Lesson # 9 - Part 3 The Church: Fellowship & Worship (Fundamentals of the Faith by John MacArthur)

Okay, so we're going to continue with lesson number 9 on the church, fellowship, and worship. We ended in section 4, part D, which is, Worshipping God Involves Reverence. Do you agree with that statement, Worshipping God Involves Reverence?

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who disagrees with that. But, people will disagree once we start talking about what it looks like to show reverence towards God. Somebody had asked the question last week, okay, what are some things we can do to show.

Reverence in Worship: Practical Ways to Honor God

Reverence?

Well, just look at the book. Number 1, what did Moses do when he worshipped God? Exodus 34, verse 8. It says, he bowed low toward the earth. And then, how is reverence for God revealed in the following verses?

So Exodus 34, verse 8, he bowed his head. Luke 7, 1 -7, in humility, in unworthiness before him. And then Revelation 1, verse 17, falling at his feet. Now, of course, Moses is in the presence of the Lord.

So that isn't exactly the same as us gathering together, maybe in church on Sunday morning. But Jesus did say, where two or three are gathered together, there I am in the midst. So it's not exactly the same as John seeing the vision of Christ in Revelation or Moses at the burning bush.

But still, when we come into God's house, there is a sense where we can say we are in the Lord's presence. So I just thought of a few things, practical things we could do. And this is between you and God as the Lord leads.

But some practical things we can do to show reverence towards God. I would say it starts with viewing Sunday as the Lord's day. As opposed to viewing it as our day. Because if it's my day, then I'm just going to do what I want.

But if it's the Lord's day, we do what he wants. So just resisting the spirit of the age, which kind of views church as optional. So Lord's day worship, I think is very important. Dressing for the occasion, I think it's dangerous to start making too many rules.

And that's where people get into the talk of being legalistic. But just a general give God your best. Someone made the point where if you were to meet the President of the United States, or if you were to be in the presence of a very important person, you would dress for the occasion.

Well, but if you're coming to worship God, same thing. So dress for the occasion. Again, that's someone's best might be different for each person. So we're against the idea that everyone has to do this cookie cutter way of approaching.

God.

But dress for the occasion. Modesty is something that is biblical. In the day and age we live in, gender specific clothing, it's worthy to bring that up, especially in 2023. Paying attention. This is why I stress taking notes.

Because if you're in the building, that's good. If you're here, if you're part of the worship service. But if you're not really paying attention, then we're glad you're here. But obviously our minds should be focused.

If this is worship, we should be focused on the Lord and his word. When we sing the hymns, I would encourage you to sing it out. Let your voice be heard. If I can do it, you can do it. Because I'm no singer.

So when we sing, make your praise to God heard. And then at 10 .05, or let's see, we end at 10 .45, at 10 .46, or if the service starts at 11 and ends at noon, at 12 .03, don't be checking your watch.

Like, okay, is this over yet? I mean, that's not really a way to show reverence, I don't think. But anyways, any other ideas of how to show reverence towards God? All right. And I only address those things because somebody said, hey, what are some practical...

What can I do? What are some practical ways?

Okay. Yes.

I was just thinking, even before you get to the church building, prepare your heart, prepare your mind, however that is for you.

Yeah.

Praying before the service.

If he's on the way in to prepare your mind, even praying that morning before you even.

Leave your home, prepare yourself.

Yeah. Amen. Amen.

So the verse that's quoted in the book, Psalm 95, one through six. Oh, come, let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving.

Let us shout joyfully to him with psalms for the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods and whose hand are the depths of the earth. The peaks of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for it was he who made it and his hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. So these are just some ways, some verses on showing reverence towards God. So we're going to move on from that and get into the ordinances of the church unless somebody has something else.

You know, I think the common attitude is, Hey, listen, I'm just, we're just glad you're.

Here.

So if somebody comes in, yeah, that, that would be my initial response is as long as you're here, I'm glad you're here. But when someone's been here for six months or you've been a believer for six years, you know, we want to move on to perfection.

So that's where you get into some of these other things. All right. The ordinances of the church, you see that page. All right. So how many ordinances, some churches call them sacraments. So if you, uh, Roman Catholics would call, uh, they have seven sacraments.

I think of the church, uh, Presbyterians typically would call them sacraments. We typically call them ordinances, uh, because these are things that Christ ordained for his church. And we believe there are two ordinances in the new Testament church.

And what are they?

Right.

Baptism or the Lord's supper or baptism and communion. So let's look at the ordinance of baptism. Baptism was instituted by our Lord and practiced by early believers as explained in the scriptures. Baptism was a declaration of the believers identification with Jesus Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection.

Clearly baptism was practiced by the early church. And therefore we believe this ordinance should be practiced by the church today. So let's look up some verses. Could I get a volunteer to look up Matthew 28, 19, um, Marcus.

Okay.

Acts chapter two, verse 41, Lance acts chapter eight. Well, we'll skip that. A long passage, but how about acts 18 verse eight? Who wants to look up 18, eight.

Okay. Stacy.

So we believe that baptism is something that the church should be doing. There are a few different, uh, churches and denominations that do not practice baptism, but that's pretty rare. Does anyone know?

I'm thinking of two groups that do not practice baptism. Uh, if you're familiar with the salvation army, most people know the salvation army store where you go and drop off clothes and they sell clothes and other items.

But the salvation army actually has a church, uh, at least at one of their locations. And the salvation army does not practice baptism and the Lord's supper. Um, why that is, you know, they wanted the distance that we don't have time to get into it, but we would disagree with them about that.

And then there's a, a form of new Testament Christianity called acts chapter nine, acts nine dispensationalism, where they say that baptism is not for this age, but, um, you could go your whole life with, without ever meeting someone who's part of that group.

So, uh, we believe that baptism is an ordinance of the church.

Amen. Okay.

Matthew 28, 19.

Marcus.

Go there for, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy spirit.

Okay.

So this is part of what we call the great commission. This is the marching orders that Jesus gave to the disciples first, but we recognize this is something that Jesus gave for the whole church. So we should make disciples and then do what?

Baptize them. So as soon as somebody makes a profession of faith, if they make a credible profession of faith, that they believe that Jesus is their, their Lord, and they believed upon him, uh, the very next thing that should happen should probably happen soon.

Very soon, uh, is baptism. Now who had the next verse? Acts two 41 Lance.

Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. In that day, about 3000 souls were added to them.

Okay.

So again, they, they heard the word, they received it. They were baptized. Some people have the idea that, well, I'll get baptized when I get serious. And then, you know, that's, that's, that's the wrong approach.

Uh, or if they have some reason to wait to be baptized, baptism is the very first act.

Of obedience.

So by putting that off, um, you're not doing the right thing by putting it off, even with us and we baptize, of course, we live in new England. It's 30 degrees out. When we baptize, we do it up at the lake.

And you know, there are some, uh, there are some downsides to that. It's a public place. People get to see it. So it's a good testimony. That's what I like about it. What I don't like about it is if somebody wanted to get baptized right now today, um, that would be a little challenging.

So I've thought about, this is just a thought right now. I would prefer to do it in a river or something, but you've seen the baptismal tanks. It's sort of like a big bathtub. I thought about, you know, we don't use the choir loft.

Maybe we could get one right there. That's just a thought. But, uh, if somebody did want to be baptized though, we would make a way.

Okay.

We would find a way. So don't ever think, well, I got to wait until next August. Um, we, there's always a way to do it. And then the next verse, uh, acts 18 verse eight, Stacey.

Christmas, the synagogue ruler and his entire household believed in the Lord. And many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.

Okay.

So just again, they believed and they were baptized. Pretty simple. You believe you get baptized, but ultimately why the question is, why do we baptize people who believe in Jesus? Because Jesus told us to do it.

This is why it's an ordinance. Christ ordained it. He, he said to do it. So that's the reason. Uh, the next question, who should be baptized? So this is all within, you know, teaching having to do with the local church.

These are kind of the basics, but you know, um, sometimes churches don't always do what they're supposed to, which is why it's helpful to go back and look at these things. Who should be baptized in the scripture?

We find examples of disciples or followers of Christ, uh, believers, and those who had received the Holy spirit being baptized. Now, sometimes people get into, well, what's the difference between a believer, um, and a disciple.

Some people have the idea that a believer is yes. Someone who has believed on Jesus as their Lord and savior, but a disciple is somebody who's really committed. Well, maybe there is that distinction where people that are committed and less committed, but really it should be the same.

We should all be committed.

Amen.

But, uh, who is to be baptized believers? Uh, this is one reason why we don't practice infant baptism. Again, there are those churches like Presbyterians who do practice infant baptism. And, um, you know, I have some Presbyterian friends, I believe they love the Lord, but this is a disagreement we have.

I am convinced that the new Testament teaches that believers are to be baptized. And obviously a two week old, uh, baby cannot express faith. So that would be one difference that we would have out there.

Yeah. Emil.

Well, that, that too, you know, this and that too, uh, um, 18, eight, that that's an argument that the infant baptizers say, well, this is all household. There must've been some little kids. But let's take that.

Right, right.

That's easily refuted.

Yeah.

It doesn't state that. And we must assume in the context that they will believe us.

Right?

Yeah.

There are a few verses that will say, and they're, you know, you and your household or their whole household was baptized. So that would be, it's an argument from silence really, uh, to be fair, there is no new tech explicit new Testament command not to baptize babies.

So that's, that's an argument. The other side will make, but at least for this church, we believe, uh, in, uh, credo baptism, or as we call it believers, baptism. So, uh, disciples, let's look up. Well, Matthew 28, 19, again, you know, you, you have a memorized, don't you?

Matthew 28, 19. You have to go back to verse 18.

The son, the Holy spirit, teaching them to observe all things.

So it's all right.

Amen. Okay.

But the point I think John MacArthur is trying to make in this book. And by the way, for the visitors, uh, we're going through the fundamentals of the faith by, uh, John MacArthur. So the distinction he's making is that who should be baptized?

Well, first it was the disciples. I think he's talking about the 12 disciples, right? Peter, James, John, they were baptized, but also believers were baptized. Some references. If you just take notes, you can write down acts two 41 acts eight 30 through 38 acts 1633 through 34.

So again, it doesn't have to be somebody who has devoted their life to vocational ministry. Anyone who believes should be baptized. And then the third thing he lists who should be baptized. Those who have received the Holy spirit.

And that's acts 10 44 through 48. Let's just turn there. That's worth looking at acts chapter 10 acts 10 44 through 48. I'll read that acts 10 44 through 48. It says while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy spirit fell upon all those who heard the word and those of the circumcision who believed were astonished.

As many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized?

We have received the Holy spirit just as we have. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days. So the receiving of the Holy spirit, if somebody receives the spirit, of course, why do you receive the spirit?

Because you believe, right? So if you believe you receive the spirit, you are to be baptized. Now, of course, it mentions that the evidence here, I think this is an important distinction. The evidence here that these believers had received the spirit was what?

Tom's.

Okay.

So people will talk about tongues as the evidence of receiving the Holy spirit. It is not the evidence. Okay. Speaking in tongues is not the evidence of the Holy spirit. It was a evidence of the Holy spirit back then at this time.

And there's a whole reason why they spoke in tongues because the, the Jews didn't believe that the Gentiles were, were able to be saved. So God was showing this in a public display. Hey, the Gentiles spoke in tongues.

They've received the whole day. So there's a reason why this happened, but we wouldn't say that today. Hey, if you don't speak in tongues, we're not going to baptize you. Of course, we have a different idea of tongues than most people today who teach that.

But so any questions on that, not to open up a can of worms about the Holy spirit and speaking in tongues, but don't speak in tongues. Yeah, they don't. They don't have, they don't have a mouth.

So we're good on this.

What, what is some evidence today that a person's received the Holy spirit?

They want to live for the Lord.

Yeah.

The, the whole purpose of the Holy spirit is to make us. Holy to make us like Jesus, to conform us to his image. So the evidence that someone has believed and received the Holy spirit is they all of a sudden start to get convicted about the things they're doing wrong and they want to live for Christ and they want to learn and they want to grow.

And yeah.

And once you recognize what your gifting is, then you want to use it and you want to serve.

Okay.

So therefore we conclude that those who have personally confessed Jesus Christ as their savior and Lord, IE Christians should be baptized. We agree with that. Christians should be baptized. So why are some Christians not baptized?

Well, this is a, this is a question for you. Well, I, you know, I think there's a lot of reasons. I think one reason I had this idea growing up and I, I don't blame anyone. I think this is my fault and that's probably making excuses, but I had the idea growing up that baptism was kind of optional.

You know, it's like people have this idea with church today or the church is, you know, if I don't have anything else going on, I'll go to church. Well, people have been taught in such a way where baptism isn't really stressed.

It's not taught as an ordinance or something Christ ordained like a command, but it's taught as something optional or for really committed Christians. So people don't get baptized sometimes just because of, of how they were taught.

And there's a variety of different reasons. Point is every believer should be baptized.

Okay.

What does baptism mean? But first email?

Yes.

Well, it is possible to be a Christian and not be baptized.

Right. Yeah.

Thank you for, I should clarify that. Yeah, I think it's possible. There is a guy I knew he was part of the church of Christ. This is a, a sect that started in the 1800s and the, not the United church of Christ or, but the church of Christ.

And they believe that a person needs to be baptized to be saved. So there are those fringe groups that would say, if you're not baptized, you can't go to heaven unless you're baptized. We don't believe that.

We believe the gospel salvation by grace through faith. So baptism is not a requirement for salvation, but baptism is the result. And now that I'm saved, this is what price tells me to do. So, so yes, you can be saved without being baptized, but if that's in your mind, well, I don't need to be baptized to be like you're well, yeah, there's a lot of things I guess you don't need to do, but you're living in disobedience.

Right, right.

Yes.

And people will use the thief on the cross as an example. Jesus said today you will be with me in paradise. And so he was not able to be baptized.

Right?

Yeah.

The thief on the cross. That's a lousy argument. He didn't have an opportunity to be baptized. I'm convinced if he, if he was able to get down from that cross, he would have been yes.

Carolyn, well, that's a good question.

I don't think the book addresses that.

Does it?

Right?

Well, well, did. The kid, how old were the kids?

They weren't teenagers or anything.

Right?

Well, listen yeah, you want to.

Yeah, I do because and I'm going to make a photocopy of this and I'm going to send it to my niece. This is actually my nephew's daughter. So she's my great niece, but she was baptized because, and she was baptized and I'm not sure what kind of church it was, but they, the female pastor just took her and dipped her finger and put a cross on her head.

And, and it wasn't really, it wasn't really explained what baptism meant. She did give people a chance in the audience to say what they thought baptism was. My nephew, her father said at one point, he says, well, we thought about maybe letting you do it, Uncle Mark.

And boy, I wish they had. And, and, and of course, you know, she's, she's on my mind and I, I'm afraid that she thinks that because this pastor said you need to be baptized to go to heaven. That's why she went through this procedure and she feels that by going through this procedure that she's going to go to heaven.

Right.

That's not it. You just have to come to terms with Jesus himself. Have to have a conversation with him and, and, and believe that when he died, he, he did that personally for the individual.

Yeah.

Well, and we're going to get into this in the next section, but the word baptized in Greek baptizo means to dip or to immerse. So somebody said, well, yeah, this person was baptized by putting a little drop of water.

And well, what you're saying is they were immersed by putting a little, well, no, no, they weren't immersed, obviously. So we'll get into the mode of it and how should we baptize in a moment, but about this, I'm going to answer that question in a second, but we've got two hands, Larry.

Well, isn't it a public confession?

Yeah.

If it's a public confession, if you do it privately, that's not public.

Right.

I would say you, it's not a public in the sense that you have to do it in front of a big audience. What does the Bible require for witnesses two or three? So it shouldn't be you and one. Well, I mean, that's, there should be two witnesses.

Okay.

Two or three witnesses. So that would be public, but yeah, right. It's not something that you and one other person should do and keep it secret.

Um, Emil, well, I'm just hypothetical situation is, uh, you're in a fox hole with, uh, with Marcus and, uh, and, uh, you've been there for quite a while and, uh, um, he's taught you about the Lord and, uh, what Christ did for you and you come to the Lord in a belief.

Yeah.

Now, if Marcus can find a hawk fox hole with some water and, uh, and, uh, immerse you and, uh, it'd be nice to have a couple of witnesses, I guess.

Right.

But that's a kind of a, an extreme circumstance, right? That's that wouldn't be the normal practice. So I, I agree that there might be those situations and maybe that woman with the kids, I don't know the details.

I can see where that might be the thing to do, but generally speaking, the ordinance that Christ gave was to the disciples. They were the leaders of the church. This has always been understood that baptism is an ordinance given to the church.

So the, the leadership of the church should be doing the baptism. So if people are baptized by here at Morris corner church, or, uh, they're a member and they're baptized as a member of Morris corner church, it shouldn't be done by a random member of the congregation at home in their swimming pool without me knowing about it.

Like that, that would be not the way to go about it. But again, could there be a situation where it's you and one other person? And I wouldn't make a big issue about that for those, you know, extreme circumstances, but generally speaking, the pastor or the elders of the church, or maybe deacons could do it as well, but it should be authorized by the church.

That's my belief because that's, that's the longstanding tradition. Do I have a verse that can prove that? Maybe not, but that's the safe way to go at the very least.

Didn't, wasn't it just Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch? Wasn't it just the two of them?

Right.

But Philip was a deacon in the new Testament church.

Yeah.

But I'm saying it was just the two of them.

Right, right.

Yeah.

Linda, I would say that both parties need to know what it was all about.

Yeah.

So this lady had no conception of what baptism is really about, and the children don't even.

Know the point.

Yeah, I mean, if that's the case, then absolutely it wasn't the right thing to do. Joyce, did you have a, did you have a hand up?

Just along the lines of what Linda said, from the Roman Catholic background, it makes you think the woman has the wrong belief in baptism and what it does.

Yeah, probably.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Mike.

So I have baptized.

Yeah.

A close friend. Yeah. And with him, he brought an assembly of his church that he was attending.

Yeah.

Right.

I remember you mentioned that you brought that up one time and you asked about it, but he has, he has the church.

Yes. Right. Yeah.

So, yeah, yeah. I, and this isn't something that there's any rigid commandments about. Do it this way, not that way, but just generally speaking, typically the leadership of the church would do it,.

But yeah.

We'll get to it at the bottom of the page. I just want to make sure we get to it, that what it is, it's a picture. It's a public picture of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and he was buried and then he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.

And the person is saying, I am going to trust in the, in this fact that when he did it, he did it for me.

Right.

And Romans chapter six, this is the passage where it just turned their quick Romans chapter six is where you get that symbolism that baptism is a picture of the gospel, just like communion or the Lord's supper is a picture of the gospel.

You eat the bread, which represents the body. You drink the cup, which represents the blood baptism also is a picture of the new Testament gospel. Look at Romans six, starting in verse three, he says, Paul says, or do you not know that as many of us, as we're baptized into Christ, Jesus were baptized into his what death.

Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death. That justice Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father. Even so we also should walk in newness of life. So when the person is dumped, right there, they go down into the water.

That's symbolic of death. They're under the water. That's symbolic of burial. They come up out of the water. That's symbolic of the resurrection to newness of life. You don't get that picture when you just pour or drizzle a few drops on their head.

And then you get into the next section. How should we baptize? We believe that a person should be baptized by being fully immersed in water. The word baptism was translated from the word baptizo, meaning to make fully whelmed or to dip or to sink.

Or as I say, baptism literally means to immerse in John chapter three, verse 23, baptism took place where there was what much water. And they baptized when they went down into the water, acts eight 38.

And it says they came up from the water, Matthew three 16. Also when baptizing by immersion, the picture of going down into the water and coming up that symbolic of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

Then I asked the question, have you confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and savior? And hopefully all of you have wrote in. Yes, I've done that. Have you been baptized as a believer? Well, there might've been one or two who were not able to write.

But the whole purpose of kind of going back to the basics, the fundamentals of the faith is to teach people kind of Christianity 101. Sometimes. Yeah, we know this, but we need the reminder and God can use the, the Holy spirit can use these reminders to lead us in the right direction.

And then the next ordinance of the church is communion. Uh, the Greek word is Koinonia, which means what fellowship, right? So we're talking about the church fellowship and worship. This is a way that we know someone is in fellowship.

They are with the Lord's people. And they, this, the sign of that is the Lord's supper. So we know someone is in fellowship with God because they are in the fellowship of the church. And the symbol of that is to partake of communion or the fellowship by getting together and eating the Lord's supper.

The Lord's Supper as Remembrance and Unity

Okay.

The Lord's supper or communion. The book says is one of two ordinances given to the church by Jesus Christ. The other being baptism, the Lord's supper is an act of remembrance of Christ's death. Uh, there are a few different views of the Lord's supper, right?

The Roman Catholic church teaches the doctrine of transubstantiation, right? Where the, where the bread, they believe the priest, if you've ever attended a Catholic mass, uh, when the priest holds up the wafer and the bell rings, they say that's the moment of consecration where the priest has the miraculous ability to turn the wafer into the literal body of Christ.

Body, soul, and divinity of Christ is in the wafer. That's why they bow before entering the pew because they believe God is up front in the.

Wafer.

So they believe that they are eating, they are partaking of Christ's literal flesh. Then there's the Lutheran view, which is called con substantiation, which is that the presence of Christ is there. The bread isn't literally as flesh, but he's spiritually present.

Uh, but typically, uh, we would take the, um, well, we do take the, uh, memorial view of the Lord's supper that this is something we do. It's very important just because it's symbolic doesn't mean it's important or not important,.

Right?

But this is an act of remembrance. What did Jesus say? Do this in what? Remembrance of me. Read Galatians or excuse me, first Corinthians, uh, 11, 23 through 26 and fill in the blanks below. The bread is in remembrance of what.

His body, the cup is in remembrance of what.

His blood.

Every time you partake in communion, you proclaim the Lord's death. First Corinthians 11, 26, in light of that truth, what is the warning stated in first Corinthians 11, 27 through 30 says, therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

But a man must examine himself. And in so doing, he is to eat the bread and drink the cup for he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself. If he does not judge the body rightly for this reason, many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep, or that is some of some of people in your church have died.