God’s Only Plan for Doing Church

Transcript

GRM 1109
02/03/2013
God's Only Plan for Doing Church
Ephesians 1:19-2:10; 4:7-16
Gil Rugh

We have a lot of new things here and sometimes I see for churches advertising a new way to do church. And I can never understand, what in the world are they talking about, a new way to do church. I'm sure people come up with new ways to do church. But our concern is to do church in the biblical way, and that doesn't change. We're thankful to God for all He provides for us, the wonderful facilities and the great setting for the ministry of the Word. But we sang about the ancient words. You can't change the message, you can't change the focus of the church. Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:15 and said, “the church is the family of God, it is the pillar and support of the truth.” What the church must be is what God intended it to be, what He established it in Acts 2, what He has always intended for His people. When He was working through the nation Israel in the Old Testament, that He would speak of, as we've seen in our study of Hebrews; God spoke in past times in the prophets, in these last days He has spoken to us in One who is a Son. And we are communicating the truth that God has given.

I want to direct your attention for our time together to the book of Ephesians, perhaps a passage we've looked at more often than any other in my years in the ministry here as a constant reminder. But first I want to draw your attention to Ephesians 2. It reminds us of the foundational issue. Ephesians 1 ended with an emphasis on Jesus Christ, the greatness of His power, verse 19, the working of the strength of His might. And this is all brought about in Christ through the work of the Father. He raised Him from the dead, He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority, power, dominion, every name that is named not only in this age but in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. What makes the church the church is not a building, not a location. It's the people whom God has redeemed by His grace, being brought together at a given spot to make a local church, which is part, of course, of the universal church, the body of Christ in the world, that is filled with Christ.

We have lovely facilities, we are greatly blessed in that realm. But you could come here week after week, month after month, year after year and never belong to the church. You could be considered a member here or another church, another denomination; but you couldn't be a member of the church by just attending someplace. You can't become a member of the church by being baptized here, by giving in the offerings, by taking on a responsibility. You must be filled with Christ and His Spirit, having understood the work that God the Father accomplished in Him to bring about his salvation. And have the might of His power work to transform your heart and mind and make you new. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says when that happens the Spirit of God baptizes you into the body of Christ. He identifies you with Christ as Romans 6 unfolds, in His death, in His burial and in His resurrection. Then you become part of His body, verse 23.

Then Paul reminds them as Ephesians 2 opens up, you were dead in your trespasses and sins. That's the condition we all are at one stage in our life. There are only two kinds of people in the world—the people that are dead and the people who were dead. There is no middle ground, there is no in-between. Two kinds of people. Everyone in this room today is either dead or at one time was dead. That's the transformation that God brings about.

He goes on to talk about, you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. Among them we, too, all formerly lived. Paul includes himself here. I was once one of the dead, spiritually dead, cut off from God and the life that is found in Him. We lived in the lust of our flesh, under the power of the devil, we were by nature, verse 3 says, “children of wrath.” The wrath of God. Some of you wonder about the sound and lights. I thought, that would be great, roll those bass sounds. Couldn't you feel it vibrating your seat? We'll have to study the book of Revelation again and we'll not only have the visuals, we'll have the impact as we talk about the wrath of God thundering.

God, as though that's all there is to God. He is a God of love, of mercy, kindness, we're going to come to that. But you understand He is a God of wrath. And those who are outside of Christ are by their very nature children of wrath, deserving of God's wrath because of their sin.

The great transformation comes in Ephesians 2: 4-6: “but God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. He raised us up with Him, seated us with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Remarkable truth that for all eternity those of us who have placed our faith in Christ will be trophies of God's grace, the grace that was never experienced by angels; because a Savior was never provided for angels when they sinned. They live forever under the wrath of God. But God will be able to point to you, to me, who have been transformed by His grace in a hundred billion years as evidence of the greatness of His grace. They were dead in their sin, they were under the condemnation of an eternal hell; but I intervened, sent My Son to that wretched earth ruined by sin to die on the cross, for the penalty of sin is death and He is a holy God. The angels, seraphim of heaven cry out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

“But God being rich in mercy” in verse 4, “because of His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ.” What remarkable truth. Then he reminds us, for by grace you have been saved. It was something God did that we didn't deserve, that we couldn't accomplish for ourselves. Tragic, 2000 years after God spoke to the Apostle Paul so he could write this down so we could know 2000 years later what God has said, there are people who think that by going to church they can please God, by being baptized they can be sure their sins are forgiven, by partaking of certain sacraments, God will be pleased with them. They have this general sentimental idea, God is a God of love, my God wouldn't condemn anyone, my God wouldn't send anyone to hell, my God wouldn't . . . Well, that may be your god, small “g”, but the God of the Bible, capital “G”, tells us what He is like. Our situation is so serious, so wretched, so hopeless He had to send His own Son from the throne room in heaven to be born into the human race so that He as the God/Man, both God and man, could go to the cross and die to pay the penalty for our sin. That's how serious sin is. The only thing that could rescue us was the death of God's Son on the cross. Then God raised Him from the dead. God's declaration, it's done. Jesus took His dying breath on the cross and what did He declare? It is finished. The work of redemption is done, there is nothing we can add to it, there is nothing we can take away from it. But God now says, I can give you a free gift. You can't earn it, you can't work for it, but you can accept it. And that's what Paul is talking about here.

Ephesians 2:5-7, “even when we were dead in our transgressions, God made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Remarkable. We talk about the mercy of God in this passage, the love of God, the grace of God, the kindness of God. It's like you can't pile up enough words to emphasize what God has done.

And then the verses that many of you have memorized, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. Salvation is not a result of what you do, what I do. It is something God has done for us and can only be received as a gift. Not as a result of works so that no one may boast. Isn't it a great tragedy that God would have provided His Son to be the Savior.

Two thousand years later we have the Word of God that clearly states what He has done and there are still people in the pitiful condition of thinking by their good works, by being the best person they can be, by going to church, by going to confession, by getting baptized somehow now God will be pleased and accept them. God says He is offended by that, that you would have the audacity to think that you could come before Me and have earned a salvation that could only be accomplished by the death of My Son.

We often share with you the comment in Proverbs, the verse in Proverbs where God says, those who reject His Word, even their prayer is an abomination to Him. Serious matter. We think of John 3:16, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. But you know what the rest of it is, in order that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.” Then John 3 goes on to say at the end of that chapter, “He that has the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

There are only two kinds of people in the world—those who are living under the wrath of God, the objects of His wrath and condemnation, and those who have been given new life through faith in the finished work of Christ. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. People get the order wrong. When God makes us new in Christ, now we are privileged to live as new people, now the sons of God. Now He is at work in us producing His character. We begin to conduct ourselves differently. People get turned around and think, well, if I then conduct myself to the highest standard, I can be saved. No, you have to be born again. You must be born again, born from above, made new, receive the gift of God. Salvation in Christ.

Turn over to Ephesians 4, how we now function as a church. I'm just going to highlight the points here. People talk about the new way to do church. I must say as a pastor I find it terribly frustrating. I must say, I find it irritating. Not that I would ever get upset, but they are corrupting God's truth. Here is how we are to function. As a result of the work of Christ, as a result of His dying and being raised from the dead, as a result of His giving life to everyone who places his faith in Him and His death and resurrection on their behalf, Christ, we're told in verse 7, gives grace to men. “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.” Christ bestows gifts on those who believe in Him. And these gift given through the Spirit whom He has given to those who believe in Him provide abilities for us to serve Him as part of His body. The analogy that is used is of the body. And just as though you have a finger and hands and arms and legs and ears and eyes, the body has many parts but they all work together under the direction of the head. And remember Ephesians 1 we read that Christ was given as the head over all things to the church, which is His body. And so when you were born into God's family through faith in Christ, God gave you a special ability to be able to function as part of His body. I mean, we can't just have body parts scattered around. The sovereign God places us as He would have us function.

We are told in Ephesians 4: verse 11, skip down, it tells us about the descent of Christ to earth, His death, burial, resurrection and ascension back to the Father. And then He gave these gifts, verse 11, “some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers.” This is only a few of the gifts. 1 Corinthians: 12-14 give a more extensive list. Romans 12 talks about the gifts, Peter talks about the gifts. The gifts that are mentioned here are all gifts that have to do with the communication of God's Word. Apostles, prophets, they received the Word from God and then they taught it to men. Evangelists carried the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ out so others might hear and believe. Pastors carry on a ministry of shepherding and overseeing God's people and are also joined with other teachers in communicating the Word of God.

So these gifts in verse 11 have to do with giving out God's Word. You see God has spoken, He is not in the business now of having me come up with ideas for Him. He has given us His Word. His intention is His Word be communicated and people hear it and respond. And true believers hear it and have the Spirit of God carry it to their heart and mind so God's purposes are accomplished. These gifts involved in communicating the Word, we are here today and I am before you as a pastor who is teaching you the Word, joined in this ministry with a number of others involved in teaching the Word and sharing the oversight of this local congregation.

And what is happening? As the Word is being taught these gifts are given, Ephesians 4:12, “for the equipping of the saints, for rendering them fit and ready, preparing them”. The saints are the holy ones, holy ones are those who have been set apart by God for Himself. Every believer in Jesus Christ is a saint. That's not a special category of people enshrined by the church or another group of men. These are those that God has called to Himself and have entered into His salvation through faith. The teaching of the Word goes on. Why am I here teaching you today? Not just to impart information so the unbeliever, those who gather here who do not know Christ might have the opportunity to hear and believe, and for those who have believed in Him, the taking in of the Word of God is God's plan for equipping and rendering you ready and prepared for the work of serving. The work of serving, that's our service for the Lord, carrying out the role He would have for us. It's work, it's a realm of serving. And that's not an end in itself. We are doing the work of serving, carrying out the will of God, the directions of Christ who is the head of the body to the building up of the body of Christ.

See what is happening? The Word of God is like food. Peter wrote in his first letter, as newborn babies long for the pure milk of God's Word in order that you might grow with respect to your salvation. This is what's going on. We're growing as we take in the nourishment of God's Word. It's like a baby and then a young child, we want them to eat properly, take in the right nourishment so they can get stronger, so they can function more and more as they should as they grow. That's God's plan for us. It's a simple plan. This is God's plan for the church. There is no new way to do church. The church is built on the Word of God and the truth concerning Jesus Christ. He is the foundation, the truth concerning Him, the truth revealed in and through Him, God's Word as we have it.

This is to go on, Ephesians 4:13, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith”. We are to be growing together in the faith, the truth of God and our trust in it. They go together. That's why we study it and study it, sit under the teaching of it not only here but in classes, in home studies, in various settings. But that's not all we do. It's until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Colossians tells us that all the fullness of deity dwelt in Jesus Christ in bodily form. We will never exhaust the knowledge of the eternal God. In a hundred billion years in eternity, we won't know all there is to know about the living God because we are finite and He is infinite. We are to be growing in our knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man. Here he is talking about the growth of the church, of course that involves our individual growth as we develop together.

Ephesians 4: 13, “To the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ”. This is the point. We are growing up to be more and more like Christ. We're not becoming gods, we're not becoming deity. That's an impossibility. But His character is being produced and developed in us. Peter wrote that we have become partakers of the divine nature in His very character, in His power working in us. He is conforming us to be more and more like the perfection of the One who is our Savior, the One who was perfect and complete in every way.

Ephesians 4:13, “To the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ”. What an awesome statement. Just back up to Ephesians 3:19, “to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge”. Now note this last statement; that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. What a statement. Again, I can't become God. He is eternal, He has always existed. I had a beginning, I am a created being, but the beauty and wonder of His character, His power works in those who belong to Him. We are His children. His intention is to develop us, mature us. We take in the Word. Paul wrote about this in writing to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 3:18. He said “we are beholding the glory of the Lord in the mirror of God's Word. We are being transformed into the same image by the power of God. And that's taking us from glory to glory”. Remarkable. Something supernatural happens. As we are nurtured and nourished in the Word and then function as we should. We have that picture in the physical realm. A baby is born, so small, what can they do? But they grow, they are nourished in the Word, they function, they learn to use their arm, their hands. We are all excited, look what they can do. What does that baby do when it is first born? Sticks its finger in his eye. Don't be so stupid. No, he is just immature. But you have to grow out of it. We want him to not be like a four-year-old, but a six-year-old and an eight-year-old. There is a developing going on. We're becoming more and more like Christ, we're not done. But we're continuing to grow. And the more we grow, the more mature we become. Do you know what characterizes maturity? Stability, discernment. You have a grade schooler going to school, you tell him, don't get into a car with strangers. You don't tell your 30-year-old son or daughter, don't get into a car with strangers. They should have developed some discernment, right? They are not easily duped. We have concern for our children; because in the immature state they are more susceptible to deception.

And that's where verse 14 of Ephesians 4 goes. “As a result we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men by craftiness in deceitful scheming”. The sad thing about the church today, they say, there is a new way to do church. Always looking for something new, something exciting, something that will just . . . The Word of God, I know, but I want something else, something more. More than Christ? More than the wonder of God's person and His power? What happens in immaturity, we lack discernment. People aren't taught the Word. If you are the devil, you know what to do. If the foundation of this process, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ, no one is ever saved who is not presented the truth concerning the work of Christ, who He is and what He did to provide salvation. You can't be saved by your faith, you can only be saved by the work of Christ and placing your faith in that work. People say, I have my faith. What does that mean? Everybody has faith. I have faith, I'm going to have lunch if I get done here in time. Everybody has faith in something. I have my faith, my faith will get me through. What is that? If you believe a lie, we have people who have lost all their money because they invested it with someone who lied to them. They had faith they would make a lot of money, but they lost all their money. But they had faith. People think they are going to go to heaven because they have faith. If you are believing the devil and have faith in him, you're going to hell.

So characteristic of those who have become mature in Christ, they are not susceptible to all the wind of doctrine, every new thing that comes along because we are anchored in the Word. This doesn't change. And that's the Word that nourishes us, enables us to grow so we can function.

But speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. You see we're growing up into Him because we are being conformed to Him, we're becoming more like Him. Again, speaking the truth, we're picking up where we were in verse 11, the communication of truth, the communication of truth, God's Word. Jesus said, your Word is truth. And Christ is the One from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint, literally every connection supplies. According to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

How are we going to do church? The same way we did it last year, the same way we did it thirty years ago. This is the choir loft, they have 80 chairs up there. Many years ago when I came to pastor here, there were only 60 of these seats that would be filled up, and that's if we got every man, woman and child, including the nursery kids, and put them in a chair. We have more people now, we have better facilities. How do we do church now? Same thing, turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 4. We have lovely facilities and we are blessed of God. How are we going to do church? Well God's plan hasn't changed because we have a better facility. We get the idea, this is a new generation, we are in the generation x or y or millennial. The Word of God is not good for them? God has another plan of salvation for them? God has different truths?

I love the song, Ancient Words. Those ancient words are alive and powerful and as we take them in, and you'll note it's not enough to just take in the Word, each individual part. Remember Christ as a result of His resurrection has given gifts to men. You have a gift to function so that the body can function as it should. And as every part in the body functions, the body grows. This church doesn't grow because Gil Rugh stands up here and preaches the Word. I could do that until I am blue in the face; that doesn't make it a church. It's as believers take in the Word, as they take it in submissive to the head of the church, Christ, He guides them in the use of that special ability that they have. We have people in the nursery right now, or doing children's church. Taking care of infants and building the Word into young hearts and lives on their level; so we can be here and you can concentrate on the Word of God with minimal distraction. All enabling the body to function more effectively so we can grow. In a lot of ways, I get a lot of the focus but this church functions because we have a body that functions. And foundation to it is the taking in of the Word of God. Because if you stop taking in nourishment, soon it will catch up to you. Pretty soon then you get confused, you get disoriented; pretty soon you lose the discernment. You become susceptible to error and the church begins to drift from one thing to another to another; always looking for something that is current. And then we'll be popular today. And then we begin to think if we have a crowded auditorium and many people, we are successful.

The Super Bowl will be on this afternoon, they'll have a crowd. You can get a crowd for a variety of reasons. We preach the Word so that God can bring salvation to hearts so we can grow, so we can continue to function in a way that pleases Him. We become more like Him, we come to know Him better, love Him more and our passion for serving Him continues to grow because we want to be like Him.
We have entered into the life that is found only through faith in Christ. May this be a day of salvation for them.

Lord, for those of us who have come to know the wonder of your love and salvation as found in Christ, Lord, may we never tire of being nourished on your Word, of using those abilities you have given us so that the body might grow together to manifest more fully the beauty of the character of the Savior that we love and serve. Thank you for these wonderful facilities, Lord, may they always be a place where you are honored and Christ is proclaimed. We pray in His name, amen.