The Church: Its Meaning - The Priority of the People of God, Part 2

It's so good to be back to preach on Sunday mornings once again. I'm grateful for Tom Mason who filled in and Esteban who filled in for me over the last five weeks They are great men of God who give us the word of the Lord when they preach and I'm grateful for them For Bruce on Wednesday nights. He did the Psalms That's always a great time and I'm thankful that the elders give me that time off just to refocus my energies to refuel my jets and Think of a whole bunch of things I need to say and so we need to go back and Begin once again or look once again at what we started earlier this summer or this past summer now I guess it is on the church.

It's it's meaning mission and Ministry and we are particularly looking at the church and its meaning Helping you come to understand. What is the Church of Jesus Christ our Lord? Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse number 23 that we are those Who are Christ's? That's how he defines us those Who are Christ's? We are owned by Christ He died for us we are his and Because we are his we are we are the we are we live in the realm of of the redeemed where the Redeemer rules and reigns Put it this way we we gather together as a church those who are Christ's as a redeemed community That we might be informed by the Word of God So that we might be transformed By the Spirit of God You know that we might be conformed to the will of God all For the glory of God That's why we're here And yet it baffles me that there are so many churches that don't understand that It baffles me that there are so many churches who want to be relevant to the world How relevant can we be?

Well the question is how is it we can be relevant to the world When we have already been rescued from the world Paul says in the book of Colossians the first chapter that we have been rescued from the domain of darkness So if we've been rescued from the domain of darkness Why is it so many churches want to be relevant to that domain?

That makes absolutely no sense to me And yet there are churches all around our country That throughout the summertime they had this theme and maybe you've heard about it, maybe you've even seen it maybe you've even attended one of those churches and the theme is at the movies At the movies and So what they do is they show movie clips from modern movies Saddleback Church, Orange County showed Toy Story They showed Maverick they showed the movie lion or clips from those movies and The reason they did it was because they wanted to find the deeper meaning behind the movie Think about that and The pastors dress up like the characters in the movie.

I'm like, what is this going on? And if you bring a visitor the visitor gets a movie ticket They have a church in Colorado who at the movies showed Jurassic Park in their whole auditorium their whole facility was decked out with Jurassic Park paraphernalia with dinosaurs and all kinds of things and Then you have a church in Oklahoma That did Star Wars and they did Mario and they decked their whole church out like that to invite people to come in that somehow they might show how relevant they are to the domain of darkness When the Bible says we've been rescued from that domain Why on earth would we ever want to be relevant to that domain I Reminded of that great Country preacher Vance Havner who said whatever you win them with is What you win them to?

If you win them with movies, you win them to the movies if you win them with music You win them to music If you win them with drama you win them to drama if you win them with politics you Win them to politics if you win them with the gospel you win them to the gospel. If you win them with the truth, you win them to the truth. Whatever you win them with is what you win them to. It was years ago and A.J. was just three years of age. It was during that time when my wife and I would take our kids during our vacation and we'd visit other churches.

That was probably the worst thing we ever did. But we would visit other churches and we decided to go to this one church that we looked at the website and we looked online and see what kind of doctoral statement they had. We thought this would be a good church to go to. So we go to this church. We sit down in this church and the pastor gets up to speak. I think it was the pastor's son who was preaching that day. He begins to show movie clips from Spider-Man and then to expound on what those clips meant.

And one of the clips had a swear word in it. So A.J.'s first encounter with the swear word was in church.

It baffles me how relevant the churches want to be to that which they supposedly have been rescued from. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1. If you've got your Bible turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I want to give you one verse and show you how Paul defines the church. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse number 2. He says, Now he's writing to the church at Corinth. Very important. Because the church at Corinth, when they were saved they tried to bring everything that was happening in the world and adopt it in the church.

And Paul had to rebuke them constantly because of that. Whether it be with lawsuits, whether it be with marriage or divorce or whatever it was. They were trying to bring everything from the pagan world into the church. And so Paul writes this first letter to them.

And he says to the church of God which is at Corinth. To those who have been sanctified. To those who have been set apart. Set apart from the world and unto God. They have been sanctified. He says, In Christ Jesus, saints by calling with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ their Lord and ours. So he tells them you are the church at Corinth. You have been set apart by God for God from the world making you saints because you have been called by God into his kingdom. And because you are saints by calling you are characterized by those who call upon the name of the Lord.

Because everyone else who is in that domain calls upon the name of the Lord. That's what we do. We gather together to call upon the name of our God. We have been set apart from the world. And so we realize. Think about the disciples prayer. Right? The Lord's prayer is in John 17. The disciples prayer is in Matthew chapter 6. And you know it well. He says when you pray, pray this way. Our Father, not my Father, but our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So if you pray it literally you say our Father who art in heaven hallowed be your name on earth as it is in heaven. Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. And your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now you think about that. We gather together to pray and we want God's name to be hallowed in our lives. We want God to be manifested as holy in our lives. In fact we want to be holy on earth as holiness reigns supreme in heaven. And we want His rule, for the word kingdom means rule, we want your rule to be on earth as it is in heaven.

In other words until you come we want your ruling in our hearts until the day you come and rule on this earth. And then we want your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. In other words we want what happens perfectly in heaven to be done on earth. That is everything done in heaven is holy, true, pure and righteous. We want all that to happen on earth. And we want it to happen primarily in our lives. So you tell me what part of that is relevant to the domain of darkness? Tell me what part of that excites the unbeliever?

What part of holiness, righteousness, purity excites the unbeliever? It doesn't. And so if you want to be relevant to the unbeliever you have to compromise holiness, purity and righteousness in order to gather them in your assembly. And I think that that is totally and absolutely blasphemous to the name of God. We are not trying to repel the world. We are trying to revere and honor the Christ and glorify His name. And so the church is a gathering together of the redeemed community. It is the realm of the redeemed where the Redeemer Himself rules and reigns in our lives that we might glorify and honor His wonderful name.

We are to keep seeking those things that are above. Paul says in Colossians chapter 3 verse number 1, set your mind on things above not on things below. Don't do that. Keep seeking those things that are above not those things that are below. That should characterize our lives. Especially as a church as we gather together we should be seeking and setting our minds and thoughts on things above not on things below. What part of that is attractive to the unbeliever? It's not. See? So we have been rescued from the domain of darkness therefore we cannot be relevant to that domain.

We are completely the antithesis of that kingdom. Why? Because we have been transferred into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1-2, we are saints by calling. Saints. We are never called sinners again. We are only called saints. It doesn't mean we don't sin. No, we sin. But we are never characterized as sinners once we are saved. We are characterized as saints in the kingdom of the living God. Because Christ rules and reigns in our lives. And so we gather together because this is the priority of the people of God.

And why is it the priority? It's the priority because it's the plan of the Son of God. It's the possession, the churches, of the living God. It's the pillar of the truth of God. It's the picture of the love of God. It's the product of the grace of God. That's why it's the priority of the people of God. It's our priority. We want to gather together. I was glad when they said to me, we were stood up this past Wednesday, or two Wednesdays ago, Psalm 122 verse number 1. I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord.

I was glad. You see, it's imperative that the church be a priority in your life. If you were to sever your finger, any one of them, that finger that was severed would not be able to function properly or fulfill its purpose. If you sever yourself from the body of Christ, from the church family, so too you cannot function properly, nor can you fulfill your purpose. The body will continue on because the body is life. But if you separate yourself from that body, you cannot function properly, nor can you fulfill your purpose as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why? Because you are a part of a flock. You're a sheep in the flock of the living God. You're a member of the body of Christ. You are a living stone being built up to a spiritual habitation. And we are the bride of Christ. And so we gather together because this is the priority of the people of God. So I thought that it would be really good for me to make this so practical for you. How do you know that the church is your priority? And all you have to do is take the word priority and write it down on the left side of your paper, for those of you who are really spiritually astute and take notes, right?

Write it down on the left-hand side of your paper, the word priority. And I'm going to spell it out for you this week and next week to show you that the church is the priority of the people of God. Okay? Number one, the church is the priority of the people of God because of the person we exalt.

It's the priority of you and me because of the person we exalt. Psalm 34, verse number three, O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together.

O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. The church is the priority of the people of God because we gather together to lift up the name of Jesus, to magnify the name of Jesus, to honor the name of Jesus, to realize that one day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And we bow before Him in submission and we exalt Him as the highest element of our life. He is the priority of our life because He is the one we exalt.

The problem is, is that we go to church and we kind of want to exalt ourselves a little bit. We kind of want to be put on display a little bit. We kind of want to be honored for our ministry and work in the church a little bit. And so we gather together thinking that somehow I'm going to be exalted and I'm going to feel better about myself because it's all about me, right? I'm going to church to see about me and that's not what church is about. In fact, I love what Charles Spurgeon says. Spurgeon says this, some go to church to take a walk.

Some go there to laugh and talk. Some go there to meet a friend. Some go there time to spend. Some go there to meet a lover. Some go there a fault to cover. Some go there for speculation. Some go there for observation. Some go there to doze and nod. But the wise, they go to worship God. They go to worship God. They go to exalt God, to lift His name on high. But we live in a world of self-exaltation, self-indulgence. We are surrounded by that. We are inundated by that philosophy and yet we come to church to worship the true and living God.

He is the person that we exalt. It was Stephen Sharnock who said these words, to pretend a homage to God and intend only the advantage of self is rather to mock Him than to worship Him. When we believe that we ought to be satisfied rather than God be glorified, we set God below ourselves. Imagine that He should submit His own honor to our advantage. We make ourselves more glorious than God. Oh, He is so right. We go to church to be satisfied, not that God be glorified. And if I'm not satisfied, well then I find another church where I can be satisfied in.

And all you've done is set yourself up above God and put Him down below yourself. You didn't go to worship and exalt the name of God to lift Him up on high. That's why it's a priority. He is the person that we exalt. One thing I desire, Psalm 27 verse number 4, one thing I ask, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I might behold the beauty of the Lord, the beauty of His name, the glory of our Lord. Let me say it to you this way.

If on the Lord's day you choose not to worship the Lord and do something else, that then becomes the Lord you worship. If you choose not to worship the Lord on the Lord's day, that which you choose becomes the Lord you worship. If you choose not to worship the Lord but spend time with family, family is the Lord you worship. Now that might hit a little hard for some of you, but that is true. If you choose, if you choose to spend time doing anything on the Lord's day other than worshiping the Lord on His day, you have not exalted Him.

You have relegated Him to a lower position that's not a priority and you have made what you're doing the priority. And that becomes the Lord you worship. That's exactly what Stephen Sharnock said. And we need to understand how detrimental that is. Turn with me in your Bible to Jonah chapter 2.

Jonah chapter 2. And let me show you something that maybe you have yet to see or in a cursory reading of the book of Jonah you missed it.

Jonah is in the belly of a great fish. Whatever that fish is, I don't know, but it was big enough to swallow him whole. It was big enough for him to really reevaluate his life. In Jonah chapter 2, I want you to listen to what he says. Verse number 8, those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness. What a powerful statement. Those who regard empty vanities forsake their faithfulness. Jonah knew that because he had regard for vain idols. How did Jonah, a prophet of God, have a regard for empty vanities?

Well, why do you think he was in the belly of a fish? Because he believed with all of his heart that you can sin and get away with it. But you can't. That's the empty vanity. That's the futileness of your thinking. He really believed that he could sin and get away with it, but he couldn't. He really believed that he could ignore reality and it wouldn't bother him. What was the reality? There was a storm outside the boat, so he went to sleep. He could ignore the reality around him and it wouldn't bother him.

It wouldn't make any difference in his life, but it did. Jonah was one who thought he could run from his responsibility in life and still receive privileges, but you cannot. He would regard empty vanities. What was the result of that? They would forsake their faithfulness, and he did. He did. Because he regarded something higher than God, because he thought of himself more than he thought of God, and more than he thought of the mission that God had given to him as a prophet, he would forsake his faithfulness.

And what does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 2? It's required of a steward that he just do one thing, that is, be found faithful. It's required of you and me just one thing, just one. God says, I'm not going to require all these things from you.

He says, I require one thing. What's that? You be found faithful. You're a household manager. And as a household manager, as one who oversees things in your walk with the Lord in the church of God, no matter where you're at, as a household manager of what's been entrusted to you as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm only going to require one thing from you, and that is you be faithful. You be trustworthy. That's it. Because Jonah says if you regard empty vanities, if you regard vain idols, if you regard something higher than God, you will forsake your faithfulness.

Because Jonah did. And he knew that he paid for the consequences of a sin. And he repented. And you know the rest of the story. But the fact of the matter is the church is the priority of the people of God because the person we exalt. We are all here to magnify the name of the Lord, to lift His name up above everything else in our lives. And if you don't show up, guess what? He's not your priority. Something else is. Because whatever you're doing, rather than showing up, becomes a priority. The church is the priority of the people of God.

Why? Number one, because of the person we exalt. Number two, because of the rejection, the rejection that we endure.

Because we don't know the rejection that we endure. If you've got your Bible, turn with me to John chapter 15.

John chapter 15. This is what Jesus says, okay? John 15 verse number 18. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, you know that the world will love its own. In other words, if you're of the world, the world's going to love you. If your church looks like the world, the world's going to love you. And the Bible says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

Why? Because if you're a friend of the world, James 4 says, you're an enemy of God. So Jesus says, if you were of the world, the world would love its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this, the world hates you. When the world hates you, that's the best testimony you can have. If the world loves you, then what is it about your life that's allowing them to think that you're just like them? So he goes on to say this. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my namesake, because they do not know the one who sent me.

Verse 23, he who hates me hates my father also. Verse 25, but they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their law, they hated me without a cause. The church is the priority of the people of God because of the rejection we endure. And so because we're rejected by the world, we know that when we come to the assembly of the righteous, when we come to the assembly of the redeemed, here we are prayed for, here we are encouraged, here we are consoled, here we hear the word of God. Look at the book of Acts and the believers in the New Testament.

When they were persecuted, they couldn't wait to get back with the people of God, because it was there they were prayed for, there they were cared for, there they were loved. Why? Because we're people of like precious faith. We all believe in one God. We all serve one God. There's one God that we exalt and love, adore and obey, and can't wait to hear what He has to say. So we gather together to do that. And because of the rejection that we endure, we can't wait to be with the people of God. Maybe, just maybe, you don't want to come because you have not faced the rejection of the world.

They have not hated you as they have hated Christ. They have not persecuted you as they persecuted Christ. Because if you are, you can't wait to get here. You want to be here. I'll tell you who didn't want to be here. John chapter 12, verse number 45, or excuse me, 42, nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in him. But because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

Oh, that's just a dangerous place to be. There were many people who believed in Jesus, but they wouldn't confess Him as Lord of their life. They wouldn't come out and confess Jesus Christ as Lord of all. Why? Because for fear they would be put out of the synagogue. Because they loved the approval of man rather than the approval of God. They had to have man's approval. But we gather together because we're not looking for man's approval. We're looking for God's approval. We're looking to honor God and exalt Him.

That's why we gather together, no matter what the world might think. Jesus said very clearly in Matthew 10, "'Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household.'" So if you're living with people in your house that are unbelievers, and they become your enemies because of your stand for Christ.

Christ said, I came to bring a sword. I came to divide families. If the family doesn't want to believe in me and honor me, and there are some of the family that do, then those who want to honor me will be persecuted by those who don't. And therefore, because the rejection they endure, they can't wait to be with the family of God. The people that they will spend eternity with, worshiping and praising the Lord Jesus. So, the church is the priority, the people of God, because of the person we exalt, and because of the rejection we endure.

Oh, remember 1 Peter chapter 4? Listen to this, verse number 3, "'For the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles. Having pursued a course of sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries, and all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you.'" You were once this way. You were engaged in the drunken parties. You were engaged in the carousing. You were engaged in all the sinful activities.

But now that you're born again, you don't do that anymore, and they are surprised that you don't want to be with them. Therefore, they malign you. They ridicule you. They speak against you. They slander you. Because why? Because you no longer walk as the Gentiles walk. You walk as Christ would have you walk. That's why. And so the church is the priority of the people of God because of the person we exalt, the rejection we endure, and number 3, because of the instruction we embrace. The instruction we embrace.

In other words, we can't wait to hear what God has to say through His Word. That's why Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse number 13, he says this, "'Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching.'" Why? Now listen carefully. Do you know that there isn't one New Testament believer who thought that the Word of God was for them individually? Did you know that? Because you see, none of them carried a Bible. There was no Bible. They didn't carry the Torah around with them.

They didn't carry parts of Scripture around with them. Oh no. They had to gather together with the people of God to hear what God had to say. That's why the letters are written to the church at Corinth, to the church at Rome, to the church at Galatia, to the church at Philippi, to those seven churches in Asia Minor where the Lord says, "'He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'" Because they had to gather together to hear what had to say. They weren't home having personal devotions in their Torah.

They didn't have a copy of that. They have a copy of the Pentateuch. That was all designed for the synagogue. And when they got saved, they weren't able to get there, so Paul was writing letters to all these different people so they would understand in the churches what God had to say. They couldn't wait to get there. And sometimes what Paul had to say was scathing, would really confront them. Think about those, those Hebrews that listened to the letter written to the Hebrews, the Jewish people, written to a group of believers that were trying to figure out the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ.

So no one was walking around thinking that the Bible was individually given to them. They thought it was a corporate thing given to the churches at large. And so they couldn't wait to receive instruction. So Paul says, Timothy, you, until I come, you give attention to the public reading of the Scripture, to the instruction of the Scriptures, so they understand it, can follow it, and know what it means. That's why he says, the Lord's going to come in 2 Timothy 4, verse number 2. You, Timothy, you preach the Word.

You preach it in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all unsuffering patience. Why? Because there's going to come a time where people don't want to hear it anymore. They're going to want their ears tickled, but you just keep preaching the Word because that's what people need to hear. So we gather together because the instruction that we receive, remember what Psalm 145, 18 says, the Lord is near to all those who call upon Him, to all those who call upon Him in what? Truth. You ever wonder why the Lord's not near to you?

You've got to call upon Him in truth. You've got to call upon Him according to the truth of the Word of God. So what does it say? In fact, in Psalm 84, the psalmist said, teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. I need to be taught the truth, because if I'm taught the truth, I will fear your name. It will unite my heart. I won't have a divided heart. And isn't that why Paul tells us in Philippians chapter, I'm sorry, Ephesians chapter 4 with these words where he talks about the fact in verse number 11, and he gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers.

Why? For the equipping of the saints for the work of service. God has given gifted men to the church. He's given them to the church. He's given gifts to the church, but He's also given men to the church, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Why? For the equipping of the saints for the work of service. How are you going to be equipped? How are you going to be put back together? The word equip means it's used of the mending of nets, the tying together of those nets. You come together.

You hear the Word of God. What does God's Word do? It begins to tie all those fractured parts of your life together. It mends it together. That's the power of the Word of God. So He's given gifted men to the church to equip the saints for the work of service. And we know that. Why? Because of what Paul says in 1st Timothy or 2nd Timothy chapter 3, verse number 15, when he says these words, or 16, all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching. We approve for correction, for training in righteousness, so the men of God may be adequate.

Here's the next phrase, equipped for every good work. So God's Word is given for this specific purpose. The inspired Word of God was given to equip you for work, that is to tie you together. Same word used in Ephesians chapter 4, of putting together broken lives. Why? Because mended saints are ministering saints. And ministering saints are involved in maturing the body of Christ. That's what Paul says back in Ephesians chapter 4. He says, He's given these gifted men to the church for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. Listen, God gave gifted men to the church that they might preach and teach the Word of God. God never called the pastor to be funny. He didn't. That's why I'm not funny. He never called the pastor to be clever. He never called the pastor to be innovative. He never called the pastor to be creative. He never called the pastor to be clever.

He called the pastor to preach the Word. That's it. Just preach the Word. You don't have to be clever, funny, philosophical, a great storyteller. None of that is what God has called the pastor to do. Now, they might do those things. They might be funny. They might tell stories. They might be clever. They might be innovative. They might be creative. None of those things. But they might be. But they've never been called to be that. They've been called to be preachers of the Word of God, to give you a steady diet of truth week in and week out.

Why? Because that powerful Word of God and only the Word of God. We'll talk about this tomorrow night. God has given the church one tool, one book, one thing only, the Bible. That's it. He gave us the Word of God. That's why we're the pillar of the truth of God. And the one book we have, listen, is the only book that grants life. It's the only one. Nothing else does. Only God's Word grants life to dead people. So why would we want to use anything else in the church other than the truth of the living God?

Church is the priority of the people of God. Number one, because the person we exalt. Number two, because the rejection we endure.

Number three, because of the instruction we embrace. And next week, I'll finish the outline. Let's pray. Father God, we thank You for this day and the opportunity You give us to study the Word. Thank You, Lord, that You have allowed us this opportunity for all these twenty-nine years that we've been together, and we are grateful. We pray that we'd always be true to You, to the Word of God, that You would be always our priority, that nothing would take the place of You as the highest priority of our lives, and that we might honor You continually day in and day out.

We are grateful for our time, and the things that we have learned stay with us, not just for a day or for a moment, but for the rest of our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen.