Dwight Smoot

Glory to God in the Church’s Mission

Is it becoming more recognizable? Is anybody beginning to recognize this? I mean, surely it's not my artistic ability that's hindering the situation here.

Ah, okay.

We got a person with a, oh, it's on the back. Oh, okay. The cross. You know, this looks like the, first of all, it's a triangle, okay. Secondly, you know, it looks sort of like radiating out the light of the sun, okay.

But it's not really the message. So, this triangle, see that?

Are you with me so far?

Is it a good picture? Now, a few years ago, the elders got, and by the way, that's you, right? Part of that finger points to me, okay. That's us, okay, right? Sunnyside Baptist Church is us. Okay, so we're talking about us tonight, all right.

And we have a threefold. Let's see, somebody look up Philippians 2. Somebody look up Romans, somebody else. Romans 11, 36, Peter. Okay, who's got Philippians?

Philippians 2.

10 and 11, oh, yes, okay, yes.

We're looking forward to that day. That's all to the glory of God. And Romans 11, 36, did anybody look that up?

Beth, from him, through him, this is God, okay.

The him there is God. From him, through him, and to him are all things. All things to him be glory forever, amen. And 1 Peter 4, 11, does anybody have that?

Lisa, amen, amen, okay.

All right, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen, amen, all right. So that's part of the function of Sunnyside Baptist Church, to bring glory to God. You might say, well, what is glory? What does it mean to glorify God?

Okay, I'll say two things about that. I don't know a whole lot about the glory of God. Two things I know, two I do know, and I'm gonna share with you right now, okay. If you wanna find out about the glory of God, okay, there's a word picture in Exodus 33 and 34, okay.

Now you can read that for yourself later, all right, cause we're gonna move right along here. That's the one thing I know. If you wanna know about the glory of God, there's a word picture of it. Moses said, show me your glory, and God showed him his glory, okay.

Check it out.

I know this about the glory of God. If you want to know, if you want to see the glory of God, there's two scriptures that'll give you a real clue, okay. First one's Hebrews chapter one, I think it's verse three.

The sun, that is the son of God, not the sun, okay, the son of God. The sun is the radiance of the glory of God. If you want to see the glory of God, look at the sun, okay. And the companion verse is 2 Corinthians chapter four, verse six.

The God who said, let there be light, has shown in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, where? Does anybody remember? In the face of Jesus Christ, okay. In the face of Jesus Christ.

Now notice, has shown in our hearts to give us the light, okay, of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, okay. Whenever the Bible speaks of light, I would encourage you to think of light in this respect, okay, it typically does not speak of this kind of light, okay, it speaks of the knowledge of God, it speaks of spiritual things, it speaks of that which is holy, not common, heavenly, not earthly.

Okay, you see what I'm saying here? The gospel of John chapter one, verse two or three, in him was life, speaking of the son, again, in him was life and the life was what? The light of men, okay. So if you have the life of Christ, you have light,.

You have knowledge of God, okay.

And this light should radiate, okay, this light should, at least three different ways,.

Okay, by your works, when I speak of your, that's us,.

Don't forget, that's us, okay, by your work.

Somebody look that up, okay, let your light so shine.

Now, do you have light? Do you have Christ? If you've got Christ, you've got light, okay. And so let your light so shine, okay, before men, that they see what? Your good work, glory to God, right? That they may glorify.

Before we go any further, let me make it very clear, if you have Christ, he says, without me, you can do nothing, right? But with me, as a matter of fact, you can do a lot of good works, okay. Who remembers Ephesians 2, eight and nine?

Now, this is a famous verses, I should say, it's two of them, Ephesians 2, eight, nine. I'll get you started. For by grace, for he said, out of works, any man should boast. Okay, that's good, what's the next verse?

What's the next verse? Which he prepared before him. You see, that was his plan all along, that when he saved us, you know, he had some work for us to do, some good work for us to do, okay.

So, I mean, this is nothing new.

This is old stuff, this is pre-creation, okay. God had good works planned for you to do, all right. And after he did his work on you, he's expecting that work to show up, okay. Well, what are these good works?

What can you do? I suppose you give a glass of water to somebody,.

Would that be a good work?

It is if you give it in the name of Christ. You see, if you give it in the name of Christ,.

It's a good work.

All the stunning Christ is a good work, okay. If you give a glass of water to someone, if you visit someone that's sick, is that a good work? Okay, if you give some money to somebody on the street corner, is that a good work?

Is it your responsibility what they do with it? Let's move right along here. You tell me, what's a good work? Okay, that's real, that's good, that's excellent. Like I said, you know, if you're led by the spirit, if it's done in the name of Christ, in Christ, in the power of Christ, abiding in Christ, okay, it's a good work.

How about encouraging people? You know, somebody that needs a little bit of encouragement, you know, the Lord would lead you to speak a few words of encouragement to them.

That'd be a good work.

If somebody asked you to teach a class and you felt inclined to do it, would that be a good work? Okay, yeah, there's a lot of good work that needs to be done, okay. You know, suppose the church needed some physical labor around the church or in the church.

I'm talking the building here now, not the people.

Okay, would that be a good work?

Can you mow the grass around the church in the name of Christ and bring glory to God?

Amen, okay.

Can you, you know, do some work in the rebuilding of the kitchen and bring glory to God?

Amen, all right.

So you can bring glory to God by your works. We memorized John 15, seven, not too long ago. Does anybody remember it? It starts out, if you abide in me, my words abide in you, that's it. Whatever you wish and really powerful, okay.

The very next verse says this. By this, my father's glorified that you bear much fruit. And so fruit, now this business of fruit, okay, this is, you know, when the Bible talks about fruit, you know, it's like light.

You know, when the Bible talks about, and when the Bible talks about, okay. Well, okay, let me give you a couple of options here. Okay, where does fruit come from? Last fruit I got, I got at Walmart. But now, in reality, it goes back just a little bit further.

As a matter of fact, if you go look at Genesis chapter one, okay, on the third day, a couple things happened, okay. God said, and then he said, let there be, okay, the seed. Okay, from Genesis one on through, say, today, by the seed, right.

So if you're gonna have fruit, you have to have a seed, okay. If you're gonna have fruit, you have to have a seed. On one day, Jesus said, a sower went out to sow. Now, what did he sow? Seed fell on different kinds of ground, right, okay.

But why did he sow the seed? What was the purpose of sowing the seed? To get the fruit. I mean, that was the whole purpose, right? To get the fruit, okay. And the seed fell on different types of soil, but fruit only appeared on good soil.

Excellent, excellent. So if the seed falls on good soil, when Jesus got through telling that, he walked off. And his disciples, you know, I mean, you haven't told us anything new here. I mean, if you go back and read that, it's pretty plain, right?

You know, you sow seed, you get fruit, if it falls on good soil. So there's gotta be more to it. And then he told them, okay. And then as he told them what he meant, the meaning of the parable, what is the seed?

The word of God, okay. So now there's a clue right there. If you're gonna get any fruit, you have to start with what? Word of God produce. Ah, but wait a minute. If the seed is the word of God, what is the fruit?

What's he looking for? What does the word of God do? How does it work? What does it produce?

Life.

When you spread the gospel, you bring life, right? The seed is planted. And if it's planted on good soil, what will happen?

Fruit. Life.

Okay?

And that person who now has that life, does he have the seed? Just like the fruit. He's got the seed. He can spread the word, okay? As continued from Genesis one up to today, okay? Seed, fruit, seed, fruit, seed, fruit, okay?

So the seed is the word and the fruit is life, okay? But, okay, in one sense, okay, like I said, when you talk about fruit, there's apples and there's oranges, right? And there's peaches, okay? There's also a fruit called ugly.

I don't know if I've ever seen one. I just heard about them, okay?

But there's different, you know,.

There's different shapes, sizes, colors, textures. You know what I'm saying, okay? They have different characters, okay? When a person is born of the spirit, okay, and begins to manifest the life of God himself, okay, what is manifest, okay?

What kind of character, kind of fruit, okay? This person begins to grow, okay, right? As the seed begins to flourish and make the fruit. This fruit looks like what, okay?

We'll get to that.

Let me see, what else? Buy your fruit by spreading the seed. Know anything about this? Okay, let me give you a couple of scriptures. That ought to bring a, you know, when you think about those two chapters of scripture, you know, your mind ought to go, wow.

What happens there? I mean, big time worship, okay? Big time worship. I mean, the elders, the 24 elders, okay? Myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands of angels, okay, the hosts of heaven, and the four creatures around the throne, okay?

They're all doing what? Well, they're bringing honor and glory and, you know, worship to the one who sits on the throne and to the lamb. Okay, wow, those two chapters are just, you know, if you want a picture of worship, that's it, okay?

And all that they do brings glory to God, okay? So that our purpose is to bring glory to God.

Equipping the Saints for Ministry and Unity

The second purpose is build up, okay? Okay, build up the body.

That's, okay, I'll use, put another word in here, just edify, okay? That means build up. That means, let's see, I'm gonna use the word grow, okay? Build up, edify, grow. I think that's, those are good words.

All right, now I'm gonna read this section of scripture,.

Okay?

We are, this body of Christ is to bring glory to God by our works, by our fruit, by our worship, okay? And we are to build up the body, okay? That is us, okay? Sunnyside Baptist Church is the body, that's us.

Ephesians, it's here somewhere. It was a few minutes ago. Yeah, here it is. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called with all humility and gentleness, that's, okay, that's us.

You know, this is how we're supposed to walk, okay? Humility and gentleness with patience, bearing with one another in love, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, okay?

This is one body, okay? And we should be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, one spirit, just as you recall, to one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Is there a particular word here that seems to kind of repeat itself and trying to force itself into your mind so that you won't forget? One, very good. One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Sounds like Romans 11, 36. From him, through him, and to him are all things. But grace was given to each one of us. Ah, now see, up at this point, he's speaking to the whole crew, all right? But now he says, hey, grace was given to each one of you.

So he's talking about each one of you has a certain amount of grace, okay? According to the measure of Christ's gift. And this gift, this grace, where did it come from? Christ, okay? Remember the law came through Moses, but what came through Christ?

Grace and truth, okay? And grace upon grace, all right? If you want grace, it comes from Christ. When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean?

But that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers.

Let me stop right there.

He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers, okay? Now let me tell you what I know for sure about this list,.

Okay?

We don't have any apostles in this church. I know that for sure. They all died in the first century, okay? I don't know about the prophets or evangelists in this church, okay?

Here's what I do know.

We have pastors and teachers, okay? Those are the three things I know for sure. We don't have any apostles, but we do have pastors and teachers, all right? Are you with me here? This is what I know, okay?

I'm not gonna tell you what I think or what I don't know, all right? That's what I know, okay? We do have pastors and teachers. What are they here for?

What are they here for?

What is, how does it go on? To equip the saints.

Now hold it.

Who are the saints? Now this church has pastors and teachers, and apparently it also has saints. Now who's that? That's all of us, right? That's all of us. We are the saints, okay? The purpose of the pastors and teachers is to equip the saints for what?

The work of ministry, okay? Now, you may say, well, wait a minute. Now a couple of weeks ago, you said the purpose of your teaching, the purpose of your instruction, okay, was what? Love, which springs from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith, right?

Now you're telling me that the purpose of the teachers is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Ah, well, just hang on, hang on. For the work of ministry, for, next page, building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the what?

Unity of the faith. Yes, that's right. The purpose of our instruction is faith, sincere faith, okay? Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and to the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so 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, okay?

In other words, you know, the teachers and the pastors in this church, in this body, okay, are not trying to deceive you in any way, okay? They are attempting to teach and preach the word of God, the seed, okay, that it may continue to grow in your life and that you, we, okay, may grow up into the fruit, okay, that God has planned for us to grow up into.

Now, I said a while ago, you know, you're supposed to grow up into a certain kind of fruit. You're supposed to look like a certain kind of fruit. Rather, verse 15, speaking the truth in love, I hope you recognize I'm speaking the truth in love.

I'm sure I'm speaking the truth because I'm reading the scriptures, okay? And I hope I'm doing it in love. And I hope that this seed is falling on good soil and it will produce fruit, okay? We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head.

Okay, this body has a head, right? I mean, it wouldn't be a very strange body without a head, right? This body, this Sunnyside Baptist Church has a head and who is this head? Christ, into Christ, okay?

So notice, rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ, from 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, okay, so the purpose of our teaching is love, which springs from a pure heart and a sincere faith. You know, that's what he says, right?

Okay, and along with that, you're gonna develop also a clear conscience, okay? Because you have to put up with one another, remember that? And you have to ask one another for forgiveness and clear your conscience, okay?

That's how we bear with one another. At least that's one of the ways, okay? But now notice, we're to grow up into what? Christ, okay? That's the fruit that we're supposed to look like, okay? He is the picture, okay, of who we're supposed to grow up into, okay?

And if you want a word picture, okay, where would you go look to find the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in your life? Where would you go? Galatians 5. Galatians chapter five, verse, this is one you ought to know, at least know the address, Galatians 5, 22, right?

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness is in there, right? Okay, was that nine of them? If that's nine, that's all of them, okay?

But that's not the exhaustive list, okay? But you get the picture, that's what's supposed to be developing in our lives, right? A stronger faith, a stronger love, greater joy, patience, long suffering, long suffering.

Is God long suffering? Yes, if you go to Exodus chapter 33 and 34, you'll find out a picture, word picture of the glory of God involves long suffering. Okay, and we're gonna be like him. We're made in his image, right?

It's broken, but he's fixing it, right? Through Christ. Okay, so the body is supposed to be building up, okay? The pastors and the teachers are supposed to teach the word to equip the saints, okay? So that the saints can do what?

Minister, right? Isn't that what it said? For the work of ministry, okay? Okay, now we are the saints, right? How do we minister? I mean, if we don't minister, we're not gonna grow. So how do we minister?

Okay, that's good, I like that. Yes, think about those one another's in the New Testament, right? Pray for one another, encourage one another, visit one another, forgive one another, okay? Teach one another, care for one another, watch over one another, okay?

For the work of, you know, that's the work of ministry, okay? And notice now the last verse. From whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part, when each part, now what's each part?

Well, that'd be Doris and Quentin, I mean, Devon and Woody and Bonnie. You know, each part, that's each one of us, okay? When each part is what? My translation says working properly. When each part is working properly, the body will grow and build itself up in love, okay?

So each part has to do its part, okay? Each of us has to be equipped, okay? And minister to one another so that we might grow, this one body may grow into the image of Christ, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, okay?

So that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, brothers, okay? Where's that found? So that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Where's that found? Does anybody remember? I mean, this is a plan that was put together a long time ago for those whom he foreknew he did.

All things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he did what? Predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, okay?

See, that was his plan all along, okay? That we might grow into the likeness of Christ, okay? That's the fruit that's supposed to be in our life, okay? Not only are we to reproduce by, okay? So that there'll be more fruit, okay?

But the fruit that we are is supposed to look like what?

The Great Commission and Evangelism to the Nations

Now, sunny side, just a simple way to help us to remember,.

Hey, what are we about? What do we do? Why are we here, okay?

We're to glorify God, build up the body,.

And evangelize the lost, okay? Give me a good verse for this. Jesus said it.

Oh, that's it.

That is it, okay? And by what authority did he say that? In heaven and in earth. It's been given to me, therefore, go. And do what? By the way, this is in Matthew. This is scriptural, okay? Matthew, excuse me, I'm choking up here.

I'd go in the kitchen and get me a drink of water, but it's not there anymore. Matthew 28, verses 18, 19, and 20, okay? Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, right? All nations, okay? Are we doing that?

I mean, this is Sunnyside Baptist Church here on 48th Street, South 48th Street. Are we going into all the nations? Yes, we are. Don't forget that. We have evangelistic work going on in the world, okay?

South America, the Howes, in Asia. Celeste McGee is there. Mitch Tillman is there. In France, in Europe, okay, in France. The Powles, what's their first names? Ryan and Dana Powles, yes, okay. And in Africa, we have work in Africa, okay?

All the continents, right? Africa, Ivory Coast, Vernon Denny Johnson, and soon to be Josh and Christy. Who can spell their last name? This is a test. I can say it, I think, and I know Jana can spell it.

Wolgamut, is that right? Okay, yes, all right, yes, okay. Yes, go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.

Let's see, what's next?

Is it baptizing? Okay, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, right, okay? That's another Trinitarian situation, okay? Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Do we do that here in this church? Do we baptize people? Absolutely, okay. I've seen it, you've seen it, okay? Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them what? Teaching them all that I've commanded you, right?

Do we do that here? Yes, okay, we teach, right? God gave us pastors and teachers, okay? Or I should say, it is God who gave them, but it was through Christ, right? Christ gave us gifts, okay? And the gifts he gave us were pastors and teachers, okay?

To equip the saints, to equip us all that we might minister one to another, okay? So we are teaching, okay, the commandments of Christ. We're teaching his words, okay? Teaching them all that I commanded you, and, and, this is, don't forget this part, the last part.

Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age, right? Is that the way it goes, okay? And what was it that Ray Comfort told us? No go, no lo.

Remember that?

Some of you might remember that, okay? Ray Comfort told us that. Ray Comfort was teaching us, you know, about evangelism, okay, he says, if you don't go, you don't get any lo. If you're not gonna go, I'm not gonna go with you.

No go, no lo, yeah, well, that's, okay. But that's important, right? I mean, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Christ, okay? And out of that authority, I mean, I mean, what else is there, okay, nothing.

He's got all authority, and out of that authority, he says, hey, go, you, the church, go, and make disciples, make disciples, okay? Make disciples. Well, that's what we should be about here at Sunnyside, right?

Glorify God, build up the body, and evangelize the Lord. That's our job, all of us, okay? And how can we do that, okay? How can we do that? We can do it in the power of the Spirit, by abiding in Christ, by his words.

We can do it in our works, by the fruit as we come together for worship. And by the way, can we worship outside the walls of this building? Yeah, absolutely. Can you worship all day? Yes, you can. Can you please God?

Yes.

Can you displease God? Yes. Okay. That's the business of Sunnyside Baptist Church, okay? Glorify God, build up the body, and evangelize the lost, okay, and we have about three minutes left. Any questions?

Okay, it's time to sing. I wanted to remind you, who is the apostle of reminders? Ken? That would be Peter, right. He writes in his letters, he says, I'm gonna tell you some stuff. Now, I know you already know this, but I'm gonna tell it to you again.

I wanna remind you so that when I'm gone, you'll be able to recall it, okay? So that's what tonight was, a reminder of what we, we're gonna sing 284, is that it?

Okay, good.