Scripture Matters

If you have a Bible, go and grab it and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians. Two weeks ago, we wrapped up our second third of the book of Genesis. Starting this week, we're going to be doing something a little bit different from our typical teaching time. Normally, what we do is we pick a book of the Bible and we'll go verse by verse, passage by passage, and walk through that text and talk about what God is trying to speak about in those passages. But occasionally, it's good for our church to take time to focus on particular topics, especially in light of working on our Constitution and Bylaws and thinking about our church and our future and our structure.

I thought it would be good for us to take the next eight weeks to survey what the Bible says about the church. Think of the next eight sermons kind of like building blocks for us to be able to lay a solid foundation on how we ought to be faithful to Christ and how we operate together as a church in the future. Which means that what we're going to do for the next eight weeks is what we would call a topical series. Now, normally what we do is expositional, which means we're going book by book, passage by passage, sequentially through the Bible. Topical preaching is a little different. It's when you focus on a particular topic and you use what the Bible says about that topic to be able to learn more about it.

So we're going to be surveying a lot of passages this morning. We're going to be looking at what the Bible has to say in particular about God's Word. And as we do, I hope that it'll help us to have a good foundation in terms of how we ought to evaluate what's right and what's wrong in how we do church. But we'll begin with 1 Corinthians Chapter 4, Verse 6. Let me read it for us and then I'll pray.

Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be arrogant, favoring one person over another. — 1 Corinthians 4:6 (CSB)

Let's pray. Lord, we pray this morning that as we think about the reliability of your Word, that you would help us to be able to trust in it and its work in our life and in the life of the church. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Challenge of Church Division

An old legend tells about a Baptist man who was shipwrecked and ended up on an island, living alone for many years. One day he sees a ship in the distance, burns a signal fire, and they come to rescue him. They're astonished to find that he'd been able to flourish on this island for many years. As the man shows them the society he had built, they see three huts. They ask him what these three huts represent. The Baptist man goes, "Oh yes, well, the first one is my home. The second is my church, and the third is a church that I used to go to." We laugh, but that's a pretty common experience, isn't it? You drive around communities, you see a church called Unity Church, and you know that there was a church division at some point in the decades past.

It seems like churches that are supposed to be built on Christ can constantly be clawing their way to obtain power or to have their own preferences exerted over the church. Often, church life can look like a game of King of the Hill. People are seeking to gain the top spot and then suppress anyone else who tries to challenge their authority. I wonder when you think about this church, who you think is really in charge? Is it the guy who preaches behind the pulpit every Sunday, waving his scepter to get whatever he wants? Is it the person who's been here for decades, who has legacy, deep roots, whose words carry weight? Is it the newcomer who comes and wants to see other newcomers come and build on the momentum of the goodness that we see in this church? Whose church is it?

Paul writes the book of 1 Corinthians to a divided church. They have members who are falling into unrepentant sin, members who think that they are superior to other people because they have spiritual gifts that others don't. There are even those who are divorcing the body of the church by eating all the Lord's Supper before others can get there. Imagine if all of the apple pie is gone before you step into the church's walls. In other words, this church is petty. They're divided. And one of the fault lines that they have of division is their preference for different leaders.

You can see that in verse 6. There are some who are loyal to Paul, and there are others who are loyal to Apollos. There are different leaders and different styles. And with those different styles come different preferences. Paul is writing to the church of Corinth to tell them that both he and Apollos are united in addressing this issue to the church. And their solution isn't to talk about how Apollos finally recognized that Paul has apostolic authority and submitted to him, or how Paul was persuaded by Apollos's flawless logic and realized that he was right. Both Paul and Apollos are united in telling the church that the church isn't about either of them.

Look at what Paul says in verse 6 again: "Nothing beyond what is written." The solution to this division in the church in Corinth isn't to trust in Paul over Apollos, or Apollos over Paul, but to not look at either of them as people as their final authority. Instead, they are to look at what? What is written. In other words, what the Bible says is more important than what any person says. But is that enough? Let's be honest, most of us believe that the Bible is right. We believe that the Bible's correct. I doubt that you will walk into any church in California that claims to follow Jesus that would say that the Bible is wrong. But is the Bible enough?

If you've grown up in the church, division is no surprise. The tea is piping hot. I mean, drama between leaders, disagreements about visions of the church. Pretty soon you get swept up by the current of controversy and caught up in the river rapids of he said, she said, of doomsday prophecies and blasting someone's character. And the Lord has been really kind to guard this church from that kind of division. I think the last three years has been remarkably calm. I've been so grateful for the way that the Lord has protected this church from that kind of division.

But let me warn you, Satan hates us. The devil hates this church. He hates churches that are doing well. There is nothing that Satan would like more than to rip this church apart at the seams by planting seeds of division, by planting preferences that evolve into principles, by pitting leaders of God's people against each other. And in those moments, is what's written really enough? Is the Bible really enough to solve that kind of beef? That kind of tension? Really, in response to those kinds of pressures that press down on our church? There are only two ways that you can respond. You can either trust in what you think works, or you could trust in what's written. You could either be pragmatic, or you can be principled.

And my prayer is that we as a church will rely not on what we think brings about the most effective results, however you want to paint them, but based on what's right. What Jesus himself would approve of. And as we do what's right, I think what we'll find is that doing what the Bible says, doing what is written, is actually the very thing that brings about the right results. That a church that reflects the glory and majesty of our Savior Jesus Christ is necessarily a church that follows the motto that we see here in 1 Corinthians Chapter 4: "Nothing beyond what is written." So my argument this morning is simple: The word works. The word works. How? By two ways. First, the word creates. I want you to believe that the word actually does something. The word creates. And secondly, the word commands. The word commands.

The Word Creates

Let's start with point number one: the word creates. Sometimes when we talk about following the word, we focus on getting things right. And that's important. We want to make sure that we're not doing anything wrong. But I want to distinguish between a faithfulness to the word that's about checking the box and making sure that things are up to code, versus following the word in a way where the word itself does something. I want you to believe this morning that the Bible has the ability to do something in this church. That when we hear the word proclaimed, when you bring the word to other people, it actually does something. That when God speaks, things happen. And this happens all throughout Scripture. We see that when God speaks, things are made.

Turn your Bible to Genesis Chapter 1. Let me just read to you from the very beginning of your Bible, verse 1.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. — Genesis 1:1-3 (CSB)

You don't need a PhD in theology to understand Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 3. God said, and then there was. You go all the way through Genesis 1, you see this pattern repeat itself over and over again. God speaks, and then it comes into existence. When God speaks, the world is created. There is not an atom of our universe that did not obey God's command to exist.

The same is true for our salvation. Turn your Bible to 2 Corinthians Chapter 4. Look at verse 6. This is Paul talking about the proclamation of the Gospel. And this is how he understands how you and I obtained our salvation.

For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. — 2 Corinthians 4:6 (CSB)

See the connection that Paul's trying to make here between Genesis 1 and what happened in our lives. That in the same way that God speaks and creation spawns into existence, that you and I, even though we are lost in our sin, even though we are shrouded by darkness, shackled to slavery, to Satan, and to sin, God speaks, "Let there be light," into our heart, and that light inflames our hearts and we come to life. That's what happens. God speaks, and then we are saved. That's how we came to believe. If you're not a Christian, that's how you can be saved too. You can hear the good news of the Gospel, that we are sinners in need of a Savior. You can hear the good news of Jesus Christ, who came and lived the perfect life that you could never live. That he died on a cross bearing the penalty of your sin, died for your sin, and then rose from the dead three days later. You can hear that message, turn from your sin and trust in Jesus right now. And Paul says, based on 2 Corinthians Chapter 4, God can perform this kind of miracle in your heart from the word being proclaimed. You don't have to wonder how to get right with God. You don't ever have to worry about whether or not you've been good enough. If you hear the word, and you trust in the word, things actually happen.

That was the wonder of the Reformation, that you didn't have to rely on your methodology or how good you were doing, or even what a priest would tell you, but that you could know that you're saved because the word of God transformed your heart. That's the good news that we preach. That's the good news that we believe. In fact, all of us who are believers, who are in this room right now, have believed in Jesus, not because someone told funny jokes, or because we were just moved by our emotions, but because the word of God changed our hearts. Because the word actually did something. It changes lives, it changed our life.

In fact, that's what we see the word of God do all throughout the New Testament. If you want to think about the ministry of Christianity, it is a ministry of the word. It's about the word. Turn your Bible to Romans Chapter 10. Let me just read to you from verse 14 to 17. This is Paul, in light of the Gospel that he had just been talking about for eight chapters, talking about the need to share the Gospel to those outside. And look at how he formats his logic here in verse 14.

How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. — Romans 10:14-17 (CSB)

Pay careful attention to that wording there. Faith comes from what's heard. And what's heard comes through the message of Christ. In other words, through the message. He doesn't say through the messenger. He doesn't say through the charisma of the speaker. He says, it comes through the message. That when we read the Bible, when we proclaim the word that's in this book, the word does something. Do you believe that? Do you believe that the word is capable of doing things that you could never do? Sometimes we could feel like Moses with his stutter, just being unable to bring forward any words that resemble anything that resembles a real human thought. Do you believe that God's word is capable of doing something that you can't? Do you believe that God's word is capable of saving those that you think are utterly impossible to save? Because if you read your Bible, you know that the word of God is capable of taking a valley of dry bones and turn it into a bursting fountain of life. It is capable of taking nothing and turning it into something. The word of God is capable of bursting into the darkness of any human heart.

But the word does more than just create salvation. The word also creates the church. Turn with me in your Bible to Matthew, Matthew Chapter 16, Verses 13 to 20. This is when Peter is talking with Jesus and his disciples. Jesus asked his disciples who people say that I am. Peter tells Jesus, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And do you notice what Jesus's focus is on here in Matthew 16? His focus is on the word.

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. — Matthew 16:16-18 (CSB)

Blessed are you, Peter, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. What got revealed to Peter that made him blessed? It was the good news. The message, the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And so now Peter, with the correct word, with the correct confession, is the first to be part of this rock that builds the church. That's why Jesus says, "I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of Hades will not overpower it." The church is created with this correct confession of Christ. That's how churches are made. That's where Romans 10 and Matthew 16 connect. People go out and they read, they proclaim what's written. They share the good news of the Gospel, this message about who Jesus is, and as people hear the word and are saved, they get added to the church. The church gets built by people who hear and believe the word. This is exactly what Paul talks about in Ephesians Chapter 2, Verses 19 to 20.

So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. — Ephesians 2:19-20 (CSB)

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. What do the apostles and prophets do? They preach. They preach the word of God, and we have their words right here. In other words, the church is built on this foundation with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. And you don't just get this from this kind of conceptual theory of how the church works. You also see this happen in the very first example of the very first church being created in Acts Chapter 2.

Turn with me in your Bible to Acts Chapter 2. This is a long chapter, we'll be looking towards the end. Peter preaches a bold Gospel right after Pentecost, when the Spirit falls and they're able to speak in tongues and they're able to proclaim the Gospel to this mixed crowd. And this is how the people respond in verse 37.

When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. — Acts 2:37-38 (CSB)

It says that when they heard this, when they heard the message, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the disciples, "Brothers, what should we do?" And Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, each of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." And guess what? That's exactly what they do in verse 41.

So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them. — Acts 2:41 (CSB)

Read with me. So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them. What were they added to? What's the "them" there? It's the church. But notice what happened. Those who received the Spirit? Those who repented and believed? Those who were baptized? Yes, to all of those things. But the way that Luke describes this event in verse 41 is those who accepted his message were baptized and then added to the church. So do you notice the pattern that's happening here in Acts Chapter 2? Someone stands up and he preaches the word. Then the people hear and they accept the word. And then they're baptized and they're added to the community of the word, the church. You see how that pattern works? Someone preaches, people hear and believe, and then they're baptized and added. This has been the formula for churches for 2,000 years. You don't need a new strategy, this is the way it works. You preach the Gospel, people hear and believe the Gospel, and they're baptized and added to the community of the Gospel. And this happens right after tongues of fire fall on all the disciples of Jesus. In other words, if you want to see the Spirit work here in our church, if you want to see a supernatural act of God happen here, if you want to see true revival happen in this church, it happens through the word. I mean, think about even the beauty of the Gospel in the third person of the Trinity being described as Spirit, as breath. Because how do you speak words? You use your breath. God the Father speaks to us through the word with the power of the Spirit to pierce the darkness of hearts. And have people come to life and to then join the body of Christ in the church. In other words, if you want to really believe in the Spirit's work, if you want to believe in a supernatural act of God to breathe on us, then you need to rely on the word doing its work on creating. So the word itself creates the church. That's why when we send missionaries, we don't send them with a badge of approval from the Southern Baptist Convention or a badge of approval from First Baptist Church of Artesia. People can arrive like Philip does in Acts 8 with the message of the Gospel. And people will turn from their sin and trust in Christ. They are the church in that area proclaiming the message of the Gospel. Like the Yembi Yembi people in Papua New Guinea. They hear the word. They're able to trust in that message, and then the church is created. In other words, the word creates the universe, the word creates the church. The word creates creation, the word creates new creation. If you want to see God work, you have to start here. That's point number one. The word creates.

The Word Commands

Which is why the word does more than just create, it also, point number two, commands. The word commands. You need to go with what's written. You need to follow what's written because what's written tells you what to do. It has an authority. You could break down that word, it makes total sense: Off-thor-i-ty, right? Auth-or-ity, right? It is authority given because God created it. You may have read the news headlines about SpaceX going public and people buying up stuff, and I would encourage you not to get swept up in greed but to be thoughtful about stewarding your finances. But did you know that even regardless of all the shares that they're going to sell, and all the employees that receive different dividends and stock options for their work, that Elon Musk currently has over 80% controlling stake in that company. Even if you buy stock, it is Elon's company. And because he has 80% controlling stake in SpaceX, he gets to decide what happens with that company. Because no one can ask, "Who gave Elon the right to decide how SpaceX should function?" Because it's his. He owns it. And because he has the authority to declare what the company should be, when he speaks about what SpaceX will do, it will do it. It will buy XAI, even though it's not a profitable enterprise. It will make all sorts of crazy decisions based on what Elon wants, because it's his company. He has the authority.

In the same way, this church doesn't belong to John Lee. It doesn't belong to any of the members here. This church belongs first and foremost to Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ's church. And if Jesus made it, then Jesus also gets to mold it. Which means that he gets to set the terms for what the church should be. In other words, the question of what a church should do isn't first about what you and I think would work best. It's about what God said it should be. It's about what's written. In other words, the word of God acts kind of like a blueprint. The Bible itself is not the building. The Bible itself can't just magically construct things into existence. Like it itself is not the people. But it does explain where to place the beams, where it will find its support, where to build what and why. It also sets the codes for how proper building should look. And we use the blueprint to dictate what you and I should do. That's exactly what Paul means in 2 Timothy Chapter 3, when he says,

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. — 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (CSB)

So the word makes, the word makes, it builds and it molds. It sets the standard for what Christians should do. It is sufficient for rebuking, correcting, training in righteousness, so you and I can be complete. There is nothing that we need outside of the Bible. The Bible tells us everything we need for godly living. But "every good work" that phrase there is more than just for the individual Christian. Turn your Bible to the book of Titus, which is right after 1 and 2 Timothy. Titus. I just want you to notice the way that Paul talks to Titus here about his role in going back to these churches that Paul and Titus planted.

The reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders in every town. — Titus 1:5 (CSB)

This is what Paul tells Titus. He says, "The reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone. And as I directed you to appoint elders or pastors in every town." To appoint elders. So, what's Titus supposed to do according to Paul? He is to set right what's left undone. Paul is traveling from town to town, he's planting these churches, and as Paul is leaving, he is telling Titus to set it right. Complete the work. In other words, if you are able to set the church right, that means that this isn't a matter of opinion. Titus has an understanding of what the church should be. There is a right way to do church, which means by extension, there is a wrong way to do church. And Titus is to set right what is undone. That is what the rest of our eight weeks is going to be about. What are those things? How do we know what those things should be? And as we survey Scripture, I hope that it'll be persuasive for us in terms of how our church ought to be built. But while we go over the content over the next seven sermons, how does the word itself help us to set these things right? What's the word doing? Well, the word in its commanding is doing three things. It's doing three things. First, the word provides principles. The word provides principles. In other words, the word is giving us load-bearing columns for our church to be built on.

Principles, Practices, and Priorities

The word provides, for example, what the church should believe. If you read 1 Corinthians 15, which many of us are familiar with, we'll likely be going over that next week as well. You will see Paul, as he describes the good news of the Gospel, say over and over again that Jesus did things "according to the Scriptures." According to the word, the word creates boundaries around what we believe and what we don't believe. And a denial of what the word says is a denial of the God who said it. That's part of the reason why we have things like the statement of faith. That's part of the reason why when Warren and Jay and I are looking at the statement of faith this morning, we notice that under every single paragraph of our statement of faith, there are like a ton of Bible references. It's because the Baptist Faith and Message is not divinely inspired, but the Bible is. We're trying to accurately tell what the Bible teaches. So the Bible provides what the church should believe.

The Bible also tells us what a church should be. Who makes up the church? Remember the example in Acts 2? It's those who hear, who then believe, and then they are baptized and added to their number. In other words, those who are in the church are those who are Christians. They are word-transformed people. And then Acts Chapter 2 begins to describe the kind of commitment that they have to one another. They meet in each other's houses, they sit under the Apostles' teaching, they care for the poor, they pray together, they sing songs together, and that life of the church in light of the life that they've been given, that's called church membership. Or this explicit responsibility that we have to help each other grow for each other's discipleship. Which means that the Bible also commands us to remove from membership those who deliberately, unrepentantly disobey those commands. You see that exact example in 1 Corinthians 5, which we'll talk about in future sermons, where you have a guy who's unrepentantly sleeping with his dad's wife. And Paul tells them with the power of the Lord Jesus,

When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. — 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 (CSB)

"Remove from the church those, the one who did this for the destruction of his flesh, so that he may be saved in the day of the Lord." So the word sets the boundaries, the scope of who belongs in the church, and the word also tells us who should lead the church in terms of the elders and deacons. You can see that in Titus Chapter 1, Verse 5. He says to set what's right, what was left undone, and to appoint elders or pastors in every town. In other words, the word tells us who our leaders should be. 1 Timothy 3 provides qualifications of the two offices of the church, being elder and deacon. By the way, we're going to have sermons over all of this. So if you feel like we're flying by, that's totally okay. This is a bird's eye view, we're going to zoom in in the coming weeks. But 1 Timothy 3 provides qualifications for two offices in the church, being elder and deacon. Which means that our structure as a church doesn't primarily revolve around our strategy or around small groups or around committees or around volunteer teams. Our primary identity as a Christian in the church is being a member of the church. And after that, in addition to being a church member, there are two offices that people can serve in, being a pastor or a deacon. And these other fixtures, whether they're volunteer groups, small groups, committees, they're super helpful. I'm not anti-those things. They can aid a church in their work, but they are not central to the church's work. There's a difference between being a pillar or a beam in your church's structure versus being a sofa. A sofa can be very comfortable. But if you don't like it, or it gets mites, you throw it away.

This is particularly important because there is a danger of treating what's dispensable as essential. Sometimes we get so swept up in what's exciting that we lose sight of what's primary or necessary. We begin to focus on having enough volunteers for a project that lost its luster a long time ago. Get focused on the productivity and output of the church. And while volunteering and serving in all sorts of ways is by no means anything wrong, in fact, I think the Lord honors that kind of service. What happens when you start to treat what's dispensable as essential is that you begin to treat what's indispensable as unimportant. As in when volunteering or the fixtures or the productivity comes to the forefront, what's actually essential falls into the background. The stuff that we talk about in our church covenant, like caring for those who need help, praying for those who are in need, pursuing righteousness, confronting when necessary, but being ready to restore upon repentance. See, when we value output and productivity over character and correct doctrine, we lose sight of what actually matters. I'll never forget. It's been many years and my dad has gone to be with the Lord, and I love him and his church, so I feel comfortable sharing this story. I remember talking to my dad who had hired a children's minister, who was absolutely ruthless in the way that she ran her ministry. In fact, Brian's not here right now, but he can tell you firsthand. She would whip the youth students at the church into helping her volunteer for VBS by reading the book of Numbers in Korah's rebellion, where in their rebellion to Moses, God opens up the earth and swallows all the enemies. And would use that to the youth students by telling them, "If you don't help us with VBS, you are going to hell." And I asked my dad, "Does this worry you?" And he said, "Yeah, it does. I'll take care of it after VBS." It's really funny. She ran a really good show. I call that, respectfully, my dad was far better than me in many ways, I call that a misaligned priority. Because what really matters? Having speakers that don't have feedback? Or having people that actually care about each other? Does it matter that when you come in here, the pews are pristine? Or that we have people that are quick to repent when they're confronted of their sin? When you think about the life of the church, what is your priority? What makes up your principles?

Which brings me to point number two. The word prescribes practice. The word provides principles, these sturdy pillars that make up our values. The word also prescribes practice. It doesn't just tell us what we should be, but what we should do. There are so many things that a church can focus on. And I love almost all of them. I mean, you go to some churches and their list of ministries are longer than a diner menu. I mean, you see ministries for single moms, for youth ministry. I've even heard of churches that have biker ministries, Operation Christmas Child. I could go on and on and on. And I just want to say, I think most of those works are really great. I'd be happy to support all of those things. They're not inherently bad. I'd love to see Christians participate in all sorts of good work. But there is a difference between work that is good for a Christian to do versus the work that a church is called to do. In other words, there are good things that Christians can do in society. We absolutely need to do those things. We absolutely should participate in those things. But there are things that the church and the church alone is called to do. And the commands that a church must do are its primary work.

We go over those commands every time we recite the church covenant together. We're going to do that next week when we take the Lord's Supper together. We attend the church's gatherings and we encourage one another (Hebrews 10:24-25). We give regularly to support the ministry (2 Corinthians Chapter 8). We sit under the preaching of God's word (Acts 2). We share the Gospel with our family and friends (Romans 10). We avoid all gossip, slander and simple anger (James 1 and 3). We remember one another in prayer (James 5). I could go on and on about the things that the church places as primary in its work that it does. Which means that the primary identity or role that you have in our church isn't what you produce when you volunteer. Isn't how you fit into the cogs of this nonprofit organization and help coordinate its events. The primary ministry you do in this church is the way that you love one another. That's what Jesus cared about in John Chapter 13, isn't it? "This is how they will know that you are my disciples, by the way that you love one another."

What's the most important thing that you think you do here in this church? Is it the sound? Or is it the souls in the pews around you? Is it feeding mouths in the kitchen or is it feeding souls with the word? Because when ministry comes at the expense of real ministry, those ministries need to die. That also means that for those of us where our output days are past us, where you may not feel as productive as you'd like, let me tell you that the main things that the Bible wants you to do, you absolutely can. Not only can you, I think that's the stuff that God most delights in. You might not be able to walk, but you can pray. You can call, you can encourage with your words. I remember the memory of Jim Armstrong's wife, Carol. Who was suffering under intense pain. Her body was just literally breaking down. She was unable to stand, just sitting in the pews. But every week she would be writing cards to encourage people, to let them know that she was praying for them and thinking about them. And man, I could just go story after story amongst so many of the members here that go out of their way to care for each other. And I just want you to know that you contribute so much to the life of this church and that God delights in it. Not just that, the Bible tells us what we are commanded to do when we gather. Not just the way you care for each other, but what we do when we come together on Sundays into this room. We sing hymns, songs and spiritual songs (Colossians 3). We sit under the preaching of God's word (1 Timothy 4). We baptize (Matthew 28). We practice the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11). We take care of membership and discipline (Matthew 16 and 18). In other words, we don't want to be a church known for our high production quality. We don't want to be a church known for our events. We want to be a church that's known for valuing the word of God, for caring for those who have been valued by Christ. What do you think our church needs to do? The Bible provides the blueprint for what the church is supposed to do when we're together.

And lastly, number three. The word provides principles. The word prescribes practice. And number three, the word protects priorities. The word protects priorities. It's after you figure out what's right, that then you can focus on how to implement what was written. And it's understanding what the Bible says about what the church is and what the church does that protects its priorities. There are a thousand things that a church could do and they would all be good things. And often divisions in the church happen because people with good intentions, and even good things that they like, turn their preferences into priorities that clash with other people's preferences that turn into priorities. And the way that you and I determine what our church's priority should be is not primarily based on what the senior pastor wants, or what a deacon wants, or a church member wants, but on what Christ wants. That's why we prioritize the word of God in our church. Not just in lip service, but in everything we are and in everything we do. We need to go with what's written. That's by the way, why we have congregational meetings. It's not so that it's a free-for-all democracy where people get to campaign for their own preferences. It's really an emergency break that you get to pull the moment that a minister of God's word like myself goes haywire. To be able to say, this is what the word of God actually prioritizes. We'll talk about that in a future sermon. But that also means that we will prioritize the ministry of the word here. The best thing that I can do to help our church outlast me, and I know I'm a young guy, I hope I outlast many of you. But the way that the church is going to outlast me is if we build the church on something that's not me. We build the church on the preaching of God's word, where we deliberately preach sermons where the words and the goal of the Bible passage that we're looking at dictate the words and goal of the sermon that's being talked about up here. That's called expositional preaching. Where it's not about the personality or the charisma of a speaker or a pastor, but it's based on the word of God, where we go through books of the Bible so that we don't just cherry-pick topics that are more interesting to us, but that we're constrained by the Bible's priorities. That's also why our words towards one another ought to be oriented around the word. Colossians Chapter 3 talks about this.

Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. — Colossians 3:16-17 (CSB)

He says, "Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you in all wisdom and teaching and admonishing one another through Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your heart. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." We want to be word-centered people.

Humility and Grace in Following the Word

And one last thing. There's a danger in emphasizing what's right, which I hope I've persuasively, passionately convinced you, you need to do that. The danger when you focus on what's right, that then that prescribing gets rooted in a kind of pride where you're convinced that you're correct. An arrogance of Pharisaism where being right is more important than doing what's good. And I just want to say that if we do this properly, if we actually root what we're doing outside of ourselves and into God's word, if we're focused on obeying the Lord rightly, it should make you more patient. It should make you more gracious. It should make you more gentle. I mean, go back to 1 Corinthians Chapter 4. We'll end here. Look again at 1 Corinthians Chapter 4, Verse 6. Notice what Paul says in the next verse right after he talks about "nothing beyond what was written."

Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be arrogant, favoring one person over another. For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it? — 1 Corinthians 4:6-7 (CSB)

He says, "The purpose is that none of you will be arrogant, favoring one person over another. For who makes you so superior? What did you have that you didn't receive? If in fact you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn't received it?" What do you have that you have not received? When we orient the church around God's word, when you're primarily focused on what God wants, that should help you look outside of yourself for where your confidence is. That also means that you need to look outside of yourself for why you think you're correct, which also means that you can't rely on your own character or your own brilliance or your own charisma. The reason why we want to do what's right is because everything that we have is a gift from a gracious God who loves us. Why are we so concerned about making sure that our structure is right? Because the Lord has been kind to us. Why do we want to make sure that we have the right priorities in caring for church members around us? Because God loves us. And if we truly believe that God authoritatively creates and commands through his word, then that means that when someone disagrees with you, that shouldn't cause any animosity or frustration in you. That should not make you impatient, because if God's word is what does the work, then it's not you steamrolling other people in order to have your way. It's about teaching. It's about persuading. It's about letting the Spirit work in people's hearts. You don't have to force your opinion. You just need to open up the book and say, "This is what God says." This isn't about winning, this is about the Lord working. And when the Lord works, you can stop playing King of the Hill. Because it's not about my way or your way, or my hill or your hill. It's about all of us coming to Calvary and laying down our crowns at the foot of his cross and submitting our will, our preferences, our works to his work. And that's what we do when we go with what's written because what's written is the only thing that works. And when we do what's written, that's when God does the work. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that you would help us to be found faithful in the day of Christ, to be reliant on you alone as our firm foundation. You can only do that by your grace. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. God's word is a firm foundation for us. Let's stand and sing our last hymn together.