What in the World Should the Church Be Doing? - Part 2

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We return tonight to our study of the church, for the last time. Lord willing, the next time we take up our study of what the Bible teaches about the great doctrines, we will begin a study on the doctrine of last things, or eschatology. But tonight, we want to look again at the mission of the church. What in the world should the church be doing?

Let me remind you that last time we began our study by looking at some basic governing principles which are, the duties of the church are equally shared by every member of the church. We discussed at length that false dichotomy that exists between clergy and laity. God has given to the church, the responsibility. And the duties of the church can be reduced to one key concept, and that is, serving.

We ended our time last time by looking at Ephesians Chapter 4 and the overarching plan in the mission of the church. It's fourfold. Christ appoints the leaders of the church. Those leaders then equip the members of the church. The members of the church accomplish the service of the church. And finally, the outcome will be the growth of the church. As that passage ends there in Ephesians 4, "to the building up of the body of Christ." That is the plan. Christ has appointed leaders for His church, in the elders and in the elders of this church. Our responsibility is to equip you, the members of the church. Your job is to accomplish the service of the church. And when all of us fill our role and our function in the church, the outcome is the growth of the church. And I rejoice to see that happening here at Countryside. My prayer for me, and for you, and for the elders, is that we would continue to excel still more in fulfilling this great plan from eternity past.

Now, tonight I want to go though, to more specifically, what the church's specific duties are. Scripture lays out the church's duties in unequivocal terms. And those marching orders take us in three directions. They take us up, and in, and out. Or to put it as we did last time, the church's mission can be reduced to a vertical mission, an internal mission, and a horizontal mission; or, the church has a mission to God, to the church itself, and to the world. If any part of the church's mission is ignored, then she loses some of her usefulness to her Lord. So, it's absolutely essential that we as a church understand all three elements of our divine mandate and seek to fulfill each of them to the glory of the Lord. Now understand that there is overlap between these categories. Often a duty that we owe God will also have benefits to us and to one another. But I've tried to categorize the duties of the church by their primary focus under these headings: our duties to God, our duties to the church itself, and to the world.

So, let's look first at the church's mission, or duties, to God. What exactly is our responsibility as a church to God? Well, first and foremost, and this is obvious and clear, it's worship. I'm not going to spend a lot of time here because obviously we're just beginning a study about worship on Sunday mornings. But let me give you a thumbnail description of the worship of the church. Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology says, "God has designed us and appointed us in Christ to live for the praise of His glory. Worship in the church is not merely a preparation for something else. It is in itself, fulfilling the major purpose of the church with reference to its Lord." That's exactly right. This is the major task and responsibility of the church to God. Now, how is the church to worship corporately? And again, we're going to flesh this out in great detail in coming weeks, but let me just give you a thumbnail sketch. The church worships by reading the Bible aloud, publicly. By the way, of course these same things would be true individually as well as corporately, but I'm speaking here corporately. By reading the Bible, by praying the Bible, by singing the Bible, and by preaching the Bible. And finally, by giving. And then of course as I've mentioned to you in addition to that, the church worships, not every time it meets, but when it does, practice the ordinances. And those of course are two: baptism and the Lord's Table. Those elements constitute the worship of the church. We are to read the Bible, pray the Bible; and I'll explain more about what that means when we get there Sunday mornings, sing the Bible, preach the Bible, and then we are to give, and we are to practice the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Table. That is the worship of the church in a nutshell.

The church has a second duty or responsibility to God; not only worship, but I agree with a number of theologians that the church also has a duty to God to serve as the pillar and ground of the truth. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 3:15. Paul here encapsulates the reason he wrote the pastoral epistles, and particularly, this letter to Timothy. In verse 14 he says,

I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

Now that's to be true of both the universal church as well as every local manifestation of the church. So, what does it mean to be a pillar and support, or ground as some translations say it, of the truth? Well, the pillars here may refer to that great feature of Ephesus where Timothy ministered, that is the temple of Diana. It was supported, they tell us, by 127 pillars of marble, all plated with gold. Ground appears only here in the New Testament. It probably describes the foundation. So the church, is the foundation and the pillars of the truth. The church is to be both the foundation and pillars that support the truth of God. How is the church to fulfill that function? Well, to change metaphors, Paul tells Timothy to think of the truth like a treasure. In fact, notice in 1 Timothy 6:20 this is how he ends his first letter, "O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you." And then he references it again in 2 Timothy 1:13-14,

Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

Literally, I want you to guard the good deposit which I have entrusted to you. You see, Paul sees the truth as this great treasure that he had received and has now deposited with Timothy. The church is to take that treasure, the truth, and we're to do several things with it. First of all, we're to proclaim it. In 2 Timothy Chapter 4 as Paul develops this whole idea, he talks about the church's responsibility, and particularly the leaders, the elders of the church, he says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1, "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, preach the word." And then he goes on to say, listen, this isn't going to be popular all the time, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires." In other words, teachers who give them what they want. "And will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But I want you instead to preach the word." The church is to proclaim this treasure of truth.

The church is also to guard the treasure. I read you a couple of passages, both in 1 Timothy 6 and in 2 Timothy 1 where we are to guard it. How exactly do we guard the truth? Well we guard it by establishing the standard against which error can be judged. That's why we have a doctrinal statement at our church. We said this is what the Bible means. This is where we stand in this church., so we've established a standard against which error can be judged. Then we identify error. We confront wrong teaching and errant teachers. We're commanded to do that. In Titus Chapter 1, the elders are told that they're to confront false teaching. We're to practice church discipline. We can guard the truth by practicing church discipline against false teachers, as Titus 1 encourages us to, against believers who persist in spreading doctrinal error, as Paul did with Peter even in Galatians Chapter 2, and practicing church discipline against believers who are divisive about their own doctrinal positions in contradiction of the church's doctrinal statement. Titus Chapter 3 talks about the divisive person, and the emphasis there, while it can be divisiveness for any reason, tends to be doctrinal divisiveness.

The final way that the church can serve as a pillar and ground of the truth; not only should we proclaim it, should we guard the treasure, but we should pass the treasure on to the next generation - the treasure of sound doctrine, as Paul calls it. We're to pass it on to the next generation. 2 Timothy 2:2, "The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." The main verb of that sentence is entrust. It's an imperative. Its most frequent non-theological usage in the New Testament is, to set food before someone. So, it became a metaphor for teaching someone. He says, Timothy, I want you to take the good deposit, the treasure, that I've entrusted to you of sound doctrine, and I want you to teach others who will then be able to pass it on to faithful men. So, in other words, we are to pass on, to the next generation, the treasure. As someone has pointed out in this verse, 2 Timothy 2:2, you have several generations. You have Paul. You have Timothy. "He is then to entrust what he has learned to faithful men." There's the third generation. "Who will be able to teach others also." There's the fourth generation. This is how the truth is preserved in the church. This is our responsibility to God as a church. We are to worship God and we are to protect, and proclaim, and pass on the treasure of sound doctrine. You see, we stand in a long line. As I stand up here tonight, I'm not teaching you original things. If I begin to get original, I'm going to get in trouble because the New Testament truth and the Holy Spirit have been around for 2,000 years. My job is to take the treasure that has been passed down to me by my mentors, by those who poured their life into me, and to proclaim it to you, to guard it against error in the ways I've mentioned here, and then to pass it on to the next generation, like a baton in a relay race. It goes to the next runner who takes that truth, that treasure, and does the same thing with it; proclaims it, and guards it, and passes it on. This is our responsibility as the church to God.

We also have a responsibility, as the church, to the church itself. This is the internal ministry of the church. Just as the church has certain duties to God, we have certain duties and responsibilities to one another. Let me go through these with you. The church's responsibilities to itself. First of all, the church has a responsibility to govern its own affairs, within the scope of the teaching of the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 14:33, obviously this comes in the context of the spiritual gifts and particularly the mess that was going on in Corinth over tongues, "God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints." And then in verse 40 he says, "But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner." Now the implication of these verses in their context is that there are certain standard operating procedures laid down clearly in the Word of God. He lays some down in 1 Corinthians 14. But there are other issues not directly addressed in Scripture, and in those issues, the church, under the leadership of the elders, is to make sure that all things are carefully governed to reflect the character of God, which is one of order. So the church is to be governing its affairs in a way that reflects the character of God.

Secondly, the church is to be equipping the saints for the work of service. We've already talked about this so I won't belabor this, but the elders obviously have a responsibility to equip the saints, as we learned in Ephesians 4, through the ministry of the word, both verbal instruction and example, and through prayer. That's our job – to equip you using those tools. And then each member can actually use his or her spiritual gift, and in so doing, cause the body to grow and people to use their gifts. In Ephesians 4:12-16 we learn how as the individual parts work, the whole grows and is built up and strengthened. As you use the gift God has given you, you not only grow but you cause others to grow, which causes the growth of the church as a whole. So one mission of the church, to itself, is to govern its affairs; another is to equip the saints for the work of service.

A third duty of the church, to itself, is to practice church discipline. Now we've studied this also in great detail so I won't do that here. If you weren't here, I encourage you to listen to the messages I preached on Matthew 18 and one recently on James 5:19-20. This concept appears a number of places in the New Testament. But I just want to ask two basic questions as we look at this tonight. What are the purposes of church discipline? Galatians 6:1 tells us it's to restore the sinning Christian to the path of blessing and obedience. Matthew 18:20 tells us it's to call the person to serious self-examination. We put them out of the church, and so doing, we ask them to see whether or not they're even really in the faith because they're living a pattern of rebellion against God. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 and a couple of other passages as well, tell us that one of the goals is to protect other Christians from sin and to motivate them to pursue holiness. Proverbs 19:25 says, "Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn." When church discipline is practiced it causes those who have a heart that's tender to the Lord to want to shun their sin and to pursue holiness.

A second question I want to answer is, what is the ultimate divine purpose of discipline? Ephesians 5 tells us what Christ is doing in His church and I think when the church practices church discipline it joins with Christ in sanctifying the church and presenting it as a bride without spot or wrinkle to Christ. Ultimately, that's Christ's function, but He does that through the ministry of church discipline. It's not a fun ministry to sign up for, but nevertheless, an important ministry of the church.

Another ministry the church has, to itself, is to encourage mutual edification. The elders are responsible to do this. Luke mentions Paul's ministry in Acts 20:2, "When he had gone through those districts and given them much exhortation, He came to Greece." Hebrews 13:7 says, "Remember those who led you, who spoke the Word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith." The elders help spur people on, build them up, encourage them in their walk with Christ; but that's not merely the responsibility of the elders – it is the responsibility of every Christian. Part of the way the church is to function is you, and I, and all of us, are to encourage each other to do the right thing, to walk in obedience, to serve the Lord. You see this in a number of passages. Let me just give you a couple. Romans 15:14, "And concerning you my brethren, I myself am also convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness," speaking to the church in Rome, "filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another." To warn and encourage and direct one another. Colossians 3:16: "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to the Lord." You and I are to mutually encourage and to edify each other. 1 Thessalonians 5:11: "Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, just as you are doing." How does that happen? This mutual edification happens through the fellowship of gathering together corporately on the Lord's Day.

Notice Hebrews 10:24-25, "and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds." That is, to love God, to love each other, and to good deeds; to do the right thing. To walk in the path of obedience. How does that happen? "Not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one other; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." That mutual edification, that mutual stimulation, should happen on the Lord's Day as you and I interact with each other, and we talk, and what you're going through encourages and strengthens me, and I come alongside you, and we build each other up in that way. So, the church has a duty to encourage mutual edification.

Another mission that the church has to itself, is to practice mutual care. Our responsibility to care for the needy begins with fellow Christians. Galatians 6:10 says, "while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." We have a responsibility to care for each other in the temporal sense, as people have needs. Let me give you just a few of the groups of needy that are clearly mentioned in Scripture that our church has a responsibility to. To widows, 1 Timothy 5: 3-16. I know that's small, but I'm trying to get a lot on the screen. Stay with me. We're not going to walk through that passage, but I'm going to refer back to it in just a moment. James 1:27 makes the same point, that pure and undefiled religion is to visit the widows in their distress. Now, 1 Timothy 5 makes it clear that if there is a family, the family has the first responsibility to care for these widows. But if there is no family, then the church has a responsibility. And the criteria for such support are laid out in 1 Timothy 5. So, we have an obligation to care for the needy widows.

Also, for orphans. The same passage in James 1:27 says, "pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphans in their distress." This is a responsibility that we have in mutual care. We're to care for the sick. We certainly see that in the example of the ministry of Jesus. Matthew 14:14 says, "He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick." Jesus, everywhere he went, was healing the sick. Certainly, there was a lesson in those miracles. There was a lesson about His ability to reach inside the soul and do to the soul the same thing that He was doing to the body. But there was also just genuine compassion for people and their needs.

You see the same thing in the ministry of the apostles. Acts 5:16, talking of the church in Jerusalem said, "the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed." The ministry of the apostles continued the ministry of Jesus. You say, yes but those were miraculous healings. We can't do that. That doesn't obviate our responsibility. Turn back to Matthew 25. This is really a fascinating passage. In fact, put your thumb here, because we're going to come back to it a couple of times over the next few minutes. Matthew 25:34-38. This is called the judgement of the nations. It's not really, as I've mentioned to you before, a judgment of nations. It's a judgment of people within those nations.

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

Pretty powerful message to us, isn't it? To visit the sick, even the least of those in our congregation, is to visit, as it were, the Lord Himself. When you go to the hospital, when you take a meal to someone's home, you think of this verse. Jesus says, you do it to them, it's just as if you were doing it to Me. We have a ministry to the needy. It's very clear.

Same thing, by the way, is true not only of widows and orphans, but also of hospitality to strangers. Notice Matthew 25 again, "I was a stranger and you invited Me in." Again, this is Jesus saying, "because you did it to one of the least of My brothers." Romans 12:13 says, "Be practicing hospitality." Hebrews 13:2, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it." 1 Peter 4:9, "Be hospitable to one another", I love this, "without complaint." What is the saying? Visitors and fish both smell in three days. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 3 John is entirely about showing hospitality to faithful itinerate ministers of the Gospel as they come through town. We have an obligation to this needy group as well. But this isn't all. It's pretty amazing actually, isn't it? We have a responsibility of mutual care to widows, to orphans, to sick, to strangers, and also, to prisoners. The reference here is especially to prisoners for their faith. Not that we shouldn't have a ministry to those who aren't in prison for their faith, but for some crime they committed. I, for three years, went to a prison almost every Saturday night and ministered the Gospel there, and preached, and counseled, and met with men. So, I'm not saying we shouldn't do that. I'm saying the reference primarily in these passages has to do with those who were being persecuted and afflicted. You see it in Matthew 25 again. It says, "I was a prisoner and you visited me." In Philippians 4:14, Paul says, as he's there in prison, "you have done well", Philippian church, "to share with me in my affliction." Hebrews 10:34, "For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one." Hebrews 13:3 says, "Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body." We don't know people like this here in the states, at least not many. But there are plenty of them around the world. In Russia, where I'll go in just a few weeks, there are men whom I know there and serve alongside who spent years in the gulags because of their faith in Jesus Christ. And we are to remember them as though imprisoned with them. We have a responsibility.

Finally, we have a responsibility to the poor. Turn to Acts 11:27-30.

Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders.

Very clear responsibility the church felt. Romans 12:13, "be contributing to the needs of the saints." 1 Corinthians 16, Paul talks about the collection for the poor. 2 Corinthians Chapter 9, the same theme. Galatians 2:10, the apostles asked Paul to remember the poor and Paul says, "the very thing I also was eager to do." In James 2:15, James, as we studied, says,

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

John puts it this way in 1 John 3:17, "But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?" This is a responsibility that the church needs to feel. The story is told that in the days of the terrible persecution in Rome, Roman authorities broke into a Christian church. They were there to loot the treasures which they believed the church to possess. The Roman prefect demanded from the deacon, "Show me your treasures at once!". Loremptius, the deacon, pointed at the widows and orphans who were being supplied and he said, "These. These are the treasures of the church." We have a ministry of mutual care to one another and to the needy.

So, what is the ministry of the church to itself? To govern its affairs, to equip the saints for service, to practice church discipline, to encourage mutual edification, and to practice mutual care for all of those who are in need.

Now let's look at the ministry of the church to the world. Essentially there are two great responsibilities that we have to the world. The first and most obvious one, and our primary ministry to the world, is evangelism. You see this constantly in the commands of Christ to his apostles. Matthew 28:19 says, "Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." This is a mandate for us. You understand that? This is a mandate for you. The emphasis in this sentence is not on "going". The main verb in this sentence is "make disciples". Going is sort of an intended circumstance. In other words, as you go, make disciples. The point is this: wherever you are, wherever God in His providence or in His will directs you, there, be making disciples. Let me ask you, are you doing that? Are you doing that in your family? In the workplace? In your neighborhood? Are you trying to reach out with the good news of Christ? In Acts 1:8, Jesus said, "you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the remotest part of the earth." Acts 8:4, when the persecution breaks out it says, "Therefore, those who had been scattered went about", and there's several different ways you could translate it, literally it says, "evangelizing the word." "Spreading the word." "Gossiping the Gospel" is one paraphrase. Great description of our responsibility. Turn to 2 Corinthians Chapter 5. You see this responsibility very clearly laid down. 2 Corinthians 5:14, he says, "For the love of Christ", and we talked about this a couple weeks ago; this is Christ's love for us. Christ's love for us, and our knowledge of that love, "controls us," drives us, grips us, "having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died, and He died for all", that is for all of those that are His, "so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." We're not to live for ourselves. What does that mean practically? Well notice verse 17,

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

This is the mission of the church. "We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God." What's the heart and soul of our message as ambassadors? Verse 21, "God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." This is the ministry of the church. It's the mission of evangelism. And if you doubt that passage, look at 1 Peter 2:9. Peter couldn't make it any clearer. He says, for you who have been scattered who are the church, "you are a chosen race", and he takes the description originally given to Israel. You see, one of Israel's functions in the Old Testament was to be a witness nation for God. To put God on display. But Israel failed in that ministry, and now the church and part of God's sovereign eternal plan, has taken up the banner to carry on that ministry of being God's witness people. And here Peter says it, "you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession." Why? Here's the purpose, "so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." This is what the church is to be and to do. We have a mission. And that mission is to bear the word of reconciliation. To bear the good news of the Gospel. That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. That God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Let me tell you about the excellencies of the One who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light.

There's a second ministry that we have to the world. And it's not one we think about a lot, to our shame. But it's one that throughout the history of the church has been recognized, and you'll see that it's very Biblical in its focus, and that is, of benevolence and mercy. Of course, our primary mission is evangelism. This is not our primary mission, but this is nonetheless, part of the church's mission to the world. I'm going to spend a little extra time here, not because it's more important than evangelism, but only because we tend not to understand that this is important. The poor are very important to God. You can see that throughout the Old Testament, particularly in the Laws. Principles are laid down for their protection in Israel. And because of that, they should occupy a place in the heart of the righteous as well. Proverbs 29:7 says, "The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor, the wicked does not understand such concern." Proverbs 31:20, speaking of the virtuous woman, says, "She extends her hand to the poor, and she stretches out her hands to the needy." If you go back in the Old Testament you'll see that one of the sins of Israel, for which she was judged, was her failure to care for the poor. Ezekiel 16:49, "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom:", speaking of the northern kingdoms, "she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and carless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. But God said, 'I carried them off into captivity.'" Same sin brought God's judgment on Nebuchadnezzar. You remember in Daniel 4:27, Daniel says to King Nebuchadnezzar, "break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity." This is the way Nebuchadnezzar was to manifest repentance, by being concerned for the poor. When you come to the New Testament you see a similar emphasis in the ministry of our Lord. Matthew 6:2, Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, assumes this. He says, "When you give to the poor", just as He says "When you pray", "do not sound a trumpet before you, so that you may be honored by men, but instead when you do it, do it quietly. Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." Matthew 19:21, Jesus said, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions", here speaking to the rich young ruler, "and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." This was the test of this man's repentance. He was all about material things and Christ said, here's what I want you to do: I want you to show a love and concern for the poor. Mark 14:7, when there was criticism for the gift to Christ, His response was, "you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them." The assumption is that we will. Notice in the ministry of our Lord, He didn't distinguish between those who believed in Him and those who did not. He did good to all of them. In Luke 4:40, "While the sun was setting, all of those who had any of those who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them." We have no way and we're not told that all of these people came to genuine faith in Christ. Instead, He healed them, He rendered compassion and mercy on them in spite of that. Luke 6:35-36,

Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

God does good even to those that hate Him. Of course, the story of the Good Samaritan really drives that home, doesn't it? You remember that the man came with a question, "What do I do to inherit eternal life?". Jesus said, "What does the law say?" And he said, "Well the Law is clear. Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus said, "That's right. Go and do that and you will live." Of course there's no way to do that. And immediately the man even understood that. The passage says, he started trying to justify himself and he says, define neighbor. And Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. You remember in the end he was ignored, this man who had been mugged, was ignored by the religious and here comes a Samaritan. And he stopped, and he cared for the man and Jesus said, "So which one of those do you think proved to be a neighbor?" And they said, "The Samaritan who stopped and cared for him." And Jesus says, "Go and do the same." This is how you show your love for your neighbor.

Another passage in Luke 14:12-14, you remember he was invited to a meal, He says,

When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

Luke 19:8, you remember Zacchaeus' repentance was about this; he said, "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor." You had the example of Paul in Acts 20, he says, "In everything I showed you," talking to the Ephesian elders, "that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of our Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Paul gave clear directions as well. You remember in Ephesians 4:28 he says, "He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need." When is a thief no longer a thief? When he's giving to help others. So, those are the church's duties. By the way, in terms of this last reference I made to the church's need to minister benevolence; last century the liberal mainline denominations abandoned the mission of evangelism and replaced it with a humanitarian mission. Many of you are aware of that. Out of fear, I think, of becoming sidetracked, much of Bible-believing evangelicalism has retreated entirely from any missions of mercy or care for the needy and poor. Certainly, it is a serious problem when the ministry of mercy becomes a replacement for, or as important as the ministry of evangelism. But it is an equally serious problem for the church to ignore all of these straightforward commands in Scripture to care for the needy including those outside her doors. Listen to the Scottish pastor, Robert Murray McShane. He said in a sermon he gave on Acts 20:35, the very passage I have on the screen in front of you, he says, "I fear there are some Christians among you to whom Christ cannot say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' Your haughty dwelling raises amidst of thousands who have scarce a fire to warm themselves at, and have but little clothing to keep out the biting frost, and yet you never darken their door. You heave a sigh perhaps at a distance, but you do not visit them. Ah my dear friends, I am concerned for the poor but more for you. I know not what Christ will say to you in the Great Day. You seem to be Christians and yet you care not for his poor. Oh, what a change will pass upon you as you enter the gates of heaven. You will be saved, but that will be all. There will be no abundant entrance for you. I fear that there are many hearing me who may know well that they are not Christians because they do not love to give; to give largely and liberally, not grudgingly at all requires a new heart. An old heart would rather part with its lifeblood than its money. Oh, my friends, enjoy your money. Make the most of it. Give none away. Enjoy it quickly. For I can tell you, you will be beggars throughout eternity." Hard words, but absolutely true. This is a priority to the Lord and it should be to us.

In fact, our elders recently realized this and have asked one of our elders to head up this area of our ministry. To our own members first, as Galatians 6:10 says, but also to those outside of our church. These are our duties. To God: worship, and to serve as a pillar and ground, or support of the truth. To the church: to govern its affairs, to equip the saints, practice church discipline, encourage mutual edification, and practice mutual care. To the world: evangelism, and benevolence, and mercy. Now let me ask you. With all those duties, where should we spend our time, our resources, and our energies as Countryside Bible Church? On our duty to God? To the church? Or to the world? The answer is, yes! All three. I'm going to ask or elders to help me evaluate how our church is doing in these duties and how we need to strengthen our commitment and resolve. But let me make it a lot more personal as we finish tonight. How are you doing with these duties of the church? You see, these are not merely the responsibility of some ethereal corporation called Countryside Bible Church. Each of us makes up the church. The church is the people of God. So, we are only as effective as a church in these duties to the extent that I am effective in these duties, and that you are effective in these duties. So how are you doing? What about your duties to God? Are you truly worshipping with your whole heart? Both corporately and individually throughout the week? Are you making sure you know the truth so you can share it with your family and those around you? Are you careful to defend it against error and to make sure your children know it, that you're passing it on to them? What about your duties to your church? To the church itself. Are you contributing to the mutual edification by faithfully using your spiritual gift in service? Are you following the directives of Matthew 18 to help restore your brothers and sisters who sin? To help keep the church pure? Are you serving, in practical ways, the Christians in this church? Are you faithful to be part of the corporate gathering of the church? Do you engage in real fellowship, talking about more than the Colts and the Bears? Are you active in caring for the physical needs of the people in this church? What about your duties to the world? Are you inviting people to church to try to expose them to the gospel? Are you sharing the gospel with family members, and friends, and coworkers, as well as strangers? Are you ministering the love of Christ in the name of Christ to the needy that you know? How's your balance? Is your three-legged stool of spiritual duties tipping dangerously in one direction? You see it's only as you and I, individually, keep a balance in pursuing these duties that our church will be balanced and in obedience to our Lord. What in the world should the church be doing? Fulfilling its divinely entrusted mission. A mission to God. A mission to the church itself. And a mission to the world.

Let's pray together. Father, who is adequate for these things? All of us freely confess that we are not. And yet Father, this is exactly the mission that You have given each of us individually and together corporately as the church. I pray Father, that You would give us a genuine desire to search our own lives and hearts and see where we are weak in these things. Help the elders as we talk about where we need to strengthen and increase our work and our efforts and our energies so that we maintain the balance that You've given to us. Father I pray that You would make this church one that's faithful to your word, faithful to the divinely given mission. Lord, don't let us neglect a single part. I pray Father, that would start with each of us, individually. Lord, make us care more about the Kingdom than we care about our kingdom. Give us a heart for the things of Christ. Help us to set our hearts on things above and not on things on the earth. Help us to so live that when we stand before You, You can say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant'. That's what we long to hear Father. We pray for Your grace to make it so. In Jesus' name, Amen.