WE, the CHURCH

[00:00:00] Let me pray. Father, we thank youk for the opportunity to gather. Thank youk for the power of song, power of prayer and the power of youf Word. You are the teacher right now and we are the students. And it's through youh Spirit that we are given understanding. Bless each heart and mind. I pray and strengthen us each to to youo be all the glory, honour and praise. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. [00:00:31] Well, I mentioned last week, if you weren't here last week, it was my first service, hence I've got my L plates on here at this local gathering. And I mentioned that I learned and really come to believe in my own heart at a young age that the local church, through Jesus, is the hope of the world. And regardless of what you think about when you think about the word church, you don't think about necessarily what the first church thought about. In fact, there's almost no comparison to what the early church experienced when it came to gathering. The Word's ecclesia, it's the Greek word ecclesia, and it simply means assembly and gathering. Not building, but assembly and gathering. And of course, that had its advantage as the early church, but also had its disadvantage as the early church. [00:01:23] The advantage was that they were never, ever bored, ever. They were scared, if you think about it, but they were never bored. Now, you may have sat through yourself a church service that was boring, but I bet you haven't sat through a church service where you were scared. [00:01:41] And the early church, they were scared. This was their experience. You see, in the first century church, we've got to remember, there were no buildings. [00:01:49] There were no Bibles, there were no bands, there were no children's facilities. Literally, they met outside in the woods, in the gardens, in homes. [00:01:58] There was no institution, there was no hierarchy, no structure. Literally, the church of the first century, it was pure movement. [00:02:10] And they were fueled by one simple conviction, this one simple idea that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God. [00:02:21] That he was sent by God to explain God, but also to reconcile the world to God. That was their simple conviction. This one idea that united the early church. And those beliefs were anchored by the way, not in the teachings of Jesus. [00:02:39] You think about it, they were anchored in an event that many were witnesses to. What was that event? The event was the resurrection. [00:02:49] That's all they had to go by. [00:02:52] They were anchored to this event. And early on that was all that they had. There was no literature, no Bibles, most couldn't read, but it was good news. It was good news. And Jesus of course had come and removed much of the mystery that was surrounding God. And most people, people at the time understood for the very first time what God was like, what God loved, who God loved, and where they, in fact stood with God because Jesus came to remove some of that mystery. And of course, time went by and expressions of the Christian faith changed from generation to generation, from culture to culture. It changed. But with all that change throughout time, there are some things that should never end, ever change. Of course, expression and style, they change. [00:03:52] But what is it that should not change? [00:03:55] The things that should not change is the original content of Jesus teaching and Jesus original intent for that first group of people that he commissioned to what in Matthew 28, to therefore go the great commission, to go out and baptize, to change the world, baptized people, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth. And so those are the things that we can never afford to lose sight of or to veer away from. So with that said and done, my topic for today is we the Church. We the Church. [00:04:37] And how about that? Janine didn't know about communion, and I didn't know also about what she was sharing. And so maybe what God might be sharing with us. Let's lean into that here this morning. Ephesians, chapter one right through to chapter three. We won't be reading the whole lot, but I will be reading a fair bit of the passages of that this morning to really get us into this. Because the first question I want to kind of ask is, why? [00:05:04] Why do we gather as the ecclesia. [00:05:08] As the church. [00:05:10] Ecclesia, remember in the Greek gathering assembly? [00:05:16] And it was one man, in fact, asked his wife that particular question. It was a Sunday morning, and his wife was dressed ready to go to church. And she noticed, in fact, that the husband, for whatever reason, he was still in his pajamas and he wasn't going to church that particular morning. And she said, you better get dressed, we're leaving soon. And he said, I'm not going to church. [00:05:38] And she replied and said, well, give me one reason. Give me one reason why you're not going to church. And he said, well, in fact, I'll give you three reasons. Number one, the church is cold and uncaring. Number two, nobody likes me. And number three, I just don't feel like it. [00:05:54] Or she said, well, you've given me three reasons. I'm gonna give you three reasons why you should go to church. Number one, the church is warm and it is caring. Number two, There are few people there who do like you. [00:06:07] And by the way, number three, you are the pastor. [00:06:18] Why do we go? What would you say if somebody came and asked you that question? Can I be a Christian without going to Ecclesia? [00:06:28] And he would say, yes, you can, you can. You won't be a growing one. [00:06:35] So that's probably the right answer. But Psalms, you can support scripture, let's support scripturally. Psalm 68 says, God sets the solitary in families. [00:06:44] And so a Christian without a church, maybe you could put it like this, is like a soldier without an army, a bee without a beehive, a hamburger without a patty, a drummer without a band, even though I don't mind a drum solo every now and again. Callum, a football player without a team. Can we talk about football just for a moment? [00:07:10] Don't worry, I won't. My team won last night and I came to the basketball and I was watching the football. [00:07:20] Can I be a Christian without Ecclesia, without the gathering, without the assembly? The answer is yes, once again, we're not a growing Christian. But the first thing that, that I would say in response to a question like that to this particular person is, well, first of all, why would you ever think that you'd want to do that in the first place? Where gathering together, attending a setting like this, an assembly like this, fuels our faith, bottom line, fuels our faith. Because faith rarely grows in isolation, and so go to the next slide. In fact, gathering together enables service. This is just one of a couple of things. [00:08:02] It enhances discipleship and it also provides accountability. [00:08:09] Let me sum that up by saying, I need you, you need me, but we need each other. [00:08:19] So it's not about you and Jesus, by the way. [00:08:22] That's a fall. [00:08:28] Everything that the church was created for is about who, because we have these things called Facebook and Instagram, and it's all about me. [00:08:38] We fall for that selfish lifestyle that in fact, me and Jesus is all that really matters. [00:08:50] Where everything that the church was created for is in fact about him. Absolutely. But it is about us, not me. You see, Jesus, we are told in scripture, was creating a new community, and it's done collectively. Think about the Lord's Prayer, which I'm starting a series next week on the Lord's Prayer, six part series on the Lord's Prayer. And that'll happen over time. [00:09:16] Think about the Lord's Prayer on Father's Day, by the way, next week, our Father. [00:09:21] It's not my father, it is our Father. Give me. No, it's give us this Day. [00:09:34] Forgive me. No, no, no. It's forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. It's this new community that Jesus came the Ecclesia. This is why Jesus loves the Church. [00:09:51] Can I just give you just very brief. I'm going to move through this pretty quickly because I want to get to the crux of my Message from Ephesians 2. But this is why Jesus loves the church. Number one, the church was one of the rewards of his resurrection. Let me support that. By Scripture he was appointed the head of the Church. You might remember this is what Jesus loves the church. Ephesians 1, 1823. [00:10:12] I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. This is Paul writing to the Church in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power. For us who believe now that power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion and every name that is involved not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. And God placed a few things. No, no, no. All things under his, referring to Jesus, under Jesus feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the Church. Number one, the Church was one of the rewards for his resurrection, which is His Body. Number two, the Church is His body. The fullness of Him. The fullness. The Church is his fullness. Fullness. The way in which Christ is made full on the earth is through the Church. The fullness of him who fills everything in every way, one of the rewards for his resurrection. [00:11:27] He is the head of the Body and it's his fullness on earth through His Church. But number four, the Church displays the the wisdom of God. As we keep moving through this passage, his intent was that now through the Church, that the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. Now, in other words, what Paul is saying here is that God's telling something to the heavenly world about what? About Himself through the body called the Church. So number five, the Church is how we know his love and how we become like him. Verse 17 to 18 goes on so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. [00:12:18] We walk by faith, not by sight. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide open, long and high and Deep is the love of Christ. That's why Jesus loves His Church. It's when we grasp those things, grasp what we grasp how wide, how long, how high, how deep is his love for us. Which brings me to the next thing. That the Church is God's chosen vessel for displaying his glory. His glory to. To the world. Let's read on verse 20 to 21. Now, to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. So what we're seeing here is that Christ is glorifying God. [00:13:22] The Church is glorifying God. And through Christ and His Church, which He is the head of. He's the head of. That's how God intends to get his glory on earth. Let's go to the next one. Number seven. Jesus loves His Church because He gave Himself for the Church. Another great passage in this book of Ephesians. Let's go forward a few chapters to chapter five, where it says husbands. Here we go. Husbands. Husbands, for those in the room, husbands, love your wives. [00:13:55] Just as Christ loved the church, how did he love His Church? He sacrificed his life and gave Himself up for her. And so the Church. [00:14:06] The Church ecclesia assembly gathering is so valuable to Jesus, in fact, that he literally, as we're reading, as we know, gave Himself completely for her. [00:14:20] Number eight, final one here, before we get into the main crux here, is that the church is his bride. The church is his bride. Men, do you remember that day? For those of us who are married, do you remember that day? Her coming down the aisle, a beautiful picture there. Gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church. Just press. Pause there for a moment. Radiant. I love that word, radiant. What is the picture of Summerhill Baptist Church? When you think of it being radiant, I wonder what the picture in your heart you see of that. I love that word, radiant. Without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Verse 31 to 32. [00:15:06] For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. [00:15:14] This is a profound mystery. But I am talking about Christ and the church. And so that's what moves the heart of Jesus, the church, his love for the church. Remember that he is the head, we are the body. He is the groom, we are the bride. [00:15:39] But somehow, how does the church often get it so wrong? [00:15:51] There's this thing called church hurt. You've probably heard it. I've been hurt by the church. [00:15:56] But my response to that is, God is so far bigger than that. [00:16:01] Imagine explaining to Jesus at some stage that one day in the future that there's going to be such a thing called church hurt. [00:16:11] People hurt by your movement, Jesus. [00:16:16] Imagine the heart of Jesus hearing that, where his one command was what? [00:16:23] Love one another as I have loved you. One simple instruction. [00:16:30] So my question again, as we think about it, how does the church get it so wrong? [00:16:37] My answer, because we're in it. [00:16:43] We're in it, the people. [00:16:45] And guess what? You and I, we're imperfect. The church, the body, the people are imperfect. Yet the head is absolutely perfect. [00:16:57] We are imperfect. He is perfect. That's why we keep our eyes fixed on the author and the perfecter, the head of our faith. Now, with that said, that said, I want to now look at the heartbeat of the church as we wrap this up, as we finish this up, because I want us to understand where we've come from, not geographically, but spiritually. [00:17:20] And the answer is this. [00:17:22] It's in the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the gospel. That's the heartbeat of the church. The heartbeat of the church that Jesus loves. That's the gospel story of Jesus. And Ephesians Chapter two should be the flag. [00:17:41] Ephesians Chapter two should be the banner over the church, over Summerhill Baptist Church. Let's read where it says in Ephesians Chapter two. Here we go. We're getting to this. Now, as for you, once again, it's the church at Ephesus. This is a very early church, planted by the apostles. They believed in the resurrection. They had new life in Christ. This was a brand new church that Paul's writing to. As for you, he says you were dead, you were dead. Now, that's a big statement because dead actually means, well, you were dead. [00:18:13] In fact, worse than being bad. Dead is dead. Paul is saying, spiritually, you were dead. And by the way, that's our beginning. [00:18:22] That's where we have to begin. [00:18:25] As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. Press. Pause there for a moment. This is important to understand because that's what sin does to you. What does sin do to you? It makes you dead. [00:18:37] Not bad dead. And the gospel is not about sin management. Most scholars, most theologians will tell you that the gospel is not about sin management. The problem that you and I have is a death problem. [00:18:53] And that sin is what you and I need cleansing from. You see, death is a bigger problem than sin. Let's read on. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways in this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the Spirit, who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us, not some of us, Paul says, all of us, not most of us. All of us who also lived among them at one sorry, them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of re. Wrath. [00:19:34] Sin once again doesn't disadvantage us, it deadens us. [00:19:41] That's what Paul's saying here. And spiritually we did not have a chance. Paul's saying we did not have a chance with God. But I love buts of the Bible, verse 4. But because of his great love. [00:19:53] This is the banner. Here's the banner that's about to be painted over the church, right? Paul saying, here's the banner. The banner over. Didn't we sing a song? [00:20:03] There you go. [00:20:04] Very good. Very good. Showing your age. [00:20:09] Very good. [00:20:10] But because of his great love. He's the first word, he's the banner over the church. His love for us, God, who is rich in his, the second word over the church. His mercy made us alive. He didn't make us better, he made us alive. [00:20:24] He didn't improve us. He made us alive from the dead. Remember, with Christ, even when we were dead, in transitions. Here's the next word over the church. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of. Here's this word again. Grace expressed in his. In his next word over the life of. Of the Church is kindness. Here we go. Love, mercy, grace, kindness. To us in Christ Jesus. The banner over the church is love, mercy, grace and kindness. [00:21:05] That's what Paul's saying. [00:21:08] What an incredible church. What an incredible banner. [00:21:15] For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. [00:21:19] That's a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. And so here's our beginning. Spiritually, here's where we begin. Spiritually, we were dead, remember? Dead spiritually. But we've come to life. [00:21:36] We've come to life. What's our banner that you are loved. Here's the banner that you are loved. Come as you are. [00:21:45] That there's kindness for you here. We don't gossip here. We respect everybody where you've come from because we are kind people. There's mercy for you. Do you need grace in your life? [00:21:58] Well, we sing that song here. It's called Amazing Grace. That's the banner over this church. Love, mercy, grace, grace, kindness and our lead story. His name is Jesus and he's alive. And he's offering love, mercy, kindness and grace as a gift to those who are dead spiritually. One more thing, by the way, one more thing over the church and it's that word Transformation. Transformation. Verse 10. [00:22:33] For we are God's handiwork. And somebody might hear this morning, need to hear this. You are not a mistake, you are not an accident. No matter what parents and all that kind of stuff happened and you've told yourself and you're receiving that over your life. You are not a mistake, you are not an accident. For you are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. And so that's our boundary banner. [00:22:59] That's our banner. By the way, I'm not saying that this is an official signed off thing. I'm not saying that. But that's Paul's banner for the church. I should be saying, right, I'm only two days into this. [00:23:10] Right. [00:23:13] Love, mercy, grace, kindness and transformation. Becoming new. There's that word again, becoming new in Christ. Let's read on. Verse 11 to 13. Therefore, remember that first, formerly you who are Gentiles by birth, that you weren't even a Jew, so you're doubly doomed, he's saying. But remember that at the time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise. Without hope and without God in the world. But now. [00:23:43] But now in Christ Jesus. You were once. Have I gone too far? Sorry. Once you were far away. Have been brought near by the blood of Christ. But now here's what's happening here. God has now such confidence that he can build his church with you and with me. People, people. And he believes it will endure and he can hand it to people like you and like me. Me because of this foundation. [00:24:15] This foundation that it's been built built upon. Verse 19 to 2022. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord and Him. You too are being built together to become a dwelling in. In which God lives by His Spirit. A couple of pictures here that we see that Paul is addressing here is that collectively it is that collective we, that we are becoming the household of God. Not only that, it's the personal me that we becoming a carrier of the presence of the Holy Spirit of God. You see, the only way, the only way to become part of the church of Jesus is by being brought back from the dead. [00:25:10] Remember, we were spiritually dead, but being brought back from that to become spiritually alive. And when you are alive, you want to gather, you want to assemble, you want to be the ecclesia. [00:25:27] And this strikes, well, I think a death blow to the idea that is very prevalent in the unbelieving culture called, I don't know if you've heard this or not, the universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, that we're all God's children. [00:25:45] No matter who you are or where you live, we're all God's children. In fact, no, we're not. [00:25:51] Now, we may be his children by creation absolutely, but not by redemption. [00:26:03] Which brings me. I'll support this. John 1:11, 12. [00:26:09] Jesus came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. [00:26:15] Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right. Here's the word. He gave the right to become children of God. [00:26:28] You can only become a child of God not by natural birth, but by spiritual birth. [00:26:40] You have to be born again from death to life. Remember our beginning, that we were spiritually dead. But remember also the Apostle Paul was painting this banner of over the life of the church, that of love, of mercy, of grace, of kindness and his transformational work. That's the picture of the church that Paul was painting. [00:27:07] And just as I wrap up and as we come to a closing time of prayer and consideration in response to this, my prayer, even though I'm very still new here and have my L plates on in many ways, may our commitment. [00:27:26] May our commitment as Summerhill Baptist Church be to those who are dead spiritually. [00:27:35] And that we may pray and that we may see come alive in Christ spiritually. [00:27:48] So why would a man spend all of last night at elphin road till 1030? [00:27:57] Morris left last night. [00:28:01] Why would Robyn serve so faithfully, professionally, as a professional life, but served so many hours Volunteering in the life of the church. [00:28:16] I think it's because of this that we in fact see dead people walking. [00:28:23] Why did I go and meet the ladies and this principal and the chaplain and all that you know, and you and your stories? Because I think we see dead people walking. [00:28:33] And in fact Morris there last night and those names. We want to see people come alive spiritually. [00:28:41] May we put our hope in the Gospel. What's the gospel? Remember that I was spiritually dead and I could do absolutely nothing. Yet Christ came and he did absolutely everything. [00:28:58] And that through faith in him, in his death, burial and the resurrection means that I, we are alive in Him. [00:29:11] Let me pray. [00:29:14] Father, thank youk. [00:29:18] Thank youk for Jesus. [00:29:23] And maybe there's somebody here this morning who's never stepped into that relationship with Jesus. [00:29:29] Maybe there's somebody here this morning who knows spiritually that they need to come alive in Him. [00:29:40] And I want to speak to that person here this morning. When Jesus died on the cross for you, he died so that you could know his love, that you could know his light, and that you could know his life. And if you need to know that today, that you need Jesus in your life, I'd like to encourage you, just as every head's bowed and all eyes are closed, where it's appropriate, to step across that line by giving your life to Jesus with this simple prayer. Jesus, I give you my life. [00:30:12] It's a starting point. [00:30:14] And if you want to experience that forgiveness and freedom that only comes in Jesus, pray that prayer. Jesus, I give you my life. [00:30:25] You see, when you give your life to Jesus, God is giving his life to you. And his promise to you is that he will never leave you and he will never forsake you. So Father, thank youk that yout called us yous bride. Thank youk, called us the salt of the earth, the light of the world. [00:30:43] And you'd said that we were a gift from the Father to. To you. A gift that you treasure. A gift that you love so dearly and so deeply and that you spared no expense to purchase us. That your plan for us is crucial, that we understand and that we fulfill. For you are building your church. And the gates of hell will not prevail. May we move forward in strength, courage and faith, knowing that the banner over us is love, mercy, grace, kindness, and most of all, your transformational work. In Jesus name we pray. Amen and Amen.