Duties Of The Church Series

Duties of the Church

Sermon 4 in the series “Church Matters"

Chuck Sligh

July 28, 2013

TEXT: Turn to Matthew 28

INTRODUCTION

Opening Illustration – Firemen Illustration (USE THREE VOLUNTEERS)

All given chores to do while waiting for the opportunity to put out a fire for regular maintenance of the fire station (ASSIGN THESE JOBS TO EAH VOLUNTEER)

• One to fix meals (Cook)

• One to cut the grass

• One to clean the toilets

AFTER ASSIGNING THEM THESE TASKS, ASK EACH: “Okay, now tell me what your job is.”

AFTER THE LAST ONE TELLS YOU HIS FIRE STATION CHORE (AS THEY USUALLY DO) SAY: “Brother, that’s not your job. Your job is to fight fires.”

MAKE APPLICATION: It is great to have activities and jobs and chores around the church, but they must not make us forget the main duties of the church.

This will be the last sermon in my series, “Church Matters.” I’d like us to close this series by examining some of the duties of the church.

I. THE FIRST DUTY OF THE CHURCH IS TO WIN PEOPLE – Matthew 28:19 – “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

This passage is known as the Great Commission. It was the last command Jesus gave to His disciples, and by extension to us. Someone has said, “Christ’s last command is to be our first concern.”

Why should we always be trying to win people?

• First, because people need a SAVIOR – 1 John 4:14 – And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”

A savior is one who saves from something. If you are lost, without salvation, you’re in a mess because of your sin.

The Bible says that we are all sinners who have chosen to go our own way and we have willfully trespassed God’s commandments. We have taken God’s name in vain; we have not honored the Lord’s Day to keep it holy; we have lied; we have coveted; we have stolen, we have dishonored our parents.

These are sins against a holy God who will not allow sin into heaven. We need a SAVIOR and the only savior who can cleanse us of our sin is Jesus!

Peter said, Acts 4:12 – “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

It is not being pushy to tell people about the Savior. In light of the eternal punishment that awaits those who have not believed, to tell people about Jesus is the ultimate act of compassion. We need to WIN people because they need a Savior.

• Second, we ought to win people to Christ because people need a SHEPHERD – In Matthew 9:36 we read, “But when he [Jesus] saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”

Without Christ, people are without purpose and direction in life. Without Christ, people wander from pleasure to pleasure and from endeavor to endeavor looking for fulfillment and purpose.

But it is an empty search. As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14).

And so it is without Christ. Without Christ, a person’s life is purposeless, rudderless. Everyone needs a shepherd to guide and direct his lives and give it meaning.

• And third, we should win people because they need ABUNDANT LIFE – In John 10:10, Jesus said, “The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

The thief he’s talking about is the evil one—Satan and his forces—who have one purpose while they’re still roaming this earth: to steal from you all that is good and holy and wholesome; and to kill your soul and to destroy you for all eternity. But Christ came so that we might have everlasting life!

But not just everlasting life way out yonder someday when you die. No, he gives us “ABUNDANT LIFE” which is life in Christ—knowing Him as Savior and Friend; having Him with you in every situation; having His peace and joy and fulfillment in life; having purpose and JOY!

I can hardly contain myself describing the blessings of the Christian life. But they are only available through Jesus Christ.

Jesus told the woman at the well that He was the “living water” that would satisfy the thirst in her soul. Then he said these words to her in John 7:38 – “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”