"The Purpose of the Church" Matthew 22:37-40 Acts 2:42 Matthew 28:19-20 What is the purpose of the church? What is our mission? Why are we here? The session has drafted a brief statement that summarizes the purpose of the church, by drawing together three passages of scripture. The Purpose of the Church is to glorify God and enjoy him forever by . . . 1) loving the LORD our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength . . . and our neighbor as ourself (Matthew 22:37-40) 2) devoting ourselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers (Acts 2:42), and 3) making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded. (Matthew 28:19-20) 1. Love the LORD Your God with All Your Heart . . . and Your Neighbor as Yourself (Matthew 22:37-40) Why start with loving God and neighbor? Because everything comes back to this. We will be talking about worship and the means of grace. We will be talking about evangelism and discipleship. But everything else comes back to this. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. When God first constituted his people, Israel, and gave them the firstfruits of the inheritance, bringing them into the Promised Land, he told them that this was the commandment. In Deuteronomy 6 Moses says Now this is the commandment. Not, the commandments, but commandment. Moses had just recited the ten commandments in chapter 5, but this is the commandment. There is one commandment that sums up all ten Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Love God with every part of you. Love God with your heart the center of your affections. Love God with your soul the center of your identity. Love God with your might the center of your actions. But it is not just loving God with every part of you, it is also loving God with the entirety of every part. We are to love God with all our heart, soul and might. God alone is to be the object of our love. God alone is worthy of being loved simply and solely because of who he is and because of what he has done. No created thing (in itself) is worthy of your love. You might say, but what about the second commandment? Aren't we suppose to love our neighbor as ourself? We need to remember that "all" does not mean "some." We are to have an exclusive love for God alone that is undivided. If I said to you men, You need to give all your love to your wife. Your affection for her needs to be undivided. You would understand exactly what that means. You wouldn't say, "but I need to love my children too!" Because having an undivided heart for your wife does not mean that you cannot love your children as well. In the same way, our love for God may have no rivals. Loving your neighbor as yourself may never replace your love for God rather, loving your neighbor is an expression of your love for God. Why do you love your neighbor? Is it because he is so lovable? If so, then you wouldn't love people who are acting in an unlovable manner! The reason why you love your neighbor is because you love God, and when you see your neighbor, you see someone created in the image of God. This is James' point in James 3:9, where James says that with the same tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and also we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. James seems to think that this is strange! If you love God, then how can you not love those who are made in the image of God? Sure, the image of God has been tarnished by sin, but as we look at one another, we ought to love one another because we see the image of God there. So you do not love others for their own sake you do not love them because of how lovable they are rather, you love them because you love God. After all, if you love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then every other love must flow from that one. Everything that we do should be an expression of our love for God. And this is to be true not only for us as individuals, but for us as a church as well. Remember that this commandment was the commandment given to Israel. And if you look at how the commandment is fleshed out in Deuteronomy 7-10 loving God with everything is contrasted with a corporate turning away to idolatry. There were always people in Israel's history who were faithful to God. At the worst era of apostasy, in the days of Elijah, there were still 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal. But the Old Testament church suffered greatly because of their idolatry, and even the faithful suffered. We need to remember this as we live as a body here in Michiana. It is not enough for you as an individual or even you as a family to love God and neighbor in your own little corner. We are called as a body to love the Lord our God together. And as the example of Elijah suggests, it is not even enough if we as a congregation are faithful. Because Jesus only has one church. Do you have any idea how much the division of Christ's church hurts us? Imagine if all the Christians in your neighborhood were in the same church! Think of how much easier it would be to make an impact on the community! Think of how much easier it would be to do diaconal ministry! Loving God and loving our neighbor requires us to think ecumenically first with our closest neighbors in the Reformed community, but also with all those who are disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. The point of the great commandment for the purpose and mission of the church is that everything you do is to be oriented around the love of God and neighbor. At family camp this last week, the speaker said that there was tension between our everyday labors (our creation labors) and our redemptive labors (specifically Christian work), so for instance, if you have $50, should you give it to the church for evangelism, or should you use it to beautify your house? I would like to suggest that this is a false dichotomy. That $50 never exists in a vacuum. You are called to seek first the kingdom of God in with the whole of your life. We should not compartmentalize our lives into our creation labors and our redemptive labors. Rather, the real question is how can you use the whole of your time, the whole of your estate, the whole of your energy, in the service of Christ? So our first point tonight is that the church's purpose is to love the Lord our God with everything which means that we will also love our neighbor, because our neighbor is created in the image of God. Everything else flows from this. 2. Devote Yourself to the Apostles' Teaching and Fellowship, to the Breaking of Bread, and the Prayers (Acts 2:42) Well, if we are supposed to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, and with all our strength, how do we get there? After all, we have a long way to go! That question was asked in Acts 2. After the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples, the crowd asked, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter's response is to say, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Notice that Peter speaks of Christian identity in very public and visible terms: it is not enough to simply repent in your own heart. You must be visibly and outwardly identified as a part of the church of Jesus Christ because the church of Jesus Christ is nothing other than the place on earth where the kingdom of heaven is made manifest. It is here that God's saving power is revealed. It is here that God's Holy Spirit is poured out. It is here that God forgives sin and restores those who are broken. And so on that very day, the apostles baptized 3,000 (verse 41), and in the very next verse we hear about what those 3,000 people did next: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. (Acts 2:42) Let's look briefly at those four things: 1) they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching The apostolic teaching is at the very heart of the church. Jesus had instructed them in the gospel of the kingdom, and gave to them the Holy Spirit in a special way, so that their teaching would always be the standard for the church. It is this teaching that instructs us in the way of salvation. It is this teaching that God uses to call us to himself and remake our hearts. The apostles' teaching is the standard by which all other teaching is measured. It is the only infallible rule of faith and life. And we are to devote ourselves to their teaching. We are to be a church devoted to the Word of God. We are to be a people who love the apostolic teaching. 2) they devoted themselves to the apostles' fellowship It is not just "fellowship" in the abstract but the apostles' fellowship. Why does this matter? Because it shows us that Christian fellowship is not just a social club. Certainly we should enjoy each other's company, but Christian fellowship includes much more. The apostles' fellowship refers to being part of the eschatological community. part of the redeemed people of God. The word "koinonia" can be translated "fellowship" or "communion." It has to do with being part of something. To be devoted to the apostles' fellowship means to be identified with them and their teaching. That's why Luke combines these two: the apostles' teaching and fellowship. That's why the Word of God needs to be part of our fellowship. And indeed, more than just part. The Word of God needs to be at the heart of our fellowship. You cannot have truly Christian fellowship unless the apostolic teaching is driving it. So what does this mean? Well, what happens when the Word of God is not central to our fellowship? Our conversation tends to be oriented around ourselves and our own interests. And, because we love ourselves more than we love God, our love for one another also fades. And the end result is that the church becomes a social club, and people who aren't "like us" just slip between the cracks. But when we are truly devoted to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, then our love for God overflows in love for one another. When the Word of God dwells richly in our hearts, then our fellowship is sweet, and the communion of saints overflows in love and joy and peace. 3) they devoted themselves to the breaking of bread At this time it appears that the early church combined a fellowship meal with the worship service. By the time of 1 Corinthians this practice seems to have changed, but the Lord's Supper is certainly included in the idea of "breaking bread." Indeed, later in Acts 20:7, the worship service itself is called "coming together to break bread." Why are they devoted to the breaking of bread? This may sound somewhat strange to us. I suspect that few of us would describe ourselves as "devoted" to the breaking of bread. But Paul tells us that the bread that we break is a communion in the body of Christ. There's that word "koinonia" again. As we break bread together in the Lord's Supper we participate in the body of Christ. We have fellowship with him and with one another. We are identified with him and with each other as one loaf one body. In other words, the Lord's Supper is as indispensable to our Christian identity as the apostles' teaching and fellowship, and the prayers. As our shorter catechism puts it, it is one of those means by which Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption. Are you devoted to the breaking of bread? 4) they devoted themselves to the prayers Some translations say "and to prayer," but that is not what the Greek says. The Greek is most emphatically plural "the prayers." This is not surprising, given the corporate nature of the whole passage. It would indeed be strange to say that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship to the breaking of bread (all of which are corporate activities), and then to say "and also to prayer" suggesting an individual focus. But Luke says that they devoted themselves to "the prayers" suggesting that they devoted themselves to praying together regularly. "The prayers" refers to the regular hours of prayer that the Jews maintained. This is reflected in the ancient Jewish and Christian practice of morning and evening prayer. The church would gather daily on the way to work and on the way home from work in order to pray together. This is something that was a regular part of the Reformation churches, and is still done in the Reformed churches in Hungary, as well as the Korean Presbyterian churches, along with many Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox churches, and an increasing number of charismatic churches. And this is one place where we must admit that we are sorely lacking. We are not devoted to the prayers! We do not pray regularly with and for one another. Family worship is a start. If you are praying together as a family, morning and evening, then that is certainly a good thing. But we need to improve on this! Why does it matter? Well, why were the early Christians devoted to the prayers? Because they were convinced that prayer (corporate prayer) was powerful. Why were they convinced of this? Look at Acts 4:23-31. After one of these prayer meetings, as they asked God for "boldness" The place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Individual prayer is important, but it does not and cannot replace "the prayers." We need to become a people that prays regularly with and for each other. And I hope that it is clear to you that I'm not just talking about Michiana Covenant. Nor am I talking about just the Reformed churches in the area. Rather, I am talking about the whole church of Jesus Christ in the area. Yes, we need to start right here. But we must always remember that we are not simply talking about the purpose of one church, or the purpose of Reformed churches. Rather, we are talking about the purpose of the church of Jesus Christ! 3. Make Disciples of All Nations, Baptizing Them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Teaching them to Observe All That Jesus Commanded (Matthew 28:20) Finally we come to Matthew 28:20, often known as "the Great Commission." In our own history as a congregation we started with Acts 2:42. We started by focusing on worship, because everything else flows from worship, and points back to worship. For instance, why do we evangelize? Why do we preach the gospel? Does it not flow from our devotion to the apostles' teaching? Is it not because we have been gripped by the power of the Holy Spirit? And what is the point of evangelism? Is it not so that the nations would also join us in worshiping God? Evangelism, mercy ministry, Christian education, all these things flow from worship, and point us back to worship. Jesus calls us to make disciples of all nations. More precisely, Jesus called the eleven to make disciples of all nations. Jesus called eleven Jewish men to make disciples of all Gentiles. Our call to make disciples is rooted in our devotion to the apostles' teaching. They baptized us and taught us to obey all that Jesus commanded. Part of that command is to continue that mission. And so we are commanded to make disciples of all nations. We often treat the Great Commission as a command to "evangelize" people by which we mean reaching unchurched people with the gospel. And certainly the Great Commission includes that! But the Great Commission says that we are to make disciples not just converts. What is a disciple? Well, Jesus says that there are two parts to discipleship: 1) baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Baptism is the entrance into the life of discipleship. In baptism the name of the triune God is placed upon you. You are marked as belonging to God. That is why baptism is one of the two marks of a disciple. The other is being taught: 2) teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Baptism alone does not make you a disciple. Otherwise, I would just go to the mall and sprinkle water on people in the name of the triune God. But discipleship requires thorough instruction in the word of God. But not just instruction. It is not enough to say "teaching them all I have commanded you." Discipleship is not just about gaining information. Rather, it is teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. Discipleship is not just about learning. It is about learning to obey. It must include both doctrinal instruction and putting it into practice. Too often we focus solely on the "information" side of things. Certainly in order to make disciples, we must understand what it is that Jesus has commanded! But unless our knowledge bears fruit in obedience, then our knowledge is barren and empty. [restoration /LS]