We Are The Church!, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Don't stop being the church. God's expectations of you and I never cease because we are the church.

We can't do this. In fact, I want to argue today that the circumstances we're under right now since this whole pandemic began may simply be the greatest opportunity that all churches and specifically our church has ever had to be the church. You see, I think all of us sort of get into that mindset that I just simply go to church, not every week, but most weeks.

You see, and I've done my duty. I've gone to church. God has given us a unique opportunity. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again, he shows us how God's word meets our world.

I keep reading. And we all know it's true that this is an unprecedented time for the church. That this is a very challenging set of circumstances for the Church of Jesus Christ. And I believe that to be true. It's interesting that I hear people saying, boy, I miss church.

And I feel the same way. Boy, I miss church. But when someone says that, what do they mean? What do you mean when you say I miss church? See, it made me think, what is the church? I think many would say it's this building on 4600 Clearview Parkway. This is the church.

I think other people might say, well, it's where I go and I meet my friends and a few other nice people. But what does God say? You see, what's the church? From God's point of view, he uses so many different metaphors to try to describe what we all call the church.

The ecclesia, the called out ones of God. Open your Bible to Ephesians Chapter one for a moment. Ephesians Chapter one. Verse 22, and I just want to give you a glimpse just into Ephesians and what Paul tells the Church of Ephesus, what the church is.

He says in verse 22. He said he put all things in subjection under his feet and he gave him, he said, as head over all things. He said to the church, which is his body.

The fullness of him who feels all in all. It's not the only time he calls the church is the body of Christ. And we know when Paul speaks to the Corinthians, he tells it and Christ is the head. So Christ is the head and the church. Is the body. Now, I mean, one implication of that as clear as possible, the head decides what the church does and the body does what the head says. The church should act just like your body acts. Your brain controls what you do.

And then your body just simply reacts to it. Secondly, though, what he ends up doing is if you look at Chapter two. And verse 19. He says, So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and you are of God's household.

There's another metaphor. What is the church? We're God's household.

What an interesting way to say it. He's our father. We're his children.

And we're the household. Of God. Notice he gets down to verse 21 and 22 of the same chapter and says, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together, he said, into the dwelling of God in the spirit. Here, he says, we're the temple of God. Now, individually, Christians are the temple of God. Collectively, the church is the temple or the residency of God. Then if you go to Chapter five of Corinthians. Verse 28.

He uses an analogy. And he says this. So husbands. Oughta love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church.

This is interesting. Down in verse 32, he said, This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Here is inference and it's very clear in the Book of Revelation that the church is the bride of Christ. We're the bride. We're so when you think about it, we're of the household of God. We're the temple of God. We're the body of Christ. We're the bride of Christ. We're part of God's household.

That's just in this book. Peter says that we're the flock of God and we're the pillar of truth. But nowhere in the entire New Testament, nowhere is the church ever called a building.

Never is the church called a building. You see, I think we have to be careful. I think we end up in times like this that our mantra becomes, I want to go to church. And I do, too. I want you to go to church.

But I have to be careful with that. You're not to say, I want to go to church. What you should say is we are the church. We are the church. Not I go to church. That's such an important thing for us to understand, because we've been forced to understand it by the circumstances of our day.

My inference is clear to me. We never stop being the church. We never stop being the household of God, the bride of Christ.

We never stop. We are the church. And I'm afraid that some people and maybe some of you, but some people have thought, well, gee, if we can't go to church. Well, then I can be sort of on vacation from church. I can kind of be on vacation.

You know, we don't have to go so I can sort of vacate. I'm telling you, that is not only unbiblical, that's dangerous. You never stop being the church. God's expectations of you and I never cease. Because we are the church. We can't do this.

In fact, I want to argue today that. The circumstances we're under right now since this whole pandemic began may simply be the greatest opportunity. At all churches and specifically our church has ever had. To be the church. You see, I think all of us sort of get into that mindset that I just simply go to church, not every week, but most weeks, you see, and I've done my duty. I've gone to church.

God has given us a unique opportunity. So I want to review just a little for some of you, but for the others of you, I want to make something clear. How does the church actually function?

What should it be doing? So I want you to go to Acts chapter two, the book of Acts chapter two. Beginning in verse 41. Now, please remember that Acts two is where the church began.

That's Pentecost. This is when the church began. And so right in the beginning, God gives us a clear statements as to how does a church function.

Right from the beginning, he wants to make this clear. It says in verse 41. So then those who received his word were baptized. And that day there were added about 3000 souls in Jerusalem that the church is born in.

And now you're going to see what does it function like? Now, please understand one thing that we know for certain that it doesn't have at Pentecost. There's no building. In fact, there's no real building for the church for about 350 years.

So here we see it. He says they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching. In the 1970s, Gene Getz wrote a book called Sharpening the Focus of the Church. It's a wonderful book. It's actually the book that's the philosophical base of our church. Gene wrote this book so that we understand church better. And what he said in the book was that every church must have three vital experiences.

It must it must have three functions that are not negotiable. These are functions that the church has to have all the time. And so the very first one that he says is right there in that verse, the first vital experience is learning. He said they were devoting themselves to the apostles teaching. Right from the beginning.

And understand how important this is. What do they have? Old Testament. Who are they? Messianic Jews. Do they have any understanding of the church at all?

No. Who has to tell them? The apostles.

That's the way this works. They devote themselves to the apostles teaching. It's interesting that in the Great Commission, Jesus Christ says, go and make disciples. Right. Baptizing. Right. And teaching. The Dasko is the word.

It's used a hundred times in the New Testament. It means teaching. You have to be learning. Someone has to be teaching. What a great time this is to be taught.

What an unprecedented time. Think of how much time many of us have on our hands now. I do understand health care professionals, a lot of people, they're working around the clock.

I get that. But for a lot of us, there's a lot of time. And you keep hearing the pundits on TV talking about how lonely people are. You know, it's just so sad. And I'm so isolated. And what do I do with my time?

Well, a lot of people have a lot of different ways of trying to cope with that, most of which are not good. But for a Christian, what a time. What a time to learn. What a time to be taught.

I mean, we live in not just a time of the pandemic, we live in a time of technology. Golly, you can find almost every single great teacher in Christendom online. All teaching. All you have to do is avail yourself of it if you want to. You can read books online. You don't even have to go to a library. You don't have to buy the book.

You can read a book online. The question I have was, are you taking advantage of that? Or are you on vacation from church? A couple of weeks ago, we had Kent Marion Fuller here.

And we explained that their circumstances are very unusual because they got caught here in New Orleans, their Belizeans, and they can't go back to Belize even yet. So what are they going to do with all their time? Well, I can tell you this. From the beginning on, Kent comes to me and says, do you have some books for me to read? And I started to get him three to five books at a time. Soon as he finishes, he brings them back. So do you have some more books for me to read? And I give him again. He's probably read more books since he's been here than any other period of time. Over a long period of time, because he has the time.

What an advantage. The question I have for you, are you doing that? Are you growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ? You see, are you using this time for you to learn more of the truth from the word of God?

If you don't, you're missing a tremendous opportunity. Remember, Paul told Timothy, study to show yourself approved a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The Lord's given us this opportunity to grow. You see, if the only time you have ever been in the Bible is that on most Sundays, you show up in church and listen to someone like me talk. You're not growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

You're not a workman that doesn't need to be ashamed. You see, we have a responsibility here. It's an important thing. Peter says, like newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word. It feeds us.

And what an opportunity we have right now to be fed in so many ways. The second vital experience is the vital relational experience. Notice again. He says they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship. That's our name. Fellowship.

Wow. Down in verse 44, he describes it. He said, and all those who had believed were together and they had all things in common. Don't miss that verse.

Because I don't know if you think fellowship is what it is. This is the word koinonia. This is a word that means partnership. They had all things in common. They were all for one and one for all.

They sustained each other financially, physically. That's fellowship. I hear people say, and sometimes I feel the same way, I really missed the fellowship on Sunday morning. I don't want to burst your bubble, but very unlikely that that's fellowship. You see, when I meet my friends or a few other people that I know and say good morning and I say to my friends, you see the game on Saturday?

Holy cow, was that something or what? That's not fellowship. Now, that's friendship.

I'm all for friendship. But that's not fellowship. Fellowship is partnership. How does it work in our lives? Well, look at all the one anothers in the New Testament.

Someone has written there are 39 different ones. One anothers, that's fellowship. Love one another. Encourage one another. Serve one another. Admonish one another. Confess your sins to one another. Forgive one another.

On and on you have these one anothers. That's fellowship. You see, and how much of that is what we do on Sunday morning? Again, during this pandemic, don't we have unique opportunities? Just unique opportunities here for fellowship. Do people have needs? Some people lost their jobs. Are people lonely?

Yes. What are you doing about that? What are you doing about that? How have you showed people, your brothers and sisters in Christ, that you love them, that you're serving them, you pray for them? What do you do for fellowship? And I'm not sure many of us do anything. But we all want to say, but I really miss it.

I know you miss something. Go with me to Romans chapter 12. I love what Paul writes here. Romans 12, verse 10. Paul gives us another little description here of fellowship. He starts out and he says, be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Can someone come to your mind right now in the body of Christ that you say I'm devoted to them?

I want to demonstrate my love for them. That's what Paul said. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Give preference to one another in honor. Why should I be devoted to you? Because you're more important than me.

That's what Paul said to the Philippians. Consider everyone else as more important than yourself. Be devoted to one another.

Give preference to one another in honor. Not lagging behind in diligence. You've got to work at this.

This takes time and effort. Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation. Isn't that exactly what we're all doing right now? One of the greatest opportunities you have in the church for fellowship is during tribulation. Because when I am tribulating, I don't know if that's a word, but when I am tribulating, I need encouraged.

I need someone to lift me up. I need those people. And we have people right now who are in tribulation. And you say, I want fellowship.

Well then, with all diligence, show them the honor that's due them. Devoted in prayer, well that's an important thing. This is a discipline that's difficult for us. Isn't it easy to be in prayer for yourself? You ever find that pretty easy? Oh God, help me get through this day. Oh God, when you have that diagnosis go away.

Oh God. But what about intercessory prayer for others? How much time do you spend praying for others? You see, I think we've reconfigured this whole word, fellowship, and so we don't see our responsibility here.

He said, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Wow. That's fellowship. You have a need.

If I have the resources, I'll meet your need. This is hard for us. Fellowship requires you to be wholly other oriented.

And if we're all honest with ourselves, aren't we just a little bit myopic and selfish? So it's a lot easier for us to call fellowship. Fellowship's just seeing my friends on Sunday morning talking about yesterday's game, and once in a while in some churches, maybe we could have a donut and coffee.

There we go. It's fellowship now. That's not what the Bible says at all. That's not fellowship. That's friendship, and I'm all for friendship. Don't call it fellowship.

Don't call it what God does. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .