God calls every Christian to five basic commitments regarding a local church. In this message Pastor Brian teaches concerning the commitment to practice the one anothers, and use our spiritual gifts in the church.

Commitment To The Local Church – Pt 1

Romans 12:4-8

In the last 50 years there has been a huge rise in the numbers of couples who live together versus those who get married. In the 1960’s 1 out of 10 couples lived together. Today, 6 out of 10 couples live together! Can you believe that? More than half of the couples today simply decide they are not going to marry. And that is just a reflection of the sad state of American culture at large. Biblical values like discipline, dedication, commitment, loyalty and integrity have been going downhill fast in the last 50 years here in the good old U.S. of A. Generally speaking, Americans are very bad about making solid commitments and following through on them. Many Americans are unreliable, uncommitted, undedicated and just plain flaky. It’s no longer true that a man’s word is his bond. Many have no qualms with breaking their word, when it’s not in their own best interests to do so. However, disciples of Jesus Christ should be known by a completely different character! Those who comprise the church of Jesus Christ are a city set on a hill which can’t be hidden.

Why do two people decide to live together? This may be an over simplification, but I believe the primary reason is that they want to experience all the benefits of marriage without any of its commitment and responsibilities. They want the benefit of a sexual relationship without having to make a permanent commitment. If things don’t end up going according to their liking (and they always will, sooner or later), they can bail, and they don’t even need to file for divorce.

There are millions of people in America who “attend” church, but are not committed members of that church. They want to live with the Church, but don’t want to marry her. They want the benefits of the church like hearing the Word preached, being able to join in worship with other believers, and having pastors who will counsel them and visit them. However, they don’t want the responsibilities of being a member of a church, like serving in the church, giving financially to the mission of the church, using their spiritual gifts to benefit the church, and submitting to leaders of the church when it is not convenient to do so. To be committed to a local church will require sacrifice, time, and energy, many times when you don’t feel like it, and might rather be doing something else. However, it is the will of God. God wants His people to be committed members of local churches. He wants us to walk the aisle and say “I do” to a specific local church. That’s what this sermon is all about. I’m going to do my best to persuade you that the Bible teaches us that every Christian should be a committed member of a local church, not just a casual attender who is involved only when it suits him, and will leave or run off the first time there is conflict or difficulty.

So, this morning my goal is to show you what the Bible teaches about the kind of commitment to Christ’s Church that He is calling all of us to. Although every true child of God becomes part of God’s invisible, universal church the moment they are born again, not every child of God is committed to a local church. Many just “church hop”. They go one place for a while, and then they hop over here for a while. If there is a revival meeting or a healing service, they hop over there. If they find a church with great worship, or children’s ministry, or entertaining preaching, they hop over there. When there is a problem or conflict with someone in the Church, all of a sudden they feel “called” to go to another Church, or they are not being “fed” in their current Church.

Basically the problem is that a great number of Christians approach the local church with a consumeristic mentality. They see themselves as consumers of a product. The product is worship, preaching and children’s ministry. So, they will attend a church as long as it is not too inconvenient. They are like price shoppers, who buy a particular brand of coffee or cereal, until they find another brand that is cheaper, or is sold in a store closer to home. We should never approach our involvement in a church solely with the question, “What’s in it for me?” “How far will I have to drive?” “How much of my time will be required?” All of those questions stem from worldly, consumeristic attitudes. When we join ourselves to a church, we should not be like a leech sucking the life from its host, and when it has sucked the life dry, it moves on to another host. In our involvement with a Church, God doesn’t want us to be Takers; He wants us to be Givers. Sometimes I’ll hear believers say something like, “Have you heard of that new church? It’s awesome! You’ve got to come and hear the worship and the preaching!” And Christians float around from church to church, always trying to find the newest and hottest and best church around. What’s the result? They have no real commitment to any particular local church. I don’t believe that is the will of God, as I hope to show you from Scripture. The New Testament teaches that every Christian should be committed to:

1. practice the “one anothers” with the Church

2. use his spiritual gifts for the church

3. submit to the leaders of the church

4. discipline the unrepentant in the church

5. support the mission of the church

I originally was going to teach all of those five principles in this sermon, but as I worked on it, it quickly became evident that I would never get through all five, unless the sermon went 2 hours long. So, to spare you, I’m going to focus on the first 2 commitments today, and the next 3 commitments next Sunday.

1. Committed To Practice The One Anothers With The Church

In the New Testament letters, there are dozens of “one anothers” commanded of Christians.

1. Rom.12:10 “be devoted to one another”

2. Rom. 12:10 “give preference to one another”

3. Rom. 12:16 “be of the same mind toward one another”

4. Rom. 13:8 “love one another”

5. Rom. 14:19 “build up one another”

6. Rom. 15:7 “accept one another”

7. Rom. 15:14 “admonish one another”

8. Rom. 16:16 “greet one another”

9. 1 Cor. 12:25 “have the same care for one another”

10. Gal. 5:13 “serve one another”

11. Eph. 4:2 “show tolerance for one another”

12. Eph. 4:32 “be kind to one another”

13. Eph. 5:21 “be subject to one another”

14. Phil. 2:3 “regard one another as more important than yourselves”

15. Col. 3:13 “bear with one another”

16. Col. 3:13 “forgive one another”

17. 1 Thess. 4:18 “comfort one another”

18. 1 Thess. 5:11 “encourage one another”

19. 1 Thess. 5:13 “live in peace with one another”

20. 1 Thess. 5:15 “seek after that which is good for one another”

21. Heb. 10:24 “stimulate one another to love and good deeds”

22. James 5:16 “confess your sins to one another”

23. James 5:16 “pray for one another”

24. 1 Peter 4:9 “be hospital to one another without complaint”

25. 1 Peter 4:10 “employ your spiritual gift for one another”

26. 1 Peter 5:5 “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another”

In addition, there are certain “one anothers” that we are commanded NOT to practice:

1. Rom. 14:13 “do not judge one another”

2. Gal. 5:26 “let us not envy one another”

3. Gal. 5:26 “let us not challenge one another”

4. Col. 3:9 “do not lie to one another”

5. James 4:11 “do not speak against one another”

6. James 5:9 “do not complain against one another”

That list gives us 26 positive duties we are to engage in with one another, and 6 negative behaviors we must avoid with one another. Now, let me ask you. Are you going to be able to obey all of those NT commands if you are not committed to a particular local church? I submit to you that it will be impossible to obey these Scriptural commands unless you sink your roots in deep and commit yourself to a particular local church over the long haul. If you are bouncing around from here to there, you’ll never be in one place long enough to obey these commands. Undoubtedly, we will have problems and difficulties and conflicts along the way, but God’s will is for us to stay and work them out in love. That’s why the Bible tells us we must show tolerance for, forgive, be kind, give preference to, be subject to, and live in peace with one another. If there were no problems or conflicts in a local church, those commands would be meaningless.

Basically, the bottom line is that God wants us to live out our Christian lives with one another as Family. When your brother or sister in your family does something irritating or unkind to you, you don’t disown them and you don’t move out. You work it out. Each particular local church is like a family. God wants us to live life together as a family. That’s one of the reasons we eat together so often. Families eat together, work together, and play together. And as God adds more members to this family, we need to be willing to receive them and love them, not separate from them and create cliques. Every new person who joins The Bridge is going to come with their own sets of problems. They’ve all got their own bag of rocks. But so do you! That’s why we are commanded to accept one another, love one another and serve one another. You may not like this or that about a new person here, but that doesn’t matter. You are commanded to love them! Being committed to The Bridge means you will, with God’s help, seek to practice the “one anothers” of the NT.

2. Committed To Use His Spiritual Gifts For The Church

Ephesians 4:15-16 says, “but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” Every single individual Christian has a vital role to play! Together, as all of us are contributors and givers, we will see the growth of the body, and we’ll see it built up in love. This text is telling us there are to be NO spectator Christians. You’re not watching the game; you’re in the game! God wants you to be involved in making disciples, serving the saints, causing the body to grow and be built up in love.

Notice how Paul describes a typical church meeting in 1 Corinthians 14:26, “What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” Paul expected that when the church gathered, there would be an opportunity for the body to use their spiritual gifts to edify the rest of the body. We do this mainly in our midweek Bridge Groups, or missional communities.

In 1 Peter 4:10-11 we read, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Notice in this text that Peter says, “as each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another.” If you have been born again, God has given to you a special gift of some kind. He wants you to “employ” it; that is, He wants you to put it work. I own a window & gutter cleaning business. When I employ someone, I take someone who is not working, and put him to work. My new employee is no longer idle. He’s now active in doing something productive. It’s the same with our spiritual gifts. God doesn’t want us to allow our gifts to remain idle and inactive. He wants them to be used to their full capacity in serving one another.

So, what kinds of gifts are there? Well, let’s take a look at Romans 12:4-8 for a sampling of some of the gifts God gives. “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” Now, notice in verse 4 that each member has a function. What Paul is saying is that just as in a human body there are many different members, but each does a different job, it is the same in the church. God has a function, a job for you to do in his church.

Then Paul goes on to list a few of those gifts which function in varying ways in the church, and in verse 6 he tells us “each of us is to exercise them accordingly.” Notice the emphasis on “each of us” and “exercise”. No one is excluded from this. Further, all of us are to “exercise” our gifts. Our gifts are like our muscles. If we don’t use a particular muscle for a while it will get weaker and weaker, and eventually atrophy to where you don’t have any ability in that muscle any more. In order to prevent that from happening, we need to exercise our muscles. The same is true in the church. We don’t want the gifts God has given us to grow weak over time because we don’t use them. We want to employ them to their full capacity. The way to do that is by “exercising” them, putting them to use regularly. So, what are so me of these gifts Paul has in mind?

Prophesying: This is the ability given by the Holy Spirit to report to others what God spontaneously brings to mind. It might be an especially timely word that the congregation needs at just that moment, a message concerning what God would have us do, something that God is going to do in the future, or just a spontaneous word that builds up and comforts the saints. And by the way, we want as a church to be open and available to receive a word of prophecy should God want to give us one. So, on Sunday mornings or Wednesday evenings, if you believe God has spontaneously brought a message for the body to mind, share it. If you aren’t sure it is from God, ask one of the more mature brothers first. Prophecy is a very important gift in the life of a local church. Paul said, “Desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (1Cor.14:1).

Serving: Although every Christian is called to serve others, some Christians have a special gift of service. They take joy, delight, and satisfaction in using their time to serve in the church in one way or another. You might find them doing Set Up on Saturday night, or cooking food for the Pot Providence lunches, or passing out flyers for neighborhood outreach events, or doing the necessary behind the scenes uploading of sermons onto the church web site, or preparing a study for the small children on Sundays. The person with the gift of service does this willingly and eagerly, not grudgingly or out of compulsion. He considers his service to the church as service to Jesus Christ.

Teaching: This is the ability to help Christians understand God’s Word. Unlike prophecy, the gift of teaching is not spontaneous. The one with this spiritual gift spends much time pouring over the Scriptures seeking to know the true meaning of a given text. All Elders must be able to teach, but there will be some Elders who are especially gifted to teach. They will give their lives to studying and teaching the Word of God. I believe this is what God has called me to do. Paul told Timothy, “Give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you” (1Tim.4:13-16). God may have gifted some of you with the gift of teaching. If that is the case, I want to come alongside of you and help you to develop this gift. If the Lord has gifted you in this area, and it becomes evident, I want to provide some opportunities for you to use that gift. You might use this gift by starting an evangelistic home bible study in your neighborhood, leading a Bridge Group, or teaching the Bible in a worship service in a convalescent hospital.

Exhorting: This is the ability to urge someone to a course of action. Unlike teaching, the exhorter is not instructing others in the meaning of Scripture. Rather they are urging others to apply Scripture. This person is more of a preacher than a teacher. Whereas the teacher appeals primarily to the intellect and the understanding, the exhorter appeals more to the emotions and the will. Often a person will have both the gift of teaching and exhortation. A Pastor will often teach the Word, and then bring urgent, passionate appeals to apply the Word he has just taught. Some Pastors are more Exhorters, and others are more Teachers. The church needs to be both taught and exhorted. And even if you are not a Pastor, God may use you in the gift of exhortation. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” There we see the gift of exhortation in practice by the members of the church. Again, in Hebrews 3:12-13 the author writes, “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But exhort one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” In that passage we find the entire congregation called to exhort one another day after day. So, the gift of exhortation is also an extremely valuable gift to the church. Those with this gift are motivated to encourage, urge, and stimulate others to apply the truth of God’s Word.

Giving: The person with this gift has the ability to make money and loves to give it to further the work of the kingdom of God. Often, this will be a person whom God enables to make a lot of money, However, rather than spending all that wealth on themselves, they take delight in giving it to the Lord’s work. I know of a brother that owned his own business doing computer networking. He and his wife lived a very frugal simple life. Rather than spending the money he made on himself, he and his wife lived in a small mobile home, and gave everything above their living expenses towards missions in Russia. I know of another man who was a millionnaire, but gave it all to advancing the kingdom of God. Francis Chan is another example, I think, of a person with this gift. He could be a millionnaire today because of the sale of his books, but he decided to give all the proceeds of his books away to the work of God. Oh, what a valuable and precious gift this is for any local church. If any church is to be able to preach the gospel, make disciples, give to the poor and needy, it’s going to take money to do it. Those persons in that church with the gift of giving are such a wonderful encouragement to the body. Without their generous and sacrificial giving, the church would not be able to be involved in many of its outreaches and ministries.

Leading: This is the ability to lead a congregation to do the will of God. Elders need this particular gift. In a church, someone needs to be gifted to see the Vision of where God wants that church to go, and to cast that vision before the people. It has been well said, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” A church needs to know why it exists, where it is going, and how it is going to get there. The person with the gift of leading sees where God wants His people to fight, and then rallies the troops toward the battle. He is able to motivate and inspire them to greater works of love. So, how do you know if you have this gift? Look around and see if anyone is following you. If you are a leader, people will be following. If nobody is following, you don’t have this gift. The person with the gift of leadership doesn’t use the sheep for his own benefit. Rather, he pours out himself for the benefit of others. Rather than ordering people to do this or that, he seeks to show them how by his own example. Notice how Peter puts this in 1 Peter 5 where he is exhorting his fellow elders, “nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.” That’s why Romans 12:8 says that if you have the gift of leading, do it with diligence. You are going to need to give your whole heart and soul to this task if you are going to be effective at it.

Mercy: The person with this gift finds joy and satisfaction in serving the suffering or the sick or the poor or the down and out. You’ll find these people at homeless shelters, or soup kitchens, or in convalescent hospitals or prisons. This person’s heart just goes out to those who are hurting. If you find yourself weeping with the person who is going through the heartbreak of divorce, or wanting to be involved in a hospice ministry or a crisis hotline, chances are you have the gift of mercy. How should this person function in this gift? Romans 12:8 says “with cheerfulness.” Why with cheerfulness? Because if you serve with a long face, the people you are trying to help will feel like they are a great burden you are having to bear. They are in a position where they are not able to do for themselves. When you do for them, you need to be cheerful, so they don’t feel like they are an albatross around your neck while you are helping them!

Now, this is not a complete listing of the spiritual gifts. Over in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul lists a number of other gifts. But it does provide a sampling of some of the ways God may choose to use you in the body of Christ.

Application

So, what does it mean for a person to be committed to a particular local church? It means, among other things, that he must plant himself in that church with the idea of giving his life to those people and partner with them for the purpose of making disciples. In order to do that, he sets about to practice the one anothers of the NT, and he uses his spiritual gifts to build up the church.

So, let me ask you a few questions as we wrap up our time in the Word, in order to help you apply what we have learned this morning:

• Will you commit to the people of The Bridge to love them, serve them, pray for them, confess your sins to them, accept them, and forgive them?

• Will you commit to faithfully gather with them on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights in order to practice the one anothers with them?

• Will you put some effort into identifying what gifts, abilities, talents, and resources you possess, and use them for the benefit of your church family?

• Will you dedicate your time, energy, and money for the building up of your brothers and sisters, and the advancing of Jesus’ kingdom, here in Sacramento and in other parts of the world?

Sounds kind of like wedding vows doesn’t it? Actually it is! I’m asking if you are willing to stop living with the church, and marry her. Are you willing to embrace the responsibilities as well as the benefits of belonging to the church? What do you say? Will you say, “I do?”

Let’s pray.

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