jerusalem until the Spirit of God would come, because they would need that Spirit to mobilize and to energize them as individuals. And so on that day when the Lord ascended into glory, He told His men to tarry in Jerusalem until they were clothed with the Spirit.

As you recall, in John chapter 20, the Lord said this to His men after His resurrection. He said, when Jesus came into them, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. And when He said this, He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. Now, when He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit, they did not receive the Holy Spirit at that time. It was a promise that He gave them. It was a pledge that He made to them, because the Spirit didn't come upon them until Acts chapter 2.

We know that because one week later they were still locked away in the same room, afraid for their lives. And so we know that the Spirit of power had not come upon them, because when you read the book of Acts, when the Spirit of God came upon them, they were never afraid again. They were so bold, they were so strong that the persecution and the threats to their lives never deterred them from their ministry, because the witness of God was so powerful in and among the church. And they knew that without that Spirit, they could not function.

Now, if you're with us on Wednesday nights in our study of Elisha, you know that Elisha, when asked by Elijah, when Elijah said, what shall I do for you? Elisha said, I need a double portion of the Spirit that's in you. That's what I need. I need, if I'm going to be your successor, I need to have the Spirit of power in me, or I cannot do the work, Elijah, that you have done. Elisha understood that. Elisha was able to grasp the fact that he was powerless in and of himself. Even though he had been called by God some 20 years earlier by Elijah, even though God had placed upon him the anointing to be the next great prophet in Israel, Elisha knew he could not accomplish what Elijah did unless he had the same Spirit of Elijah.

And sure enough, we know that when Elijah said to him, you've asked for a very hard thing, Elisha, very hard. Why? Because it's not easy to be a prophet of God. It's not easy to stand and speak for God. It's not an impossible thing, but it's not an easy thing. He says, if you keep your eyes on me, if you see me depart from you, then you will receive the gift. If you take your eyes off me, though, you won't receive the gift. Sure enough, as they were walking along, you know the story, Elijah was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind.

He was gone, and Elisha watched all the way because he was never to take his eyes off of his master. And symbolically, that refers to us too, because we never are to take our eyes off of our master, because he's our king. He is the all-powerful one. And so to be a church that God commends, the witness of God must be potent in the church. It must be potent in your life and in mine. It must be powerfully seen in our everyday life. And so we must understand, if that's to happen, number one, the call of God is authorized in your life and mine.

The call of God has already been authorized. Remember back in Matthew chapter 28, when our Lord said these words to his men, he said it very clearly to them because he wanted them to understand the importance of following the Lord. He wanted them to come to grips with the fact that all authority had 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, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I command in you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

So Christ says all authority has been granted unto me. Now, because I have all that authority, I'm now going to authorize you to go into all the world and make disciples. Literally translation, as you are going, make disciples, okay? The command is not to go. The command is to make disciples. The assumption is you're already going to be doing that because that's what believers do. They reproduce themselves. And so, therefore, as you go, make disciples. In other words, as you're going through life, as you're going through your ministry, as you're going through your daily activities, make disciples.

All authority has been given unto me. Therefore, I'm granting you that same authority to make disciples, to teach them, to observe all that I've commanded you. Peter said it this way over in 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2, verse number nine, Peter says it this way. 1 Peter 2, verse number nine, he says, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God.

You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Peter says, listen, your calling has been authorized because you are a chosen nation. You are a holy people. You are a holy priesthood. You have been designed to declare the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So Peter says, listen, because of who you are in Christ, because of his calling upon you as an individual, now you are to declare to the world the great things that God has done. The witness of God must be potent in the people of God.

In fact, it says this over in Matthew 16. Remember when Christ asked his disciples, who do men say that I am? And Peter says, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Well, Christ says something very unique to Peter.

He says, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. So Peter says, Christ says to Peter, I'm going to give you the keys.

If you have keys, you have authority, okay? You have the authority to open and to close. And so Christ says to Peter, I'm giving you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

The keys are based on the identity of Christ our Lord. You, Peter has said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, okay? That's who I am. Based on who I am, my identity, I'm giving you the keys to the kingdom, because how people respond to my identity is going to determine whether or not they are going to gain entry into heaven, or never make it into heaven. And that's why he goes on to say these words, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

In other words, you have the authority, Peter, to tell people their sins are forgiven based on who they say that I am. You also have the authority to tell them, no, you are still bound in your sins based on who I am. So Peter received the authority, and all men who are believers had that same authority, because we have the keys to the kingdom. And the keys are all centered around the identity and ministry of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and how it is he functions as he functioned among us. And so therefore, we as believers then have that authority to be able to tell someone, yes, you've been set free from your sins because of how you have responded to Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Or to say to them, no, I'm sorry, you're not set free from your sins because how you have not responded to Jesus Christ as King and as Lord of the universe. In fact, if you've got your Bible, turn to John 20 with me just for a moment. John chapter 20. Let me show you something.

John chapter 20. Very important. For in John chapter 20, Christ says something to his men. I've already read it to you. Listen to what he says. He greets his men, okay, after his resurrection. They see him for the first time after he's dead.

He says, verse 21, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. Now just think about that statement for a moment. As the Father has sent me, so send I you. This is the authorization for these men and all believers to be able to carry the good news of the gospel. Remember, every gospel concludes with what is commonly called the great commission. The book of Acts begins with that great commission. And so Christ says to his men, the very first thing he says to them, peace be unto you.

And then he says, because they were afraid, he just walked through the door. And so he says, as the Father has sent me, so send I you. Now think about that statement. That statement in and of itself tells us that the responsibility that those men have and you and I have is absolutely indescribable. Think about it. As the Father has sent me, how did the Father send the Son? He sent him in person. He sent him in all purity, in all holiness. He sent the best that he had. The Father sent the best that he had.

He sent his only begotten Son. So now the Son says, as the Father has sent me the best that he had, so send I you. And we're anything but the best of what the Father has. That's why the calling is so indescribable. We can't even begin to wrap our arms around that, our mind around that. Christ says, I have been sent from my home above, from the glories of heaven, from the joy of heaven, from the comfort of heaven to come and to serve man.

I came from my Father to die for the sins of man. I came in humility. I came in great compassion. I came in great love. As the Father has sent me, so send I you. That responsibility is indescribable. That responsibility is also incomparable. It's incomparable. We can't even begin to comprehend as the Father has sent me, so send I you. As I was sent, so send I you. There's nothing comparable to Christ's coming and our going. But that's why the authorization is so incomparable, because it's God who's at work in His people.

Remember, He had made this promise to His men already. I'm going to send you another comforter. My Spirit will be in you. He would tell them that when the Spirit comes, you will be clothed with power from on high. And so these men now have the incomparable responsibility to take the message of truth to a world who doesn't believe in it. So the call of God to these men, transferred down to you and me, is one that's completely indescribable, incomparable, and thirdly, indisputable.

It's indisputable. There's no question about the fact that the Father has sent the Son. You can't get around the fact that God now has sent you and me. It's indisputable. The only reason God has left you here is for this reason, after He saved you. Why else would He leave you here? Why not just take you home? Why not save you and then take you to glory? Because you have an indisputable calling, and that is to bring forth the truth of the kingdom of God to a people who are entrenched in the kingdom of darkness.

But they might know the truth. Once you understand that call upon your life, everything changes. Your workplace changes. You go to work, you go to work knowing that God called you to be His light in that location, that God called you to be His testimony, His ambassador in that location. So now you go to work not to find meaning in your life. You go to work to bring meaning to everybody else's life. Now, who doesn't want to go to work tomorrow? Think about that. You don't go to work to find some kind of significance.

You go to work to bring significance to everybody who is insignificant. That's why you go to work, because God called you there. You see, that should get every one of us excited about whatever we do. We drive a truck. We work on cars. We teach students. We work behind a big desk in Los Angeles on a high rise. Whatever we're doing, we don't go to work because somehow I've got to find meaning to my everyday existence. No, we go to work because we bring meaning to everybody else who comes around us because they need to know about Christ as Lord and Savior.

As the Father has sent me, so send I you. That calling is indescribable, incomparable, indisputable. Oh, by the way, it's also inescapable. It is inescapable. Why? Because of the Spirit of God that is already in you, because of the Spirit of God that the Lord has placed in you when you became a believer. You can't get around it. You can't escape it because the call of God is so profound in the life of the believer that the Spirit of God continually convicts you, continually drives you, continually puts you in situations where you can speak that truth to those who so desperately need to hear about Christ.

That call is inescapable because of the Spirit of God that is within you and within me. Oh, by the way, the calling of God upon your life is indispensable. Why? Because God's way of reaching man is through man. That's how he does it. God could have stood up in heaven and said, listen, I'm going to send you a text message from heaven to let you know about salvation. Didn't do that. I'm going to send you an email. Didn't send you an email. Didn't send you a letter. You sent a son in person. Okay. You see, the call of God is indispensable because it's man versus man.

It's man on man. It's man telling man about the ultimate God man. It is the fact that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by word about the Christ. So we are the preachers of the gospel. We are the truth tellers in a world where there is no truth. So they say we become the truth tellers in a world of no absolutes. We become the people who are absolutely sure about eternal life and we don't shy back from that. The calling of God is indispensable because it's man God uses to reach other men with the gospel.

And one more thing, the calling of God upon a man upon a woman is absolutely invaluable. It's invaluable. You can't put a price tag on it. Why? Because we have the treasure. We have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the power of God can be put on display. Paul says in second Corinthians four, verse number seven, we have this treasure.

Remember the parable of the great pearl, a great price in the, in the, in the parable of the treasure in Matthew chapter 13 about the, the value of the kingdom, how priceless the kingdom is. Well, we have been called to dispense that which is invaluable. It is so important, so priceless. And so the Lord says, as the father has sent me, so send I you, my friends, that is absolutely incredible. And that's what God's called us to do. And that's why God commends the church where, where, where the witness of God, the witness of God is potent and pleasant because the people of God understand the call of God upon their lives.

They know why they're here. They know why they're still living. They know why God's given them children. They know why they go to work on Monday. They know why they do what they do. God called them to represent him to a lost world. We are Christ's ambassadors. Second Corinthians five, verse number 20.

We are the representatives of the kingdom of God. Now I probably would not have chosen you to be the representatives of God's kingdom. Just like you probably would not have chosen me to be a representative of God's kingdom, but that's all irrelevant. God chose you and God chose me. That's relevant. And God chose us to be his spokesperson. He chose us to tell the truth to others around us. And for the church that God commends, this is a church where the witness of God is supremely potent. Listen to what it says over in first Thessalonians chapter one.

Paul says, we give thanks to God always for all of you making mention of you in our prayers, constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of God, our father, knowing brother and beloved by God, his choice of you, his calling of you, his election of you for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy spirit and with full conviction, just as you know, what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

You also became imitators of us and that the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation would join the Holy spirit so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in a K I for the word of the Lord has sounded forth has trumpeted forth from you, not only in Macedonia and the K I, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth so that we have no need to say anything. Wow. The church at Thessalonica, their witness was so powerful that Paul says, we don't have anything else to say because you guys have done such a great work of proclaiming trumpeting forth the gospel of Christ to everybody as far north as Macedonia, as far south as the K I you guys are unbelievable.

They were commended by the Paul, meaning they were commended by the Lord for their testimony for the sake of the gospel. That's the kind of church that God commends the church where they know that the calling of God has been authorized, has been given to them to be a spokesperson for the kingdom of God. I wonder about you, where you stand with that. I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow when you go to work or you go to school or you go to do whatever it is you do. Do you understand you were placed there by God to be his voice in that community, in that arena with those people?

Well, listen, not only is the call of God authorized, our commitment needs to be energized. Our commitment needs to be energized. In other words, we know, we know of the final commission. We know because of what Matthew says, what Mark says, what Luke says, what John says, and what the acts of the apostle says. So we know that God has given us this final commission. But the reason you and I have a problem fulfilling the final commission is because we don't follow the foremost commandment. That's the problem.

You see, what we know doctrinally needs to be lived out demonstrably and dynamically. We know doctrinally that we've been called to be God's spokesperson, that we have been called to be his ambassadors, that we have been called to be his witnesses, that we are to preach forth the gospel. We know that doctrinally, but we don't know it demonstrably or we don't know it dynamically. And that's because we know of the final commission, but our problem is the foremost commandment. Turn with me in your Bible to the book of Mark, Mark chapter 12.

Mark chapter 12. It says, one of the scribes came and heard, this is verse 28, recognizing that he had answered them well, asked him, what commandment is the foremost of all? Jesus answered, the foremost is, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these. The scribe said to him, right teacher, you have truly stated that he is one and there is no one else beside him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and the loved one's neighbor as himself is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom. In other words, listen, you know it, you know it intellectually, but you don't love and obey the one who is before you.

Because you see, ultimately he would have to admit that Jesus Christ is the Lord God of Israel and that he would have to fall before him and obey him. But he did not. Notice what the next phrase says.

It says, and after that, no one would venture to ask him any more questions. Nobody asked him any more questions because this was the last question asked of Christ on earth by the religious establishment. Last question, because this is the end all be all of all questions. What is the foremost commandment? Well, it's to love the Lord your God with all that you have and to love your neighbor as yourself, because that is the outflow of loving God. If you love God, you will love your neighbor. If you love God, if you fulfill the foremost commandment, you can fulfill the final commission rather easily.

But the reason it's so difficult is because we don't love the Lord with all that we have. And so our commitment needs to be energized from the inside out. We need to re-examine our love life with Christ. We need to make sure that we are one with him. We are living with him in unity and in harmony that we might be able to effectively represent him to a lost world. Oh, the witness of God must be so supremely potent in the church, so powerful, so pleasant in the church that God commends the church like he did those in Thessalonica, like he did those in Philadelphia.

Remember he told Philadelphia, you're just a small church, but yet your testimony is powerful. And it was. They were a small group of believers, but they had a powerful impact on their city and on their community. And that's the way you and I need to be. That's the kind of church that God himself commends. Nineteen years ago, nineteen years ago last month, there was a man who'd been a part of our church for just about a year, and he died. We don't want to be with the Lord. We had his memorial service at our church.

His wife came to me, and she came to me after the memorial service. She says, Pastor Lance, I am so glad that we found Christ Community Church because we've been looking for a church for so long, but we're unable to find one. But when we came to Christ Community Church a little over a year ago, we realized that this was the place needed to be. I realized that because my husband wasn't saved. And after being here for several months, he came under conviction of the preaching of the word of God, came down front and gave his life to Christ.

She goes, humanly speaking, I don't know where we would have been had we not found a church that preached the gospel undiluted. I'm not sure my husband would have ever came to know Christ, but we are so grateful that we came here. And we rejoice in the fact that my husband now is with the Lord, knowing for certain. She goes, in the last few months that we had together, our whole life changed simply because he gave his life to Jesus Christ. You know, it's so important to understand where you go to church and your worship of the King.

So important. You don't want to go to Thyatira. You don't want to go to Pergamum. You certainly don't want to go to Sardis. It's the dead church. And you don't want to go to Laodicea because God's not even in that church. You need to make sure that you go to the kind of church like Smyrna, like Philadelphia, that God commends. We need to be that kind of church. And every one of us has a responsibility to ask ourselves the questions about the word of God and the worship of God, about the will of God, the ways of God, the work of God, and the witness of God.

Where do I stand with my Lord when it comes to those elements in my life? So that we could be the church that if God was to write a letter, he would commend us because we truly seek to honor and glorify his name. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for the opportunity you've given us to be under the word of God and to be in the word of God. We thank you for the truth that's there. I pray that every one of us would understand that Lord, as we go home today, as we go to work tomorrow, we go to work on a mission, on a mission to represent Christ and his kingdom. Our calling is so much higher than a job. Our calling is so much higher than just a school. Our calling is a heavenly calling, a holy calling.

It's the highest of all callings as children of the living God. And may we fulfill that every day of our lives. For the glory of your kingdom, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.