Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Matthew chapter #16 As we continue our series, Christ is
All, but we're going to do something a little bit different
here this morning. As I mentioned, it is sign up
Sunday and we have several ministries.
That will be in the back after church that I'd like you to be
able to look over, particularly those of you who are members
here at Liberty Baptist Church. And I really am not encouraging
you to sign up for any of them today.
I don't want to get us into a place where we emotionally sign
up for things just because want to be able to help here in the
church, but rather. That you pray about and you ask
the Lord about where he could use you here in this church, and
perhaps even your heart would be this.
Wherever he leads, I'll go, and whatever he leads, I will do.
And so that's my thought about that this morning.
But the title of my message today is this.
Christ is all in the church. Christ is all in the church.
You know, it's interesting that we come from a lot of different
backgrounds and we come from a lot of different perspectives
here today. There's some of you who have
been at this church for a great length of time.
We have at least one who's here this morning that was here in
Year 1, not counting our own family.
Some who came around the 5th anniversary or so, others who
have came. Later we have some who have
covenanted with our church through membership and others
who just visit and are part of the family but aren't
necessarily members of the church we have.
Some who are newly saved, some of you just came into the faith
not that long ago. And perhaps every one of us from
our own perspective has this question, what is church?
What's it all about? What do we do here at church?
Why do we do the things that we do here at church?
And so we're going to talk about some things in regards to that.
We're going to be looking through our Bibles that you
don't mind looking through your Bibles this morning, do you?
All right, good. I was saying I hope I'm in the
right church. Amen.
We want to find out what the Bible says about church.
But I'm going to say something to you this morning as we start
that shouldn't be controversial. But depending on who hears it
and depending on what quarters it might be said it is
controversial, Although I would submit to you again that it
should not be. And that's this.
Each local church belongs to Christ and not man.
I'm going to say that one more time.
I'll roll that passage. Some of you were afraid to say
Amen because you thought I was setting you up for something,
but I'm not. All right.
Each church belongs to Christ, not to man me.
This. This church doesn't belong to
Adam Rivera. This church doesn't belong to
Diane Rivera. This church does not belong to
the members. This church does not belong to
the leadership. This church does not belong to
the trustees. This church does not belong to
any of us who are sitting here today.
It belongs to Jesus Christ. Any Bible believing biblical
church, whether it's liberty or wherever, has a deed that is
held by none other than Jesus Christ Jesus, not the pastor,
not the leadership or the members of the church.
The deed is held by none other than Jesus Christ.
And there's an immutable law of life that goes along with that,
and that's this. When someone owns something, it
belongs to them. When someone owns something, it
belongs to them to do with it as they wish.
Reminds me the story of the pastor who years ago he had
always wanted to be able to buy a boat and he finally got one.
But he was afraid the people in this church would get upset if
they found out that during the week he was going out on his
boat instead of doing some of the pastorly duties that he
normally would have done. And so he got the idea that when
he bought his boat, he was going to name it Visitation.
So that way, when anytime anyone called the church, the secretary
would say, well, the pastor's out on visitation and he could
do that. It belonged to him.
He could name it. He could do whatever he wanted
to. That was his boat and he could
call it what he wanted to. That's fair.
He bought it, he named it. It was his.
This morning you need to know this, that the church in which
you sit in now and any Bible believing church was purchased
with the blood of Jesus Christ. Acts chapter 20 verse 28 speaks
of that specifically. Christ built it, He bought it
and that means He's the boss of it.
I'll say that one more time. Christ built it, He bought it,
and that means he's the boss of it.
So I want to look at this morning a little bit of a lesson
on ecclesiology. Don't get scared by that term.
It just means it's the study of the Church.
What is it, why is it, and what does it have to?
Do with you and me. Today, and the place we're going
to start there with that is in Matthew chapter 16.
So why don't you stand, please, for the reading of God's Word?
Matthew chapter #16 and we'll begin in verse #17 for some
reason I'm in Jeremiah 32. All right, that's not going to
help. I mean, it'll help you, but just
not for this message. Amen.
So Matthew chapter #16 verse #17 is where we'll start.
Jesus answered. And said unto him, Blessed art
thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood had not revealed it
unto thee, but my father, which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Why don't we read verse 18
again? You read it silently as I read
it out loud. And I say also unto thee, that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
We see here in Matthew 16 Christ's first mention of the
church. And Christ's mentioning of the
church ought to give great weight to what we understand the
church is all about. And so we're a look at Christ
mentioning of the church this morning and how it affects us
and where we are today. So why don't you go ahead and be
seated and we'll have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, again, thank you for this.
Time and I thank you for the ability that we have to be in
your house today. And I do pray that you help us
to get a biblical understanding of what the church is.
Help me to be able to quiet my mind and my heart from many
other thoughts other than those that are biblical, Lord, those
that you have in front of me here today, Lord, so that I may
be able to impart these truths to these dear people here today.
And Lord, we do ask once again and just beg you that if there's
someone here today that doesn't know you as Savior, that your
Holy Spirit will work upon them in such a way that by the time
the message is done that it's very clear to them that they
need to call upon you in salvation today.
And we do ask this all in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen. Supposed to ask you how many
times Jesus used the word church in the gospels.
What would you guess? How many times did Jesus mention
or use the word church in the Gospel?
Some would maybe say 50, Some would maybe say 25, Some would
maybe say a dozen. All of those are far too many.
In fact, if you were to look at how many times Jesus used the
word church, you would find he only mentioned it twice here in
Matthew chapter 16 and another passage that we'll look at in a
few moments in Matthew chapter 18 as well.
So before we get too deep into the message, we need to ask
ourselves this question. What is the church?
What does it mean? Well, if we were to look at the
word church as it's found here in Matthew chapter 16 and it is
found throughout the New Testament, it is the Greek word
ekklesia. And the Greek word ekklesia
means this a called out assembly.
This is a word that was not coined by Jesus Christ.
It was a popular word that was used used at the time anytime
there was a called out assembly, a group of people that came
together for a common purpose, it would be an ecclesia.
In fact, we find it in different places in the book of Acts.
For instance, when there was a group of people that wanted to
shut down Christianity altogether in the city of
Ephesus, that that group of people that came together was
called an ekklesia. Now they weren't a church in the
way we would understand it, but it was just the fact that they
were gathered together in a certain place for a certain
purpose. This is what an ekklesia is.
And in reference to the church today, we could probably put it
this way, that a church is a called out assembly of baptized
believers who have covenanted together in membership.
That a church is a called out assembly of baptized believers.
Remember Matthew chapter 28 says that we are to teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and the Holy Ghost, and to further teach them in the things
of that which they are to do, to learn how to be discipled, to be
a follower of Jesus Christ. A called out assembly of
baptized believers who have covenanted together in
membership. That we didn't just fall in
together at random, but rather that we came with a purpose,
that we came with a plan. What is that purpose and what is
that plan? It is to do that which God has
commanded us to do through His Word.
There's a lot of ideas that are out there about what a church is
today. Some people think that it's a
building with stained. Glass and a steeple and praise
the Lord. That's not true, or else we
wouldn't be much of A church, would we?
Some people think it's just a group of Christians that are
gathered together at any particular time.
Some think that it's a social club for those that have similar
values. Some think it's a.
Religious version of a Country Club others think it's a brand
has multiple campuses with one pastor who it kind of acts as a
non denominational Pope who is on the video screen and all the
different campuses and that he's in charge of all of those
churches quote UN quote. Some believe it's a universal or
invisible gathering of All Souls who have ever been saved in that
what's called the universal church.
But I have found that no matter what you believe about the
church, most people believe what they want to about the church or
maybe what they've had passed down to them about the church,
but never really coming to the place and the understanding of
what does the Bible say about what the church is?
Because we would agree here this morning that it really doesn't
matter what we think about any topic in and of ourselves.
But it really comes down to what the Bible says about that topic.
Amen. That our thoughts need to be
biblical thoughts that our thoughts need to be God's
thoughts. And so when it comes the issue
of the church, and I came across this myself again, getting saved
at 16 years old, coming from a Lutheran background, that my
ideas of the church came down to what was passed down from me to
generation to generation. I had to come to a place ready
to readjust my thinking and say it's not just about what my
parents taught me. It's not just about what the
catechism taught me. And it's not just about what
Reverend James R Gilzo taught me who was my pastor for 17 plus
years in the Lutheran Church. But it really comes down to this
and this alone. What does the Bible say about
this issue of the church and that's true here today.
Listen, it's not just about what I think about this issue.
This is not just well, Pastor Rivero gets to get up and just
kind of give his random thoughts about this and that.
No, no, I want us to be biblical in our thoughts today.
I want to know what Jesus says about the church and I want it
to affect how we act and how we operate within this church that
we have here because there has to be some structure.
There has to be some order, there has to be some God-given
design because again, it's not about being my church or or your
church. Jesus Christ has the deed.
So what does he think about the church?
It's his church. Well, to better understand this
better, I want us to look at the two passages to start, the two
passages of which Jesus mentions the church.
So one of those is in front of us here at this moment.
Now don't mistake the small amount of times Jesus uses the
word church as something that is of little importance to Christ
because again, Acts chapter 20 verse 28 tells us that Christ
gave himself for the church, that his shed blood was, yes,
for our sins. But also is the groundwork the
very foundation of which the church was purchased and the
church is what it is. The church was not established
on the day of Pentecost. I don't believe the Bible
teaches that, but rather as Jesus founded the church as it
says in First Corinthians chapter 12 verse 28 says, and
God has set forth some in the church.
First apostles. Well, what did Jesus do?
He called the apostles in the old tower in the Old Testament,
in the Gospels, he called the apostles the disciples.
They are called there. And so it's very clear to me,
without going too deep into it this morning, that the church
was empowered at Pentecost, but that it was started by none
other than Jesus Christ. They had ordinances, they had
business meetings. They go to Acts chapter one.
It says that they voted for a new disciple as one had passed
away and wanted taken his own life.
Judas had. And then you get to Acts chapter
#2 when 3000 are saved, it says they were added unto them about
3000 souls. Well, who's the them?
That's the church that had already been established by
Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ as the founder
of the church, Jesus Christ as the builder of the church, what
he says about the church matters.
And so we want to see these two passages and understand what
does this have to do with me? So we're here in Matthew chapter
#16 and we read those two verses.
And it sounds like as you were reading, if it sounds like there
was a, we jumped in the middle of a conversation, that's
because, well, we did. We jumped in the middle of a
conversation that Jesus was having with Peter, but really
with the disciples at large. So go to Matthew 16, Go up to
verse #13 let's start here. Look at what it says in verse
#13 it says when Jesus came in the coast of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, AM? And they said, some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremias, or one
of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? Now stop here for just a moment.
Jesus asked the disciples, Who are people saying that I am?
Now let me remind you of this. I know I've said it before, but
it bears repeating again this morning.
When Jesus asked questions or when God himself asked
questions. Knowing Jesus is God, but
considering the Old Testament, like when God asked Adam and
Eve. Where art thou?
When God asks questions, it's not because he doesn't know the
answer. When I ask questions, it's
because I need to find out an answer.
When Jesus asks questions, it's because he is trying to get the
person he is questioning to think about the answer they're
about to give. So he is prodding the disciples
minds. He wants them to think about
this. Who are people saying that I am?
Again, Jesus, fully aware of every thought of every person.
And they say, well, they are saying you're one of the
prophets, like John the Baptist or Jeremiah or Elijah, one of
them. And then Jesus asked the
fundamental question. And pay attention to this.
Every single person has to answer this question.
He says, but who do you say that I am?
The question you have to answer today, friend, if you don't know
Jesus Christ your Savior is not what your neighbor thinks about
Jesus, not what your spouse thinks about Jesus, not what the
people next door think about Jesus.
What do you think about Jesus? Who do you believe him to be?
If you don't accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and you stand
with the great right throne of judgment, you're not going to be
asked by the king, King Jesus. Well, who does everybody else
think that I am? The question is going to be
about you and what you believe And Jesus says, well, who do you
say? And Peter, Peter said a lot of
dumb stuff, didn't he? It's all right.
You can say yes to that. It's all right.
I know it's church, but we can use the word dumb, all right?
It's fine. Jesus said a lot of dumb stuff.
Or hold on a second, Peter, edit that.
Edit that I told you I was having trouble with words today.
All right, Peter said a lot of dumb stuff.
Pastor said a lot of dumb stuff. But Peter has said a lot of dumb
stuff. I wasn't expecting that many
people to agree, but but I have to agree myself.
This is one of the best things Peter said right here.
Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God.
And that's where we get to the text we just read.
And Jesus answered, said, and blessed art thou, Simon Bart
Jonah, for flesh hath flesh and blood have not revealed that
unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee, thou art Peter.
Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. There's a lot there in verse #18
if you were to go to Catholic Church today, they would say to
you the verse #18 was Jesus telling Peter that he would be
the first Pope? This is what will be taught
commonly today, That and this moment that Jesus was being told
but was telling Peter that he would become the first Pope.
And in their tradition, that is what the case is.
There's a major problem with that.
Peter did not believe that he was the cornerstone of the
church. No, in fact, if you go to first
Peter, we'll have time to go there.
But he made it very clear in First Peter chapter #2 that
Jesus Christ is the foundation of the church and not himself.
So that's not what's being said here.
Jesus says upon this rock I will build my church.
Well, the rock of what? The rock of the testimony of
Peter, that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
What is the church founded upon? The fact that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. So what's?
Being taught here first. Well, first, when this first
mention of church that we see here in Matthew chapter 16 tells
us that the church has an expected belief.
First of all, that the church has expected belief.
We just looked in Sunday school this morning at the Unitarian
Universalist and we saw that they believe nothing and
everything all at the same time. That they have no creed.
But yet they still have a explicit set of ethics and
values of which they follow, which are really the antithesis
of God's Word, to be honest with you.
But yet we saw that this morning.
But as we gather together, what is the foundation of our
gathering together? Why are we here?
Well, it really comes down to this belief in Jesus Christ as
our Savior. This is what brings us together
today. We're different people today.
Look around here. No, go ahead.
Look around for a minute. There's a bunch of nobody's
looking around. All right, look around.
Some of you are still struggling with what I said a few minutes
ago. Look, I'm sorry about that, all
right? The Lord knows my heart.
I didn't mean that. It just sometimes, you know, the
words come out faster than the brain can process them.
All right? And so I do my best, But look
around. We are different.
We're as different as can be. Different nationalities,
different complexions, different backgrounds, different financial
strata, different languages, different struggles.
But what do we have in common? The only thing that matters.
Jesus Christ. And Jesus says this, that the
church is founded upon the belief in him that this is what
the church is about. This is why we're here.
And so if you're ever wondering how someone becomes a member of
a Bible believing Baptist Church, this is the starting
point that someone has to know Jesus Christ their savior.
That someone has to make the confession that Peter would have
made that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God and
following believers baptism as we see in the book of Acts, as
we. Understand that this is where
the membership begins. You say, well, it sounds like
your church is so exclusive. No, it's as wide open as Jesus
said. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. It's open for black and for
white and for red and for yellow.
It's open for those who have have high incomes and those with
low incomes. It's open for those from the
rural areas and the suburban areas and the urban areas.
It's open to all because Jesus died for all.
And so the first thing we see about this church is that it's
around the common belief. And I want to encourage you
again that if you come to this church every week and you don't
know Jesus Christ as your Savior, it's not going to help
you to just get some encouragement from God's word
and to go on your merry way. Because while certainly that may
help you in the short term, it will not help you for eternity.
Because the very first thing that you must do is to accept
Christ as your Savior, to understand that you're a Sinner,
to understand the judgement and the lake of fire is.
Real, but that Jesus died in the cross to take the penalty of
your sin. And that's what the church is
built upon, upon that commonality of belief.
But it's not just the fact that the church is built on belief,
but it's also built on behavior. Look at chapter #18 just go a
couple pages away, Matthew chapter #18 and this might seem
pretty. Intense when we read it at
first, but again, we're reading both the places where Jesus
spoke about the church. The first, very clear.
There's a common belief if you're part of the church.
Second, there's a common behavior in the church.
The verse #15 It says, Moreover, if thy brother shall.
Trespass against thee. Go and tell him his fault
between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou has
gained thy brother. Now Jesus is giving the methods
of conflict resolution and he's saying this.
If someone has a problem with you, make sure you text 10 of
your closest friends, but don't tell them.
Make sure you're paying attention.
No I I miss said that one. But it was on purpose.
OK, he says this. Is what you need to do.
If you got a problem with somebody, go to them.
How much a life would be solved so much more easily if instead
of just going to everyone else but the person, you go to the
person. Well, that's too uncomfortable,
pastor. Oh, so it's much more more
comfortable to gossip. That's not going to solve the
problem. And so Jesus gives some very
basic elemental instructions here.
But that may not always work if there's an offense.
And so in verse #16 it says, But if he will not hear thee, then
take with thee one or more, or one, or two more, that in the
mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established in
verse #17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it
unto the church. But if he neglect to hear.
The church. Let him be unto him as a heathen
man and a publican. One of the very basic reasons I
believe the church was already established was and if Jesus
said this and the church wasn't established, they say why are
you talking about this? It seems like this was being
discussed because this was already something that was an
issue that was already ongoing. And so he mentions it.
But in that mention of the church twice in verse #17 we
find that there's an expectation that there is to be proper
behavior within the church. Now, some of you get worried,
some of you get nervous. I don't want you to get nervous.
I don't want you to like lose me here for a moment.
But I want you to understand that when it comes to the
church, we believe something. But also, it's not just that we
believe in Jesus Christ, but we're to be.
Behave like people believe in Jesus Christ.
I don't think I was going to be as popular, but that's all
right. One commentator said it
perfectly. I'm going to read what he said
because I think this explains what I'm trying to say very
well. The church that Jesus mentions
has not only standards of belief, but also of conduct.
What we see here from this verse, these verses, it has
membership from which one may be excluded, a process of
discipline, a form of government meetings at which a matter may
be told, and officers who facilitate the whole.
The commentator concludes this way.
The church that Jesus builds is not merely a random gathering of
believers in a coffee shop to pray and share Scripture verses.
Such meetings are self selecting.
The church is not. There's nothing wrong with
believers gathering together in a coffee shop or reading Bible
verses. But we're talking, in fact, I
think probably we'd do better in a coffee shop if we'd be reading
Bible verses, wouldn't we? But we're talking about what is
the church? And when he mentions it here,
he's talking about there's a way to have things taken care of,
that there's leadership, there has to be a meeting so that
these things could be addressed in the 1st place, that there's a
structure that comes from God. You say, well, why does it come
from him? Because he owns.
The deed, because it belongs to him, and because of that, he is
the one who gets to decide that which it is.
In short, we can put it this way.
The Church has government and membership and discipline and
standards of conduct, and membership comes with both
rights and responsibility, just like anything in life does.
We understand that the gym has rights and responsibility.
You pay a fee and that you have to go in there and you pay the
fee and then you get to use the equipment.
But what are your responsibilities?
You know, wipe it down when you're done.
Don't yell, yell and grunt or else.
So we saw on Sunday school, the siren will go off if you start
doing that, at least at Planet Fitness.
And so there's things that you have to do.
There's rights and responsibilities.
The golf course has rights and responsibilities.
I'm not very good at golf, but I do know this, that there's a
starter that when you get to the 1st hole, he thinks he's in
charge. You know why he is.
He says it's been a lot of rain. Stay on the paths, don't go off.
Guess what, You stay on the paths, says we're receding hole
5, just skip over to hole 6. You skip over hole 5, you go to
hole six. Well, I paid money, so I should
be able to do what I want. You know, that's not the way it
works. There are rights, but there are
also responsibilities. It's true at the gym, the golf
course, the scouts. This is true.
But I would ask this question, why not church as well?
Shouldn't there be a structure to what we have?
Shouldn't there be rights and responsibilities for all,
including the pastor or whoever we are, that God defines that
which a church is and that we as we covenant together as a
church, we say, God, whatever you have for us here in this
assembly, we're going to do what you want us to do because this
is your church. It's not just a hodgepodge of
Christians who kind of just. Roll in and.
Roll out however or we want to, or whenever we want to, but that
we come here with a purpose to fulfill God's Great Commission.
This is why we're here, and it's a joy to be able to fulfill that
which God has called us to do. It's good to be a church.
Amen. I was hoping more people would
agree with that and say pastor. Most weeks I do, but not this
week. All right, it's a joy to be part
of a church and to have a family.
But with that comes rights and responsibilities.
And Jesus was the one who laid it out.
And those two times he mentions it, he says.
Yeah, there's a. Belief got to believe in me.
There's behavior, we got to make sure we act right amongst each
other and make sure we take care of things properly and when
things aren't taken care of properly, that there has to be
some leadership that gets involved to make sure that
things go the course. And we understand this with any
other area of life, but yet it's true in God's church, most
especially say pastor. All right, I agree with all
that, but. What does it have to do with me?
Well. It has to do with you because.
If you are a member of Liberty Baptist Church, you are a part
of this body. And if you are not a member of
Liberty Baptist Church, is not the goal of this church to keep
you out at arm's length, But it's to love you and say we
would love you to be a part of the family of Liberty Baptist
Church, but we want you to be in that way, the way that God
speaks of it. So what does this have to do
with us? I want to show you some really
good, applicable verses that will help us.
I don't know how many of them were yet to read, but we're
going to go ahead and turn there.
So go to 1st Corinthians chapter #12 I told you we're going to
work through our Bibles a little bit.
First Corinthians chapter #12 First Corinthians chapter 12
we'll begin verse #12 says this for as the body is 1 and has
many members. And all the members of that one
body, being many, are one body. So also is Christ.
For by 1 spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether
we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we bond or free and have been
made all made to drink into one spirit.
Now there's a lot of. Theology around this verse that
is off the mark. The very clear reading of this
verse makes this clear. Paul is talking to the Church of
Corinth. He's talking about the visible
church, not a universal invisible church, because you
get later on in the chapter and it talks about there being
schisms and difficulties in the body.
You can't have schisms and difficulties in an invisible
body. You're talking about a real
church because real churches have real problems.
And so it says this by 1 spirit or we baptize into one body,
meaning the church body of which we are.
That's what it's talking about, being part of a local church.
And it says in verse #14 for the body is not one member but many.
Now when it's using that word member, it's talking about the
body and talk about the members of the.
Body like the. Eyes, the ears, the nose, it's
talking about the members. But we can also look at it this
way as it's talking about the church as a body, it's talking
about us as members as well. There's a duality to the term
that is being used there. One, it's talking about the body
parts of the body, but it's also comparing it to the membership
of the church. Now what does it say?
If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the
body, is it therefore not of the body?
If the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the
body, is it therefore not of the body?
If the whole body were an eye, where were, where were they
hearing it? The whole we're hearing, where
is the smelling? But now God has set the members,
every one of them in the body as it pleased him.
Now stop right here. What is Paul saying?
That there are different people that God has set within the
church. Now God plans for people to be
part of a church and within that church, within that body of
which he's placed you through baptism, through the transfer of
membership, whatever it may be. But as he's put you in this
church, he says there is a usefulness for you here because
we are all different. We have different abilities, we
have different characteristics, we have different strengths.
And so because of that, God has put the body together in such a
way that we can function as one. If everybody is doing, that's
what they're called to do. Some are eyes, some are ears,
some are noses, some are feet, some are more glorified, some
are look down on a little bit. But he says this, every single
one of them are needed. Every single one of them are
needed. What happens when part of the
body don't work? Well, the body has problems.
Every part of the body needs to work.
Every single one of us have some kind of ailing that's going on
within our body. Some are minor, some are major.
But when the body doesn't work right.
Boy, it could be a chore. Can't it?
Sometimes it's as simple as maybe a little bit of a limp.
Sometimes it can be bad as I don't even know if I can get out
of bed. The body's not what it needs to
be because not all the bodies going the way that it's supposed
to go. So what has God done always
brought a group of people together with a common belief
who agreed on a common behavior. And he said this I have brought
you together to work as one unit for me.
That's why we're here. You know, you said why I thought
I was here to get some help. Well, we want you to get help
while you're here. Well, I thought I was here to to
socialize with people. I hope you have fellowship with
people. What, what better place for you
to have lifelong friends and in church?
In fact, lifelong friends doesn't even seem like a good
way of putting it because they're really your brothers and
sisters in Christ. And often we would, many of us
would say something along these lines that we're closer with our
brothers and sisters in Christ and sometimes we are with our
own family. Not everyone's family situation
is different. But I'm just saying that that
often times can be the case. And I'm not saying it has to be
the case, but there are some people that we just look at this
and say, wow, these are the people that get me.
Well, my own family doesn't even get me because they don't
necessarily understand what I believe.
I'm not trying to ostracize you from your family, not saying
that at all. Understand what I'm saying.
At least the people in this room get you because we have common
belief. That's what I'm trying to say.
I'm doubting myself even. I'm talking because I said Jesus
said things that he shouldn't be saying.
And I'm, I'm doubting everything that I'm saying right now.
In fact, I probably shouldn't be standing back there anymore just
in case I say something that's wrong.
I don't want to be standing back there when it happens, but I
need to be saying it right no matter where I am.
He's brought us together and says God put us together as he
pleased. This means we all have a
purpose. We all have a need that God
wants those to be part of this body, to be active within the
body. Well, how do I be part of the
body? We got to be saved, got to be
baptized properly, and then you're part of the church.
Say, well, how much money do I need to pay this in the Country
Club? Now, the Bible talks about
tithes and offerings, of course, but guess what?
We're not checking up on those kind of things.
Before anybody joins, you know what we want to know?
Are you saved? Are you baptized?
They're part of the body. Well, well, I've only known the
Lord a little while. You're as much a part of the
body as someone that's known the Lord for 60 years.
Amen. Isn't that awesome?
And God did that on purpose. You know why?
So the person who's been in the Lord 60 years can teach the
person only been in the Lord six months that the elder can teach
the younger. Let's see, we're all important
here and all have needs. Every single one of us God
wants. You to be a part of what he's
doing in his church verse 19 if there were one member where is
the body has there been but now they're many members yet one
body the I cannot say of the hand I have no need of thee nor
again the hand of the feet I have no.
Need of you. Nay, much more than those
members of the body which seem more feeble are necessary.
Well, pastor, I'm never going to be a pastor, so what's the big
deal? I may be called to be the pastor
here at Liberty Baptist Church, but there's a lot of people that
are needed just to keep this thing moving every week.
There are people that are needed in the nursery.
There's people that are needed in the parking lot.
There's people that are needed here is ushers and greeters.
And there are people that are needed to print things that are
people that are needed to go out and reach people.
And there's people that are needed for the Internet and for
the Facebook and all those different social media type
things that are out there. Those are all that you say.
Well, that's not as important as preaching.
It's all important. It's all important.
You say, well, I can't do much, but you can do something that I
can't do, and you can do something that your neighbor
can't do. And so God has brought us all
together in his wisdom and his Providence.
We're not all eyes. We're not all ears.
We're not all noses. Can you imagine a body that was
all ears? It would know a lot, but it
couldn't tell anybody because it had no mouth.
We're different and that's not a weakness, that's a strength.
We all got to be doing our part. Why?
Because real life is real life and life comes at us pretty
fast. Look at verse #25 drop down that
there should be no schism in the body.
Again, this is a, this is a local assembly that's been
talking about here. You can't have a schism in an
invisible body. There should be no schism in the
body, but then the other members should have the same care, one
for another. Whether one member suffer, all
the members suffer with it. One member be honored, the other
members rejoice with it. Now you're the body of Christ
and members in particular, We'll stop right there.
There are people who struggle. There are people who have needs.
There are people who who have difficulties.
And here's what God's church is supposed to do, that you are to
help other people when they have a need so that when you have a
need, those other people help you.
It's not about just, well, I'm going to hang around the church
and I just want everyone to to give to me and to give to me, to
give to me. No, you give to the church.
And I'm not just talking about money.
I'm talking about you. Just give of yourself and you'll
find that as you give. Your needs are met, I'll be
honest with you, as much as I have given to a church.
And again, I'm not talking about money.
I'm just talking about as I've given it myself.
It's not equal say passable. You've given a whole lot more
than what you've received. No, no, it's the opposite.
Whatever I have given to the Lord, I've received so much more
back. I'm undeserving of the benefits
and the blessings of God. You know where he what he uses
is one of his main vehicles of those blessings his church that
we're to help each other. A lot of people out there say
they'll help you and the means you have trouble.
They're gone. So I don't feel like this church
has helped me very much. Maybe they don't.
They don't know you very well because you haven't given to
yourself as you ought. I'm not trying to make you feel
guilty. I'm just saying maybe people
just don't even know there is a need because sometimes people
are reaching out. Sometimes people want to help,
but they don't even know. What I'm saying is this.
Get involved in the church. Oh, pastor, who's just like
growing the church. This is one of those messages
about growing the church. And it's like, it's one big
Ponzi scheme is like, why don't you just sell Amway, Pastor, Why
you just sell, sell Amway? Is that what you're doing?
This is Mary Kay. What is it?
No, no, it's, it's, it's telling you there's no greater
organization on earth than God's church.
And He's called us to be part of it, to help one another in a way
that no other organization's equipped to.
So be a part of what God is doing within the church.
There's one of the passage I want you to look at.
I know we're almost out of time, but first Peter chapter #5
Quickly, because I can probably put a pretty fine point on this
first Peter chapter #5 I don't know this message is going where
I intended it to go, but it's going where it needs to go.
I think, by God's grace. First, Peter chapter #5 I know
this is a different kind of message because we're we're.
We're teaching you things that maybe you didn't think that you
needed to know about, and I understand that.
And for those of you that guests today, I'll pick a weird day to
come to church. I I know we're not, we're not
recruiting you again. This is not that.
It's not that first Peter Chapter 5, the elders which are
among you, I exhort, who am also an elder.
So Peter is talking to pastors here.
One of the titles of a pastor is an elder.
Now I prefer you not call me elder Pastor's great.
All right, pastor, elder Bishop. These are the terms that New
Testament uses for the pastor. Elder Rivero doesn't really roll
off the tongue. I'll be honest with you who am
also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and
also a partaker of the glory that be revealed.
Paul, Peter here is going to give some instructions to the
pastor and if you agree with these to give a good Amen as we
go through feed the flock of God, which is among you.
It's the job of the pastor to feed the flock.
Now sometimes I gotta feed you some things you don't like.
You say like when probably this morning, but it keeps you
healthy. That's right.
It's a balanced diet. Because these are things that
you need to learn about and understand.
You want a pastor that feeds the flock of God.
You want a pastor that's going to feed you from the word of
God. It is my heart.
It's my desire during the week, not just sit behind a desk and
be an administrator, not just to go do the things that would grow
our organization quote UN quote like we're some kind of Fortune
500 company with a cross in front of it.
No, it's my desire to be in the Word of God, as the disciple
said in Acts chapter 6, to give themselves the word in prayer so
that I can put things together to help you learn, to help you
grow, to exhort you to. Encourage you.
This is my desire to feed the flock of God.
It's my heartbeat to feed you. Taking the oversight thereof not
by constraint but will not by constraint means that I'm not
doing it in a. Way that is abusing you as
believers. There's a lot of pastoral abuse
out there. It doesn't matter what
denomination it is. But includes independent
Baptist. Not by constraint, but
willingly. Not for filthy lucre, but of a
ready mind. Now, I would tell you this.
If I pastor for the money, I picked the wrong profession.
This is not a complaint. Liberty Baptist Church takes
great care of me. It takes great care of our
family. It's not a complaint.
I'm just saying that if you're getting rich, pastor, you're
doing it wrong. I'm not saying you shouldn't be
taken care of and all that stuff.
I'm saying, you know, I'm not on my third jet yet.
I'm still trying to pay off my first two.
No, I'm just kidding. But I'm just saying those are
the kind of people you got to watch out for them.
Watch out for them on TV, watch out for them online.
You watch out for them, but they have oversight, the right kind
of oversight. You want a pastor that has
oversight over the church that should know what's going on,
when it's going on, how it's going on.
No, I'm not talking about being all up in your business and
going through your Facebook page, your Instagram.
I don't know what they're doing. I don't want to.
Know. I know what you're doing, not
like that, but that should be aware of who you are, what your
name is, who you know, those kind that would be.
A good thing neither is being Lords over God's heritage.
I don't Lord over you. I'm not the priest of your home.
No, no, I preach what I need to preach here.
I teach what I need to teach here.
But I'm not going around checking what you're doing in
your home. That's between you and the Lord.
I'm here to be a helper of your joy.
I'm here to be a helper of the faith.
But I'm not here to tell you this is what you're doing in
your home. You answer the Lord for that.
I answer the Lord of whether I gave the word of God as I ought
to give it, and you have to answer to whether.
You do what God's told you to do through His Word, but being in
samples, the flog, the pastor is to be an example.
You know, where the heaviest things for me as a pastor is
that I'm to be an example to you and my faith and the way I
handled myself. You know, there are times as a
pastor that I can. I've said things, I've done
things and I thought, well, man, I hope nobody from the church
knows that that's it because I'm a person just like you.
But God has called me to live in a way that's higher.
No, I don't mean got higher above you, but this is a holy
calling and it's when I imagine you want your pastor take
seriously. You're not rolling around in the
mud for six days a week and coming up and singing holy,
holy, holy. You probably don't want that.
I wouldn't want that as a pastor.
Now you agree with everything I just said, right?
OK, that's good because. You know the hammer's coming,
right? Jay's back.
There's like, I know it's coming.
I don't want to agree, but I got to because I know it's going to
come back to me. It's going to boomerang back on
you, all right? I'm not trying to be weird about
this, but look back at this again because the law of
opposites is real. I mean, if something is true on
this end, then the opposite of it is true as well.
Feed the flock of God, which is among you.
If I'm called to feed the flock, then you are called to be fed.
I told you you wouldn't like it if I'm called to feed the flock
of God that you were called to be fed.
You know, we have feedings Sunday morning, Sunday night,
Wednesday night. OK, Dave, can I say this?
Sure. OK.
Thank you, Dave. All right.
He's a trustee, so I got his permission.
I don't say this about me. I'm saying so you understand my
heart. Putting together messages during
the week. Take some time.
It does. I love it.
You know, I love it. It's, it's a joy.
I, I get to study the Bible by trade.
What an awesome thing that some of you like me and I've had to
work jobs where I cleaned up garbage.
In fact, there were times I had to clean up garbage and then go
study the Bible by trade or drive people around by Uber and
study the Bible. I get to do this for a little.
It's such a blessing to work on feeding, but it's hard to work
on all that feeding when there aren't people to be fed when
it's feeding time. We have feeding times on Sunday
morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and I know not everybody
can come to all of them. I know there's work issues and
things like that. I can tell you there's a lot of
problems in life that would help if you just get fed the way
you're supposed to. If I'm to feed the flock, that
means somebody's got to be fed. I might have the oversight Now
you're all afraid to answer. I'm have the oversight.
Thank you. That means somebody needs to be
overseen. That means somebody has to say
what to do, not being. Lords over you not abusing the
flock. But someone has to say this is
the direction. This is what the Bible says it
has to be. People are willing to be
overseen. Do I need to be an example?
Yes. But if I have to be the example
doesn't have to be people that have to follow the example.
People say, Hey, you got to come to our church.
See our pastor. I mean, he gets up and he
preaches the Bible. He and his family boy, you, we
want to come and see him. You, you want to you want to see
what's going on at the church. Praise the Lord.
If you if you feel like you could say that I pray that we
live in a way that you can. It's our hearts desire.
But that example is not necessarily for the lost.
That example is for you, the flock so that we all can live in
the way that we ought to live. You know, what kind of comes
down to this church thing is not as casual as we thought.
It's serious. It's serious.
Now, what does that mean for you?
I don't know. You know why?
Because I'm not the Holy Spirit and I don't plan applying for
the position. It's between you and the Lord.
You need to be saved. Get saved.
You've been thinking about joining the church.
Just know, we don't every week say we want to join the church.
You want to join the church, you want to join the church.
We don't do that. We don't do that.
But we would love to talk to you about covenanting together with
us as believers because there's a great purpose that God has for
us together. That's what those things are
back there. Those, those clipboards
represent little things maybe on the outside, but their eyes,
their ears, their noses, their thumbs, their fingers, their
knees, their spleens, their everything.
And we need it all. It's a story.
And I, I've expired my time, but I'm, I'm done.
There's a story of Steve Jobs back in the early 1980s.
You're talking to a man named John Scully.
John Scully was the CEO of Pepsi during the Pepsi Challenge in
the 70s. You know, the Pepsi Challenge is
a big thing. It helped actually propel Pepsi
to the place of beating Coke because they started a New Coke.
They were so afraid of Pepsi that they got rid of their
formula and Pepsi won the cola wars.
Back during that time, Apple needed a new CEO.
Steve Jobs was the visionary but yet couldn't lead it himself.
At that time the way that was needed.
CEO was needed to to go to direction and he was talking to
John Sculley back and forth and back and forth for a while and
there was no real decision about what to do.
And finally Steve Jobs looked at John Sculley and said some of
these words. He says, do you want to sell
sugar water for the rest of your life or do you want to change
the world? And John Sculley said that was
the moment I realized I need to work for Apple.
Now, that might be a little bit of hyperbole there because I
would say iPhones and soda have rotted a lot of people.
I say that as a card carrying iPhone member.
But he said there's something greater that's out there.
Don't you want to be part of it? You know, when I look at Liberty
Baptist Church and I look at all this, the world might not see
much. They go to Unity Church
downtown, the beautiful Spires, the stonework, the beautiful
stained glass. They go to some of the
cathedrals downtown in Boston that raised 10 stories high with
Spires even higher. And I said, this is where it's
at. I tell you, I just want to be
where God's at. He's working at Liberty Baptist
Church and he wants to work through you and with you for
something great, greater than you, greater than me, greater
than this life and eternity of reaching people, reaching people
for eternity. Jesus Christ.
And he'd be done this morning. But I don't need to tell you
what to do. That's between you and the Holy
Spirit. I want to present to you the
need. I'll present to you what Jesus
said about the church, First Corinthians said about the
church, what First Peter chapter 5 talks about the pastor, but
also talks about you as well. And how does that relate to you?
That's between you and the Lord. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.