Core Value: Gospel-Centered Local Church (Part 2)

Various Passages

We’ve been talking about how the Gospel drives who we are and what we do. I’d like to consider how the Gospel informs our view of the church. Last week we mentioned

You are re-created for good works.

You are perfectly tailored for the work prepared for you.

You were given spiritual gifts.

You were saved into a body, a body of many different parts. [diagram]

You were made to be useful.

This is what Christ has done for you—the Gospel.

I’d like us to consider the Gospel from God’s perspective. We mostly consider the Gospel from the perspective of how it relates to us and benefits us. But let’s stop and consider the bigger picture of what God is doing for Himself.

God is making a people for Himself, the Church.

Not just saving individuals, but making a new nation

1. Old Testament

God called Abraham to become a great nation for Himself.

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;

I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. (Genesis 12:1-3)

Right before God gave the 10 commandments, he says

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Ex 19:5-6)

That was the covenant: “I will be your God and you will be my people.”

2. New Testament

We see this purpose of God continue in the NT Church.

[Jesus Christ] gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:14)

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. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

God is still making a people for Himself. The Church is royal priesthood, holy nation.

3. Acts

And when we look at the book of Acts and the early church, we see this corporate identity. They saw themselves not as having a private relationship with Jesus. Christians saw themselves as being part of a community, a new and holy nation.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:46-47)

The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. (Acts 5:12-14)

The interesting thing is how the Bible describes those early conversions. Acts doesn’t say, “and many prayed to received Christ.” It says, “and the Lord added to their number.” Becoming a Christian meant joining the “Jesus community,” it meant “being added to their number.”

Becoming a Christian wasn’t just a personal, private affair. Becoming a Christian meant joining the Church. There was no such thing as a private, church-less Christian.

In fact, the worst thing that can happen to a Christian, the most severe form of church discipline was excommunication, to be considered no longer a member of the church.

4. Ecclesia

The Greek word for church is the word for assembly, gathering, convocation.

We often say, “I’m going to go to church,” but that puts the emphasis on the building or location.

Maybe it’s better to say that the church is gathering today, or I’ve rejoined the fellowship.

That’s what ecclesia meant, gathering or assembly—it’s the people.

Back then, they probably didn’t have a building to go to. They were the gathering of the followers of Jesus.

We don’t go to church, we are the church. That’s what the church is—the people.

Biblical history is the story of how God was making a people for Himself. God was building His Church, first with Abraham, Israel and then in the book of Acts and the NT. In Revelations we read that God will have people from every tribe and nation. The angels will marvel at the power and wisdom of God in bringing together Jew and Gentile, slave and free, the strong and the weak, all to display the multi-faceted aspects of God’s love and grace.

Lessons

1. Confidence: God is the Actor in the Gospel and the Builder of His Church.

Christianity is not just about us trying to get to heaven, us trying to be a better people, or even us trying to make the world a better place.

This is about God making a people for Himself, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. God is the workman, and we are His workmanship. He is the Potter, we are the clay.

That’s the main story. The Gospel is not about me and what I do. It’s about God and what He does, and God is making a people for Himself.

Last week I mentioned how people today have a consumeristic view of church where we shop around to find a church that meets our needs and suits our preferences. We see it like a spiritual department store for us to consume religious goods and services. We think church is about me, the consumer.

We want to replace that with a view that the church is the people of God, the community of those He’s made for Himself, whom He has gifted and commissioned for His mission. It’s about Him.

When we gather as a church, it’s not supposed to be focused on us, what we get out of it. It’s like a friend’s wedding or birthday party. This is not about “what we got out of it;” this is supposed to be focused on Him, His worshippers have gathered to celebrate Him. Some feel if they come in time for the sermon, they can get what they want out of the service (consumeristic). But this is supposed to be about exalting and celebrating Him.

If this is the work of God, it cannot fail. And this gives us tremendous confidence not just for myself but also for the Church.

Although it may seem that the church is weak and battered and persecuted and polluted, in the end, the Church will triumph. Jesus says to Peter, on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (Mt 16:18).

It’s like saying, we already know that the Phillies are going to win the World Series. It’s a certainty.

Jesus purifies her bride and makes her holy, this mean both I will be made more holy and God’s people will be made more holy (Eph 5). Though we have many flaws, God will purify her bride. Jesus is not going to marry an ugly bride =). We will be glorious!

2. Identity: We are the Church

This is part of our salvation. We want to appreciate the bigger picture, the bigger plan of God to make for a people for Himself.

This should affect our self-identity, to think not just individualistically but also corporately. It is not just “I am a Christian,” it is also, “We are the Church.”

When you say, “I’m a Phillies fan,” that isn’t just a statement about you. You are including yourself in broader community. And when the Phillies win, what do you say? “We won!”

I think that would engender greater ownership and participation. This is who you are. This is our family, our people, our nation.

E.g., membership/members meetings: what do I get out of it (consumeristic) vs. this is my family (identity).

This would also help us appreciate other Christians. We see that our personal salvation is part of a bigger salvation project. God has made an orchestra, baseball team, a body. God has made a family for himself, and so we are connected to each other. So we don’t just look at ourselves, but we others/community that God has loved, forgiven, adopted, gifted, and made righteous and glorious.

Intra-church: we see ourselves as a community, a body; we’ve been brought together. These are my brothers and sisters. We are the church.

Inter-church: we appreciate and celebrate the successes, particular strengths, particular aspects of God and the Gospel that comes from other churches. They too are a part of what all of us have been saved into. We are the church. And this will ultimately be displayed in heaven with people from every tribe and nation.

Practical Implication

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:1-3)

Dwight used this passage for his charge to Pastor Dave and the session last week.

1. The elders are called to shepherd.

The session has been discussing how we more seriously and intentionally want to shepherd people. We don’t want to be a board of directors or managers. We are called to be shepherds, and we need to do a better job.

2. The elders are called to shepherd the flock of God.

Who are we to shepherd? We’re to specifically shepherd the flock of God, i.e., the church. Notice also that this flock is under their charge. They have oversight, i.e., some authority. They are in positions of oversight and authority and are warned to not be domineering over “those in our charge.”

In a real practical sense, the session now has to define, who is in the flock, the church? Who is in our charge?

From the perspective of the Session (not necessarily God), we see two groups of people at Renewal:

Members	Visitors
have put their trust in Jesus for their salvation, and upon being examined by the session, have some confirmation that their faith is genuine and have publicly professed this faith	may (or may not) have a genuine faith in Christ, but they’ve not been examined by the session nor made a public profession of it
willingly submit to the session of elders and invite their oversight and shepherding care; this includes submission to church discipline, if necessary	may (or may not) be open to the oversight and authority of the session but have not formally or publicly made this known
have embraced the vision and mission of Renewal; they are not spectators but active, participating teammates, necessary parts of the body	may (or may not) have embraced the vision and mission of Renewal but have not formally or publicly made this known; they may (or may not) be serving

Visitors are people who people who come, perhaps once or twice, or perhaps for many years.

From the perspective of the session, we don’t know who are members or visitors unless (1) they make it known to us that they are part of this body, submissive to our oversight, and on board with our vision, and unless (2) we can examine their testimony and faith.

People these days seem to not like formally commitments, let alone submission to some authority. But as mentioned before, we want to change an individualistic, consumeristic view of church to an identity and calling. We are called to be under authority (family, civil, church).

Some of you have been involved and serving for many years, and perhaps wonder why formally membership is necessary. I might liken it to cohabitation vs. marriage. A couple might say, we love one another, we serve one another, why go through the formalities of marriage. Isn’t it enough that we’re living in this relationship; why should a piece of paper matter? We would say, but it does matter. At our wedding we formally and publicly, before God, witnesses, and before our bride/groom, we pledge our love and commitment.

In a similar way, we don’t want to just “living together.” We want to formally, before God, before witnesses, express our commitment to Christ and our identity as part of His church, practically expressed by membership here. We formally proclaim that God has saved us into His Church.

If we don’t want to become members, why? Consider your reasons from a biblical perspective.

If you’re not a member,

1. Welcome.

Visitors are always welcome, in fact, invited. We’re always welcomed to join us. And if you’re not a Christian, if you don’t have this Gospel relationship with Jesus, then we really do hope you’ll stay with us and learn more about this Jesus and give us the opportunity to share that with you in community.

2. Become a member of a church.

If you are a Christian, join a church. We do not believe a Christian is just a private, individual affair. If it’s at Renewal, you are invited. If it’s not Renewal, then become a member of some church. We do not believe in church-less Christians. The Gospel includes you belonging to the people of God and being a useful/needed member of the Body.

If you are a member,

3. Reaffirm your commitment to our vision and mission.

We want to better apply our understanding of church and membership to how we practice church. We’re going to ask for covenant renewal. This January, we’ll ask you to sign a membership covenant.

We want to re-affirm that you continue to submit yourself to the leadership, oversight and shepherding care of the elders.

We’re making shifts in our vision and strategy, particularly as we become more explicitly Gospel-centered and adopt a multi-site structure and strategy. We asking you to reaffirm that we really are together, united in our vision and mission.

And we, as your elders, want to reaffirm our commitment to be faithful to our vision and values and to our responsibility to oversee and shepherd the flock.