If you would turn in your Bibles to Colossians, chapter three, we’re going to begin at verse 11. It’s going to be kind of a springboard for us today. And as you’re turning there, title of the sermon is, “Christ Is all … And The Purpose Of The Church”. “Christ is all … And The Purpose Of The Church”.
And so, Colossians 3:11 says this, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.” And so, the context of chapter three is there are exhortations for Christian living, but the indicative, the statement of affairs is that Jesus Christ has indeed died for us, and as us. We’ve been risen with Christ. Our sin nature is dead and gone and in that context then here we have a statement about the church that the distinctions that are typically made by humans about one another. They do not hold up compared to the defining reality within the church that Christ is all and in all. Now that doesn’t mean He’s in all of humanity. In this context, it’s talking about the church. This is the elect, and what we want to do is focus on these three simple words: Christ is all. And this is very high view of Christ, very proper view of Christ. Now I don’t have the time nor the capacity to plumb the depths. We can’t within that particular sermon, compress all of the truth that Christ is all obviously into that, because He is infinite goodness, infinite justice. Nonetheless, we want to start there. That’s our starting point, that Christ is all.
And so, Paul began that way in Colossians chapter one. So we’re going to turn back to chapter one. Colossians 1:15 one beginning verse 15, and he’s speaking of Jesus, and he says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Now, when you see this word “firstborn”, you might think first from the womb, if you will, but that’s actually not the way it’s used. It’s used in very different way. We see it in the book of Psalms that this means preeminence, that Christ is, in fact, the preeminent one. He is highest in rank over all creation, and He’s the image of the invisible God. In other words, Jesus is the representation of God the Father to mankind. He not only represents God the Father, He actually manifests the perfection of God. Why? Because Jesus is God. Jesus is all. John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God (that is God the Father, He dwells in an approachable light but); the only God (who’s that? That’s Jesus. Remember the Trinity, three persons, each fully divine. There is one God, one essence, Jesus), who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” In other words, Jesus is the agent of Revelation. He is the one who, and he alone, who has the capability, who has the essence to make God known, He represents Him, and He manifests the very perfections of God. Why is that? Because Christ is all Colossians 1:16, “For by Him, all things were created by Him.” Who’s to Him? that’s Christ. He is Creator. Now understand when, when you see Jesus, He’s never acting apart from the Godhead. In other words, He’s never acting apart from the Father nor the Spirit. And so, here’s a way that theologians summarize this is that all the external works of the Trinity are inseparable. In other words, there’s not one person of the Trinity who’s out doing His own thing. And here’s the second part, and each work is apportioned to a person as is appropriate. In other words, that the work of living the perfect life, dying on the cross was apportioned, in other words, given to the Son. He is, in fact, the one who died on the cross. It wasn’t the Father nor the Spirit. And why is that? Why is this work apportioned to a person? It is to reveal that person so that that person can manifest Himself as part of the Trinity. And so, we see here that Jesus Himself is the one who created “in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities (Paul’s just going through a list, making sure we understand, that what?) all things were created through him and for him.” “For Him”, in other words, for His pleasure, for His glory. This is to show His perfections. All of creation is for His use and service. And even in creation, we get glimpses of His wisdom, power and knowledge. And so, Jesus is creator. He’s the agent of Creation. Why is that even possible? Because Christ is all.
Colossians 1:17, “And he (Jesus) is before all things (in other words, He is the pre-existent one) he is the preeminent one. And in him, all things hold together.” What are “all things”? “All things”. What’s that mean? The Universe? You bet it does. He created it. He holds it together. He’s the agent, if you will, of Preservation. In other words, He’s the agent of Providence. He not only controls the universe, He controls human affairs. He is in charge. He governs, manages and directs it for His own purposes. He upholds all of these things. How? By the Word of His power. Christ is all. He is the agent of Preservation and Providence. Colossians 1:19-20, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, (only in Jesus, only in Jesus is this fullness found) and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, make peace by the blood of his cross.” Jesus is the agent of Redemption. There is no other one. There was no one prior to Him. There’s no one coming after Him. He and He alone is the perfect agent of Redemption. Why is that? Because Christ is all and this is the gospel, right? Jesus took on human flesh, lived a perfect life that you and I wouldn’t live, we couldn’t live. He died an atoning death on the cross. He died, buried, risen from the dead, He is seated at the right hand of God reigning, and one day He will return. Jesus is the agent of Redemption, and that is efficacious for His own, why is that? Because Jesus is all.
Now, having said that, I do want to go to a verse that points us to the Old Testament, Jude 5. We saw this a couple months ago. “Now, I want to remind you (He’s speaking to the church) although you once fully knew it that Jesus (Jesus who was all) who saved a people out of the land of Egypt. Afterward, he destroyed those who did not believe.” It is true in the Old Testament, Jesus is Savior. It is true in the New Testament, Jesus is Savior. It’s true in the Old Testament, Jesus is judge. It is also true in the New Testament, and it’s true at the end of the time. This is Jesus, the agent of Redemption and Judgment. He is all. Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else (no one else, this is so exclusive, why? because Christ is enough because Christ is all) there is no other name under heaven given by which we must be saved.” You see, in the Old Testament, they were granted faith to believe in the Messiah who was coming in the New Testament. That’s our time. What do we do? We see Christ. It’s recorded for us. He in the incarnation, life and death. We’re looking, if you will, backwards and Christ is the Savior for all believers. How is that even possible? Because Christ is all. And this should drive us away from any kind of sense that you’re bringing something to the table, that you have something that would commend you to God, or you have some work that He would be pleased with. No, Christ is all. We are empty. He is full. Revelation 22:13, “‘I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’” This is Jesus speaking. He is the I am, who I am. He is Yahweh. Christ is all. And now, when I say, Christ is all, He’s not almost all. He’s not partially all. He’s not all only after you add some works to His work, Jesus is all. And I get it there are people who supposedly consider Jesus to be kind of like an outstanding human being. He’s one that really stands out among all those who walk the earth. Do you understand how blasphemous that is? Jesus is all. He is the King of king and the Lord of Lords. He is not deficient. He is not lacking. He is not weak. He is all.
And if we were to encapsulate, if you will, the Old Testament and the New, what do we see?
Promises
Types
Sacrifices
Prophets
Priest
Kings
Agent of
Revelation
Creation
Preservation
Redemption
Judgment
We see all kinds of promises in scriptures, you know all of those promises are “yes” in who? You? They are “yes” in Christ, all of the types that we see in the Old Testament are pointing to in Jesus Christ. All of the sacrifices in the Old Testament are pointing to Jesus Christ, all of the prophets who talked about Jesus Christ and are a type of Jesus Christ. Same for the priests, same for the kings. They all point to Jesus Christ. And as we’ve already seen here in our brief study, just kind of skimming of Colossians one we’ve seen, Jesus is the agent of revelation, of creation, He is the agent of preservation and redemption and the agent of judgment. Oh yes, Christ is all. Let me say this though, Christ is all, whether you believe it or not. Whether you believe it or not, Christ is all. There are some who might be in here and say, “Yeah, I’m not sure about that. Not sure about that.” Guess what? Christ is all, whether you believe it or not, is not going to make Him more all. He is all. And because He is all, I plead with you, give Him the glory and the honor due His name. Fall on your knees, repent of your sins and believe in Him. We know this is only by the grace of God. Nonetheless, this is the responsibility of every human being to give proper worth to the one who is all.
Now in our Colossians kind of study, brief study, I skipped one verse, And that’s verse 18. I want to now go back to it, Colossians 1:18 and it says this, “And he (that is Jesus), who is all, is head of the body the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” He is the beginning. In other words, He is the source of everything. The firstborn, again, not first from the womb, but He is the preeminent one. He is the highest in rank of those who have been raised from the dead. Notice that “in everything (how much?) everything he might be preeminent.” Why is that? Because Christ is all. And Christ is all is also “head of the body, the church”. He is head of the church. Why? Why do we need to point that out? This is often debated, by the way. Often debated. People love to pretend like they’re in charge of the church. People love to come up to the church and say this, “This is who you are. This is what you should do. This is how you should organize”. It doesn’t work that way. Why? Jesus, who is all, is head of the body. Jesus gets to tell us who we are. Jesus gets to tell us what to do. Jesus gets to tell us how to organize. That part is rather simple. Jesus is supreme over the entire universe, whether visible or invisible, and specifically, specially, He is head of the church. And by being head of the church, His being Christ, in all that is it has a unique relationship.
And this is point number two,
Christ Is All … For (the church), To (the church), and Within the church
For the church, in other words, He is all for the reason of in place of, as a substitute of, for the benefit of the church. And Christ is all to the church, directional. He is the mediator. He is the rock. Through Him, all blessings flow. And within the church, Christ is all and in all that is the church. You know, God the Father, has given us all things. How is that? Why is that? Because He gave us the Son that is for the church. John 14:6, “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” This is who He is, and specifically to the church, He has been the way, the truth and life. As God saves us through the Son. This is who He is for us and to us. Notice, “No one comes to the Father, except through me.” The church though does come to the Father. Why? Because of Jesus Christ. It is through Him that we have all these blessings. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Notice that Jesus is a substitute for the church. He is the perfect sacrifice. He is the Passover for the church so that He Himself became the sin that we were and committed, so that in Him, notice, we might become the very righteousness of God. Our sin on Him at the cross, His righteousness imputed to us. Christ is all to the church, our propitiation and our righteousness. Hebrews 12:2, “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” He is the founder. He’s the starter. He’s the finisher, the perfecter of our faith. Christ is all to the church. In regards to our faith, there is nothing you have done that contributed, and there would be no point in your life, where you will say to yourself, “You know what? Jesus is deficient. I must now go do this.” No, no, no, Christ is all.
Hebrews 7:25, “Consequently, he (Jesus) is able to save (how much?) to the uttermost (why? Because he is all) those (that’s the church) who draw near to God.” How do we do that on our own? Nope, through Him, “since he always lives to make intercession for (us).” Jesus is the only way. He is the only mediator. He is the one who’s interceding. This is Christ, who is all to the church and for the church. 1 Corinthians 1:30, “And because of him, you are in Christ (we are in union with Christ) Jesus, who (this is Jesus) became to us (this is what He is to us, the church, number one) wisdom from God, (number two) righteousness, (three) sanctification, (four) redemption.” Christ is all. Colossians 1:27, “To them, (that is to the saints) God chose (again, this is God being God) God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, (which is what?) Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christ is all within the church. Christ is all and in all. And let me say this, if you have not Christ, you have nothing. You may boast about your riches, you may boast about your wisdom, you may boast about your power. But because Christ is all and you don’t have Christ, you have nothing. Speaking of hope, 1 John 3:2, “Beloved (remember last week? we’re beloved of God), we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like Him, for we because we shall see him as he is.” I get it. People complain about the church all the time. Notice this, it’s an already, not yet. Jesus is building this church, and He’s not done. He’s not done. I get it. You might think, “Nah, I don’t know about churches. For me, there’s a whole bunch of people there that continue to sin.” Yeah, we’re saints. We still continue to sin, but we are His, we are beloved, and Jesus is not done with us yet. But think about the future. He will completely redeem our bodies, and we will be fully capable of gazing upon Jesus Christ. I get so tired of people talking about heaven and Jesus is nowhere in the discussion. Are you kidding me? If you look up how to spell heaven in the dictionary, it’s spelled J, E, S, U, S, it is. “I’m going to go to there and see grandma.” Where’s Jesus in that? Do you think when Jesus is standing there and there’s grandma, you’re going to first run and give grandma a hug? No, we are going to see the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, who is all, all we desire, all we long for, all we hope for, is in Him.
I want to go back to Colossians 1:18 for a second time, “And he is the head of the body.” Now, why would I go there a second time? Because we got to hear this. Hear this. Okay. Point number one, case you’re following along, Christ is all. Point number two, Christ is all for to and within the church.
And here’s point number three,
If Christ is all…now what?
In other words, what should the purpose of the church be? What should we be doing? Oh, please. I hope this is obvious. If Christ is all, what should the church be concerned with? The one who is all. We should proclaim Him, hear Him, believe Him, obey Him. Christ is all.
Let’s see examples of this, first from the life of Jesus Himself when He walked this earth. Luke 4:18, he’s quoting scripture, and he says this, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” In other words, he is the Messiah “because He has anointed me”. Again, Messiah means “anointed”. Christ, “To proclaim (here’s the second thing) to proclaim.” He is first Messiah. We also learned that He is a messenger. He is a messenger sent from God the Father, to do what? To proclaim good news. In other words, there is a message that needs to be proclaimed, and He’s proclaiming it to the poor. He has sent me “To proclaim liberty to the captives, recovering of the sight, to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” And He is speaking spiritually. Here Romans 4:5, “God justifies the ungodly.” Who are the “ungodly”? It’s those who know that they’re captive, that they’re blind, that they’re deaf, that they are oppressed. Well, how do they know that? Because God gives us a new heart to finally see reality as it is. So, this is Jesus. He is Messiah. He’s Messenger, and He’s the message. What about the church? Who’s the church? Is the church the Messiah? Not a trick question. If Jesus is the Messiah, is the church the Messiah? No, no, the church is not the Messiah. Stop playing that game. When I say that I’m not speaking to you, but I’m speaking to churches that pretend they are the Messiah. They think they can save people. They think if they manipulate people, they can drag themselves, drag those people into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Are you kidding me? You are not the Messiah. Stop playing that game. Stop. The church is not the Messiah. Notice, is the church the message? No, the church is not the message. We don’t stand up here and say, “Sherman Bible this, Sherman Bible that.” Now we do talk about Sherman Bible. We have to refer to ourselves in some way. We have a membership class it talks about who we are in light of who Jesus is and what He’s done, but the message of Sherman Bible Church has saved no one. Do you know Sherman Bible Church is batting zero at saving people? Why? Sherman Bible cannot save. Now what we can do is this, we are the messenger. We are the ambassadors. This is what Jesus has commissioned to church to do, not to save the world, not to feed the poor. He has commissioned us to be the messenger, to what? To talk about Him. For He is, in fact, the Messiah. He is the message. Acts 1:8. This is Jesus giving a commission to the apostles, which in turn comes to us as a church. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, (that’s the birth of the church, because Jesus is all, He gives the Holy Spirit to the church) and you will be (notice) my witnesses (it is a person that the church is to be associated with, this is primary, we are to be Christ witnesses) in Jerusalem and in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” There is one head. There is one commission. And this is very unique, very unique, and it’s very narrow. We are to speak of and talk about Jesus Christ as recorded in Scripture. And because Christ is all, the church is His witness. Romans 1:16 Paul says, “For I’m not ashamed (we could also put in there Sherman Bible is not ashamed, what?) of the gospel.” The gospel is the good news of who Jesus is and what He’s done. It’s an authoritative declaration. It’s what’s already been done. We don’t make this stuff up. We don’t add to it. We don’t take away. Why? Because it is “The power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Now, when I said Sherman Bible Church doesn’t save anyone. That’s absolutely true but this is also true as we proclaim the gospel, people are saved. Doesn’t mean we’re doing it but we are the messenger. The Holy Spirit takes the proclaimed gospel and raises people from the dead, and they find themselves repenting and believing in Jesus Christ. Why? Because He is all.
Now, what did the early church do? Let’s take a look, Acts 5:42, “And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease (did not cease to do what?) to teach and preach that Christ is Jesus.” There is one person who is the topic, the content, the message of the church. It’s Jesus Christ. He and He alone. Is He enough? You bet He is. He is all. Acts 8:5, “As the church began to be persecuted and was spread (here’s what Philip did) Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and he proclaimed to them (works of the law? Nope, he proclaimed to them a person, he proclaimed to them) the Christ (who is all). Paul, what about him? Acts 20:27, “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” And you say, “Well, hold on here. I thought we were to proclaim Jesus?” Yes. And how do we know who Jesus is? “The whole counsel of God”. The entire Old Testament, is either pointing directly to Christ or to what? Our need for Christ. Christ is all and if you don’t understand that, if you don’t understand that Christ is all in Scripture, you don’t understand that everything’s pointing to Christ or a need for Christ. The Word of God is going to be like hieroglyphics to you. You’re not going to be able to decipher it. You must understand that it’s all about Christ and pointing to or pointing to our need for him. 1 Corinthians 9:16, Paul says, “For if I preach the gospel.” Again, this is the purpose of the church. Why would we want to preach the gospel? Because Christ is all and He’s given us that commission that gives me “No ground for boasting”. Why is that, Paul? “For necessity is laid upon me.” This is a divine obligation. It was a divine obligation for the apostles. It’s a divine obligation for the church. But notice the consequence, “Woe to me (in other words, cursed under the wrath of God) if I do not preach the gospel!” Galatians 2:7, “On the contrary, when they (and this is Paul talking about the other apostles, when they) saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised.” It’s the same gospel. There is one and only one gospel. And for example, Paul and Peter, part of the apostles, they recorded that gospel for us and the written Word of God, and that, much like to them, has been entrusted to us. It’s a trust deposited to the church. Oh, this is so unique. This is unique. Let me ask you if the gospel has been entrusted to the church, but the church does not live up to it. Do you think the federal government of the United States of America is going to preach the gospel to the citizens? No, it’s not going to happen. Why? That’s not what the government of the United States had been tasked by God to do. The government is to take His law, His will, put it into law, and then execute that law. In other words, those who break the law are to be punished. That’s the purpose of government. The purpose of the church is here we’re entrusted with the gospel. And is the gospel something we make up? No, it has already been lived. Therefore, we simply proclaim it.
Galatians 6:14, “But far be it from me to boast except in (what?) the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Notice we are to boast in nothing except the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, we glory and we make much of who Jesus Christ and the cross. Now, why is that important? You know, there are all kinds of fake churches who will use the word “Jesus”, and they make Him up, by the way they make Him up and this is absent or it’s not properly taught, because you see, when we proclaim the cross of Jesus Christ, what are we proclaiming? That you can’t save yourself. You are an enemy of God. You are facing eternal condemnation and the wrath of God. You are facing that. And if it weren’t for Jesus Christ, for His own that is where we’re headed. There is shame there when you think about the cross, and yet, what a glorious, what a time when God glorified and manifested Himself as He was just, and the justifier by Jesus Christ doing what He did on the cross. And so, this is what we would call the “explicit gospel”. In other words, we don’t get to pick and choose parts of the gospel that we like. We preach it all. We do it in such detail and such clarity that it removes any doubt from a person, so that they say, “Oh yeah. Now I get it.” That is the gospel.
1 Corinthians 2:1-2, “And I, when I came to you, (Paul speaking), brothers, did not come to you proclaiming the testimony of God with lofty speech and wisdom.” I find such encouragement in that since I have neither. But this is what the false shepherds take. This is what they like. They want lofty speech. They want to sound good. They want to look good. They want to pretend like they are wise. They want to give you five points to do something that only they came up with. Give me a break. But you know what? Fake sheep love that stuff. But notice what Paul said verse two, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” There it is, “To know nothing”. This is narrow. This is narrow. This is Paul. It doesn’t mean he didn’t know who certain people were. What he’s saying is of primacy, of most importance is this “Jesus Christ and Him crucified”. Very narrow. 1 Timothy 4:2. Now we see kind of, if you will, next step down, next generation. And Paul is commanding Timothy is the pastor of a church. “Preach the word.” And what is the Word? Word is the Word of God. The Word is pointing either directly to Christ or our need for Christ. And he says, “Be ready in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching.” 1 Timothy 3:15, “If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.” This is the purpose of the church.
Now I get a blank slide.
This really comes as to a surprise to people. But if I were to illustrate the purpose of the church. It is very narrow. I don’t know this is hard to hear. It’s hard to hear but Jesus did not send us out to change the world. He did not send us out to revamp healthcare system. He did not send us out to up end a government. He sent us out to preach. Preach who? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is a very narrow purpose. And it’s very unique, is it not? It has been entrusted to the church. It’s not entrusted to government. It’s not entrusted to para church organizations. It is entrusted to the church. And you notice that the church is simply a messenger. We don’t create things. Jesus has done that. We don’t produce new revelation. Jesus has already recorded it for us. We do not control this world. Jesus has got that. And thank you. We can’t redeem the world, and we’re not going to judge the world. Now, we will be raised, and we will judge alongside of Jesus in a ruling capacity, but Jesus is the ultimate agent of judgment. Church is not the Messiah. We’re not even the message but we are the messenger, the ambassador.
And so if Christ is all and the purpose of the church is to proclaim Him, there are a few things that are coming our ways. Heads up, heads up. What’s coming our way?
Christ is all … And the Purpose of the church and distraction, obstacles, opposition, scorn and heresies
And you say, “Wow, that’s a lot.” Yeah. Are we facing it in the future? Yeah. How do we know? Because we’re facing it now, and we faced it in the past. Matthew 16:22, I’m gonna give you some examples from the life of Jesus. True of Jesus, true of the church in that sense. “Peter took him aside Jesus and began to rebuke him.” We saw this two weeks ago, “saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord. This shall never happen to you.’” What is Peter doing? He’s rebuking the Lord and saying, “Yeah, not going to let that happen.” Do you know there are people who try to put obstacles in the way of the church? And what are those? What they’ll do is they’ll rebuke the church. They’ll rebuke the church for being singularly focused on the gospel. Do we get that criticism? We do. You’ll see it online. Why? Because all we’re doing is proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is all by the way. Second example, John 6:15, “Perceiving that they were about to come and take him (that’s Jesus) by force (notice, “by force”) to make him king.” And we say, “Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Yeah. No, you don’t. You don’t make Jesus do anything. He’s the king. He’s the king. He’s got this. “And Jesus withdrew again to a mountain by himself.” Now, where do we see that? We see this in fake churches that’ll say something like this, “We are going to expand the kingdom.” Yeah, who died and made them boss? Jesus is king. He is in charge of the kingdom. He’s got that. We’re not expanding the kingdom. We can’t force the kingdom, you know what? And here’s a more subtle way. It’s individuals who say this, “Jesus, I invite you into my heart.” Now I get it if someone led you that way when you were saved, okay, you’re saved when God saves you. But notice that, who are you to boss Jesus around? You can’t boss Jesus around. He’s not the one that needs relocating. We were when we were sinners. We were in Adam we needed to be relocated into Christ. Luke 23:35, “And the people stood by watching, but the rulers scoffed at him. (they scoffed at Him, they sneered at Him, they stood above Him), ‘He saved others. Let him save himself. If he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!’” Do we experience that today? You bet we do. People stand over the church. They sneer at us. They ridicule us. They mock us. Why? Because to them, it’s foolish that we stand here and pronounce and proclaim a person who lived and died 2000 years ago.
Acts 5:28-29 the religious leaders. This is them to the apostles and early church. “‘We strictly charged you (oh really? they’re charging the church that belongs to Jesus Christ) not to teach in this name. Yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching. You attend to bring this man’s blood upon us.’” Here is direct opposition to the church. What was the church’s response? “Peter and apostles answered, ‘We must obey God and rather than men.’” This will always be our response to opposition that goes against who Jesus is, what He’s done and what He’s declared in His Word. Why? Because Jesus is head of the church. By the way, He is all.
Acts 6:2, “And the twelve summoned the full number of disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the Word of God to serve tables.’” Now this, this is the apostles. We would now see this role within the church as elders, and this is a form of distraction. And notice what the distraction is, they say this. They’re tempted to serve tables. There was disunity, as the widows weren’t being, the food to widows wasn’t being appropriately given. And they say this, “We must stay here rather than serve tables.” I know this is hard to hear because you probably heard most of your life. The church needs to take care of the poor within the city. The church needs to take care of the poor. The church needs to support that child. The church needs to build wells. The church needs to give chickens. The church needs to- Who are they to stand over the church of the living God? Jesus is head of the church. He’ll tell us what to do. He tells us preach Him in season and out of season.
2 Timothy 4:14-15. There’s another type of opposition, “‘Alexander the copper smith did me great harm; (that was direct harm to Paul); the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.’” Why is that even possible? Jesus is all. “‘Beware of him yourself (why?), for he strongly opposed.” Notice, he didn’t strongly oppose Paul. He in the end, he opposed the message. Why? Because that’s what’s been entrusted to the church. We’re not the Messiah, we’re not the message, but we are the messenger that’s carrying the message. Galatians 2:9, “And we said before, now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you receive, let him be accursed.” Yeah, that’s bad news, folks. Why is that? Because there is a gospel that is presented in the Word of God. We cannot add to it. We cannot take away from it. And if someone is purposely trying to do that. “Let them be accursed”. Galatians 2:5, “To them (that’s the false teachers that Paul is talking about) we did not yield in submission even for a moment.” You notice here that that these false pretenders, they try to stand over the church and tell her who she is. They try to tell her what to believe and what to do, but we don’t yield for a moment. Why? “So that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.” For the church, this is what we’re doing. We’re preserving the gospel. Why it’s been given to us as a trust. 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing.” We know that. You know every time, every Sunday, when we preach the gospel, there is division. There is division. The children of God are saying, “Amen, amen, I repent of my sin. I believe in You, Jesus. Thank You.” And there’s others who it’s folly to them, they’re not of His sheep. They say, “That’s stupid.” Now they may not verbalize it, but you know, it eventually comes out. But why do we keep preaching? Because of this, “But to us who are being saved, it’s the power of God.” Verse 21, “For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of (what?) we preach to save those who believe.” The most pressing issue is not poverty, it’s man has sinned against the Holy God, and Jesus is the answer. He is all. Now people may want entertainment. They may want self-help. They want to boost in their self-esteem. They may want us to build a well somewhere. Here’s what the church is to do, she is to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 1 Thessalonians 2:2, “But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare the gospel.” It didn’t matter how much conflict, how much they suffered, or how they were treated. This is the purpose of the church and two verses later 1 Thessalonians 2:4, “But just as we’ve been approved by God and entrusted with (what?) the gospel so we speak not to please man, but to please God who tests our heart.” Man cannot stand over the church. It belongs to Jesus Christ, who is all.
Colossians 1:28, love this summary, “Him we proclaim (there you go, that is the purpose of the church, it is unique and narrow) warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” Last week we saw that we were beloved in Jude 3 he begins this way, “Beloved, although I was eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for (what?) the faith.” Now that’s not our faith in that sense, the faith here is a noun in the sense of the apostles’ doctrine. The gospel, we are to contend for that. This is our part. This is us contending for the gospel, the unique and narrow purpose that’s been entrusted to the church. And what else are we to do? 1 Thessalonians 2:13, “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the Word.” You receive the Word. We don’t just nod our head. We actually receive it. In other words, we hear it, we understand it, we believe it, “Which you heard from us and you accepted it, not as the word of men, but as it really is the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” This is gospel-centered teaching. You ever heard that phrase? Teaching centered on the finished work and person of Jesus, Christ. Hebrews 13:15, “(And because Jesus is all) Through him then let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God that is fruit of the lips that acknowledge his name.” You know what that is? Yeah. It sounds like gospel-centered worship, does it not? Worship that is based upon, centered on, in light of who Jesus is and what He’s done, who is, in fact, all.
And so, as we get to then our final slide,
Christ is all … And the Purpose of the church
Sherman Bible Church exists to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus Christ through gospel-centered teaching, gospel-centered worship, gospel-centered community, and gospel-centered mission.
Please. I hope it is obvious, because Christ is all, the purpose of the church is to proclaim Him. Notice, Sherman Bible Church exists to glorify God. Well, why would we glorify God? Because it’s all about Him. Jesus created everything from Him and for Him. And by making disciples of Jesus Christ, we don’t make disciples of ourselves. We’re not the message. We’re not the Messiah. He is. And how do we do that? Through gospel-centered teaching, teaching that is centered on the gospel, in other words, centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is all. And thus, as we hear that, receive it, our natural response, the proper response, the appropriate response is to respond in gospel-centered worship with Jesus as the center, and thus He is forming a community built around who or what? A personality of a human being? No, built around Jesus Christ, who is and what He’s done. And it’s out of that, then we can take our next and gospel-centered mission. We’ll look at that next week, Sherman Bible Church, Christ is all. Let’s give Him the glory, honor, and obedience that is due His name.
KEYWORDS
Church, Christ Is All, All, Purpose Of The Church, Colossians, Christ As Head, Jesus Christ, God the Father, Holy Spirit, Trinity, Gospel, Revelation, Redemption, Creation, Preservation, Providence, Judgment, Agent, Messiah, Anointed, Messenger, Ambassador, Church’s Role, Unique, Narrow, Firstborn, Preeminent, Explicit Gospel, Gospel-Centered Teaching, Gospel-Centered Worship, Gospel-Centered Community, Gospel-Centered mission, Texas Church, Grayson County, Bible Church
SPEAKER
Jeff Wideman