Precious Church

Let me invite you this morning to turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one. Given the election meeting and where our minds are with the election of officers of elder and deacon and deaconess, I'd like for us to gather our thoughts around, a few things, this morning and if you want to give a title to the message today, it would be Precious Church. Precious. Church, I've shared this, with you guys before, I think a couple years ago, but the first greeting card that I ever gave to Donna, who is now my wife, was back in 1979.

And on the outside of the card were the words Happy Valentine's Day, and on the inside were the words to one of my all-time favorites. looking back, I don't know what I was thinking when I picked that card out for her, but apparently at the time, I thought it would mean a lot for her to know. That I had other all-time favorites beside her. And that she happened to be among them.

Let's just say I've come a long way in learning how to communicate to My wife in a way that lets her know that she is truly precious to me. I'd like to try my hand this morning at conveying to you how precious the Church of Jesus Christ truly is and to accomplish that, I want us to look at three things that the apostle Paul himself verbalizes, speaks that reveal how precious the church of Jesus Christ was to him. Before we do that, I think we should take a minute or two to identify what the church is.

described in its simplest form, the Church of Jesus Christ is the community of all regenerated believers in Jesus Christ.

With this understanding, we can actually think of the church in two different ways as it is spoken of in the New Testament. First, there is the universal church, which is all regenerated believers in Jesus presently on earth and in heaven. Second, The part of the universal church that is on earth right now is broken up into thousands. Tens of thousands of local churches and we can define a local church as a particular Community of regenerated believers in Jesus Christ on earth, who together do the following six things.

Number 1, devote themselves to the apostolic body of revealed scriptural truth. 2, organize as a community under biblically qualified leadership. Number 3, a symbol regularly for preaching, worship, prayer, and mutual care for one another. Number 4, observe the biblical ordinances of baptism and communion.

Number 5, exercise church discipline for the purity of the body. And number 6, labor to fulfill the great commission delivered by the Lord. By the way, I ran, ran those 6 by Mike Barry to make sure that theologically, that was accurate. And he approved There are thousands, tens of thousands of such local churches around the globe who do these six things, and Cornerstone is one of them.

Tim Shallies recently wrote a blog. Entitled Is Your Church Christian? Or Christian-ish. And to help us to answer that question, he makes a number of comparisons between a Christian and a Christianist church.

But in the end, he says this, he says, there is nothing in all the world as precious as a truly Christian church. There is nothing in all the world as dangerous as one that is merely Christian-ish. In fact, he makes the point that those letters I S H at the end of Christian-ish can be the difference between heaven and hell. For people.

But I really love the first part of this quote from Tim Chally's. There is nothing in all the world as precious as a truly Christian. Church. Do you feel that way?

I would agree with that sentiment, and that is exactly Paul's sentiment about truly Christian. Local churches and you would know that by listening to the way he talks. About the church in. His epistles, and today, I just wanna focus on 3 things.

There's so many things we could focus on this morning, things Paul says and the way he lived his life. We're just gonna look at 3 things that Paul verbalizes that reveal how truly precious the Church of Jesus Christ was to him. The first thing that Paul verbalizes is number 1, he speaks of the church as the embodied fullness of Christ. He speaks of the church as the embodied fullness of Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 22, Paul says, and he, speaking of God, put all things in subjection under Christ's feet and gave him as head over all things to the church. Which is his body? The fullness of Him who fills all in all. Here we see Paul describing the church in two ways as Christ's body.

Meaning the body of Christ and as the fullness of Christ who fills all in all. Christ is not on the earth physically like he was during his earthly ministry. Yet we can say that he's on earth today in an even greater way, in the sense that the church represents the physical expression of Christ on the earth. All around the globe.

Jesus is not right now just in one spot on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Right now he's in Japan, he's in Iraq, he's in Indonesia, he's in Mongolia and Ireland. He's in Utah and he's here in various places throughout the city of Riverside, and he's here in the Bournes facility. Right now The church is the hands and feet and the heart of Christ and every Christian.

regenerated by God and born again is a part of that physical expression of Christ to the world. And if you want to experience Jesus Christ in the here and the now, the place on earth where you will experience Jesus in his most tangible physical presence is in the church, in the local church. So it should go without saying. Then that if the church is the body of Christ, then we must let Christ be our head and get our instructions from him and do whatever he tells us to do.

It's not up to us to make our own rules for how we operate as a church. We must listen to him. As our head, I am not the head of Cornerstone. Our elder board is not the head of Cornerstone.

Jesus is the head of Cornerstone, and we are simply his body. Which does his bidding and carries out his purposes in this community and around the world. It's what it means to be the body of Christ. Paul doesn't just describe the church as the body of Christ, he describes it as his body, the fullness of him.

Who feels all in all. Paul looks upon the church and its present state on earth, and he says that the church here is the fullness of Christ. This description has always struck me as an amazingly complimentary. thing for Paul to say about the church at this stage of his life in ministry after being involved in the rough and tumble reality of church life for about two decades or more.

By the time he writes these words, I've often I had somebody come up to me after a service here at Cornerstone and they rave about Cornerstone and tell me how much they love this church. And sometimes when someone tells me that, I'll make mental note of the fact that they've been attending Cornerstone for 3 weeks. And their words are deeply meaningful to me and I appreciate them, but I do find myself wondering if they will be so enthusiastic about this church a year from now or 2 years from now.

Or 10 years from now after they have gotten to know us a little bit better.

And experience some of the disappointments that go with doing life together with Christians in a local church that are far from perfect. I expect That many of them probably will still love this church, but I know some of them may not. But then there are people who have been members of Cornerstone. For years now.

And they come up and talk about how much they love this church and its people. And I know them well enough to know that they have been wounded here. They've been hurt. They've experienced disappointments and difficulties that have shaken them to their core.

But God has done a work in them in the crucible of all of that. And they are more in love with Jesus and with his church than ever before. And when I hear someone like this who is speaking this way about this church, I feel grateful for whatever good God has put in us here at Cornerstone, but I also assume something. About the person who's speaking to me.

They get it. They're tasting of the fullness of God in the local church, not in spite of the church's imperfections, but partly because of its imperfections. And this is the way it was with the apostle Paul. Paul has been laboring in the church for years.

By the time he's writing these words in Ephesians one, he knows what it's like to be hurt and wounded by people in the church. In fact, he knows what it's like for Christians to doubt his conversion. And not even want to associate with him after he became a Christian. He knows what it's like to have Christians in the church criticize his physical presence.

As unimpressive and his sermons as contemptible. He knows what it's like to pour himself into people. Only to see them love him less. In opposite proportion to how much love he was showing.

To them, Paul knows what it's like to have Christians question his apostleship. He knows what it's like to have Christians ministering out of selfish ambitions, trying to provoke him to envy. In his imprisonment. Paul knows what it's like to minister to a really messed up church that has members who stand in need of church discipline.

He knows what it's like to be up all night working at a second job because the church that he's ministering to won't give him so much as a nickel. For his effort in shepherding and leading them. Paul knows what it's like to have pressing upon his soul, a deep concern for all the churches. To grieve with indignation in his spirit when a believer is led into sin.

And to experience labor pains of concern for Christians who have strayed away. From the gospel And yet knowing and experiencing all of this, Paul describes the church as the fullness of him. Who feels all in all. Paul would not say that the church is the fullness of Christ in spite of all of these messes.

He would say it is even through these messes and through these burdens that he personally experiences the fullness of God in the church. Paul has experienced the church with all of its warts and wrinkles, and he still speaks of the church. In these glowing terms. So what I would say to you this morning is this, if you are interested in experiencing the fullness of God, On Earth, do not go off into the wilderness and live alone.

Surrounded by the serenity of nature. Join a local church. And experience the grace of Christ through your brothers and through your sisters in the Lord, both through their beauty that comes forth from them and blesses you. And through their brokenness, that breaks your heart.

And stretches you and eventually draws out the beauty of Christ in you toward them. The church is the place where God's fullness can be experienced in fullest measure more than anywhere else on earth. That's why he calls the church the fullness. Of him who feels all at all.

And it's true that even the imperfections of Christians in the church serve that end. God uses the messes, he uses the imperfections to mold us and shape us and to pull growth out of us. That may not have happened any other way. There's a 2nd way that Paul speaks about the church that shows how precious it was to him.

Number 2, he speaks of the church as the bride. Of Christ Listen to what Paul says about Christ and his love for the church in Ephesians 5. He says Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word that he might present to himself, the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy. And blameless.

Paul does not speak of the church as the best friend. Of Christ, though he could have. He doesn't speak of the church as the slave of Christ or the servant of Christ. Instead, he speaks of the church as the bride.

of Christ. You can't get any higher or more intimate. Than that the church is the bride of the second member of the Trinitarian Godhead. That's amazing and she's a precious bride, cherished by Jesus himself.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:25 that Jesus loved the church and gave himself up for her, speaking of handing himself over in death for the church. He died on the cross for the church. He died in order that he might be the one. Who gets to cleanse the church and wash the church, and take care of her spots and her wrinkles.

In preparation for the wedding day when the church is presented to him in perfect beauty. As his bride And this is the way Paul chooses to speak. Of the church as the bride of Christ, deeply loved and Cherished by Jesus. And Paul lived as if that were true.

And if we claim to be Christians, then we should love as Christ loves. We should love the church as he loves the church. think about it, it would, it would be unthinkable. For any of us to say to Jesus, Jesus, I love you, but I hate your bride.

Because she's so flawed. It would be unthinkable to say, I want to be like Christ in every way except in the way in which he loves his church. That's unthinkable. If we are Christians, we will want to be like Christ.

And if Christ loves the church, then being like Christ means joining him in loving the church and its present state of imperfection and brokenness and being part of the process of beautifying the church in preparation for the great wedding day when Christ and the church are wed. This means, by the way, that every Christian, married or single, is already involved in the best marriage there is. And that is the marriage of Christ and the church. That marriage is the varsity marriage that we all participate in, and our earthly marriages.

With one another are merely the junior varsity marriages that point people to the varsity marriage. of Christ and the church that all Christians are a part of. What a model airplane is to a real airplane. That's what our earthly marriages are.

To the real marriage between Christ and the church. No one writing. In a real airplane complains about the fact that They never had a model airplane when they were a kid. The model may have been nice to have, but it's nothing compared to the real airplane and flying in the real airplane.

And that's the way people in the church who experience marriage to Christ think and feel. Understanding this concept helps us in a couple of ways. First of all, it helps those who are unmarried to know that they aren't missing out on anything. Because they're already involved in the most important marriage in existence.

The marriage of Christ and the church is the only marriage that is truly essential to living a rich and meaningful life. And so in this sense, there are no unmarried Christians. For all Christians are involved in the profoundest of marriages between Christ and the church, and that's the only marriage a person needs to be truly Fulfilled Understanding this concept also highlights the importance. Of our earthly marriages.

In fact, it imposes on our marriages a weight of glory that's almost unbearable. God pattern, the earthly institution of marriage after the relationship of Christ and the church. So if we want the world to see that varsity marriage as it stands in all of its glory, then we need to be faithful to our spouses and love our spouses and stay committed to our spouses in order to reflect the image. Of the gospel that our marriages were created by God to reflect.

To do anything less is to take an institution that God specifically created to display the gospel and to turn it into something that displays the opposite. That should be unthinkable. Having said that, I get it. I, I understand that we all struggle in our marriages.

After all, it's hard being unmarried to an imperfect person, isn't it? But who are we to complain? About being married to an imperfect person because we too are sinful and we create burdens and hurts for our spouses also. But think about this, Jesus Christ.

is the perfect spouse. He's absolutely perfect. If anyone has the right to be fed up with a relationship and walk out on that relationship, it's Jesus, right? Yet he loves the church, and he stays committed to her.

He died to gain the right to be the one who Cleanses the church and nourishes the church. To transform the church day by day, to become everything beautifully that he wants it to be. If we truly cherish the devotion of Christ to the church in her present state of brokenness, Then we will seek to mirror that gracious devotion to our imperfect spouses. We will do this so that our marriage might become one of the most powerful evangelistic tools in our arsenal.

So that when we speak to our children and when we speak to other people of the forgiving and gracious and holy love of Christ for his church that they might say to us, I think I know what you're talking about because I see Christ's love on display. In your marriage. And I see that when you fall short of that, you repent. And change I call upon all of you.

Who are part of the Cornerstone family who are married. To love your spouses, to embrace this high calling, to put the gospel on display in your marriage. If you want your children to believe in the gospel, then you believe the gospel enough to let it change and shape your marriage. In all of your life.

If you're struggling in your marriage right now and you need some help, that's OK. My wife and I, we've had to reach out to the elders and others to get counseling for help with our marriage. If you're struggling in your marriage right now and you need some help, reach out to others, reach out to your care group leaders, and together with them, we can provide you some of the help that you need. Your marriage is worth fighting for.

Because it is created and designed to display, to, to mirror Christ's love. For the church And while you're at it, love the church too. Love the church the way Christ loved the church, the way Paul loved the church and viewed it as precious. This is why Paul wrote letters to churches.

This is why he chased and wooed churches that were going astray. Jesus himself wrote 7 letters to churches. In the book of Revelation, he laid down his life for the church. He's right now nourishing and cherishing and washing and cleansing the church, preparing to present the church to himself and all of her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

And one day, We're gonna be a perfect church because of him. We're gonna be a perfect church full of perfect Christians made perfect by a savior who never gave up on us. But whose love changed us day by day into something. That became beautiful like he is beautiful.

True love does not choose to love only the lovely. True love loves the unlovely and transforms the unlovely into something lovely. And that's what Christ has done and will do for us as His church, his bride. There's a third thing that Paul verbalizes, which shows how precious the church is to him, and this leads us.

To the 3rd and final point, and that is he articulates high expectations. Upon the church's leaders. He articulates high expectations upon the church's leaders. how much.

People value something by looking at what they require from those who will be caretakers of that thing. Parents do not typically entrust their kids to some babysitter that they know nothing about. If they did, we would know that their kids really are not that precious to them after all. And likewise, we learn how precious the church is to Paul by listening to what he demands of those who are caretakers of the church.

In First Timothy. Chapter 3. It's not just anyone who can be an elder or a deacon in the church, and these elders and deacons can't just behave any way they like and continue being an elder or deacon. In the church.

One of the big takeaways from reading 1 Timothy chapter 3 is, man, the church must be so precious to Paul that he would lay these high expectations upon church leaders. Like, let me just read this to you in 1 Timothy 3, Paul gives qualifications for those who serve as elders in the church. He calls them overseers. And says in verse one, it is a trustworthy statement if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.

In other words, it's a wonderful thing to be an overseer who watches over the precious Church of God. This is a fine work. Paul continues, an overseer then must be above reproach. The husband of one wife.

Meaning a one woman man, married to one woman and devoted mind, heart, and body to that woman. He continues, an elder must be temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious. But gentle Peaceable Free from the love. Of money If a man does not match these requirements, Paul would not let him get close.

To any leadership position of taking care and watching over the precious church. of Christ. He continues in verse 4, he must be one who manages his own household while keeping his children under control with all dignity. If a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the Church of God?

Paul asked. And he can't be a new convert. So that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil, and he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare. Of the devil Paul is posting these requirements online as it were, for all the world to see.

Only people matching these descriptions are fit to be entrusted with the fine responsibility and calling to be caretakers or to take care of the Church of God. Paul is not content to merely give qualifications. And these requirements for elders, but he presses on to articulate specific requirements for deacons, starting in verse 8. If you're wondering what deacons are, they are people who play a leadership role over important areas of ministry in the life of the church.

Technically, everyone in the church is called to engage in the work of deaconing. In Ephesians 4:12, but the New Testament gives us a model in which a deacon is someone who serves in a leadership position over an area of deaconing or service, assisting the elders in the execution of the ministries of that particular local church. You see this in Acts 6, there were widows who are being overlooked and the daily deaconing. or service that they stood in need of, so the elders, the apostles, the leaders of the church instructed the church to appoint 7 men whom they say we may put in charge of this task or need is what the Greek word means.

That's what a deacon does. He's put in charge of a particular area. Of ministry where service is required to address an area of need in the church body. And because the church is so precious, Paul says, There's expectations for those who serve as deacons.

In the church. Look at what he requires of deacons who are put in charge of various areas of deaconing or service to the Church of Jesus Christ. He says in verse 8, deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain. But holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

These men must also first be tested and then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. Evidence shows that the early church. had women who served. In a deacon role as well.

in fact, I don't have this verse on the screen, but you can write down Romans 16:1. Romans 16:1 where Paul says, I, to the Roman congregation, he says, I commend to you our sister, Phoebe. Who is a Dioinon. A deacon, a deaconess of the church, which is at Centria.

So we're not surprised that Paul provides guidelines for such deaconesses, servants in the church who are sisters. In verse 11, he says women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate and faithful in all things. Meaning trustworthy, dependable in all spheres of life, true to their commitments toward their husbands, toward their children, toward the church, toward God and toward others. Coming back to deacons in verse 12, Paul says, deacons must be husbands of only one wife.

In other words, they must be one. Woman, men and good managers of their children and their own households. He then makes this pronouncement. For those who serve well as deacons in the church.

Verse 13, for those who have served well as deacons, obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Those who served the church well as deacons. are truly great ones in God's kingdom. And we are blessed to have many such deacons and deaconesses here at Cornerstone.

As for elders, Paul is burdened even later in First Timothy that elders be honored when they serve well, but he's also concerned that they be held to account when they do not serve well. He makes provision for both in 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse 17, he says the elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching, for the scripture says, you shall not muzzle the ox. While he is threshing. When I get to heaven, I plan on having a chat with Paul about this analogy.

that he uses here. But you get his point And he also quotes from Jesus in Luke, where Jesus said, the laborer is worthy. Of his wages But Paul also wants there to be provision for dealing with an elder, a leader in the church who is in sin. In verse 19, he says, do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of 2 or 3 witnesses.

So be very careful about how you handle an accusation against an elder, but if the accusation is true and can be verified, You need to act upon that as members of this congregation. Verse 20 Paul says those speaking of those elders who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. I solemnly charge you, Paul says in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of his chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.

If an elder is involved in unrepentant sin, the church should not be worried about protecting his reputation.

But should be concerned with God's reputation. If I, as an elder of this church, were involved in sin that I refuse to repent of, I hope. That the elders would be More concerned with the glory of Christ and with God's reputation than they would be with my reputation. I hope that they would see to it that I am confronted and publicly rebuked in the presence of the whole congregation so that God's reputation would be preserved.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:15 through 17, And we're asking our care groups that are meeting, this week to read these verses together. Jesus tells us that if a Christian is in sin, You should go to that brother and seek to win them from their sin. And if that fails, you should take 2 or 3 others with you and seek to win them from their sin. And if that fails, you should tell it to the church.

Jesus guidelines in Matthew 18:15 through 17 apply to all believers in the church. And here in 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse 20, Paul is insisting that these guidelines apply to elders also. Elders are not above the law that Christ lays down in Matthew. 18 This is exactly why Paul urges.

Timothy, to be so careful about who is appointed to eldership. And goes on to tell him, don't lay hands of approval upon anyone too hastily. And thereby share responsibility for the sins of others and keep yourself free from sin, Paul warns Timothy and all of us. I hope you guys see how precious the church is to the apostle Paul.

In these passages that we've just glanced at this morning. Paul speaks of the church as the embodied fullness of Christ on earth at this time in history, he calls the church the bride of Christ, whom Christ loves, and he verbalizes very high demands and expectations. For those who are entrusted with the task of serving as elders and deacons and deaconesses of the local church. It seems that every week or two we're hearing news of another pastor or church leader who's been exposed in some scandalous sin.

Giving the enemies of Christ reason to blaspheme the beautiful name of our Savior. Beyond that, you guys know if you read the news in every quarter of society, be it television, Hollywood, the political arena, scandals are just being spewed in the headlines. Every day and sordid details of how people have abused their power to exploit others are splashed across headlines. That we are barraged by on a daily basis, and it's sad that in such a day, there are as many scandals occurring in churches.

As in other parts of society. When the church should be the safest of all places. A place where right is right and wrong is wrong, a place where righteousness is celebrated and sin is condemned and fought against, a place where God's sheep are loved and cared for by godly leaders, not abused and exploited by those in positions of power in the church. The church should be a place where godly examples are set by those in leadership.

Rather than ungodly examples being set by those in leadership, examples that bring reproach. To Christ. Guys, this is God's vision for The church, the local church. This is God's plan for cornerstone, and this should be the desire of anyone who like Paul views the church as precious.

And I think this would be a good Sunday for all of us to recommit ourselves to Doing our part as members of this congregation and helping Cornerstone to be A holy community that obeys Christ and, and brings glory to, to him. And to pray for. One another And to pray for the elders and the deacons and the deaconesses of Cornerstone. May God make us a holy people who are led by a holy people.

May we be like Paul and treat the Church of Jesus Christ. As the precious and holy institution that it is. May we cherish its ordinances. May we cherish its privileges.

And may we cherish its mission. And may we cherish above all Jesus Christ, who is the head of the church. And be willing to do his bidding at every turn. And may God help us to do these things.

In Jesus' name. And all God's people said,