Local Church as the Body of Christ

Transcript

GRM 502
9/22/1996
Local Church as the Body of Christ
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

One of the ministries that I have as a pastor is to constantly remind you about things you already know. Peter established a precedent for this when he wrote in his second letter, “I shall always be ready to remind you of these things even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you.” We are not going to return to our study of Peter’s letters just yet, but I do want to take some time today to remind you of truths that you already know. To encourage us together to be focused on that which is the focus of God in His work in the world today.

We talk about the wonder of God’s salvation in Christ, the infinite grace that provided a salvation for you and I, sinful, hell deserving beings at the cost of the death of the Son of God. We need to grasp and appreciate how God is working out that plan of redemption in the world today. And what He is doing as He builds a people for Himself, called the bride of Christ, destined for eternal glory. And I want to talk in summary fashion about what the Bible says concerning the church and the ministry of the church today. This is a basic and foundational doctrine. But I am very concerned that much of the confusion that comes into our thinking as the people of God has to do with a lack of clarity and Biblical understanding of what God’s work in the world today is. He is building His church. Remember Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18 in His conversation with Peter, “I will build My church and the gates of hades will not prevail against it.” As a result of His subsequent death and resurrection, that is the work that Jesus Christ is carrying out in the world today. He is building His church.

But we must understand that work of God in the context of what He says in His word. What is the church? And we probably all would be ready to give an answer of one kind or another. And the word has gotten some what diluted because we use it so broadly today and perhaps as often as not to refer to a building. People will drive down 84th street and say there is Indian Hills Community Church. Well, that’s not quite accurate. This is the place where Indian Hills Community Church meets but this building is not the church. But the people who meet in this building are indeed the church. In the New Testament I believe there are two aspects that need attention regarding the church. And you grapple for terminology, but we’ll call the one aspect the universal church. Some say this is the metaphorical usage of the word church. Some call it the invisible church. And each of the expressions have some difficulty. But when we talk about what we’ll refer to as the universal church, we are talking about all of those who have a relationship with Jesus Christ through faith in His death and resurrection. That is a spiritual entity. They are related to Christ by faith through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And they are part of the Church in its universal dimension. Every person who is a believer in Jesus Christ.


There is also an emphasis in the New Testament on what we call the local church or local churches. They are groups of people meeting together in different places who are believers in Jesus Christ and so have a relationship with Him. They have a physical identity. They are physical people meeting together, have physical structure and physical order and so on. But they have a spiritual unity by virtue of their relationship to Jesus Christ. Now thus far most believers would be at least in general agreement.

But what is important is that we have the Biblical emphasis on Biblical truth. We develop a heresy when we take a truth of scripture and emphasize it in a distorted way. We must be careful this does not happen in our thinking. Let me share with you some statistics I’ve shared before. The word church, the Greek word, “ekklesia”, we have translated church is used 114 times in the New Testament. It is used approximately 18 times of those 114 of what we are calling the universal church. It is used at least 90 times of what we are calling the local church or local churches. Now statistics don’t prove anything, but this does give you some idea of where the weight of emphasis is in the New Testament doctrine of the church. Some five times more the local church is mentioned in contrast to the universal church.

I think what is a danger in what is happening in Christianity today broadly speaking is the universal church has become the dominant emphasis. I’m going to say some things and I may use the word parachurch and I want to say I’m going to talk in a generality when I use the expression parachurch. What I say would not necessarily apply to every parachurch organization or activity. I realize there’s a danger in that. But none the less for time and other constraints I will speak about some parachurch matters as well as the local church. Keep in mind that doesn’t mean the I am teaching that the Bible forbids parachurch organizations. Nor am I saying that every parachurch organization would have some of the flaws or difficulties that I may refer to. My understanding of the biblical doctrine of the church is the universal church has no physical manifestation of its own. When the word church is used in the New Testament and it’s talking about what we are calling the universal church, it is always talking about a spiritual relationship of a believer’s relationship to Christ as the head and so on. The only physical representation of the universal or what is sometimes called the invisible church in the New Testament is the local church. The local church has both physical and spiritual identity.

If you want to know what the church of Jesus Christ is like, come to Indian Hills. You say oh I wish you wouldn’t have said that that way. That sounds proud. It sounds arrogant. Well it was not meant that way. There are other local churches you could go to. I was going to name some but then somebody will come and say You didn’t name such and such. Don’t you think they are? So let me just say there are others besides Indian Hills. I am not saying Indian Hills is the only biblical church in this city. I am saying when you attend a church, local church, that is made up of individuals who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you should be seeing the body of Christ. There is no other place to go to see the church as it’s presented in the New Testament.


Now we like to emphasize the universal church because it moves us outside the biblical constraints. I was visiting while I was gone this summer with a man who started a para-church organization. And early in our conversation we talked about doctrine. And I may have shared this with you. He says well at the beginning of our ministry we came to understand that we could not be as narrow in our doctrine as a local church. I said well wait a minute. Our local church is only as narrow as the Bible and must be as broad as the Bible. Now you believe that you can have a ministry serving the living God but you think God’s too narrow? That’s a problem wouldn’t you think? But it is a danger and a problem of parachurch organizations by their nature and I am speaking generally. They want to be more inclusive, more encompassing and so they look for the minimal doctrinal commitment that will be involved or required and immediately we begin to have problems. The church is called to a commitment to biblical truth not adding anything, not taking away anything. Not deciding that this doctrine is significant but the eternal God said this but it is not important. So we have to be careful. God has established the church, 1Timothy 3:15, as the “the pillar and support of the truth.”

Now my understanding is that the church began in Acts chapter 2. You might turn there. This is all introduction so just stay with me. Sometimes my introductions become my sermons. We noted Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, “I will build my church.” It was yet future. Some people want to talk about Israel as the church in the Old Testament but that just is not biblical. In Matthew 16 the church was yet future. When you come to the book of Acts chapter 1 as Jesus prepares for His ascension of heaven, He says to His disciples in verse 5 of Acts 1, “John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” These disciples up to this point still had not been baptized with the Holy Spirit. They had ministered with Jesus Christ over a 3-year period, had seen dramatic results in their preaching in miracles done. They had not been baptized with the Holy Spirit. That event occurs in Acts chapter 2. Jesus had prepared them for this somewhat in His last night with them in John’s gospel chapters 13 to 17 where He told them it was important that He go to heaven to be with the Father for then He would send the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit would empower them to carry on the ministry after His departure from the earth. So Jesus told them in Acts 1:8, “You shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” In Acts chapter 2 the Holy Spirit comes upon them. They are baptized with the Holy Spirit. And there are visible manifestations of that baptism because it has never occurred before. How are they to know the baptism of the Spirit is happening? Are they just to be left with a warm feeling in their heart? No, there are visible signs and evidences and now we have the completed word of God that establishes that doctrine for us.

You come over to the book of Acts chapter 11. Peter was sent to the house of Cornelius by God in Acts chapter 10. He preaches the gospel in Acts chapter 10 and the Holy Spirit comes upon these Gentiles and baptizes them in the Spirit. In Acts chapter 11 Peter is called on the carpet for having gone and preached to the Gentiles. You see up to this point the Jewish believers even with the Spirit of God did not understand that the work of God in this day would be to build His church and it would not be limited to Jews or Jewish converts. So Peter explains in verse 15 of Acts 11. “As I began to speak” referring back to Acts chapter 10. “Speak to these Gentiles at the house of Cornelius the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized by the Holy Spirit’. If God therefore gave to them”, to them Gentiles, “the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus, who was I who could stand in God’s way. So they all joined together in glorifying God recognizing that God has granted to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.” And we have the fulfilment of Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John chapter 17 where he prays that “they all may me one even as we are one.” Now Jew and Gentile are brought together as one into one body the church of Jesus Christ.


Leave a marker in Acts and turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. I want to come back to Acts in a moment but I want you to come to 1 Corinthians 12. Look at verse 13. Paul is writing to the local church at the city of Corinth. And he says in verse 13, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” So that’s the baptism of the Spirit. That’s how you become a member of the body of Christ. That’s what the church is. That’s what this church is. It is the body of Christ. Are you saying that that’s exclusive? No, what I am saying is this is the body of Christ. You do see the body of Christ manifested physically and visibly in this place. You would see it in other Bible believing churches as well. They are made up of believers who meet in a physical place.

Now switch your marker to 1 Corinthians 12 and come back over to Acts chapter 20. I want you to note the connection made here. And we could do it in other passages but for time we are just going to take this passage on the local church, the universal church and how inseparably they are tied together. In Acts chapter 20 verse 17 the apostle Paul is traveling. He comes to Miletus and from Miletus he sends to the city of Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. So here the church in one place, Ephesus, its elders go to a meeting with Paul. These are elders of a local church at Ephesus. Note what he says to them in verse 28. “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” The responsibility of these elders is for the flock and shepherding the flock over which they have been given the responsibility of overseers. That’s the flock, the church at Ephesus. But note how that’s identified. It’s identified as the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. He doesn’t even say which is part of the church of God which was purchased with His own blood. This is the church of God that you are overseeing, the church that He purchased with His own blood. For you see the church was manifested in that place in that local church. You want to see the church that God has purchased with His own blood? This is it. This isn’t all there is. There are others.

Now this is important because if we are not clear on the doctrine of the local church what we begin to develop is we need to manifest unity. I am amazed at how early. As I went back and did some reading to refresh my mind this doctrine of an overarching unity was developed in church history by the end of the second century some of the early church fathers were developing an emphasis in their writings that totally reversed the Biblical emphasis. One person did a count in one of the writings on a major treatise on the church. The emphasis in that treatise from the end of the second century was almost exactly the reverse of the New Testament emphasis. The universal church got the overwhelming emphasis every time the church was mentioned. The local church was mentioned but few times. In this there was a developing desire that there be more of a visible manifestation of unity. So somehow we have to join together local churches. So the Bishops need to be joined together. This led to ultimately recognition of the Bishop at Rome. Because what could more guarantee the unity of all the churches and the visible unity of the church universal than one central human head? Good thinking, bad theology. It’s not God’s way.


Nowhere in the New Testament do we find the church is bound together like that. We find some interaction but we find not centralized authority. And the full development in Revelation 2 and 3 of the messages of Christ to the individual churches of Asia, nowhere are certain churches told to assert their influence or authority over the other churches. There are a lot of problems. Jesus addresses each local church as an individual entity and tells them what they must do to get back on track or else. God’s intention to carry out the ministry of Christ in the world today through the local churches that he has established.

Now people say are you against para-church. I was asked one place I was this summer. You are opposed to para-church organization. I said I wouldn’t put it that way. I am passionately committed to God’s program which is the local church. That consumes me. It absorbs all my energy and all my time. The one thing that bothered me as I have been different places and I visit. People get passionate about this and are totally caught up with their money and their time and their abilities to that organization and this organization. And they attend the local church. I say we ought to be passionate and totally absorbed and consumed with what God’s doing in the world today and that is the local church. You say well local churches have a lot of trouble. Well, go read about the seven churches of Asia in Revelation 2 and 3. I say yeah it could be hard to be passionately involved and totally committed to some of those places. But God’s plan is God’s plan. But Lord, listen to this. I think this will work even better.

Now we live in a day with an overwhelming development of para-church ministries. Since the forties it seems that we have had an explosion. This goes with the rise of what is called Neo-evangelicalism. “Neo” is new. This is the new evangelicalism. It was a response to and against fundamentalism. Fundamentalism was too narrow, too small in its focus. One of the emphases of Neo-Evangelicalism was unity, unity. Edward John Carnell, one of the early writers in the late forties, early fifties, one of the early professors at Fuller seminary wrote stingingly about the divisions of denominations. We have to overcome our denominational barriers. Sounds like some stuff that’s being written today to get a broader unity to manifest the unity of the church. Of course of doctrine gets in the way then we have to play down certain doctrines. Some of you have been involved in para-church ministries where you are warned. Certain doctrines you don’t bring up here. You don’t want to bring in certain beliefs your church might have that are biblical because they would divide. You are constantly looking. How can we shrink? What is the minimal you have to believe to work and minister together?

Let me tell you what the minimum is. This is it. What’s the maximum? This is it. Life’s simple isn’t it. I don’t have to sort through and say take out page 292. Take out page 847 and pages 900 to 960 because we have decided they are not important to ministry. What audacity. Does that mean I have truth? Well I have the truth here. That doesn’t mean I have perfect understanding. But as a church we are responsible to be committed to this book in its entirety and to be passionate about that. I have yet to meet a person in my life who can be passionately, completely committed and involved in two spiritual ministries. Now they may be involved in two spiritual ministries, but one will consume their life, one will not. I fear that people get passionate and involved and give money and get excited about not their local church but other things.


Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. I want to walk through the first part of 1 Corinthians 12. We see God’s plan, simple, written to a local church. We could have done it with the book of Romans. We could have done it with the book of Ephesians. We’re going to do it in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and limit ourselves here. I will make some references but we will not be turning to other passages for time. Just to see the simplicity of God’s plan and this is what ought to consume and envelope our lives. Paul is writing about spiritual things in verse 1. We have spiritual gifts but it is different word, but it is going to be spiritual gifts within the realm of spiritual things. “Concerning spiritual things brethren, I do not want you to be unaware.” You ought to understand how God is working today, what His plan and program in and with and through the body the local church is. “Before you were believers you were led astray to this dumb idol and that dumb idol.”

But verse 3 let me tell you when the Spirit works in your heart you recognize who Jesus is. That’s the substance of what verse 3 is. “No one says speaking by the Spirit of God Jesus is accursed and no one can say Jesus is the Lord except by the Spirit of God.” Some try to make this a magical formula and you know they talk to a person who is demon possessed so they thought. And I told them say Jesus is Lord and they couldn’t say it, so I knew it was a demon. The scripture doesn’t have magical formulas. Satan had no problem quoting scripture to Christ in the temptation of Matthew 4. What he is saying here is no one has true insight into person of Christ except the man who has experienced the ministry of the Spirit of God in his life. That’s the point.

Now with that as a background I am talking to those who recognize who Jesus Christ because we are going to talk about His body, who have experienced the work of the Spirit in their life. I want you to understand how this work of the Spirit continues to be worked out. “Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, varieties of ministries the same Lord, varieties of effects the same God.” What he wants you to understand is there is unity in the body of Christ and there is diversity in the body of Christ. And I want you to see that this unity manifests itself in the context of the functioning of the local church. It is consistent through the New Testament writings and the epistles that the unity that is demanded is a unity among those believers who have been brought together in a local church fellowship. Nowhere are we told that all the churches must come together in a display of unity before the Roman Empire. The concern is that within the fellowship of believers that manifests itself in a physical way at the local church there be unity and harmony. So he’s going to show the unity we have and the diversity we have. You could underline the word varieties in verse 4, varieties in verse 5, varieties in verse 6. Then you go back in verse 4. Underline the word same, verse 5 the word same, verse 6 the word same. That’s the contrast. The varieties but the unity.


The variety comes from the diversity of gifts that exist in the body. Every single individual brings something unique and necessary to the proper functioning of the body. But the body has a cohesiveness because it is the one God who permeates it all. There are varieties of gifts, varieties of gifts. The word gifts here we get the word charismatic from it. “Charisma” is the word grace. So, these are gifts of God’s grace. They tell you something of their character. They are not something you earn or deserve or work for. And we will see this developed later. But it comes out in the very name. These are those done in grace, bestowed upon you by God’s grace. There are varieties of gifts. There is a diversity in them, a multiplicity of gifts as we saw in our study of 1 Peter. This is the multi-faceted, multi-colored grace of God on display. But the same Spirit. These are the gifts of the Spirit. Only one Holy Spirit works in the life of each individual part of the body. So, there is unity in this diversity.

The analogy obviously that will be developed in this chapter is a physical body. This is one body, but it has many parts, toes, fingers, arms and so on. But one body under control of one mind, one spirit. So in the spiritual body, the same Spirit works with the diversity. There are varieties of ministries. You get insights into the gifts. The gifts are not only gifts of God’s grace, they are ministries. We get the word deacon from this word. There are varieties of way of serving. There are varieties of services in the context of ways of serving. But the same Lord. You see the context. He’s the Lord. There are different ways we serve our Lord. Your spiritual gift is a way of serving your God. Even though there are varieties of ways of serving there is only one Lord. So there is unity. In this auditorium we have hundreds of servants but there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. We have already touched that in verse 3. “No one can say Jesus is Lord but by the Spirit.” So there is unity in our diversity. And so there are varieties of effects. We get our English word energy from this word. It means work, workings. There are different ways of working. And it indicates that spiritual gifts are a way of working. They necessitate your activity, your involvement, your doing. And many of you are involved in the body and you know sometimes it’s just plain hard work. Well that’s the biblical pattern. There are different ways of carrying out the work if you will. But the same God who works all things in all persons. So you have Father, Son and Holy Spirit involved in His work in the world today. This is important. How is God carrying out His work in the world today? Through His people that He has brought together as His church to do His work in serving Him by exercising the abilities that He has given them to do. That’s a simple plan. It is not complicated. Varieties of gifts, varieties of ministries, varieties of effects, one God working in it all.

Move on a little bit with me in this chapter. Look at verse 7. “But to each on is give the manifestation of the spirit for the common good.” Emphasis in this verse is on each one. This is going to come out repeatedly through this section. Verse 11 will say it’s given to each one individually. Verse 18, “God has placed them each one as He desires.” In other words every single believer is gifted by God. Nobody is left out. It is a denial of the truth of God to say I don’t have anything to contribute to this body. People say the church is too big. They wouldn’t need me. I wouldn’t have anything to contribute. Well, I beg to differ. God brings every part of this body together because He has an intention for them, a part for them to play that will enable the body to function more effectively. And you know with the development of our understanding in our modern day, we have come to appreciate the parts of our body that at one time didn’t seem to be that important end up playing a significant role. And you may be able to live without them but there is something lost in the doing without that part. So it is in the body of Christ.


So each one, everyone is gifted by the Spirit. Each one is given. Remember these are grace gifts and this is in present tense. Each one has been given. It’s an ongoing work of the Spirit of God as He builds the church to add to it. You know we say oh boy that body is complete. I’ll just be tacked on. Nope. This body is growing and developing and God continues to add to it. “The manifestation of the spirit to the common good.” You know what a spiritual gift is? It’s a manifestation of the Spirit’s presence in your life. It is a manifestation, a demonstration. It reveals the Spirit’s presence in your life. I don’t see the Spirit of God in you. I see the manifestation of His presence in you as you function as a part of this body. Some people attend church for a long time and newer get involved. I have serious concern for their spiritual condition. Do you belong to the body or do you come and watch the body? A spiritual gift is a manifestation of the Spirit. People get cranky and grumble and complain and they leave because they say I just never fit. Maybe there’s a reason. Have you been born again? Does the Spirit indwell you? The ability to function as a vital part of the body is a result of the work of the Spirit in your life. If you are submissive to the Spirit as a believer, you will function as part of the body. But if you don’t have the Spirit then you can’t be a vital part.

“A manifestation of the Spirit.” This causes me to believe that spiritual gifts are different than natural talents. Now you are going to ask me how do they differ? Do they ever overlap? Well, you know I have to admit that sometimes that is not clear to me, the distinction in some areas. But what is clear is a person manifesting the work of the Spirit in his life is functioning in such a way that the body is strengthened and being developed. Sometimes God uses what we might call natural abilities in that process. But it is not right to say natural abilities and spiritual gifts are synonymous. Unbelievers have natural abilities. We could have unbelievers who could come and do music here. But unbelievers could not build us and nurture us in the exercising of music like our choir and orchestra does. People being used of the Spirit. And over time the difference. Unbelieving churches have music done but the work of the Spirit is not carried out in it. So it becomes a significant difference.

“For the common good.” Very important here. Much of the confusion in what we call the modern day Charismatic movement would be resolved if you just started reading in chapter 12 and then read chapter 13 and then read chapter 14. Because when we get to chapter 14 and we talk about go home and speak to yourself in your own closet in tongues, you say wow that’s a slap in the face. Right, if you read chapter 12 you would know that, because the gifts are given for the common good. You know sometimes in my preparation and study I will walk around in my library and I’ll talk out loud about this passage. Now you know what goes on in my library. And boy you know I’m teaching it and I’m going over it and what this is really saying. And this is wonderful. But that’s not the exercising of my spiritual gift. That’s not a valid usage of my spiritual gift. That’s preparation for the use of my spiritual gift to come and unfold that truth to you. It’s for the common good. My gift was not given for me. My gift was given to me so that I could serve you and serve the living God. And they go together. Your gift was given to you so you could serve the body. So you want to know what your gift is? How could you serve this body? How could you do something for someone else? What could you do to help? I mean just simple basic way we get started as we will say more about in a moment unless I talk too long.


Then he goes through some examples of the gifts in verses 8, 9 and 10. And I don’t want to talk about specific gifts right now? This is just some examples, not a complete list by any means of some of the diversities of gifts are. And then he comes to verse 11. So we’ve got that diversity but we tie it back together. “But one and the same Spirit works all these things”, all these gifts, with one and the same Spirit at work “distributing to each one individually.” There we have that emphasis. Every single person has one “just as He wills.” The Spirit of God is sovereign in the distribution of the gifts. You don’t get the gifts because you prayed more than someone else. You don’t get the gifts because you were more faithful than someone else. You get the gifts because the Spirit of God has sovereignly bestowed upon you this gift. It’s a grace gift. He did it as He wills. Why? Because He decided that’s where you would fit in the body. What if I don’t like what He did? Well you go home and have a talk with your toes. What if they don’t like their part in the body. Are you going to cut them off and stick them to the side of your head so they can be an ear? Put them on your nose? What? It’s a meaningless discussion. Toes were born in the body as toes. Praise God for toes. How do you think you would walk without your toes and keep your balance? Why do you think the king in the Old Testament cut off the thumbs and big toes of the kings he conquered? Hard to hold on to anything without your thumbs. Hard to keep your balance without your big toe. Praise God for big toes. Praise God for little toes. “As He wills.” You were born into the body. Someone graciously through the moving of the Spirit presented the gospel to you and you responded, were saved. How did you know what part of the body you would play? You didn’t even know about the body probably. The Spirit of God fitted you so you would have a role to play.

Verse 12, “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, one body, many parts. The members of the body though they are many are body. So also is Christ.” And there it’s the Spirit of God who has placed us into the body at the baptism of the Spirit. And then he goes on to say you know you need the diversity. You don’t have a body when you have an ear. You don’t have a body when you have an eye. You have a body when you have all the parts together. So it is in the body of Christ. Verse 18, “But now God has placed the members, each one of them.” No exceptions, “in the body just as He desires.” See the problem with the church at Corinth was some people didn’t like their gift. Some people wanted another gift. Not good! Understand the sovereignty of God is at work in your salvation from beginning to end. So He has sovereignly determined that you will fit into the body in this way and every part is absolutely essential.

In the functioning of this body I probably have the most visible role. But I am not the body. People say what will happen to Indian Hills when you are gone? They’ll get somebody else. I was gone for ten weeks and the ministry grew. Think what it would look like if I had gone 20. But all the parts are there. People doing things that people don’t know about. How often I have people say you know we have people in this body and they contribute so faithfully, so sacrificially in this area and how it enables the body to carry out it’s ministry. As Ephesians 4 says what, “As each individual part functions and contributes the body builds itself to maturity in Christ.” That’s God’s plan. That’s how it happens. No insignificant parts of the body. Every part contributing in the way God has determined that they should.



“And so if one member suffers,” down in verse 26, “all suffer with it.” “Now,” verse 27, “you are Christ’s body.” Oh wait a minute he’s writing to the church at Corinth. “You are Christ’s body,” chapter 12 verse 27. Sounds similar to what he said to the elders at the church at Ephesus. You shepherd the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood. That’s the church of God the church at Ephesus. But now he says you are Christ’s body. You, the church at Corinth. You see this concept as the universal church as an entity that we have to pull together and give some kind of expression to totally undermines the scripture and sooner or later bad theology catches up to you. It catches up to you at the very beginning in the one sense of your not carrying out the will of God. But the disastrous effects often become more evident with the passing of time.

I received some material from a para-church organization that has developed very rapidly in the last few years. You know I read this material. Now they are writing and preparing Bible study materials for you. Now they tell you what days of the week you can attend Bible study. Now they tell you when you can come to fellowship groups. I say well where is the local church in this. Oh everybody should attend a local church. If I got involved in that about all I could do would be attend the local church. Of course they have good intentions. Don’t you want to see the results that... And I say sure I want to see the results but I know to get God’s results you have to do it God’s way. Sounds like oh your against seeing people saved and evangelism becomes and umbrella. And New-Evangelicals used this strongly and continue to as Neo-Evangelicalism now pervades the church. Evangelism and reaching this world must take precedence. We cannot divide and battle over our doctrinal differences when the world is going to hell. That sounds so good but it’s just not biblical. I must have a passion to reach this world to reach the lost that are around us and beyond us. We must do it with a fanatical passion to be biblically correct.

Because the church is the pillar and support of the truth not a big vacuum sucking in everybody it can. It’s the pillar and support of the truth not the arbitrator of what is important in truth and not. It’s the pillar and support of the truth. So the gifts that are sovereignly given. The plan of God is simple.. It develops the church drawing people to salvation in Christ with the intention that they be formed together in physical entities called the church that has organization and structures and leaders. It carries out the ministry that God has given to His people. There is a uniqueness and an exclusiveness but a recognition there is no precedent in scripture for an umbrella organization over the other churches. There is responsibility placed upon the leaders to be sure they are doctrinally pure, upon the members of the church to be functioning as they should. The gifts function. How do you carry out God’s will in the world today? Well, we just read 1 Corinthians 12. We could have done this from Romans chapter 12 on the gifts. We could have done it from Ephesians 4 on the gifts. We have done it not too long ago in 1 Peter 4 on the gifts. How are we going to do God’s work in the world today? Be a vital, functioning part of the church.

But sad to say in our day you have to... No what I want to talk about is the local church. Oh, you’re exclusive. You think your church is the only one doing the work in the world today. No, but I think our church is the church of the living God. What Paul says, “you are Christ’s body and individually members of it.” He’s writing to the church of Corinth. “You are Christ’s body.” You aren’t part of Christ’s body. You need to learn to work together with the churches of Asia and the church of Rome and then we will really have the body of Christ at work. No. We will have created something out of our minds that has no foundation in scripture.


You are to exercise your gift. Let me just say something on exercising your gift very quickly. How do you know what your gift is? Well, that’s what we are doing now. We are making you aware of what God’s plan is, the church. And you are to be a functioning part of the church. He’s gifted you if you are a believer. How can you contribute to the body? What are the opportunities? That’s why we list in the newsletter, opportunities. What could you do to help? People walk by and criticize or complain that something’s not done. Well there is a need. Do it. I could help. Boy this place would look a lot better. It would help if they did this. They could have a better ministry here. Why don’t they have more people helping in the nursery or helping with the kids. Well, do it. Wonderful. The Spirit of God may be nudging the inside of your head and saying here’s an opportunity. I’ll use you. What interests do you have besides preaching? How would you like to be involved? What would you like to do? I mean we sometimes think oh God’s going to make me do what I don’t want to do. I know He was going to send me to China. I knew it. But He didn’t. At least when I went it wasn’t to have my ministry there. What are your interests or desires. Become involved. Remember these are ways serving. They are workings. You have to do something. What could you do? Start doing something. Get involved. Where are you effective as you get involved? You know what will happen is people get involved and realize that won’t hurt. You can get involved in a variety of things. You know I can do the work of an evangelist even of I am not gifted to be an evangelist. I can show mercy even if I don’t have the gift of being merciful. I can give even if my gift is not giving and so on. Some say boy I can’t do anything yet, I’m not sure what my gift is. Well, get busy. And what you will find is that you are working and concentrating on how can I serve the body, how can I serve the body? How can I contribute to the development of this ministry instead of just being aware of what’s wrong? How can I help make it right? You will find that there are areas where you are more effective and with the passing of time you develop more of your time, more of your abilities to where you find you are most effective. And the body develops and grows. Others ought to recognize the gift. Others will see your effectiveness and appreciate your ministry. It’s a confirming of your gift.

In all of this... Back to where we were. I want us to understand what God’s plan in the world is. I don’t like the fact that Indian Hills has a reputation that we are anti-para-church. I just want people to know we are passionately committed to this ministry. I don’t know why as I visit with people in para-church ministries and para-church leaders, they are so consumed with their ministry, they think everybody ought to. But if I feel that way about the local church somehow I’m narrow and exclusive. I’d say fine, be passionate about it. Just don’ expect me to pay for your vision. Why do I have to raise money for you? You know the last para-church organization has raised money for me. Campus Crusade never wrote me a letter and said how can we raise money for your building project? That’s fine but why do I have to raise money for theirs? Oh, they are reaching the world. Well so am I in the ministry of the local church.


And just a word. My understanding of the local church it is mission. We had the pastors in from other churches. There were I think eight churches represented this week. We had a great time. We talked about the church and missions. I believer the church is mission. That’s what we are. God has established us to carry out His work in the world today. That doesn’t mean we won’t be involved in other places. But this idea that the church is here but got missions going on here. How can I be passionate about it? I say the consuming passions of your heart and life ought to be the local church. And gifts, any abilities, any energy, any money ought to be committed to the local church. People are going to come with appeals and you say I’d love to. And you probably have a great ministry. Let me tell you I am passionately, consumingly involved with the body of Christ. Well that’s what we are, the universal church. Well I’m passionately involved with the body of Christ as the New Testament talks about it, the local church. Is this the most important thing in your life? This is how God’s doing his work in the world today. This is not complicated. Let’s not wait for someone to come and lay out his vision of how we can get the job done. God’s done it. We just read 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Here’s God’s plan. And you can’t beat it because He’s in it. It’s this same God working in each of us. I want to start my plan and then ask God to bless it. He’s already got his plan working. He privileges me to be part of it. Let’s keep our Biblical emphasis. Let’s pray together.

Thank you Lord for the truth of your word. Thank You for Your work in the world today. Thank you Lord for the church of the living God. Thank You that Your work, Your church is manifested in a physical way through the local churches that You have established around the world. Lord may we be passionately committed to Your body, the church, to use our gifts, our God given abilities and talents for the ministry that You are doing in the world today and You do through us and in us as we function together as the body of Christ. Lord may this church be a true representation of Jesus Christ before the world in these days. And we give you praise for the many other churches that are a testimony and a visible manifestation of the body of Christ in the world today. And we pray in Christ’s name, amen.