Rooted In His Church

Someone once said, “The church is those who’ve found each other at the cross.”

Today I want to talk to you about being Rooted in Christ’s Church. [PP]

OUR BASIC DESIRE - One of our basic desires is to be with others. Compantionship, comraderie. We like having a group of people to call our own. This I believe has to do with the fact that God himself is not alone, even in the beginning. The Father, Son, and Spirit dwelled together before there was the universe. We have that make up as well.

OUR DISTRUST IN OTHERS - But, because of sin we hesitate to give into this fellowship with others. We’re not children anymore, we can’t just trust like we used to. People hurt us. The closer they are the hard they can hurt.

DISTRUST IN THE CHURCH - In the body of Christ, it is not different. Jesus wasn’t handed over to the authorities by a bystandard, but by his own apostle! Paul would leave Corinth only to hear many didn’t like him, but they like Apollos. Paul would leave Galatia and they would not trust his Apostleship.

EASIER TO GO ALONE - There are many today who’d rather just go it alone, right. Sure meet with Christians occasionally, but mostly listen to sermons, read books, and just have their own set of friend they can choose and edit as needed.

OUR WALK WITH CHRIST CANNOT BE ALONE - But our walk with the Lord cannot be alone. Any reading of the Christians in the early church shows us their commitment to walking with the Lord together.

BILLBOARD - This morning I want to walk about the need to be associated with a local church. 1st, I want to give a simple reason for the need to placing membership with a local congregation, then I want to give 4 reasons why all of us need to be in fellowship with local church.

REMINDER OF THEME - Our Theme this year is Rooted in Christ, Bearing Fruit.

COMMON APPROACH TO CHRISTIANITY - A common approach to Christianity today is just worshipping with a group but not placing membership.

AGAINST AUTHORITY - Why do you suppose that is? It is because of our distrust in oversight. We don’t like to be told what to do, or to be tied down to a place.

ELDERSHIP OVER THE LOCAL BODY - But, without established members, the authority of elders is nonsensical. Who do elders have charge over? Who is in the flock of the shepherd? Hebrews 13.17 tells us,

Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

MEMBERSHIP IS ASSUMED - Membership is assumed here. I don’t want to take too much time with this idea, but if you believe membership is not required of a Christian, I’d like to talk to you about it. We don’t find “Christians-at-large.” This is not all to say. But it will do for not.

INTRO: 3 NEEDS - When it comes to the the why of placing membership with a congregation, there are many reasons. But, I want to look at how membership, or fellowship with a local church meets our needs as Christians.

THE NEED OF GROWTH - The first is the need for GROWTH. The life of a Christian is characterized by growth. The main passage I want to use is Ephesians 4:13-16 which tells us plainly the need to growth.

Ephesians 4:13-16
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head. 16 From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part.

[ILL] NOT LIKE THIS PREACHER - Grace’s grandpa told me a story of an old preacher who was done preaching and he packed up all his books in boxes and put them under his bed. He was done with them!

[APP] USE THIS CHURCH TO HELP YOU GROW -

YOU CANNOT GROW ON YOUR OWN - You cannot grow on your own. You can use others to help you grow from a distance; books, tapes, vidoes, but it’s better to do it with other believers.

THE NEED FOR ENCOURAGEMENT - The second need we have that is fulfilled from a church is the need of ENCOURAGEMENT. Your own willpower will get you only so far. When you’re low, it’s hard to get back up by yourself. We must lean on each other.

One of the most important passages on encouragement comes from Hebrews 3:12-13

Hebrews 3:12-13
12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

IT WILL GET DISCOURAGING - There are many times when it is hard to walk with YHWH. If all your friends are going away from YHWH and you are by youself, it gets hard.

THE ANTIDOTE TO UNBELIEF - The Hebrew writer shows us the solution to unbelief can come from other Christians. It is possible to help someone who is struggling in their faith and we must do what we can to make sure they are encouraged.

[ILL] Louis Zamperini is larger-than-life character. He served during World War II. He and a fellow soldier survived 47 days at sea, fighting off boredom, starvationg and sharks. They lost engine power during a search-and-rescue mission. 3 of them survived the crash. Louis and Russell survived by encouraging one another. Francis, the man who died on the 33rd day didn’t join in with the other two. He just gave up. Louis and Russell would quiz each other on many things and recite anything they could, including recipes. The believe they were going to get through and by grace they did.

[APP] LIFT UP ONE ANOTHER - Imagine for a moment that everyone here to do is fight some terrible battle at home or in their personal life. Maybe their faith was challenged especially hard this week. Maybe they their beginning to lose their faith. The truth is, you don’t have to imagine that. Satan has us all pitted in battles. We may not always be open about our battles, but they are there. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Be someones iron. Encourage by talking with them, or listening. Unbelief will affect us all in our life. If we are on our own we couldn’t help, but together we can get through it.

THE NEED OF ACCOUNTABILITY - Not only do we need growth, and encouragement, but we also need ACCOUNTABILITY. We need admonishment just as much as we need encouragment.

THE BALANCE OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND ADMONISHMENT - If all we did was just encourage one another without admonish, we would just be yes people. If all we did was admonish, we would be hyper-critical. There’s a place for both, and both are needed in the church.

FOOLISHNESS - Sometimes we need to be admonished, or corrected because we are acting foolish. Foolishness is not always a sin. EX If a person cracks jokes sometimes, it’s good, we need humor. But if a person is always joking even while teaching or commenting in class, that’s foolishness that needs to be corrected. EX or let’s say someone posted something foolish online, not something that would be sinful, but just foolish. A little prompting would be helpful.

SIN - But we also need accountability for sin. Here’s Galatians 6.1:

Galatians 6:1
Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

This is not for just the elders or the preacher, but anyone who is spiritual. That should be all of us. You and I sin, do we not? And we must be able to help one another remove the sin from our lives.

ACCOUNTABILITY THAT’S UPCLOSE - This requires us to be upclose with one another. This is hard work done on the personal level. It must be done among friends in the faith. This correction can’t be done well when it’s someone we hardly know.

[ILL] ONLINE IS NOT REAL LIFE - Somethink they can be faithful to Christ by simply getting all their spiritual encouragment but partaking of the buffet of resources online. This has serious drawbacks.

[APP] GENTLENESS COMES BY BEING CLOSE - Paul says to restore the sinful member in a spirit of gentleness. This gentleness comes by being with the person. Knowing how they wish to be approached. Knowing when and how to approachh a person. You can’t do that online, especially when it’s public for everyone to see.

ACCOUNTABILITY CAN ONLY HAPPEN UP CLOSE - In addition to that, we can “create” versions of ourselves online. We’re not as good at doing that in real life, especially when we try to do it to those who know us.

[APP] JOIN A CHURCH TO BECOME ACCOUNTABLE - If you’re not with a local church, you don’t have those who you can be accountable to. Sure you may be with your Christian friends, but the church does this beetter.

THE ULTIMATE NEED - Now there’s one final need we haven’t talked about, I hope it’s been in the back of your mind. But our biggest need, our ultimate need is Christ. His body is the church.

Could you find a place to get growth, encouragement, and accountability? I’m sure AA, YMCA, even the NRA does a pretty good job at those. But Christ didn’t say that AA or YMCA was his body. He said the church is his body.

We live in a world where poeple believe they can have Christ without the church. That is a lie. You cannot. Christ calls the church his body and we are members of it.

EX - HAND OFF - If one of my members was not attached to my body, it would not be part of my body. If I lost a finger, it’s not my finger anymore, it was my finger. To say that we’re Christians and not part of a local body is to not understand what the Church is.

CHURCH AND CHRISTIANS - But when we read the Scriptures, we will always find the example of Christians with churches and the nature of leadership in church to confirm is requirements for Christians.