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Note: Text that are in grey are transcribed during the lesson and is not part of the physical lesson notes supplied which are rendered in black.
Lesson 3 - The purposes of the church
Worship
There is personal and corporate worship.
Exodus 20:1-3 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
This is God's call to His people.
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Example of Personal Worship.
Exodus 7:16 Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened.
"Let my people" - This is the call for the church to worship Him as a corporate worship.
Revelation 7:9-12 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen!
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”
These verses is a good example of corporate worship. When we come together in church, this is what we strive for.
Colossians 1:28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
To admonish and to teach.
Ephesians 4:11-14 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
It is not clear if pastors and teachers are two separate office or the same person doing both. Pastors are referred to for shepherding. Caring for people. The pastor must be an active carer and not just delegate. Leadership by example.
Teaching is different. You need to think and understand the doctrine. You get grounded.
But the bible says a pastor must also be able to teach.
Keyword is "become mature". For the church to mature there must be instructions. This instruction is in the form of teaching.
In maturity, there needs to be koinonia (fellowship).
Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another –and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Spiritual babes are often due to them not receiving teaching and fellowship. You need both for maturity of the saints.
This fellowship is not like we just come to church on Sunday and we meet each other. The fellowship I am talking about is not Christian friends. I am talking about small groups, which we call cell. There we interact in a real sense. We worship together, pray together, learn together. Here you can build the person up.
Ministry to God
The church's purpose is to worship God. Worship is the activity of glorifying God in his presence with our voices and hearts. The primary reason that God called us into the assembly of the church is that as a corporate assembly we might worship him.
Col 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Eph 1:12
In order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
Ministry to Believers: Nurture
The church has an obligation to nurture those who are already believers and build them up to maturity in the faith.
Col 1:28
We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
Eph 4:12-13
to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Ministry to the World: Evangelism and Mercy
To evangelize is the primary ministry of the church to the world. Yet accompanying the work of evangelism is also a ministry of mercy, a ministry that includes caring to the name of the Lord.
Mat 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Luke 6:35-36
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
I just want to emphasis on "make disciples". Evangelism is something we have covered often. After salvation, it's just the beginning.
I want to talk about the 3Es
1. Exaltation - worship - subjective (heart-experiential) - affects your heart
2. Edification - nurture - objective (head-doctrinal) - convince your head, convicted in your heart)
3. Evangelism
Is there a most important among these three. The answer is yes and most of the church do not realize this. Actually,i t is more about order of importance. To me it is important to keep it in balance but logical priority is worship and nurture have to be first, without which there would be no evangelism. Communion before communion. You must be a Mary before you become a Martha.
But overemphasis in one and neglecting the others will cause problem.
Question 1
Among these three purposes of the church, is there an order of importance ?
Answer
There is no real order of importance as all three aspects of the church's ministry are equally vital. However, as a matter of logical priority, worship and nurture should precede evangelism and mercy.
If the church says evangelism is most important, if that is all you focus on you will get people to come to the church. You reap what you sow. But when they come and there is no emphasis on worship or teaching, you'll have issues.
If its just teaching with no worship, then they may have no compassion. They don't have a heart for people. And if it's just worship with no teaching, they can become just experiential and may see vision in all things. And they can become inward looking. Also have issues.
Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
The thing that struck me is that you cannot impart what you don't have. Impartation - when you want to relate to the world you must first have Christ and to have that there must be communion or it does not work.
Question 2
In defining the nature of the church, should we base the definition on the function of the church?
Answer
No. The church should not be defined based on what she does.
When you define the church in terms of what it does, then the function defines it. Then the task defines the church and all things in the church will be geared towards that task. You may even change the doctrine to fit that task.
The church should be defined based on what it is.
Paul uses metaphors.
People of God.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
The body of Christ. (Only in NT)
Ephesians 4:15-16 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
The temple of the Holy Ghost.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? - Here you are talking about the presence of God.
The content of the gospel is unchangeable. The function is based on the gospel call.
Question 3
What is the relationship between good works and the gospel call?
Answer
As we minister to the world it is important that we are clear about the purpose for the ministry. There are two main thrusts in ministry: the gospel call and good works.
As we look into the ministry of Jesus, we can see him ministering with these two aspects clearly on his mind. After feeding the five thousand, Jesus goes on to give them a sermon that emphasizes that he is the bread of life. In raising Lazarus from the dead Jesus again speaks of himself as the resurrection and the life. On each of these occasions, Jesus moves from meeting physical needs to meeting spiritual needs.
The apostle Paul is known for his good works; emphasized through records of his collections to help those in need in Jerusalem but he is rightly remembered for his spreading of the gospel to much of the known world at that time.
In fact the two commandments of the Lord as recorded in Matthew 28:18-20 and Luke 24:46-48 emphasize that our commission is to make disciples through the preaching of the gospel.
It is therefore my proposition that in our ministry to the world the gospel call is primary. However just like our Lord Jesus and Paul, good works must naturally accompany the gospel call.
We also need to be careful that our motivations are right because God looks first and foremost at our hearts. It is not so much what we do that matters to him but why we do what we do that is more important in the eyes of the Lord. As we minister to the world we need to constantly check our motives. What drives and compels us must be the agape love of Christ. It is the compassion for the needy that moves us to help them in their physical needs. Whether they accept the Lord or not should not be the basis for deciding to help them. We provide food for them and give them sundry provisions because we see them in their poverty. Mercy compels us to be a blessing to them.
However we must never lose sight of the fact that there is a much more urgent and greater need in their lives; that is, to be reconciled with God in Christ. It is the love of Christ poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that moves us to meet that need through being messengers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We do well to follow the examples of our Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul. In meeting the physical needs of unbelievers in the world we must also progress to meet their spiritual needs.
Biblical References
1 - John 6:35
2 - John 11:25
3 - 1 Cor 16:1-4
4 - Acts 9:15
5 - 1 Sam 16:7
6 - 2 Cor 5:20
7 - Rom 5:5
8 - Rom 10:14
Question 4
What do you think will happen to a new believer who is not integrated into a local church?
You may only be a believer in name or only stay at that level and never really mature.
On a personal level whether you have a good day or bad day, do you carry the manifest presence of God? It is our privilege and heritage. When Abraham wanted to connect with God, he had to built an altar and the Israelites had to have the Tabernacle. And to have God dwelling with them they needed the Temple of Solomon, but today that presence in found in church. If you are outside the church you will not have the continuous manifested presence of God.
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