Share This Episode
The Daily Platform Bob Jones University Logo

1107. The Believer’s Relationship to the Local Church

The Daily Platform / Bob Jones University
The Truth Network Radio
October 26, 2021 7:00 pm

1107. The Believer’s Relationship to the Local Church

The Daily Platform / Bob Jones University

On-Demand Podcasts NEW!

This broadcaster has 666 podcast archives available on-demand.

Broadcaster's Links

Keep up-to-date with this broadcaster on social media and their website.


October 26, 2021 7:00 pm

Dr. Ken Casillas continues a series entitled “Christ’s Body: The Church” with a message titled “The Believer’s Relationship to the Local Church,” from Ephesians 4.

The post 1107. The Believer’s Relationship to the Local Church appeared first on THE DAILY PLATFORM.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Truth for Life
Alistair Begg
The Charlie Kirk Show
Charlie Kirk
Renewing Your Mind
R.C. Sproul
Kingdom Pursuits
Robby Dilmore

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything so he established daily chapel services. Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from the University Chapel platform. Today on The Daily Platform, we're continuing a study series about the role of the church. Ken Casias of the Bob Jones University Seminary will bring today's message. Well, my job this morning is to talk to you today about the believers' relationship to the local church, and this is going to be a thematic message we're going to be pulling from a lot of different passages across the New Testament because it is such a vast topic and the Bible has so many things to say about it, but let me encourage you to turn to Ephesians chapter 4, and that's going to be one of the passages that I'll refer to as we get started here, Ephesians chapter 4.

We know the last decade or so has seen dramatic developments in technology and ways to stay connected with people and social media, and we have multiple ways of staying in touch all the time with our family, with our friends, and really with the entire world. We talk so much about networking and relationships and community, and during the same time period in some circles there has been something of a revolt against the one community as we heard last week that is at the center of God's redemptive program. Sometimes the church is referred to disparagingly as the institutional church as a way of kind of backing off of the emphasis of God's people living together and working together in a structured sort of way. This is part of what some people mean when they talk about Jesus versus religion. Now Jesus and religion ought to be contrasted if what you mean by religion is some kind of a legalistic system that is supposed to earn you acceptance with God, or if what you mean by religion is some kind of a deadness or some kind of a hypocrisy, but by religion some people are also referring to religious institutions including the local church. The idea is that Christianity is basically about my personal relationship with Jesus and that my relationship with other followers of Christ is something fluid. It is something that should be always spontaneous.

It is something that is ideally unstructured and that is basically up to me to decide what I do and what I put into it. The idea that concepts of authority and structure and expectations necessarily conflict with spiritual authenticity or somehow undermine the grace and the freedom of Christianity. That notion has been around for a long time. In the 20th century it was a part of the Jesus people movement of the 60s and 70s and to various degrees has been floated recently by the emergent church movement. Hopefully we wouldn't land in extremes like that, but we certainly can drift into a kind of a loose attitude, a loose relationship to the local church.

That can happen for different reasons. Maybe we just don't realize how important the church is in the plan of God. We sort of view it as icing on the cake. Maybe our perception of the church is that it's a place where we go to hear a sermon every week and there's really not the sense of connection and commitment that the New Testament talks about. Or maybe we understand some of that but we just have it difficult, we find it difficult to actually pay the price of a meaningful relationship with a local church. The reality is that church life takes hard work. It is something that requires self-sacrifice and humility and vulnerability and endurance and we can be tempted to think that the church is ultimately just not worth it. In the face of all of those wrong ways of thinking about the church, this morning I want to urge you to get connected and for the rest of your life to stay connected to the local church. And when I bring up the topic of commitment to the local church and particularly church membership, one of the ideas or one of the responses that comes back is that there is not a chapter in verse that says you must sign up to be a member of a particular local church or your name must be on some church's role and that is true.

I'd like to share with you some preliminary considerations along those lines and first of all as a foundation to make the statement that gospel living is not something limited to obeying explicit commands of the bible but it includes spirit-led application of principles and patterns that the bible lays out for us. You recognize that the bible is essentially a record of god's self-revelation to other people in history and the way that it functions as our authority is by way of application. It is by way of drawing out realities and truths that record that we recognize as having broader relevance than what is actually under discussion in particular passages. Sometimes it's a very simple and straightforward thing where we we know that certain commandments or certain prohibitions apply across the board.

Other times it may not be that simple. It may be a matter of studying the word of god and seeing that certain ideas, certain general concepts recur and that they reflect the heart of god, the values of god and yielding to the spirit as we seek to work out those principles in the specifics of our life in this day and age. And as we talk about the church, formal church membership, formal church membership is one of those applications of biblical principles and patterns. Talking here about the mechanics of how church membership tends to work, whatever process a church has whether giving a testimony or standing up in front of the church and presenting yourself and people voting on that or committing yourself to a covenant, the bible does not require in so many words that kind of process.

But the concept is there and the idea of this level of commitment is all the way through the new testament. Now one of the qualifications I'd like to make as it relates to your life right now is that I recognize that you folks are in an unusual time, an unusual place in life. You are here in this community temporarily, you perhaps have a church commitment back home and you're doing whatever you can to get connected to a church here in this area and the churches here have different ways of providing for people that are here like that temporarily. I'm not going to stand up here today and dogmatize about exactly the steps you must take, particularly at this stage of life, but what I want to emphasize is that in whatever phase of life you find yourself, the bible is very clear that believers should be as committed as possible to a biblically faithful local church.

That will mean one thing for your life right now, it may mean something a little different and a little more serious and a little more permanent as you move on to go on in your service for the Lord. What I want to do this morning to develop that is to present the biblical case, the biblical rationale for church membership. What are these principles and patterns that I refer to that lead us to this level of commitment to a particular local church? And the first idea is that the new testament presents the Christian life as happening not as a solo endeavor but as something in a corporate context and we see that in a lot of different ways and a lot of different passages.

I want to highlight three ways in which this corporate context becomes apparent. First of all, do you realize that your own personal assurance of salvation, the bible actually connects it with your relationship to other believers. We see that particularly in first john and of various tests that we find there for knowing whether I am a true believer.

One of them that's repeated again and again such as in chapter four is that we know we are among the people of God if we have love for other Christians. The question would be how is that love demonstrated? Where is that love demonstrated?

What sort of relationship is going on where this kind of love would be shown? And I want to share with you a statement that occurs a little earlier in first john chapter two verse 19. They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out that it might be complained that they all are not of us. Now in that context the apostle john is talking about anti-christ false teachers and people who could not endure the sound teaching of the scriptures and who left because they believed and they taught something else. So that's the emphasis of that verse is how the church membership concept sort of identifies that someone is a believer in orthodox teaching and people who aren't willing to put up with that to accept that to yield to that are saying something about their heart and what is the condition of their soul. Now that verse doesn't mean that there is never a time that you should leave a particular local church.

God moves us to other locales. There may be a good reason why we should move from one church to another but what it's saying is that there is an affinity in the heart of a true believer. An affinity both for the teaching that goes on in a local church and for being connected with other people that believe those things.

One commentator said about verse 19 that this contrary to fact statement is built upon the principle that genuine believers persevere in the faith and in their association with other believers. In other words the assumption is that true believers will be visibly connected to an assembly and that if somebody is not wanting to do that or if they walk away and don't join some other bible believing assembly it raises serious questions about what's happening within them. Now as you go on to other passages and this one here in Ephesians 4 we see another demonstration of this corporate context of the Christian life and that's the relationship between our church life and our personal sanctification. Look with me at Ephesians chapter 4 and starting at verse 11 you probably recognize these verses they talk about different spiritual leaders that God gives to local churches. They are God's gifts but it doesn't end with them because their job verse 12 is the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ and I want you to pick up on some of the language here. Verse 13 till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God unto a perfect man under the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and cared about with every wind of doctrine but speaking the truth and love verse 15 there is a we there as well that we may grow up into him in all things who is the head of in Christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Just dropping into some of those statements to highlight this we language this corporate language and what is it talking about it is talking about how it is that God grows us into the image of Christ. This may cut against our western individualism but do you recognize that scripturally sanctification Christian growth is something that goes on in a group context it is a joint effort I could illustrate it this way it is not an individual sport it is a team sport and it really does take the contribution of everybody in that assembly as Paul says here of every joint and every part for any of us to become by the grace of God everything that God wants us to be. Are you committed to that proposition is that thought just wired into your thinking about the Christian life about sanctification I really want to urge you to make the local church thinking about even your own growth to make the local church a priority as you make plans for your life I'm thinking especially those who may be graduating soon and you're looking into career opportunities you're looking to see what's out there by way of employment to what degree in that decision are you considering the issue of a local church as you look at those opportunities is it a major factor that in whatever location you may end up there is a solid local church in that community biblically that question about the church should not be a footnote it should not be something that you consider sort of after the fact when you've already made your decision I wonder if there's a church there I wonder what we're going to do in this area but it is something that because it is so crucial to the purposes of God including your own growth is at the very heart of the decision that you make and it is not just for your own sanctification but actually it is also for what you can contribute to that assembly one of the other ways in which the corporate nature of the Christian life comes out is in the New Testament's teaching about spiritual gifts of course that's a very big topic I share with you Romans 12 1st Corinthians 12 to 14 some of the key passages that talk about how we are members of the same body and that every body in that group has a role to play has a capacity given by God to them in order to not just receive and grow but so that you can contribute and the whole group can grow verse 5 of Romans 12 says for as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members one of another normally when we speak of the body of Christ we're thinking of the universal church but we really can't conclude that's what he's talking about here because he's talking about interaction between believers in a close context where you are ministering back and forth to one another in concrete ways and it's as though he's saying really by conversion there's a sense in which you are already members everybody in the same group but within the local context that's where that reality takes on concrete form we're going to see some striking examples of this corporate context as we go on to our next thought here another part of the case for church membership is the specific patterns that we see in early Christianity and I think first of all of what happened on the day of Pentecost we do refer to that as the founding of the New Testament church and how did things work out practically speaking as Peter preaches that powerful sermon about the resurrected Christ and the outpouring of the spirit what God is initiating on this day the people are moved and they they cry out what are we supposed to do how to respond he says repent and to demonstrate the seriousness of your repentance and your faith in Christ be baptized but it doesn't stop there I want to read for you what actually took place it says in Acts 2 then they that that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls and they continued steadfastly and it goes on to lay out some of the church practices that they began to take part in on a regular basis my point is that here at the very beginning of this Christian movement the church conversion baptism and incorporation into a local church are really all inseparably connected of course we've got to be careful here we recognize that salvation conversion is one thing baptism is another thing church membership is another thing and our baptism and our church membership don't constitute some kind of merit by which we are saved there is clearly a sequence and furthermore I would say that we don't need to be tied necessarily to the timing even of this passage we recognize that in other places where there maybe isn't as good of an understanding of of what all these experiences mean there might be some wisdom and waiting between somebody's conversion and baptism and church membership but it is very clear that that in a sense this is a package deal to be saved to be saved includes being baptized includes joining a church I mean it's just like all one one continuous sequence not that those other things we do constitute our salvation but it becomes very hard to separate them as expressions of a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ as your savior one book says the New Testament does not contain even a hint of someone who was truly saved but not part of a local church you see that reflected here from the very beginning you see it as well as you read on the New Testament and as you come to what we call the pastoral epistles you're reading there of what was going on in local churches about 30 plus years after the day of pentecost and what you find is that the apostle Paul is commissioning Timothy and Titus to set things in order in their locales to get certain things in place in the churches at Ephesus and in Crete and there's a great deal of organizational structure you have the apostle Paul laying out distinctions of the jobs of people depending on their their gender you have other factors such as qualifications of the leaders what their responsibilities are even about them getting paid for their work you have policies being put into place about how to determine which of the widows of the church should be helped on a financial basis and you have some basic procedures for handling accusations and problems within the church my point is that all of that structure implies that these were well-defined bodies with a recognizable membership and now actually the development of formal policies and procedures it was not something amorphous it was understood who is in and who is out and those books lay out for you now how do we operate now that we are members of this group and there are many things that you find in those passages but I want to highlight one of the great realities as our final thought here of New Testament church life that is another argument for membership that you see in the pastoral epistles but I want to highlight some other verses as well and that is the vital role of mutual accountability this is a huge part of your sanctification we see that accountability displayed in different ways you ever picked up on the passages and Hebrews where these Hebrew Christians are struggling with following Christ and in addition to all that deep doctrine about Jesus there's just the basic point look stay in touch with other believers they have a role to play they're aware of what may be going on in your heart God intends to use them to exhort you in fact chapter 3 verses 12 13 says exhort one another daily it is not just a matter of showing up to a service once a week it is the kind of relationship that is so close that there's actually daily access to our fellow believers and they have the openness to address us about whatever needs they may detect and of course Hebrews 10 is the well-known one about not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together what goes on when we get together we exhort one another and so much the more as we see the day approaching those passages they assume a relationship that is established that is regular and that is intimate enough to where that kind of accountability can be freely given and freely received the accountability sometimes comes from those who are in actual authority over us in the church and you have passages like first Thessalonians 5 and Hebrews 13 that say recognize who your pastors are yield your hearts to the teaching of scripture and the application of it to your life since the Lord has put them in a position of oversight over you the assumption is a believer has a pastor a believer has that kind of spiritual leadership he knows who the shepherd is and the shepherd knows who the sheep are when you become a member of the church that is one of the things that you're saying I want you or this group of men to be my shepherds and they say we want you we we accept you we commit ourselves to you to be your shepherd and finally as another display and in many ways the hardest displays of accountability is what we come to know as church discipline now really everything I've said so far is a kind of church discipline but in the narrow sense we're talking about situations where there has been such a clear sin that the church corporately steps in following different procedures that the last resort of which is for the good of the person and for the good of the assembly to actually expel them or excommunicate them Matthew 18 1st Corinthians 5 and other passages and all I want to say about that is this if there is the last resort of expelling somebody from a group in extreme cases how could that even happen if people don't know who is in the group to start with and it's kind of our bottom line rationale for church membership that would have to be it in church membership fundamentally you're saying I'm in and I am voluntarily submitting myself to the spiritual oversight of this group that is not an easy thing but I want us to end by just reminding ourselves of the positive redemptive context that we're talking about and how God uses the church in our lives this is something I've come to appreciate more and more over time been here for a long time at the university and I've always appreciated the challenge that Dr. Bob has given to to outgoing students to consider putting their careers on hold for a while and to finding some area where there's a small or struggling church and just jumping in and using the training and using the resources to help that work on to the next level I've always believed in that but actually over the last several years as I have gone to a smaller church it has given me such a greater appreciation really for the difference that one person or even one family can make whether you're talking about people that have been in that ministry for a long time and pouring their lives into it keeping it going or whether you're talking about a new individual or family that comes and the relief that they can bring and the new opportunities that go along with having other helpers and in fact for me it has really created a whole new category of heroes I love the theologians I love the preachers I love the missionaries but among my heroes these days are people like this a widow who is known for her sweet and her joyful disposition and who faithfully prepares the lord's table every month or somebody like this the owner of a salvage yard who every monday morning holds a bible study striving to reach people for christ and who comes back to church regularly sharing opportunities the lord has given him to witness or a mechanic with whom I recently sat at a cracker barrel just fellowshipping over a passage of scripture that he was getting ready to preach from or multiple men that I know are extremely busy and have a lot going on in their careers and with their families but who month after month are willing to spend late nights at sometimes tedious leadership meetings to guide the church and then maybe the weekend come out for a work day those kind of people are my new heroes godly lay people who are the backbone of the church of Jesus Christ and may each one of you join their ranks to the glory of God you've been listening to a sermon preached at Bob Jones University by Dr. Ken Casias which is part of the study series christ's body the church join us again tomorrow as we continue this series here on The Daily Platform
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-07-30 21:05:57 / 2023-07-30 21:15:07 / 9

Get The Truth Mobile App and Listen to your Favorite Station Anytime