Ephesians three, I want to read verse 10. I want you to follow along. And if this this passage is not somehow marked in your Bible in a special way, so that when you turn to it, it somewhat stands out to you. I want to encourage you this morning to make a note of some kind so that this verse will stand out to you. I want to read it in your hearing, and then I want to just mention a couple things by it. This is verse 10 of Ephesians three, "to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which was accomplished in Christ, Jesus, our Lord." When the church was in the concept of God, and we're going to talk about that this morning as we talk about the importance of the church. But when, when that whole concept was in the mind of God, I want you to think about what this passage says happened in the heavenly places. When what was expressed, when the Lord Himself came to earth, when he established his church, when he began to rain on his spiritual throne over his spiritual church. When all that began to happen, what Paul says in Ephesians three is that in the heavenly places, the manifold wisdom of God was expressed to the principalities and powers. I want you to think about that. The reason that sometimes that's hard for us is because in that realm, we may be academically aware of the realm, but we're not spiritually aware of the realm, not in a literal sense. So I don't know everything that is happening, shall we say, in that realm. But here's what I do know: that those who are there that can be impressed are impressed because it shows what God can do with us, and it shows what God was willing to do with us, and that alone ought to be enough this morning to carry us and and give us so much to think about. That God, even as we read God so loved us, that He gave His Son, that he established his church, that he allowed us to be a part of that. All that speaks volumes to those who are in the heavenly places that say, look what God did, and look what we have an opportunity to be a part of.
So I do want to talk to you this morning about the importance of the church. This is an interesting slide. I usually don't talk about the slide itself. This is interesting, and I want to tell you why this is interesting to me. It's interesting first of all because it says a lot of things. It makes you think about a lot of things. When you just look at it, there's probably a lot going through your mind that this picture says one of those things is that someone is thinking about church, at least you see a building there, and you is still building there, that at least in it, I think you can make it out, has a sign there and and so this, this picture says a lot of different things and one of the things that it says is that there are difficulties among people in understanding what church is. Now I think this indicates, is this, which is what Trent and I both, as we think about the slides, this is what we're trying to accomplish. We're trying to get somebody to think about, what does the picture say, about what what I'm going to talk about. And I say this, and I so much appreciate Trent, because he he helps me so much in in preparing these slides. And that is such a, that is such a relief to me in a lot of ways. And I appreciate his thought he has obviously a great ability to do that. That's part of what he does in his professional life. But I do appreciate that. But this slide, when he sent this to me, it just caught my attention. And at first I thought, I don't want to use it, and then I thought, No, I do want to use it. And so what I'm going to do is, is this morning, I'm going to make a couple of points, and they're going to kind of relate. So I'm going to show this slide at the end, and it's going to be more in a negative way, because I think this this slide shows something in a negative way, then I want to call your attention to so just, kind of just kind of put that all in your mind, and I will explain all of it as we go through the lesson.
Church is a complicated thing to a lot of people, and I don't think it is. If you're willing to just read scripture, if you're willing to take away everything that you may perceive church to be, just read and I'm going to allude to this idea several times during this lesson. During this lesson, if you'll just read Scripture and let scripture determine what church is it's not hard. And I want to talk to you this morning about some of those kind of things. Let me put this idea in your mind first, from Scripture Colossians, 3:17, Paul says, "in whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father through Him." Now let me tell you what I think the gist of that is. And I'm asking you, what is he saying about that? Here's what I think Paul is saying. He says, Whatever God said, Whatever his son says, has to be according to what they want. Whatever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. In other words, let his authority dictate every single thing that you do. So everything we do should be controlled by Christ, and our view of the church has got to be controlled by what Christ said about it. He said, I'm going to build my church. He's the one who said, I'm going to build the church. Now, the world has made it variety of things. There's all sorts of concepts about it. There are all sorts of ideas about it. But what I want us to go back to, if we can, is just what did Jesus say about it? We have no right to make the church what we want it to be. That's what's happened in a lot of places. Somebody said, This is what I want the church to be. We have places, even in this own town, that have made churches what they want it to be. It's not about what I want, it's not about what you want, it's not about what anybody wants. It's about what God wants. And God said in the My eternal purpose I have, I have decided what I wanted to be, and it is up to us to determine what that is. So that's what I wants to think about this morning, as we think about that. Now, more could be said about authority and what God wants from us. But I think the general thrust is, is that we need to make sure that what we do, what we believe and what we practice is, is something which God wants. And I think we, I think this audience understands that. There's time and there's opportunity and another time to talk about how, how does that is that generated? How do we reach conclusions about that? That's not what this lesson is. I think, I think all of us understand that we must do what God authorizes us to do, and certainly that is the case with the church.
Now I'm going to talk primarily and about a local church, about what we would be, what would we would be considered a local church, this, this group of Christians who meet here on a regular basis, that's primarily what I'm going to talk about. But I want you to think about why some people have a negative view about the church, because there are people who do. And one, one of the reasons is because some say, Well, Jesus is important to me. It's important for me because I know who Jesus is, and Jesus is my Lord, and Jesus is my king, but the church is not important. And I think what they're saying is, I can be spiritual without a local church. I think there's more of that, that goes on today, that maybe than even ever before, because people think, you know, I don't need the church. And sometimes they don't need the church because they've had a bad experience with the local church. And I know people who've had bad experiences with local churches. You do too. You may be someone who, at some point in time in your life who has had a bad experience with a local church, and the reason that those kinds of things happen is because local churches are made up of people. You'll find this hard to believe sometimes, but people sometimes disappoint you, right? Sometimes I disappoint myself. Sometimes my reaction to people is not what God wants it to be, and I have to, I have to ask for his forgiveness, and I have to rethink about, how am I, how am I dealing with people? And sometimes those kinds of things regardless of who it is, but sometimes we're affected by that in a local church, where we expect everything to be, all that we want it to be, and sometimes that just doesn't happen. And sometimes people have these experiences and that just poisons them to the idea of church altogether. Some just say, it's just not my cup of tea. You know, if that's what you want, that's fine, but that's not what I want. That's really not-- I I just want to be left alone, and I want to be I want to experience God in the way that I want to experience God. You know, I'd be all for that if I read that in Scripture. I wouldn't even mind it. I think I might even like it. If what God said, you know, as you experience me, every how you want to experience me, as long as it creates something deeper within you, in your inner man, so that you think about me in a deeper kind of way, in a transcendent kind of way. But the problem with that is that's not what God wants. That's not what he said to me. That's not what he said to you. He's not said you figured out you do it the way you want to do it, and that'll be fine. That's not what he said. And sometimes people are have found organized religion to be offensive. That's happening a lot now, and organized religion, they see this, they see these levels, and they see this hierarchy. And they see this. A lot of people see this super structure that's organized in a super structural kind of way. It's a fairly complicated kind of way. And they see this, and they say, you know, that's not for me.
Well, if that's what you see the church to be, if what your vision of the church is, it's it's all this grand organization, and they're different levels, and this group's over this group, and this group's over this group, and this group's-- if that's what you see, if that's what's got you burdened, then you have a right to be burned, because that's not what the New Testament teaches. The New Testament doesn't teach anything like that, and that's part of the problem, and I want you to think about that this morning as we do think about what the church really is. The New Testament never shows churches or groups linked in any particular way, other than just simply a New Testament church. That's the simplicity you see of what the church is. And I'm stressing that this morning, because I want you to understand that the church in terms of what God wants. It's very simple. It's not hard to figure out. And as I've said to you before, if you want to know where church is, if you're here this morning, you say, well, Kenny, I hear what you're saying, but I've not heard some of that. Okay, let, let me suggest something. Just open your Bible, just open your New Testament, and begin to read. And as you read about this, this is what the church did. This is who the church was. This is, this is who was the head of the church. This is how the church was organized. As you go through the New Testament, and as you read those passages, just write down what you read. And when you finish, look at what you've written down and say, that's what I'm looking for. That's what I want to be a part of. And you'll, you'll have found it. You will have found it. Let's look at a little of that this morning.
In Acts two, at the end of that great event on the day of Pentecost, the text says, "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." There were people in Acts two. They were making a spiritual decision. You remember Peter and the apostles preached, and they said, You've crucified Jesus, you've sinned, and as a result of that, you need to do something about that. And when they heard what they had done to the Son of God, they said, What should we do? We don't want we don't want to be in this condition that's sinful. We want to be in this condition that's saved. And what Peter and the other apostles preached to those who were they said, You need to repent and you need to be baptized for the remission of your sins. That's what you need to do. That will put you into Christ. And when those people did that, the text says those people were added to the church. Those people were added to people who were saved. That's the fundamental concept of church. It's just people who are saved. And if you're saved this morning as a result of what you've done, if you've done what they did, you're saved. You're part of God's Church, you're a part of Jesus Church. You're a part of the Lord's church. And then what Acts two further tells us is how they function, beginning in verse 42, "and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and in fellowship and in breaking of bread and prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believe were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need so continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart."
What happened? Those people who had, those people who had obeyed what the apostles were preaching, they were added to the church. God said, you're saved. You're part of my saved group. And then they, they came together to begin to function in a local group, in a local area. That's what, that's what we've got on the screen. This is what they did a community of believers was formed in Jerusalem. And then when you continue to read the New Testament, what you says when others obeyed the gospel, a community of believers was formed in another location, in another location, in another location. Then that's what happened as you read the text of the New Testament. That's what you're going to see. You're not going to see anything more than that. Nothing more than that. Just that. And so the question this morning really revolves around the importance of a local church, and I want you to think about that with me this morning.
Why were these local churches important? Why was that even important? And how were they and why were they connected in the way that they were connected? Why not just do what those people did? They repented of their sins, they they were baptized into Christ for the remission of their sins. Why not just let it be? Why not just let it be with that let them go on their merry way and let them just bask in the fact that they've been saved from their sins? Why not that? Well, that's not what this passage talks about. That's not what other passages talk about. That's the initial step, sure, but other things came into play, and I want you to think about what being without a local group of people who have followed what God wants. I want you to think about how people view that, some concerns that we ought to have about that. The first one would would be this question. I think I could say it this way, can I? Can I be part of a group with a self centered thought process? And I want you to think about that with me this morning for just a moment. Does anyone really want to walk with God by yourself? Does anyone really want to walk with God by yourself? Could you? Sure. It may be that you have to, it, maybe circumstances would keep you from being part of a local group. But is that? Is that what you would want, given the best set of circumstances? Is that what you want, or is that what God would want? And I think the answer to that's clearly no. The COVID period reinforced our need for relationship and community. How many times during that period when we weren't meeting as we typically would do, at least for a short period of time, how many times during that period did we understand that there was a need for this relationship and a community? And we, like a lot of churches, local churches, with elders, we're trying to figure those things out and to do what is best for the group, and to do what is best according to what God said. And I think decisions were made that did both of those things. And there is a sense in which Christianity is about me, but there is a greater sense, my good friends, where Christianity is about us. Could it be about me? Initially, it is about me. It is about my relationship with God, but after that, it becomes an issue of my relationship with you. And if I don't think that way, I begin to become selfish and I know people who think of their Christianity in that way. You know, I'm not of any value to anybody else. I don't need anybody else. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's what God intends.
You may have community, you may have relationship, you may be a part of a large family who's spiritually minded. You and your spouse and your children, your grandkids, you may be a part of that, but not everybody is. Not everybody is; not everybody here is. We have we have some, even in our assembly here, who are part of this church, who who fit into that. What I just mentioned, they have a large group of community. They have a lot. They have family here, and sometimes, in many cases, it's a large group. And that's good, that's a great blessing. But if that's all you know, you missed the point as well. What about those who are here who are widows? What about those here who are widowers? What about those here who are single? What about here, those here, who come from a broken home, who have a dysfunctional family? What about those here who have a variety of aspects in their life and they're not like you? What about those people? Well, I tell you what happened. God said it's about all of us. It's about all of us and just being content with my personal or my close knit circumstances, that's not what God wants. He says that's a blessing, but it's it's not just about my group, and it never should be. Christianity is about you, but it's not you only. And this morning, I want everybody to think about that. You being here this morning is not just about you. Don't miss this. You being here this morning is not just about you. It's not just about what you get. And I hope you get something. I hope you benefit from being here. But part of why you're here is to offer a benefit. Part of why you're here this morning is to give a benefit. If you're Christianity is mainly about you, you've missed it. Remember that? Remember we talked about last week, Philippians, two that we need to think of others more important than ourselves, and that's hard to do. Do we let our local church membership resolve around my needs and what I get and what I want? If that's what we do, we miss it people. This is so much bigger than just me or just you. This is about what each of us can offer to each other. Do I show up late? Do I leave quickly? Am I in and out? Is that what I'm trying to do? To come in and create something for myself, get something for myself, leaving feeling good about myself, and yet not, I'm not a part of the group. I'm not talking to visitors. I'm talking about part about people who are part of our group. I need to think beyond myself. It's an important question for each of us to ask ourselves.
So no, I don't want, I don't want to be part of a self centered process, and I'm going to make, I'm going to make a very positive point at the end. So don't, don't think, Boy, he's hammering down this morning. No, I'm not. I'm really offering this as a reminder that's really what I'm doing. And my second question, my second consideration this morning, is, can I do what God asked of me in isolation? Can I stay away from not just an assembly, or can I stay away from all the things which we're involved in in terms of a local church? Can I stay away from that and just stay in isolation and be pleasing to God? And the answer that is no, this passage that we read just a moment ago from Acts two. Look, look at all these highlighted words. They - every soul - all together - all things in common - all anyone - one accord - they. And I realize there were circumstances in Acts two that were different, but in some senses there really aren't they. They were being together. They had all things in common, and they were sharing with each other, and they were meeting needs of each other. And that still happens. There may not be an immediate need like that here among us, but there could be. And verse 44 kind of pulls this all together, when it says, "now all who believe were together and had all things in common." I think he's saying all who believe were there in that place together, although that could certainly be the case, like we're together in this place today. That's not what he's talking about. All who believe we're together, just like this morning, I believe all who believe here in this place are together. I believe we're together. I believe we continue to know each other, and we are aware of each other, and we think about each other. And I think that's what he's saying. He says anything that you become you do it together.
That's the idea of this passage in Ephesians four that we're very familiar with. I love this passage. There's so much in here, and we're not going to take the time really to probably don't even want to take the time to read just these few passages, but you're familiar with these passages, and really, what Paul says in these passages is that it's the connected body that grows. It's not, it's not a body where there are individual parts and those parts aren't connected. No, it's a, it's a body where the parts are connected, and each part works to help the other parts. Imagine a hand separated from the body. Imagine the functionability of a hand that's separated from the body. It couldn't function. Couldn't function at all. The hand can't function without the head telling the hand what to do, and all things between the head and the hand that have to happen in order for the hand to move and to function, that's the same-- that's what Paul's talking about. It's not one piece, it's not one person. It's, it's everybody fulfilling a roll so that, so that every joint is supplied with what it needs, and it works to the very best of its ability. And that was God who determined that. And imagine the principality, the principalities and powers in the heavenly places going, wow. Look at that. Look at look at how this functions. And this all comes from a mind of God. And as a result of passages like this, then the Hebrew writer would say, there's reasons to be together, and there's reasons for you not to not want to be together. And so he says in verse 25 a passage, man, I remember this passage. I remember hearing preachers talk about this passaage, I think, when I was three months old. No, not really. But don't you remember this passage if you've grown up, "not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the day drawing nigh." That's a different translation than I grew up listening to, but the point is, it's the idea of the assembling is important. Not -- he's not saying the assembly. He's saying it is the assembling together. This is an admonition to say, don't forsake the assembling of people together. And so we've heard this all of our lives.
But when you get to-- when you go back and look at verse 24 then that tells you why this becomes important. Because in verse 24 it says, then you need to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. That's why you're about what you're about. You may or may not remember in Ben's prayer this morning, in Mike's prayer this morning, both of these men mentioned the word encouragement, maybe twice, maybe more than that, but both mentioned that, and I'll tell you why. I think that is because when we assemble when we are together, we're doing exactly what the Hebrew writer says we need to do. We're here together, and we are encouraging one another, because we're thinking about one another and we're doing -- we're hopefully encouraging someone who's with us and somebody who's with us and about us, and a part of us to say, you know, you gotta keep on, keeping on. And all of us need that kind of person. And if you're here this morning, and you need that more than you're getting that, you need to let us know, because we that's certainly something we want to do. We want to do this very thing for you and with you understanding that you have a responsibility to help us as well. That's what this is about. We cannot do what God wants us to do in isolation. We just can't do it. And I'll tell you, what if anybody could it'd be Paul. You talk about, you talk about a man who decided, You know what, I'm going to serve God, and it really doesn't matter what anybody else does, I'm going to do that. I've done it all my life, and as I've learned how to do it better, and as I've learned how to how to do it differently, that I've done that. But even Paul, when he was coming to Jerusalem, even he said, I need some help. So the text tells us in Acts nine, and when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple. We understand why they were afraid of him, but I want you to notice what he wanted. He wanted to join himself to disciples. What's another way to put that? He wanted to join himself, to the Christians who were in Jerusalem. He wanted to somehow identify with them, to say, I want to be a part of that group. Why Paul? Because I need this. He would say, I need to be a part of this. He tried to join them.
And that's why, when we have folks who come and they begin attending with us, and they begin to think about, where can I attend on a regular basis? And fortunately, over the past few weeks and months, we've had several who have identified with us, if that's what you want to call it, I think you can say pretty much join us, identify with us, but basically, what they're saying is we need we need community, we need relationship, and it's important for the rest of us to know that that's something you need, that that's something you want to be a part of, that's important for us and for you. So I hope that this morning you'll understand the value of this. I will tell you that one of the things that the Lord's Day brings to me is joy that I'm going to get to see you. I value that. I need that because I know that I'm going to see you, and there's going to be some of you, and most of the time, all of you, you're going to say something encouraging to me. You're going to help me in some way. That's why we need each other, folks. We live in a world that, in some cases, is struggling. In many cases, it's struggling. That's part of why we need each other, and I think the Lord understood that well. Let me go to this final point. This is the passage that Josiah read for us before I got up in the pulpit this morning. This is from Acts 11. This is a final passage that I think is important. I think this. There are a lot of things in here we could talk about, but there's one thing I want you to think about in reference to this passage, when Christians were being converted, when Christians were being made in Antioch and a lot was going on. I want you to see what the text says happened to these people. This is important. The text tells us that the Lord was preached. The text tells us that when the Lord was preached, many believed, and they turned to the Lord, and that when they turned to the Lord, they were encouraged to continue with the Lord. And apparently that's what they did. And the reason is kind of what's summarizing here, because they were added to the Lord. They were added to the Lord.
Now think about that, and I'm going to go back to my slide. What does God want you to do? He wants you to be committed to the Lord. Sometimes the commitment is to the church. No, the commitments to the Lord. That's exactly what Acts 11 is saying. The commitment is not to some building that's got some name on the commitment is to the Lord. They were added to the Lord, they turned to the Lord, they continued with the Lord. Why? Because it's the Lord that was preached. Now, one thing that I hope you've seen this morning is, is that as a result of all that preaching and all that continuing and all that turning, and all that adding. One thing I hope you understand is there is a relationship now that we have in the church. Yes, there's a relationship that we have with God himself in the church. We're we're part of the saved, but there's also this local relationship that we have, but we have it not because we're committed to the church, but because we're committed to Jesus. And there's a difference in those things. The relationship with the Lord creates the relationship among us. If we didn't have the relationship with the Lord, we wouldn't have this relationship. There might be some relationship that we might have socially or we might have professionally, but there could be those things coincidentally. But that's not what this is about. What this is about is the relationship that we have with the Lord that creates the relationship that we have with each other. And that's all we read about in Scripture. That's what I want you to think about. That's all. There's level, there's no hierarchy. There's no one man that's ahead that's in charge of all of us. Or there's not one organization that's in charge, or there's not one county group that's in charge of all these particular churches in this particular county, you don't see that in Scripture anywhere.
So what do I want to be? I just want to be a part of what I read about here. That's all. Why do I want to do that? Because that's God's plan. Why is it God's plan? It's because that's been part of his plan in the eternal purpose. And what it does is when those in the heavenly realm see that they're impressed in all the right kind of ways, because it shows God's wisdom. We show his wisdom when we're who we ought to be. We show God's wisdom.
Let me close with this. If you are a Christian, then a local church, if it's possible, ought to be a part of your relationship with God. He wants you to be a part of a local church. It's part of your spiritual life, and it is a very important part of your spiritual life. It's a huge part of my spiritual life. And if a local church is not part of your spiritual life. This morning, I want you to ask why that is. Do you see the value of making it a large part of your spiritual life? Do you see the value that God puts in making a group of believers in an area? Do you see why God makes that important? And do you see the responsibility that you have, not only to gain something from that, but to give something to that? It goes both ways, my friend, and when that happens, that community is something that God wants.
Now, let me make this final point. This is acommendation. And I'm not saying this because I'm the one who does most of the preaching. I'm not saying this at all, but I think this church, I think this local church, does what God wants. I'm not saying by that, that we're perfect in any sense of the word. I'm not saying by that, that everybody's doing everything they ought to do, and that everything's just perfect. I'm not saying but here's what I'm saying. I think the intent of every person here is to give some benefit to the entire group. I see that. That's my observation, and I want to commend you, because I want to tell you something not every, not every local church is like that. I talked to a preacher friend of mine this week. He and I were doing a little traveling, and we went through a town, and I said, Is there a church here? He said, Yeah, there's two of them. He said, they're both dead. You put them together, they'll be double dead. Well, that was his observation. I don't know about that. I don't know anything about the churches, but that was his observation. My observation, that's not this church. That's not this church at all. Are there things we can do better? Yes. Are there things we will do better? Yes. Are there opportunities for all of us to do better? Yes, but I'm so thankful to be a part of this group, and I'm thankful that we love each other, we care about each other, we are wanting to improve. I'm thankful that we're wanting to reach people with the gospel. We can do that better. I'm thankful that we want to edify and encourage each other. We can do that better. But I'm I'm thankful to be a part of this, and I want to thank you this morning for that. I think you do need to be commended. A lot of times preachers preach and they pound and they get on people, but not today, not today. I thank you for who you are.
Now, let me say this, if you're in this audience this morning, before you think about any local church, you need a relationship with God. That's what you need if sin has separated you from God, and that's the condition you find yourself in. Just go back and think about Acts two. What we read this morning, those people heard about their sin, and they said, What should we do about it? And they were told, you need to repent and be baptized for remission of your sins. That's what I would suggest you do this morning, because I say so no, but because I believe with all my heart, that's what the New Testament teaches. And if you're not convinced of that this morning, then you need, you need to evaluate that. And maybe I've missed something. Maybe I have it, if I have you, you'd, you'd be, it'd be great if you'd help me see that. But maybe you've missed something. Maybe what we both need to do is go back and reread some of those passages and think about it. But if you're here this morning and you're convinced that you're not in a. Relationship with God because you've not done what God said, then we'd love to help you this morning. We'd love to encourage you to become a part of the Lord's church and let him add you. Let God add you. We're not going to add you. God's going to add you to the church because you've done what he's let him do that. If that's a wish that you have this morning, we'd love to help you and assist you in that.
