Building Character Through The Church | Bella Vista Church of Christ

Building Character Through The Church

Building Character Through The Church
Randall Caselman
2/23/97 am

Building Character Through The Church

Reading - Ephesians 2.19-22


Last week we began a new Sunday morning series on building character. We talked about building character through decision making - Pointing out that today, right now, is the time to accept Jesus as your savior. Paul said, today is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time. There can be no serious improvement in character until we submit to God‘s will - Submit to becoming the people and person He calls us to be.

Submit to becoming His child. If you have not done this, I challenge you to do it.... Begin your journey today.

Now, not only must we make a decision on character growth before it will happen, we must also place ourselves in a proper climate, a proper environment for that growth.

This is what the lesson is about. Now, here is the statement that I want you to hold on to throughout the sermon, character growth needs a proper environment.
* You don’t grow oranges in Alaska.
* You don’t learn about democracy in the University of Lingered.
* We cannot expect to improve our character by living like the world.

The best place for improving our character is in the environment of a loving, caring serving church family. Note with me verse 19 of our text, and lets see what we can learn about the church, You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God's people and members of God's household.  Notice the words:  Fellow citizens, members, and God’s household.  This verse teaches us three very important truths:

FIRST THE CHURCH IS A FAMILY.
It is not a building. It is not a social club. Its not just another an organization or institution. It is not a religion. The church is a family, God’s family. Christianity means, that we are not only related to God as His children, but we are related to one another as fellow believers. Acts 2.38 and 47 tells us that God adds baptized believers to the church. Folks, the Christian life can only be lived in relationship to other Christians. The Christian without a church family is an orphan. The Bible says the church is God's family. Every Christian needs a family to associate with. Each of us need a church home.

SECONDLY, A CHRISTIAN ISN’T JUST A BELIEVER BUT A BELONGER.
Belonging to God’s family demonstrates that we are believers. Romans 12.5 tells us, In Christ, we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. In the New Testament there is no such thing as a Christian who didn’t have a church home.

You don’t read of a New Testament Christian saying:  Let’s go to the church of Philippi today, next week we’ll go to Corinth, then the next week we’ll go to the church at Rome.  There was no such thing as a Christian without a church. That’s true everywhere in the world except America. Only in American do we have Lone Ranger Christians.

Those who say, I’m a Christian but I don’t need the church. Read Acts 2.47 again, God added to the church, God added to their number daily those being saved. The Bible teaches that we are members and that we belong to the body of Christ.

Truth is we have a deep sense of belonging. God created us for relationships. Then He placed us in family units... Both physically and spiritually. We are guilty of disregarding His will when we decide to disengage from either one.... Physical families or church families.

THIRDLY, MEMBERSHIP HAS RESPONSIBILITIES.
Notice our text says member. In today’s society, membership means nothing; it means your name is on a role. But in the Bible, when one become a member of the church it mint they were actively involved. Membership in God’s family is more than just being a spectator. It means we are a participant. We’re not just a consumer, we’re to be a contributor. We’re not just along for the ride, we are a part of the crew.

This is what it means to be a member of the body of Christ. Are we willing?
OK, What kind of church should we look for?

Now don’t put words in my mouth. I’m not asking what denomination do I become affiliated with. We must know this morning that, Jesus did not come to build a denomination.... He came to build His church. Out text says Jesus came so that we would no longer be foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people.... Members of God’s family... His household. This family, this church, was built on the foundation of the:
* Apostles
* Prophets
* With Christ was the chief corner stone.

Any church not built on this same foundation is not the household, the family of God. In 1 Corinthians 3.11 Paul declared, For no-one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. You see, we’ve allowed the world to force us into its mold of thinking. Its not attend or join the church of your choice.. .It is God’s choice.
* The church foretold by the prophets,
* Purchased by the blood of Christ,
* And reveled by the apostles.
OK, what church is right for me?

What church will help me grow in character and help me get to heaven?

First, will it encourage me and help me stay spiritually motivated?
Hebrews 10.25 says, Let us not give the habit of meeting together... Instead let us encourage one another. We all need encouragement. The Bible says the church is to be a place of encouragement. Read the book of Acts again. The early church:
* Worshiped together,
* Ate together,
* Prayed for one another,
* Helped one another financially.
* They encouraged each other.
The church is not a place to get wounded or beaten up. The household of God is where we are:  Healed, Lifted up, Encouraged and Edified.

Listen to these phrases of encouragement addressed to New Testament churches.
* Have fellowship with one another
* Greet one another with a holy kiss
* Love one another fervently.
* Accept one another.
* Prefer one another
* Be devoted to one another.
* Honor one another.
* Serve one another.
* Be kind and compassionate one to another.
* Practice hospitality.
* Confess your faults one to another.
* Pray for one another.
* Forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Do you hear the encouragement in these verses? Do you feel the warmth in this church environment? It’s like that old illustration which says you take a coal of fire from the campfire and put it aside, what happens to it? It grows cold. But if you take that coal and put it back into the fire, it warms up again.
* The church is the place to get warmed up.
* The church is a place to be loved
* The church is an extended family.

Galatians 6.2 says, Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. We must search for a church that encourages us and helps us stay spiritually motivated.

Does it help me discover and develop my ministry?  God not only created us with a need for relationships. He also created us with a psychological need to feel worthwhile.  All of us have a need to feel like our lives count for something.  That we’re making a significant contribution to life.  That we’re not just on the planet taking up space.  Scripture tells us, the way to find this fulfillment is to do what God created us to do. This is called our ministry.

You may be thinking, do you have a scripture for this? How about Ephesians 2.10, For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Before we were born again, God equipped us with: Spiritual gifts, with abilities, special talents, with skills that we could use in: His Kingdom, His family, in the Lord’s vineyard.  He gave them to us for a purpose.

Paul addresses the use of these skills in Romans chapter 12. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. You see, the good works we do are called our ministry. Each member of God’s family is a minister. We must look for a church that helps us discover and develop our ministry. Now, let me say something here that is very important and that I hope you will understand, If you don’t discover your ministry you’ll never be happy in a church. People leave churches because they didn’t find their ministry. Elders, this is why it is so import, and that your concern yourselves with making sure each and every member of this church has a responsibility to take care of, a job to do.

WELL WHAT DETERMINES OUR MINISTRY?
The gifts, the natural talents, that God has given us. I believe there are 5 factors that each of us need to consider in searching for our ministry:
1. Our Personality,
2. Our Gifts,
3. Our Temperament,
4. Our Abilities,
5. And what needs to be done in the church.

When we put these five together, we will find our place in God’s family. And, we’ll find: Contentment, Satisfaction, Fulfillment, and Self-Esteem.  You see, the secret of contentment, fulfillment and self-esteem is doing what God created us for, what He created us to do. A lot of people don’t know this; SO, they try to prop themselves up with: Symbols, Success, Status.

Fulfillment and self-esteem don’t come from status, they comes from service. Do you think Jesus was content, fulfilled and had good self-esteem? WHY? Because He was a servant... He was found doing what the Father wanted Him to do. Do you think Mother Teresa ever worries about fulfillment and low self esteem?

Some of us try to excuse ourselves from ministry.
According to 1 Corinthians 12.27 that cannot be done. Listen to what Paul writes, Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. Paul is saying, each of us have a job to do in the church. Have you ever seen a jig saw puzzle-With one piece missing. What do you notice first? The piece that’s missing. If you’re a Christian and you don’t fit into your place, there’s a big hole in the church, in God’s family picture. First Corinthians 12 says, we’re all a part of the Body of Christ and every member is necessary. Imagine your physical body? What if one day your liver decided to go on strike? What if your liver said, I don’t need a body. I’m just going to jump around from one body to another. Or how about if the liver said, I think I’ll stay in one body but I don’t think I’ll participate. I’ll just watch all the other body parts do their thing. It doesn’t work that way. Every part is necessary. Let me encourage you to look for a church that will help you discover your ministry and provide opportunity and encouragement to be involved in it.

Does it help me fulfill my mission in life?
The moment we became a Christian, we were given a mission in life. As a Christian we are responsible for what’s called The Great Commission. Jesus said, Go into all the world and spread the Good News... Make disciples.

When life is over God is going to ask, What did you do about the Mission? Well, I joined a church and went to services. Do we really feel that this is all that God is asking of us? We’re better Bible students than this aren’t we? Paul understood this mission. Listen to him in Acts 20.24, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me. What was that mission Paul? What does he say it was? -- The task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

* Why does God leave us in this world after we become His child?
* Why are we here instead of in heaven?
* Why doesn’t God just zap us into heaven at baptism?
Because in heaven we can’t fulfill our mission of communicating Jesus to others... Verbally or by our life-style example. Church, we have a mission! 2 Corinthians 5.20 says, We are Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. As a baptized believer, we represent Jesus Christ:
* At work,
* At school,
* In our neighborhood,
* On the golf course.

One of the purposes of the church is to help us in our mission:  By training, and by providing services like this, that we can invite friends to.  It is the duty of the church to help us fulfill this mission.

Now, once we know what kind of church we need to help us personally What else should we look for in a church?

I believe we must look for the church that pleases God.  We need to check out four things.  Never place membership in a church without first checking out these four things.

NUMBER ONE, ITS DOCTRINE.
What do they believe? Is this church doctrinally sound? Do they accept the Bible as God’s inerrant and complete word?
* It’s not the Bible plus our little book.
* It’s not the Bible plus denominational traditions.
* It’s not the Bible plus the concepts from the reformation or restoration movement.
* It’s not the Bible plus what some leader in the past said.
It’s just the Bible. Does this church, I’m considering believe the Bible.

NUMBER 2, ITS WORSHIP STYLE.
Jesus told the woman at Jacob’s well, God desires worshippers that will worship Him in spirit and in truth.
* First, He is saying that worship must move us personally to a closer relationship to God. The motive of the worshippers is to be correct. Worship is to be in the right spirit. Check out the spirit of Old Testament worship... Singing, dancing, joy. Old Testament worship was a celebration. The Jewish feast were times of celebration. Leviticus 23.32, in the King James, says, celebrate the Sabbath. They were to worship with meaning and enthusiasm.

I’ve been in some churches where the service was like a funeral. Folk, God is not dead. He wants us to be excited about Him and the fact that we are His children. Again, don’t put words in my mouth. I am not saying that worship must be entertaining. The worship services are not to entertain us, but to glorify God. But at the same time worship is to edifying and uplifting to us. Worship is to be a joyous event

* Secondly, at the same time worship is to be in truth... According to truth.
Regardless of how edifying and uplifting a service may be, if it is not done according to God’s will, it is not pleasing to Him. The church at Corinth was conducting some very entertaining communion services, but in 2 Corinthians 11 we find that God was not pleased, because they were not worshipping in truth.

I believe the New Testament to teach that there are six aspects of Kingdom worship by God’s family today:
* Singing,
* Prayers,
* Preaching and study of the Word,
* Giving of means,
* Communion around the Lord’s table’
* And Fellowship.  Fellowship ought to be in this list because:

The Hebrews writer says, Do not to forsake the assembly... Our meeting together.  Paul in 2 Corinthians repeatedly uses the phrase, When the church comes together.  Acts 20 and 7 says, upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together.

In the New Testament, First Day Of The Week worship was a corporate event. Before you decide on a church, examine their worship style.

NUMBER THREE, ITS MISSION.
What is the mission of the church? What should be the objectives, the goals of this church, any church? The goal of the church is the same as that of Jesus, its Savior and Head of the Body. What were the elements of His mission:
* I came to seek and save the lost.
* I came to call sinners to repentance.
* I came not to be served, but to serve.
* I came to do the will of My Father.
The prime objective is to seek and save the lost... To call sinners to repentance. The secondary objective is to serve others. And both are to be accomplished by doing the will of the Father.

We see this mission exemplified over and over in the book of Acts where the word was preached, and people were helped.  Read Acts 2, Acts 3, Acts 4, Acts 6, Acts 8, Acts 10, Acts 16.  When Paul consulted with the Apostles about his mission, remember what they said, as reported in Galatians chapter 4?  Preach the word.  * And remember the poor.

Be sure you check out the mission of the church before you become a part of it.

ONE MORE BEFORE WE STOP, CHECK ITS ORGANIZATION.
Most churches are heavy with unscriptural organization.

* First, the New Testament teaches that the church is to be autonomous. That simply means that it stands alone. There is no authority over the local church outside of Jesus through the Word. Ephesians teaches us that Jesus is head of the church and the Savior of the body. No man or group of men have any right telling local church how to run their business. Any organization bigger than the local church is unscriptural. No such identity is found in the Bible.

* Secondly, the church is to have qualified men who have been selected to lead the church. These Elders, as they are called, are to shepherd the flock:
* To guide
* To feed,
* To protect,
* To discipline,
* And to oversee.
Elders are not here to rule over us as a board of directors, but to do everything humanly possible to help us grow in character and help us get to heaven.

* Thirdly, Deacons are qualified men who have been appointed to serve in special areas of ministry. Deacons are not in the church to do our ministry for us, but to make sure certain ministries do not get ignored, or left undone. This was the very purpose they were appointed for in Acts chapter six.

In His wisdom, God has provided an environment in which we can grow in character, in which we can become the people and person He has called us to be. That environment is the church... His family.... His household.

The question is are you in God’s family?
He’ll add you to His family if you’re willing to:
* Have faith
* Repent of your sins
* And be born again in the act of New Testament baptism, immersion in water for the forgives of your sins.

Perhaps you are a baptized believer and you’re looking for a church home.  We believe this church is one that will provide you, with an environment, in which you can grow in character.

Written By

Bella Vista Church of Christ

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