1 Corinthians 15:9-13
What kind of father fails ever to discipline his son? What kind of mother lets her children grow wild without ever pruning them? The world calls this love, but the Word of God says, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes” (Prov. 13:24).
In this fourteenth and last teaching part in the Church series, we turn our attention to the topic of Church discipline. When the Church gives the green light to professing believers living in willful sin, it fails to convey the correct message from God. God is not okay with His people sinning, and His Church need to communicate the same for the purity of the Body and the restoration of the sinner.
Acts 20:28
Mention the word leadership today, and you’re bound to be met with a mixture of varied responses ranging from the largely pessimistic to the nominally optimistic! Stick the word “Church” in front of “leadership” and any trace of optimism there was speedily vanishes away!! Try as one may to dress things up and paint a positive picture, when many hear the words “Church leadership”, they are left with a bitter taste in their mouth! I wish I could say that such ill feelings are misguided and misjudged, but I can’t. It is with good reason that Church Leadership over the last few decades has received such a bad rap.
In this 13th sermon part, we turn our attention to see what God has to say in His Word about Church leadership. It’s time to bring the standard back into leadership.
Ephesians 4:11
There is a plague today that is infesting the Western Evangelical Church and greatly harming the Ekklesia. It’s this notion of individualism — that I can be a dismembered member of Christ’s Body and still somehow function in ministry. You’ll search the pages of the New Testament in vain to find such a pattern! In every place you see ministry, you will see members connected to the Body!! The gifts are given to the BODY — a local assembly of committed individuals/believers. Different gifts are given to different members within that local assembly for the profit of the whole BODY. This whole idea that one can be dismembered from a local assembly and yet be serving in “ministry” is a farce, and nowhere is this travesty more seen than in the field of evangelism!!
1 Corinthians 12:31
The Church of Jesus Christ is first and foremost a spiritual body of believers who have had a supernatural encounter with the Living God, and through the new birth have been grafted into Christ’s spiritual body. Jesus Christ is the spiritual head, and from Him flows down to each member, every spiritual blessing and spiritual gift needed for the sound nourishment and spiritual growth of the entire body. These spiritual gifts are not mere niceties that make for a cosy addition; instead, they are crucial components required for the spiritual building of Christ’s Church.
In this eleventh teaching part, we examine the proper attitude that is required to excel in these gifts for the blessing of the Body.
Acts 20:33-35
Does God bless His people financially? ABSOLUTELY!! But the immediate question that must arise following this answer is What for? Why does God bless His people financially? So that we might be a giving people!! This attitude ought to be at the heart of our giving in the Church.
Ephesians 5:19-21
So much of what is deemed as corporate worship today is so bereft of any substance! Could it be that we lack so much zeal and passion in our worship because our theology is so meagre? In other words, our view of God is so pathetically small? Why worship God? BECAUSE HE IS WORTHY!!! Is that not a good place to start? May God minister to you through this ninth sermon part in a series looking at the Church.
Acts 2:42
If one takes a cursory look through the first few chapters of the Book of Acts, one will see that prayer permeates its pages. The Church of Jesus Christ was birthed in prayer and sustained in prayer!! She was at her most radiant when she was found on bended knee. She was never more clothed in grace than when she talked with her God!!! That first Church of Pentecost Jerusalem knew something of the power of prayer that the Church today knows nothing of!!
This sermon is a call for the Church of Jesus Christ to return to the place of prayer and supplication.
Acts 2:42
As well as the Lord’s Supper being a place of tremendous remembrance, it is also a place of immense self-examination. In this teaching part, we rediscover the importance of the Lord’s Supper and refute in part the false doctrine of transubstantiation.
Hebrews 10:23-25
So many of the New Testament exhortations calling the child of God to humility and love, forbearance and kindness, forgiveness and patience can only be carried out if one is found in fellowship as part of a local assembly. God has designed the Church and placed you as a member to perfect you in sanctification. As the saying goes, iron sharpens iron, and friction, when brought to the cross, begets holiness!
Acts 2:42
The mindset of so many when coming to the house of God is WHAT AM I GOING TO GET OUT OF IT, when instead the mindset ought to be, WHAT ARE OTHERS GOING TO GET OUT OF ME!! That’s a different proposition altogether, and these sentiments lie at the root of true Christian fellowship!! The Greek word for “fellowship” is the Word KOINONIA. Being translated, it means a common sharing together/communion. Koinonia is not one-way traffic; it involves mutual participation between two or more parties. One can think of Koinonia as a bring and share!! I’ll bring the sandwiches and you bring the salad, I’ll bring the rice and you bring the meat; I’ll bring the drinks and you bring the cups!! When we gather as the Body of Christ, it ought to resemble a picnic, and I don’t just mean food. I mean a sharing of one's life!!
Let us then see what Koinonia looked like in the first Church.