What is the church's purpose? Part 2

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Ebendrock. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.

Christ Must Be Preached, Not Just Moral Improvement

Barnhouse said if Satan were really to take over a city, this is what would happen. The bars would close, no alcohol would be sold, there'd be happy marriages, well-behaved children, no crime, and everyone would be in churches on Sunday where Jesus Christ is not preached.

After all, it's good to be good and it's nice to be nice, but if you want to be mature, you need to learn about Christ Jesus. And when you do, you keep wanting more of the Lord. A lady got saved. She said to Spurgeon, Spurgeon, if Christ Jesus does love me like that, he'll never hear the last of it.

And we never want to hear the last of it either. Turn with me, if you would, to Mark chapter 1, just talking to Tim Boson about this passage this summer, Mark chapter 1, just thinking about the gravity of Christ Jesus as I was reading an Alistair McGrath book, he was making mention of this.

Mark chapter 1, sometimes we read the text so fast we don't stop and have a say-la moment or a stop and let that sink in moment. And here's this dramatic account, and I want to read this and I want you to think about what's happening here.

Mark chapter 1, this is our master, our mediator, our advocate, our Lord, and we need to have this Jesus preached to us so that we might mature and honor Christ, honor the Father. Mark 1 16, passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen.

Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. What isn't said there? Hi, my name is Jesus, the Messiah. The text doesn't even tell us he said who he was. And I think McGrath is right.

The author Mark wants you to see the power and the presence and the majesty of such a God-man where he goes up and he says to you, tomorrow in the middle of the day at your terminal and you're working, follow me.

Who are you? What's your name? Where are you going? Who do you think you are? Can I see your ID? These people get up, push away from their work, from their earning, from their fishing nets, and they follow Jesus.

Now that's a pretty impressive person, if he can command that. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And immediately, they left their livelihood, their nets, and followed him. And it just keeps going.

You just say, the majesty of Christ Jesus, who is like this? I listened to John 7, 8, 9 this morning and I thought, who are you? That's actually what one of the false teachers said to Jesus. Who are you?

Who do you think you are? He's God. And going a little further, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in their boat, mending their nets, they're mending the nets, and immediately he called them.

And they left their father, forget work, it's work and father. They left their father, Zebedee, in the boat and hired servants and followed him. No explanation or elaboration, McGrath says, is offered, yet the fishermen left everything immediately and followed Jesus.

No reason is given for their decision to follow the stranger who has so dramatically entered into their lives. Mark leaves us with the impression of an utterly compelling figure who commands assent by his very presence.

He does not even tell them his name, yet they chose to entrust themselves to him. Isn't that glorious? I'm not even going to tell you who I am, you follow me, okay. That's why Paul said one year later, in 2 Corinthians 4, we proclaim not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.

The Objective Glory of Christ in Colossians 1

Let's go back to Colossians chapter 1. Paul had talked a lot about Jesus in chapter 1, him we proclaim, what about him? Not a system of philosophy, not how he personally received him, but him. I'm going to say this again in a second, but I'll say it now to kind of say it in advance so you can kind of chew on it for a second.

I think too much of evangelical Christianity is centered around the conversation that we, how we experience our salvation, how Jesus is experienced by us instead of this is just who Jesus is. So let's think for a second, hold on with me, I'll explain what I mean.

Colossians chapter 1 verse 15 to 20, Paul is going to say, of course Jesus is God. Chapter 1 later on he says, him we proclaim, this is the him we proclaim, H-I-M, he, verse 15, is the image of the invisible God.

As the creed said, he's very God of, very God, begotten, not made. He's the firstborn of all creation. Not talking about chronology, he's talking about height, preeminence. Firstborn having inheritance rights doubled in the Old Testament.

For by him all things were created. What did the false teacher say at Colossae? Angels, they created everything. Jesus is an angel. But here it doesn't say that, verse 16, by Jesus all things were created, including angels.

In heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. Jesus wasn't an angel, he's the eternal I am, look at verse 17, and he is before all things.

Can you imagine? The preexistent one, and in him all things hold together, the preeminent one. For verse 19, in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. You think of an attribute of God, Jesus has it.

And the great work that God the Father had sent him to do, he did, verse 20, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. You want to mature?

Then you need to be reminded, along with me, that we used to have a federal head, and his name was Adam. We used to be in Adam, and we were like Adam. We were a chip off of Adam's old block. Like father, like son.

Like father, like daughter. But now we have a new federal head, and his name is Jesus, and wouldn't we like to hear about this great victorious vanquisher? I think we would want to. Christians need the gospel as the object of discussion.

Listen to what Herman Riddibas said, in our society, here's what I really think is happening. Salvation discussions about Jesus have moved away from external accomplishment to internal appropriation. How we have received him versus what he is and what he has done.

Of course, you can give your testimony, and this is how God has saved me, but even then, it's not this mystical, pietistic, this is how I personally appropriated Jesus, and let him be the Lord, or however we talk.

Paul was saying, we proclaim him. We don't proclaim our experience of him, we're just proclaiming him. Now it's not always wrong to say this is a personal testimony, but there has been a shift in evangelicalism.

Listen to Riddibas, the Dutch theologian. While in Calvin and in Luther, all the emphasis fell on the redemptive event that took place with Christ's death and resurrection. Later, under the influence of pietism, mysticism, and moralism, the emphasis shifted to the individual appropriation of the salvation given in Christ, and to its mystical and moral effect in the life of the believer.

Accordingly, in the history of the interpretation of the epistles of Paul, the center of gravity, listen, shifted more and more from forensic to the pneumatic and ethical aspects of his preaching, away from what Jesus did on the cross to how I experience it.

And there arose an entirely different conception of the structures that lay at the foundation of Paul's preaching. So Paul says you want to learn and grow. You learn and grow when you learn about this objective reality that took place 2 ,000 years ago.

Redemption accomplished. You say, yeah, but I already got the Jesus part. B .B. Warfield said, our need of Christ does not cease with our believing, I just think what has Christ done for us as a church?

We are in Christ, 2 Corinthians 5. Christ is in us, Galatians chapter 2. We have eternal life, Matthew 25. We have no condemnation, Romans 8, John 5. We've passed from death to life, 1 John 3. We'll be with Jesus in the Father's house, John 14.

We'll rise again in Christ, John 11. We'll never eternally die, John 11. We're united with Christ in regeneration, Ephesians 2. We're baptized into his death. We're resurrected with Christ. We've been raised with him.

We sit in the heavenly places with him. So our life is hidden with God in Christ. When Christ, who is our life, appears, we will also appear with him in glory. That's why it's so wrong if I craft a sermon around you and around your needs.

This is what I want. Well, what's Scoparis want today? Better let him have it. What's Reddy want today? Better not let him have it. Whatever it is, that's liberalism. Well, I'm going to exegete you and then I'll preach Christ.

Fosdick said, let them not end but start with thinking of the auditor's vital needs. And then let the whole sermon be organized around their constructive endeavor to meet those needs. But if the goal is I want you to grow, then the goal is here's Christ Jesus that will proclaim every single week.

No creativity, no ingenuity. Say, well, I'm kind of bored hearing about Jesus every week. Well, I have a couple thoughts. One, stop watching TV because advertisements make you not content. Bigger, better.

And two, I'd say, have you really considered your sin lately? How bad is your sin? Because if you realize how bad your sin is, you realize how great Jesus' death was and his forgiveness, and then you're not going to be bored with that.

By the way, you won't be bored in eternity praising Christ Jesus, the lamb who shed his blood on your behalf. Griffith Thomas said, this then is the blessed and glorious theme of the Christian ministry.

Christ, the divine person, the anointed savior, the revealer of God, the atonement for sin, the guide, satisfaction, completion of life, the refuge of the past, the stay of the present, and the hope of the future.

If you teach VBS, if you teach Iwana, if you're in nursery, if you're in junior church, if you're in Sunday school, what's your mandate? Preach Christ Jesus. Listen to how Paul described Christ in the book of Colossians.

I won't give you the reference, but every one of these has a reference. The son of God, the object of the Christian faith, the redeemer, the image of God, the Lord of creation, the head of the church, the reconciler of the universe, supreme authority over all.

The one in whom all treasures of wisdom and knowledge lie hidden, the conqueror of all evil, enthroned at the right hand of God, and the list goes on and on. Paul couldn't get over Jesus. Paul, how many years ago were you on the Damascus Road?

20, 25, and Paul still was praising the Lord. You never meet a new Christian, and they are so fired up. I mean, it's just like, they're like pyros for God. They're just lighting matches everywhere, or the gospel, and throwing things out, and they're excited.

They realize they should have died and gone to hell, and now they're going to heaven based on only one person's work, Christ. Okay, three persons, Father, Son, and the Spirit. And then what do we do? You know what?

He's overzealous. He'll get over it in a few years. He'll be old and stayed in New England-ly, just like me, in about five years. Okay, let's take the New England part out. That kind of blew it. Paul, Damascus Road, 20 years earlier?

He never forgot it. And you know what churches do? It's not, let's say, Jesus is bad, Jesus isn't Lord, Jesus isn't the Son of God. But we put Jesus off in the corner, and here's how Wells described it.

The problem of Christ missing as the focal point in church today is not like the abduction of a child who is happily playing at home one minute, and then is no longer to be found the next. No one has abducted Christ in this sense.

The disappearance is closer to what happens in homes, where children are ignored, and to all intents and purposes, abandoned. They remain in the home, and they have no place in the family. So it is with Christ in the church.

He remains on the edges of evangelical life, but has dislodged from its center. In the old days, I kind of was bugged when the sermons I preached 14 years ago from Genesis and Exodus are no longer to be found, and they're not online.

But now, I praise God they were lost. I'm sure I preached dozens of sermons that if you were a rabbi, not believing in Jesus, you would say, I get it, I like it. That was a good message on Exodus, but where was Christ?

And the interesting thing is, if you preach the Bible, what does Jesus say in Luke chapter 24? What did Jesus say in John chapter 5? That the scriptures testify to Christ. So if you preach verse by verse, Jesus should be showing up.

So at this church, I want maturation, and I know there's only one way you get it. And that's try to give you Jesus from the pulpit, give you Jesus from Sunday school, Awana. When I met with the Awana leaders before I left, I basically said this.

This is the condensed version. Kids with good manners still go to hell. Polite kids still go to hell. I didn't say this part, but I could have. People that march against abortion still go to hell. Policemen go to hell.

Grandmas go to hell. Everybody goes to hell because they're all sinners unless Christ Jesus is looked upon with entrusting faith. And so I want these kids, along with you leaders at VBS, to go to, I want the kids to go to heaven.

So your job is to preach the gospel to them. I found some sermon titles from the last ten years at other places. How can I have a happier marriage? How can I handle my money? How can I like my job? Am I caught in an adult children of alcoholics pattern?

How can I be a better parent? How can I get more time for myself? How can I feel better about myself? What would Jesus say to Madonna? Maybe that one has a little hope in it, I don't know. How about if you ever stand up to preach in any way, shape, or form, you talk about Jesus Christ?

Say what? You preach too long. Too long about Jesus. If I'm really preaching Jesus, can you honestly say that? By the way, this is a set up for a longer sermon. You guys are so dust. No, Charlie, you're not singing today, so we get the extra time.

I've only preached twice in the last six weeks, so you know it's gonna be a long message. I don't want long messages, so you know what you say? If it is about Jesus, if it's long messages just with pablum, then fine, cut it off.

But if it's long messages about Jesus and his word and his life and his atonement and his high priesthood, what else are we going to do? Quick go home to see the Red Sox lose? I mean, seriously. San Francisco Giants won last year, didn't they?

No, it doesn't matter. See, none of that matters. Sorry, Rad, but I like the Red Sox better than the Giants. It was just an illustration, a bad one. It's about as bad as my Lakers illustration. That's why Paul got the message.

That's why Paul gave Timothy the message. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God, even Christ Jesus. This Christ Jesus who's going to judge people like you, the preacher, preach the word. And when you preach the word, you'll be preaching Christ.

Even with our evangelism. Why don't you pray this prayer? Lord, as soon as I can get to Jesus, the better. I just look at everybody and I go, when I start a conversation, how can I get to Jesus? How can I kind of take over and get to Jesus?

Luke and I were walking down the street in Santa Cruz, and there was this 30-foot kind of mobile home deal made of wood. And we walked in to take a look at it, cuz it was kind of interesting. It's called the Molecule Home.

And I walked in, and the creator of it and the sales rep were both there. And the sales rep, Paul came in, he's got a blue, what's those kind of ties? What are they called? What was it? Bow tie, yeah, it's a bow ribbon, I don't know what it is.

And he said, hey, $1 ,000 down and $100 a month, we'll get you this thing. Do you like it? I said to Luke, don't answer that question, cuz I see where the sales rep's going. I said, it's pretty cool, but I said, I'm not interested, that's okay, we have a place and everything.

He says, can you imagine, this guy right here made this. Now, the sales rep was smart, and I had this hat on, it's a construction hat. It's got a K on the front and on the back, it said construction, something such as construction.

Somebody gave it to me. He goes, so you're in the construction business, eh? I said, I don't know how it came into my mind, but I said, no. I'm in the deconstruction business. And he just looked at me like, normal, it's Santa Cruz.

Pass the hemp shoes. And I said, here's what I mean. You just got done praising this guy for this ingenuity, it's genius, it looks great, it's like a log cabin on wheels. And I said, can you imagine if there was just a bunch of trees over there, and then we say, out of all those trees, this just thing came out.

A lot of time, a lot of billions of years, and it just happened. I said, what would happen to what this man has done? It would rob him of his glory. He's been made in the image and likeness of God. He's got a creative mind that God has given him, and we say this is cool, and we give him praise.

Here's what I deconstruct. See this world here, see that sun, see the trees, see the redwoods. You look at that, and then all of a sudden, nobody made it. I'm telling you, Jesus Christ made everything and wants our honor.

And isn't it bad to think we won't give him honor, we'll just think it's Mother Nature, we'll just think it's Mother Earth, and we'll just think it's evolution. I didn't know what the guy was gonna say.

He goes, what church do you go to? And I said, well, I'm out of town, but I go to this San Lorenzo Valley Baptist church down the street, and they go, that's that conservative one. We went to one funeral there.

What's my point? Preachers, Paul's mandate, we preach the gospel cuz we want you to grow. But it doesn't stop there. When you hear about the gospel, I hope you just can't get it out of your mind, and everywhere you go, it's the gospel, the gospel, the gospel.

I sit next to a lady in the plane, and I think to myself, my flesh says this. I hope nobody sits next to me. I hope nobody sits over there either. I'm in C, I want no one in A, and I want no one in B, because I'd like to lay down, it's been a really rough vacation.

I'm going back to BBC. Here there was a couple sitting right there, taking some of my spot at half that armrest, it's my side. There was a couple up front, and they had wedding rings on, and two men, they had a son, and the son was just out of control.

I said to the lady, I said, that little boy needs a mom. She goes, who would say such a thing, a flight from San Francisco? And I said, God's ways are always the best ways. She said, yeah, that's true.

She said, I pray all the time, and I said, I'm a pastor, that's good to hear. Then the conversation went, and she said, that must have been horrible what Jesus went through, all the thorns and everything, and then I just went right into why did 29 ,000 other Jews, why were they crucified and no atonement?

It was the wrath of God poured out on Jesus in our place, I deserved it. Forget these other people on the plane, I deserved it, and yet because God loved me, because the Son loved me, he went willingly, the Father sent him willingly.

Can you imagine, Christian? We've got this wrong idea. God somehow hated me, and then the Son died for me, now I'm loved. God loved you and demonstrated his love for you by sending the Son. Of course, then making you reconciled, and then now making you born again.

I'm not the smartest man, I don't have the biggest IQ, but I do know this. I really want you to grow, and for those of you that have matured, thrills me that you're maturing, discipling, praying, teaching.

I love that, but I want you to know in light of this building, in light of this land, in light of everything else, listen to me carefully. Nothing is going to change when it comes to vision, mission, and purpose of this church.

I never say this word, but I'm gonna say it from the pulpit this morning. Friends, we are Calvinists. Calvinists believe that God is sovereign over everything. And so if God is sovereign over our salvation and where we may move and where we may not move, then we can just relax.

We have a king, we have a leader, nobody has to freak out about anything. I'm not worried, don't waste any time on it. There are decisions that have to be made. But we just say, you know what, we want maturity.

So let's make every decision in light of how do the saints mature, and how do we preach Christ Jesus to everybody that comes through here? And if we pray for rain, God give us more people to affect and infect with Christ Jesus, well, then we ought not to complain about the mud.

I don't think it's happening, but just in case it is, I want you to mature and we're gonna give you Christ Jesus every week, by the grace of God.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 AM and Sunday evenings at 6 PM. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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