Pt4: Support Matters

June 24, 2018                NOTES NOT EDITED
Pt4, Church Membership Matters:  Support Matters

Hebrews 10:19-31

SIS—The Church is the Bride of Christ, bought with His blood, and deserving of the passionate, sacrificial support of every member.

When one thinks of something, “expensive,” the picture that comes to mind is usually something solid, like gold or silver, or a red Ferrari.  But, some of the most valuable commodities in the world are liquids, not solids.  Gasoline, for example, is one of the most expensive liquids we consume each day.  Who doesn’t complain about gas costing $4 a gallon!  Yet, gas is cheap compared to say, printer ink, which we all also use regularly.  Printer ink typically costs about $2700 per gallon!  We ought to be thankful our cars don’t run on printer ink!  Blood is also something most of us consider pretty valuable.  It is also much cheaper than printer ink at only $1500 per gallon.  Of course, there is always a slight upcharge for someone to put it into our bodies when needed.  Blood seems expensive at $1500 per gallon, but you’d probably be surprised to know that Channel No. 5 perfume comes in at over $2600 per gallon!  That’s almost twice the value of blood.  As the announcer has oft been heard to say, “But you ain’t seen nothing yet!”  Scorpion blood comes to the table at a whopping, $38,944,206 per gallon!  Scorpion blood is used to treat a variety of autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis. With my time living in the high desert I suspect I squashed about a trillion dollars or more in scorpions! (https://www.scienceabc.com)

Each time we purchase anything, we are faced with the question, “What’s it worth?”  We associate the “expense” of something with its value.  But, we are inconsistent in our valuations when it comes to spiritual matters.  Consider Church for example.  Most people—by their actions, or inaction—place very little value on the church.  Yet, how much is the blood of Jesus Christ worth.  The Bible says (Acts 20:28):

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock that the Holy Spirit has appointed you to as overseers, to shepherd the church of God,  which He purchased with His own blood.

If scorpion blood that can treat—not even heal—disease is worth almost $39 million dollars a gallon, how much more is the blood that provides our salvation and establishes the Church worth?  It is worth infinitely more!  Yet, does church really matter that much to most people—even people that attend church occasionally?

As we examine the idea that Church Membership Matters, today we will look carefully at the theme, “Supporting the church matters.” The Church is the Bride of Christ, bought with His blood, and deserving of the passionate, sacrificial support of every member. Let’s read a text that emphasizes the importance of supporting the Church.  Hebrews 10:19-31.  We support the testimony of our church in three ways:

1.  By Attending Church Faithfully and Consistently.

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. (NIV)

The Bible teaches that Church participation is important for three very important reasons.  First, as we noted, the Church was purchased with the very blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The other two reasons church attendance is important are:  community and eternity. 

First, Paul associates “let us meet” with “let us encourage.”  Mutual encouragement is the essence of fellowship.  Many studies have shown the correlation between church participation and emotional well-being, or even physical well-being.  One such study concluded:  Those who don’t attend church are four times more likely to commit suicide than those who attend frequently. In fact, lack of church attendance correlates more strongly with suicide rates than any other risk factor, including unemployment. (Larson & Larson, Forgotten Factor, 76-78).  Being in a community promotes well-being.

Mamie Adams always went to a branch post office in her town because the postal employees there were friendly. She went there to buy stamps just before Christmas one year and the lines were particularly long. Someone pointed out that there was no need to wait in line because there was a stamp machine in the lobby. "I know," said Mamie, ’but the machine won’t ask me about my arthritis." Bits and Pieces, December, 1989, p. 2.  Church  provides love and encouragement.  You don’t get that from a T.V. preacher.

A second consideration in regard to the importance of church attendance is implied in the words, “the Day approaching.”  That is a reference to Judgment Day.  Judgement Day IS coming and one of the mattes God is going to judge is one’s support for the testimony of His Church as evidenced by church attendance.  Every decision in this life should be made with consideration of eternity.  All money or time invested in this world, ends at the grave.  “Tis one life will soon be past.  Only what’s done for Christ will last.” 

It was Jesus’ habit was to go to "church" (synagogue) on Sabbath (Sunday). What makes us think that we are any better than Jesus, so that we don’t need to be in church in Sunday? 

And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day (Lk. 4:16).  The same thing is also said about Paul (Acts 17:2).

It is a lie from the deepest recesses of hell to say that a person can be a bonafide, blood-bought, born-again believer and not attend church enthusiastically, expectantly, and consistently.

A preacher once diagnosed the typical church like this:  “the average church is often like a congested lung with only a few cells doing the breathing” (AJ Gordon).  Excuses for missing church are nearly endless, and most always worthless.

It takes so little to keep some people from church.  Somebody once said, “It takes 90 gallons of water to baptize a person and only 9 drops of rain to keep him home from church.”

The Bible says, “Jesus loved the Church and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:25).  How can we claim to follow Christ and not love what He loved?  We can’t.  That is simply, a lie.

Church attendance is commanded and non-attendance receives harsh judgment.  The Hebrews 10  text clearly associates the lack of faithful church attendance with “deliberate sin” (v26) and then connects deliberate sin with “a terrifying expectation of judgement and the fury of a consuming fire” (v27).

Staying away from church is a sure and certain indicator of spiritual decay in the life of a believer, or the state of lostness altogether.  Non-attendance is a way for a carnal person to hide his or her carnality from the bright lights of accountability of the fellowship.  

The lack of attendance creates a generational landslide into a ravaging abyss of sin.  We see it throughout the Bible.  God visits the sins of the parents upon the children to the third and fourth generations (Num. 14:18).  As one writer accurately expressed, “The man who attempts Christianity without the church shoots himself in the foot, shoots his children in the leg, and shoots his grandchildren in the heart.”  Kevin DeYoung

Every believer must support the testimony of the church by attending faithfully.  Also, every member must support the church by

2.  living righteously

Go back to verse 25 and notice the words, “as some habitually do.”

The word for “habitually do” is what the KJV translates, “manner.”  The word (ethnos, ἔθνος), from which we get “ethnic,” refers to an identifiable way of life.  In other words, one’s character can be identified by the way a person lives, that is, his manners and customs.  In other words, people can easily recognize what “manner of person” one was by how they speak and how they act.

Our speech and our actions should be such that people readily identify us as devoted, loving, sacrificing followers of Jesus Christ.  In the Old Church Covenant that was often found glued to the flyleaf of many hymnals, there is a line that says, “We also engage to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment.”

Deportment refers to how we “carry ourselves in the world.”  In our deportment we must “walk circumspectly in the world.”  I love that old word, “circumspectly.” It is a good, ole’ sanctified KJV word.  In Ephesians 5:15-16 (KJV) it says, “¹⁵ See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, ¹⁶ Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Circumspectly literally means, “watching all around you.” I picked up this bit of advice from one writer:  Circumspectly could also be translated “watch your step.” It describes the actions of an army scout behind enemy lines as he looks closely at everything in the vicinity. A good example of walking circumspectly would be a soldier “watching his step” to avoid landmines.  The Greek word literally means, “with exactness, or accuracy” (akribōs, ἀκριβῶς).  Obviously, the “un-Christlike manner” of many in the church was obvious, to both Paul and the Church members, and presumably those in the community.  Nothing hurts the witness of a church more than a person who identifies with Christ but lives like the Devil!

How we live matters as much as what we believe—in many ways, it matters more because it validates truth of our belief in the eyes of others.  The most powerful testimony is that in which a person’s words of grace are validated by a lifestyle of holiness.  Jesus said,

Mt. 5:16: Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

The old adage is appropriate, “Actions speak louder than words.”  Perhaps it is better to say, “Actions make your words speak louder.”

We support the testimony of our church by attending faithfully, living righteously, and by

3.  Giving Generously

Nothing raises more anxiety and generates more negative comments among people than the issue of “giving money to the church.”  I have never draw back from preaching on the spiritual discipline of giving.  It is found everywhere in the Bible.  Look again at Heb. 10:19-20:

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way He has opened for us through the curtain (that is, His flesh ).

In order to understand what it means to be a “generous giver” we must comprehend the image of God as the “Greatest Giver.”  Here in our text Paul calls his readers to reflect on the holiest day of the year in Jewish culture, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  Year after year this day commemorated God’s great gift of mercy and the salvation it brings to his people.  On this day—and only this day—the High Priest—and only the High Priest—would pass through the large, purple veil that separated the Holy Place of the Temple from the Holiest Place, or the Holy of Holies.  Behind this veil was the Ark of the Covenant.  The High Priest would sprinkle the blood of a sacrificed bull on the Ark of the Covenant.  All of this was a “drama played out to prepare the Israelites to receive the Ultimate Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.”  At the moment Jesus gave up his life for us the Bible says, “the curtain [veil] of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom” (Mt. 27:51).

This is a picture of God “removing the veil [top to bottom, not bottom to top]” that had separated man from His Presence.  Now, all believers, at any time, “have boldness to enter the sanctuary” (v19).

The model for our generosity is found in the Greatest Giver Giving the Greatest Gift Ever Given!

When we draw back from our responsibility to support the testimony of the Church by giving generously, we are “drawing back from God.”  Look at verse 38:

³⁸ But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back,

I have no pleasure in him.

Bold faith pleases God.  The lack of faith displeases Him.  Heb. 11:6, Now without faith it is impossible to please God.  Supporting the testimony of the Church through generous giving is an “act of faith that please God.”  If you view it in any other way, you will not give in faith in a way that pleases God, but you have “drawn back and receive His displeasure (v38).

Now, lets’ talk about the specifics of our faithful giving.  Let me share a couple verses with you.  First Leviticus 27:31:

“Every tenth [KJV, tithe] of the land’s produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.

The first ten percent of every dollar that comes into your pocket belongs to the Lord.  In fact, it all belongs to the Lord but the first ten percent is designated as “holy to the Lord.”  When you touch that first ten percent and take it for your own purpose, you have “touched that which is holy.” The penalty in the O.T. was death! (2Sam 6:7).

Jesus honored the gift of tithing as a part of God’s moral Law.  Look at Mat. 23:23:  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice,  mercy, and faith. These things should have been done without neglecting the others.”  Underline, “these things (tithing) you should have done.”

Every believer is instructed to begin giving at ten percent.  But, giving must not end with ten percent.   On the first day of the week,  each of you is to set something aside and save in keeping with how he prospers (1Cor. 16:2).  Giving begins at ten percent but for most of us, giving only a tithe is not giving in faith according to “how we have prospered.”

The famous Baptist preacher, W.A. Criswell, spoke of an ambitious young man who told his pastor that he’d promised God a tithe of his income. They prayed together for God to bless his career. At that time he was making $40.00 per week and tithing $4.00. In a few years his income increased and he was tithing $500.00 per week. He called on the pastor to see if he could be released from his tithing promise, it was too costly now. The pastor replied, "I don’t see how you can be released from your promise, but we can ask God to reduce your income to $40.00 a week, then you’d have no problem tithing $4.00."

Giving must be proportional to blessing.  The more God blesses, the more we should give. Most people neer even reach the O.T. standard of one tenth, and many more completely ignore the N.T. principle of giving in proportion to how God has blessed them.  Most people “draw back when it comes to the matter of giving.”

Someone has said, and it is a great verbal picture, “The largest dollar bill in the world can be found in a church offering plate!” It is so much easier to spend a dollar at Disneyland (and you will spend many of them) than it is to spend it in church?  Yet, it is the same $1 bill—but it just looks so much bigger in the church offering plate.

Let me summarize our study of supporting the testimony of the Church.  Jesus purchased the Church with His own blood.  The Church deserves our support, and the Bible demands we support our church by attending, by living a godly life, and by giving.

Church Membership really does matter.  We must protect Her unity, Take responsibility for Her ministry, Serve faithfully, and Support Her generously with our time, talent and treasures.

Pt3, Church Membership Matters: Service Matters

June 17, 2018                          NOTES NOT EDITED
Pt3, Church Membership Matters:  Service Matters

Philippians 2:3-11

Sermon-in-a-Sentence: Every church member should have a place of service in the church compatible with their spiritual giftedness.

I’m a stalwart independent conservative, yet, I cast my first presidential ballot for Jimmy Carter. I had just left the Navy where served on a submarine. I earned the coveted “dolphins.” Jimmy Carter was also qualified in submarines as a Navy vet. That made him a natural fit for me.   I still believe I cast my vote for a decent, principled man. History shows I cast my vote for a less than spectacular president. He remains one of my “favorite” Democrats.

The least favorite GOP president I supported was G.H.W. Bush. He was a much better president historically than Carter, but his image soured with me over the years after he was out of office. Still, he was a Navy vet, so once again I held to my tradition.

Though Bush holds different political views than I do, I do share his commitment to service. He postponed his university studies to enlist in the Navy. He became the youngest aviator in the Navy at the time. He was shot down in one mission and went on to fly 58 combat missions and earn the Distinguished Flying Cross, among other medals.  Whatever someone might think of his political views, no one should question his commitment to service—to his country and to his family. Service is an identifying trait for G.H.W. Bush.

So many church-goers seek to be served, rather than serve. I understand why. For one, mankind (and woman-kind) is basically selfish. We all lean toward narcissism. Second, service doesn’t come cheap. Bush’s service cost him an ejection from a burning plane over the Pacific. His crewmates did not survive.

Service will cost you something—it may cost you a lot. Most people will never come anywhere close to the spirit of service that was exemplified by Jesus Christ. The great tragedy is: most people won’t even make a “good faith effort” to be like Christ in regard to service.

This morning, I will be preaching on the topic, “Service Matters,” as part three of my four-part series, “Church Matters.”  LET’S READ Phil. 2:3-11.

We engage in service through our church in three ways:  by developing a servant’s heart, by discovering our spiritual giftedness, and by being equipped by the leaders of the church.

1.  By Developing a SERVANT’S Heart (5-8)

If anything should be an identifiable trait of a Christian, it should be service. Philippians 2:3-11 make it very clear that the Life of Jesus was identified by “service,” even to the point of death on the cross for others.  This is an extremely important passage in the Bible:

⁵ Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. ⁷ Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, ⁸ He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.  Underline those words:  “even to the death on a cross.”

In Christian theology, this passage describes what is called, “the Kenosis.”  Kenosis refers to the “act of emptying,” a reference to verse 7 in particular.  The Greek word translated, “emptied,” is ekenōsen (ἐκένωσεν).  A big debate among scholars is exactly how much of His Deity (heavenly privileges) did Jesus “give up (GNB), strip Himself of (Phillips) or pour out (Hawthorne, WBC).  This is not a question likely to be solved by scholars.  Suffice it to say the Jesus “gave up everything” to die on the cross for us.  Someone suggested it is a figurative, poetic way of saying “Christ put His entire being into His mission and put himself at the disposal of humanity.”  That’s seems to be near what it meant for Christ to leave heaven and come to earth to die on our behalf.

The idea of “emptying oneself” to gain the heart of a servant, like Jesus Christ, occurs earlier in the passage.  Paul admonishes Christ followers to (Verse 3):

³ Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit [empty conceit, NASB],  but in humility  consider others as more important  than yourselves.  The KJV gives a great translation of the original:  ³ Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory.  Vainglory means, “empty boasting.”  The word, kenodoxian (κενοδοξίαν) is a compound word adding together, kenos (empty) and doxia (praise or boast, brag).  The use of the word, kenos (empty), reinforces the idea of a “servant attitude” like Christ.  In fact, verse 5 directly links our attitude to that of the Lord.  ⁵ Make your own attitude [mind, heart] that of Christ Jesus. 

Developing a “servant’s mind or heart” is absolutely elemental to being a fully functioning follower of Christ.  Service requires that we “empty our heart of ourselves to make room for others.”

Developing a “servant’s heart” takes great sacrifice.  An old beloved preacher describes a person who lacks the room in his or her heart to serve others sacrificially.  Vance Havner once said, “Wrapped up in ourselves we make a very small package.”

2.  We Serve By Discovering our Spiritual GIFTEDNESS

Let me launch from this platform of developing a servant’s heart, to the practical issue of HOW we serve.  1Pet. 4:10 tells us:

¹⁰ Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others.

Spiritual service requires spiritual power.  Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons.  God has empowered us and armed us for our spiritual mission of service by giving us spiritual gifts, as Peter says, “to use to serve others.”  Trying to serve Christ in your own ways and according to your own means makes as much sense as charging into battle with an unloaded gun.  Not only will you look foolish, you probably will perish.

God never intended for us to do His work with our resources.  As I say over and over again, “where God guides, God provides.”  How many times have we sang that line, “God will make a way where there seems to be no way!”  God provides through the Spirit.

When a person is saved, they become a “spiritual being,” as we learned through our study of Galatians (also, Eph. 1:13).  The Holy Spirit literally, “takes up residence” in a believer’s life [heart, mind, soul, or however you wish to describe it].  Paul has a good deal to say about “spiritual gifts and spiritual giftedness.”  In 1Cor. 12:1 he says,   ¹ Now concerning what comes from the Spirit:  ^•brothers, I do not want you to be unaware.  It is crucial for a believer to discover his or her “spiritual gift.”  Ignorance is NOT bliss in this regard.  Then Paul goes on to says, using the ESV, ⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵ and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Your spiritual gift is your power for service.  Discovering your spiritual gift is the key to moving from membership to maturity.  Sadly, very, very few Christians have any clue as to what “spiritual gift” God has given to them to empower them for service in and through the church.  Therefore, very few Christians really develop their full spiritual potential.  Part of our discipleship strategy in the church is called, “Finding your S.H.A.P.E. for Service.”  There are five factors that contribute to our “giftedness for service.”

This stands for your SPIRITUAL GIFTS, your HEART’S desires, your natural ABILITIES, your PERSONALITY, and your life EXPERIENCES.  These five areas all contribute to your “giftedness”  for service. You will learn more about this as time goes on.

3.  We Learn to Serve by Being Equipped By God’s Leaders

Serving requires learning.  Learning requires work and discipline.  In the course of our study of Church Membership Matters, we have visited Paul’s strategy for a healthy church several times.  It is found in Ephesians 4:11-12:

¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ (ESV).

Many people think that they hire a pastor to “do the work of the ministry.”  In fact, that is the way it works in the abundance of small churches—it is precisely the reason churches stay small.

Leaders are “equippers.”  Leaders impart knowledge and provide support for the members of the congregation to do the bulk of the ministry.  This is not how many churches operate.  The bulk of the ministry of most typical churches is done by the staff. This must change for any church to break the “small-church ceiling.”

It is not enough to have “good people” in church, which we have a healthy supply of, but we must have “well-trained, properly equipped, and sufficiently resourced workers to build up this body of Christ.”  We need givers, who are skilled in giving.  We need goers, who are skilled in going to the marketplace with the gospel.  We need nursery workers to provide care when new families bring their young children.  We need youth workers.  We need office help.  We need maintenance help.  We need skilled greeters.  We need well-trained parking attendants.  We need a skilled “security force.”  You name it—we need it!  This is what we need, if we are going to do as Paul said and, “build up the body of Christ” (v12).  Otherwise, growth is not likely. 

Any call to serve, is a call to train. Training is hard work.

It is hard to get many members to attend church faithfully—one morning a week.  Getting them to come out on another day to spend one to two hours to “be equipped,” is almost impossible.  Learning is hard work.  I know, I’ve spent many, many hours sitting in classrooms learning doctrine and theology.  Learning Hebrew nearly brought me to tears.  Being equipped requires a great sacrifice and a lot of hard work.  Paul’s Ephesian Strategy breaks down when leaders become hired hands instead of “equippers.”

I READ THIS week about a fascinating aspect of being an ant.  It is called, “Tandem Running.”  Ants, like many insects, live in colonies.  Each ant contributes to and benefits from being a part of the colony. In many species of ant, when an older ant goes out to search for food, it will take another inexperienced ant along.  The lead ant teaches the novice how to find food by a process called, “tandem running.”  As the teacher runs along the path searching for food, the student follows.  The student will often stop to locate landmarks, while the teacher waits up ahead.  When the novice ant is ready, it will run forward and tap the teacher on the back legs.  The teacher sacrifices time, and initially sacrifices efficiency.  The teacher ant could travel four times faster without a student.  Even though there is an initial sacrifice of efficiency, ultimately the colony benefits greatly by equipping more ants to find food.  Ants that have been trained through tandem running locate food 35% faster than ants that have not been so equipped.  As I said, ants benefit from the colony, and when the colony benefits, individual ants benefit.  Tandem Running results in more ants who can efficiently find food.

Becoming a well-equipped servant in the church will greatly improve the effectiveness of the church as a whole, and your blessing as an individual.

(CLOSE)  Church Membership Matters—it matters locally, globally, and eternally.  Serving in and through the church matters greatly.  I spoke earlier about the servant attitude of former president, G.H.W. Bush.  Whatever one may think in regard to President Bush’s politics, nobody can rightly argue that President Bush highly valued service to his country.   Every day men in uniform serve our country with skill, courage and at great sacrifice.  In fact, joining the military is often referred to as, “joining the service.”  The military is all about “service.”

As I was reading for my sermon this week, I googled the phrase, “joining the service.”  I was shocked when I found this tidbit on the Internet: "The Army used to offer GED assistance for recruits who wanted to join. These days, having a felony conviction is out of the question, but so are some tattoos, gauged earlobes, and taking hyperactivity medication. The Pentagon says 71 percent of America's 34 million 17-24 year old population would fail to qualify for enlistment." (time.com/youth-fail-to-qualify-military-service)

Nearly 3 out of 4 young adults in the nation are disqualified for service in the military for one reason or another!

Sadly, the situation in God’s Army, the Church, isn’t much better.  Every church member should have a place of service in the church compatible with their spiritual giftedness.  Yet, the vast majority of church-members have disqualified themselves for service because they have not developed a servant’s heart, they have not discovered their spiritual giftedness, and/or they have failed to do the hard work of being equipped by the leadership of the church.

I will repeat myself for emphasis: Church Membership Matters—it matters locally, globally, and eternally.  Since Church Membership Matters so much, serving in and through the church matters greatly.

Make a commitment today to be a servant in God’s Church.