Conference yukon::christian_v7

113.0. "The purpose of the Church" by TOKNOW::METCALFE (Eschew Obfuscatory Monikers) Tue Apr 20 1993 12:48

                           The Purpose of the Church
                    A Treatise on the Greatest Commandment
                              by Mark Metcalfe

  "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?" Jesus replied:
  "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
  and with all your mind'" This is the first and greatest commandment.
  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All of
  the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." 
                                                   Matthew 22:36-40 NIV 
   
To know God; to show God.

The Church of Jesus Christ is made up of individuals and any statement
of purpose must apply equally and as effectively to each of these
individuals or institutions. What results from that fundamental
purpose is a myriad of ministries to which the individuals can address
as the corporate body of the local church, or single-handedly, as a
member of the Body of Christ.

The primary purpose of every Christian is to glorify God and enjoy Him
forever. This is the purpose of life. To achieve this purpose, it
becomes the responsibility of every Christian, individually and
collectively, to know God intimately. It is through this intimacy with
God that people will reflect God's love and concern for the lost.

The five-pronged functions of the church is worship, evangelism,
equipping the saints (teaching in doctrine), ministering to needs, and
fellowship. All of these functions are subservient to the purpose of
life: to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

When the Lord was asked what our primary personal responsibility
should be as God-fearing people, Jesus did not respond with the great
com mission to evangelize the world. Why? Before one can evangelize
anyone, a person must first know for Whom evangelism takes place.

Evangelizing the lost, visiting the sick and imprisoned, feeding and
clothing the poor, having fellowship with those of like precious faith
are all important goals of a local congregation. However, each of
these ministries is predicated upon a knowledge of saving faith and
fellowship with our Creator first; these ministries are *expressions* 
of a Spirit-filled church. For if we do not actively seek to know God
and His plan for our lives, we cannot be truly effective in any other
avenue of service.

                            To Know God

To love God "with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind" necessitates getting to know God. In the process of getting
to know God, one must ask, "Who is God and what is He like?"

The Bible is a primary source that shows us God, Who is Love, The
Almighty, a jealous God, Infinite, Wrathful, Merciful, full of Grace,
and many, many, many other things. For our part of the relationship,
daily devotions in God's Word and communion with the Lord in prayer
are the primary channels for getting to know God.

God is also made known to us through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
And remember: No one can ever know everything there is to know about
God, but everyone can always know more about God.

Another avenue that leads us into a knowledge of God is corporate
worship. Corporate worship enables us to quiet our hearts and minds
before God to respond to His moving. We do not need more workers in
the church. We need more worshipers in the church, because there has
never been a worshiper who has not been at work in the church.

This leads us to ask, "what does it mean to worship?" To some, it
means simply attending a worship service. But worship is far more than
that. One person described it like a play production:

People think that God is the director, the platform staff are the
actors, and the congregation is the audience. Worship is not like
that. In worship, God is the audience, the platform staff are the
directors or leaders, and the congregation participates actively.

We do not come to worship to receive but to give; to love God with all
our hearts and all our souls and with all our minds. When we prepare
ourselves for worship, we must prepare ourselves to meet with Almighty
God.

If you had an appointment with God at 3 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon,
on the fortieth floor of the Hancock building in Boston, would you
miss the appointment for anything? How would you prepare yourself for
the appointment?

We have regularly scheduled appointments with Almighty God. Perhaps
the regularity brings a commonness that makes us drowsy week after
week, but it is our duty to come fresh and clean for our scheduled
[corporate and personal] appointment with God.

The next time you come to worship, ask yourself, "what can I give to
God this hour?"

                            To Show God

When we actively seek God, He will be found (Hebrews 11:6; Luke 11:13).
When we worship Him "in spirit and in truth," the Law of Love will then
become an outward expression in our lives; we will not be able to con-
tain it.

Evangelism begins with loving and knowing God. Introducing people to
Christ must be preceded by our intimate fellowship with Him. The great
commission that Jesus gave to go into the world to make disciples, he
gave to us, too. But take note to whom Jesus first gave these
instructions: his eleven disciples whom he had prepared for the task.
The disciples ate, drank, and slept with our Lord for three
teaching-intense and intimate years.

The Lord asked Peter if he loved him (John 21). Peter responded twice
with "I like you." We, like Peter, must come to the place where we love
Christ to unleash the Power of the Spirit in our lives in no less a
dynamic way than Christ did for Peter.

Peter and the other disciples went into the world and we continue that
work. The disciples studied under Christ and were filled with the Holy
Spirit; they knew God in an intimate way. We must evaluate ourselves
in this light before we set sail for the office, work place, inner cities,
and other continents.

                             Conclusion

When looking for a purpose, we must ask the questions that reach back
to bedrock. A local congregation can focus on several key areas of
ministry, and perhaps should in light of its resources.

However, the purpose of the congregation must rest in the Source of
spiritual power, getting to know God more intimately, who gives the
strength to accomplish the task upon which they focus, be it
evangelism, outreach, fellowship, or care cell study groups. Equipping
others, evangelizing the lost, and fellowship are all good areas of
focus, but these are the fruit of knowing God intimately and loving
Him with all of our hearts, souls and minds. We must be tapped into
the Source.

The purpose of the church is inextricably bound to the Greatest com-
mandment: To know God; to show God.

    Mark, thanks for posting that, it goes along quite well with
    Revelations 2 when God tells the church they have *left* their first
    love.  
    
    Sometimes this verse is translated as having lost the first love.  But
    their is great distinction between *left* and *lost*.  Left means you
    know where it is, Lost means you don't know where it is.
    
    Unfortunately today, many Christians have *left* their first love or as
    a great preacher said it, "The Goochey Goo of first love". :-)


    

	Very readworthy Mark. It reminded me of what someone said to me 
	years ago at the end of a very fruitful 2 week mission. I was 
	only 19 at the time and this was one of my first experiences of
	being involved in a very *busy* mission and was feeling very
	spiritually uplifted by the activities. 

	Whilst driving another mission team member to the train station
	she said, "Oh I just can't wait to get back home and get back to
	spending more time with the Lord". My thoughts at that time were
	of confusion, as I believed that being a part of this fruitful 2
	week Christian activity was the most enJOYable and worthwhile 
	experience a Chrisitan could be involved in.

	I guess I had the "cart before the horse" syndrome. She was wanting
	to go back to feeding her horse, while I was enjoying riding along
	in the cart.

	Erich	
    

Worship

Worship is an endi in itself; it is not a means to an end.

When asked "why do you worship" many may respond that it charges them
up to face the week.  It lifts them up; it is uplifting.

The purpose of worship is to glorify God because He is worthy of all
praise and honor.  This is to be done *whether or not* we are uplifted
by it, or are recharged.  These are happy by-products, often, of when we
give God of ourselves.  When we take away the expectation of return on 
our gift of worship, then worship happens; and a funny thing happens with
it... a nice return.  Paradox.  

Worship God for Who He is.

Worship is a function of the church that is to be performed on the 
individual and corporate level.  Worship is upward focused.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Evangelism

Evangelism is telling someone about Jesus.  The Word is the effect agent
in this.  The Bible says that God's Word will not return void.  It doesn't
say that our efforts will not go unrewarded or rewarded.  We're not part 
of the return on investing the Word, except that we may be carriers of it
which by itself is no credit.

Evangelism is a function of the church that is to be performed on the
individual and corporate level.  Evangelism is outward focused.

------------------------------------------------------------

Education

Education is learning about God.  "Study to show thyself approved." 
And protecting one from error.  Education is a function of the church
that is to be performed on the individual and the corporate level.
Education is inward focused.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Fellowship

Fellowship is the shared body of believers and is what happens beyond
finger foods and church punch.  Fellowship is community, support, fun,
and geared towards the horizontal relationships of people (where worship
is geared towards the vertical relationship with God).  Fellowship is
to be performed in small or large groups.  Fellowship is inward focused.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Service

Service is to ber performed without thought or hope of return.  "A
cup of cold water in" Jesus' name is selfless service.  Service is
a function of the church that is to be performed on the individual and
on the corporate level.  Service is outward focused.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The five-fold functions of the church are not exclusive of each other.
Some things may span several functions of the church on the individual,
group, or corporate level.

All are subject to the primary function of glorifying God through
worship; worship impinges on each of the other four areas; one may
express worship to God through service and teaching a Sunday school
class.  However, be clear that this is not solely worship; it is worship
and service.  We must also be able to bring God our worship in isolatation
of any of these other factors to begin to understand true worship.  It
is a matter of putting things into proper priority; the greatest commandment;
the "seek ye first" of Scripture.  "Love God."  First, foremost, and with
all your heart - then you will evangelize, educate, fellowship, and serve.

Mark

The complex reality called "Church" is not something which we are able to
make and remake according to our liking, after the latest twentieth-century
model; it is something given, and has a definite form of its own.  It rests
on a message of a course of action declared to have been taken by the
eternal God for man's sake.

The ground and substance of the Church is Jesus Christ, the Man who is
proclaimed to have come down from heaven, and now to be reigning there
as the true King of Mankind.  There is a Bible to tell the epic of His
death and resurrection, together with the divine preparation for His
coming.  There is a Creed in which we confess our faith in Him.  There
are Holy Mysteries, by which we appropriate the benefits of what He
suffered under Pontius Pilate.  Then, because it is no impersonal system,
but a society of persons, there are in the Church persons responsible
for looking after the members; they are the successors of those whom He
left in charge.

Those four things form the structure of the building, the bones of the
body, of the Church; and the building has a tenant, and the body is
animated by a spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, that we who are blind may
see, we lame may walk, we lepers be cleansed, and we dead be raised to
eternal life.

I ought not to accept the Church because its traditions lie at the root
of Western culture, nor yet because a religious faith is necessary for
the moral health of the nation and of the individual; I must believe in
it because Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is for men the Way, the
Truth, and the Life -- and therefore I must not be discouraged from the
faith by any faults and failings of the members of the Church or by my
own; for the act of faith is directed not to the human element in the
Church, but to the divine.  The essential forms of the Church all bear
witness to the Son, and are the means of His operation through the
Spirit.  The Church exists that He might reign.

						--anonymous