As we rebuild this local fellowship we are taking a few Sundays to talk about what the local fellowship of Jesus-followers is, what we are to do, how we are to do it, what it means to be an elder, church membership and church discipline, etc. So, I’ve defined the local church, at a minimum to be – a group of born again, baptized believers who, under the guidance of biblical leadership, regularly meet to worship God through Jesus Christ, sit under the authority of Scripture, and celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Last Sunday we briefly looked at the primary call for these people – WORSHIP. God sent Jesus to give life to a dead, rebellious, and hate-filled people. Jesus came to reclaim a hopelessly lost and hell-bound people for himself. Through his death and resurrection he not only moves us from death to life, God demonstrates the magnitude of his awesome beauty – AND THOSE HE SAVES WORSHIP HIM. Now it’s critically important to know that God wants proper worship. Our worship can only reflect our understanding of God. So God-pleasing worship is dependent on God-pleasing theology. SCRIPTURE INFORMS OUR WORSHIP. So first we are called to respond to God rightly – that is worship. Important – while singing praise to Jesus together on Sunday morning and yielding my spirit to him is certainly worship, that is only one way we are to worship. A right response to God permeates everything. I now manage my finances in a way that aligns with Gods vision because God is my priority – worship. In response to God I treat my family differently – worship. I think of retirement as an opportunity to serve God more – worship. Sexual purity is a response to God – worship. If you separate the way you live on Sunday from the way you live Monday – Saturday, you’re not getting it. Jesus came to consume us. All we are and do should be worship.

Today – The second purpose for this community of believers is to mature each other in our faith. We are to minister to each other such that we mature in the gospel and in all that Jesus is for us. We are to minister to each other such that we are not tossed about by false doctrine and idolatry. We are to minister to each other so that we all, individually and together, align with Christ and we then, together, become Christ here for a lost world. This is worship too.

Ephesians 4:7, 11-16 (ESV)
But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. / ¹¹And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

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Ephesians 4:11 (ESV)
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers…

Christ gave a gift to the church – he gave the APOSTLES (those men two thousand years ago who carried the message of Jesus with the authority of God), the PROPHETS (these were the God-ordained folks who spoke the vision and will of God before the cannon of Scripture) – we now have the apostles and prophets in Scripture, EVANGELISTS (those who spread the message of Jesus), and PASTORS/TEACHERS (these are those who shepherd the fellowship and explain Scripture). As an aside, Church Elders will come out of this group. All elders will be pastor/teacher.

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Ephesians 4:12 (ESV)
to equip the saints for the work of ministry…

Equip the saints – The sense of the Greek here is to fix what’s broken or supply something that is lacking.

Matthew 4:21 (ESV)
And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets…

Nets were made so that fish could be caught. Just as James and John needed to mend their nets so that the net itself would work, the members of the local church all need to be equipped, or made ready for ministry. The better equipped each person here is, the more powerful this community will be.

So Jesus gave the apostles and the prophets (we have them with us in Scripture), evangelists, pastors/teachers, as tools through which, by the power of the Holy Spirit, each person in the local fellowship is equipped to do the work of ministry.

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Ephesians 4:15 (ESV)
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…

Speaking the truth in love – In the context of these verses, speaking the truth means speaking spiritual truth to each other.

This is God’s will for this fellowship. Through the reveled truth of Scripture (apostles & prophets) the evangelist spreads the gospel and people are saved. Pastor/teachers then care for and teach Scripture so that the fellowship better ministers to the fellowship. (See verse 16)

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1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 (ESV)
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. ¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Hebrews 3:13 (ESV)
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

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QUESTION – What about all the caring, and loving, and friendship, and doing life together? You make it sound like a classroom or something.

ANSWER – Today we are still talking about what we are to be doing. We have not talked about how we are to do this. When we talk about how we discuss spiritual gifts, unity, love, meeting each other’s needs, etc.

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So what I’d like to do here is draw out two VITAL truths from this:

1. Leadership of the fellowship must be doing what leadership is to be doing… In my experience, most elder boards spend most of their time on very important logistical issues to the exclusion of the spiritual.

The measure of a church’s success has little to do with its budget or its size. It has everything to do with the spiritual trajectory of its members. Is this fellowship, through the power of the Holy Spirit, developing saints who truly know God? Are we creating Jesus-followers who are not captured by the attractions of this world but rather are looking to die for King Jesus? Are we developing Jesus-followers who find joy in a life of worship? Or are we

1. If you are one who identifies with Community Bible Church, you need to know that we should be ministering to you – equipping you, AND YOU SHOULD BE MINISTERING HERE. This can take different forms and will ideally be aligned with your giftedness.

In the end we are here to worship, to minister to each other, and to spread the gospel. Life is all about the proper response to the God who had mercy on us – not just as we sing together on Sundays but as we live everyday – worship. Life is all about ministering to each other so that Christ dominates our lives so that we can worship better. And life is all about living Christ-exalting lives and speaking the gospel into the lives of others. God lovingly pulled us from the pit so that we would be a new people – a worshiping, ministering, gospel-spreading people – a Christ exalting people.

Please pray