The Faithful Church (Acts 20:17-34)
What does it look like to be faithful as a church in America in 2024? What will it look like in the years to come.
This is a question that needs to be asked and answered. Seriously, it does.
On a few occasions people have begun to go to church here and have been struck by the difference between here and other churches in Conway. There have been two differences that have been given to me repeatedly. First, the love this church has for one another. And the second, is this church’s commitment to the Scriptures.
To the first, it has repeatedly been said that at other churches they didn’t connect with anyone. They didn’t feel that it mattered if they came or not. And that’s not the case here.
To the second, it has also repeatedly been said that sermons and Sunday School had very little Scripture in them in other churches they visited. And that bothered them. So, they kept looking for a church and landed here.
I hope that you feel complimented when you hear comments like these. But I also believe that it is important that we, as a church, assess where we are and what faithfulness to the Lord as a church body looks like. We should hold on to what’s good and add what needs to be added.
The Church exists amid a struggle. And the weapons of our warfare must be at the ready. Psalm 110 is the most often quoted Psalm in the New Testament. Taken as a whole, it is quoted more than any other passage of Scripture in its description of Jesus. And read it with me for a moment before we look at the importance of the Church getting its priorities in order,
“A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.” (Psalm 110:1-7 ESV)
This often quoted psalm portrays Jesus ruling in the midst of His enemies right now. It also depicts Jesus’s people offering themselves freely to Him, in other words, fighting alongside Him as He rules in the midst of His enemies. In fact, how long is it that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father? Until His enemies are made His footstool.
We are currently, through the preaching of the gospel, through making disciples, by the power of the Holy Spirit, making the enemies of Jesus His footstool.
As a church, we need to have everything in order. And Paul is making sure that everything will be in order at Ephesus when he leaves. He will not see them again. And last week we saw that the pastor was to have certain characteristics and priorities to lead the Church into this conflict. Last week we saw what a faithful pastor looked like. This week we see what a faithful church looks like.
The Faithful Church is committed to the truth, obeying the truth, the gospel, and to giving. These characteristics must be in place as we march forth against the darkness of this world. Satan and all that he holds captive will not be pushed back by a church without a spine. We must have strong commitments to the truth, the gospel, and to giving.
The Faithful Church Is Committed To The Truth (18, 27, 30, 32)
Paul commanded these pastors to preach the truth, the whole counsel of God. This was the command given to the Church’s leaders because it is to take priority in the Church.
As Victory Baptist Church, this must be our concern as well. Everything from sermons to Sunday School, any camp youth or children decide to go to needs to be committed to the truth. We are the people of the truth, the people of the Word of God.
“if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15 ESV)
God has given us His word, the truth. And the truth is what we are about. We are those that uphold and support the truth in this lost world.
When government officials are sworn into office, they make a promise to defend and protect the Constitution. Everyone that enlists in the military pledges to support and defend the Constitution. I believe that there is some similarity here to our priorities as a church.
As a church, we are to be committed to God’s Word. We are committed to the truth. And the truth of God’s Word is to be protected and defended. It is to be upheld, it is to be followed. And it is not to be changed or fiddled with. And we should stand up and say what it means.
The truth is that the whole counsel of God, which we are to uphold, includes both convenient and inconvenient things to believe. It is convenient to believe that Jesus died on the cross. It is inconvenient to believe that Jesus is King and Lord over all. It is inconvenient to believe that those that rebel against Him are going to a place called Hell. It is inconvenient to believe that God has spoken to us about how we are to order our lives.
The fact is, if you hold to Scripture, as you should, then people are going to call you all sorts of names. You will be called hypoctritical, bigoted, a hateful person, a Christian Nationalist (that’s one that I was called on X after speaking at a school board meeting), and many other things. But that does not mean that we waver. These insults, criticisms, and even persecutions that could come at us should not cause us to waver.
Like Paul we do not “shrink back”. Leadership, and the church at large does not shrink back. We are committed to the truth.
As a church, these last directions to Ephesus for their warfare, are of massive importance. We are to be committed to God’s Word.
There are many things we believe that people absolutely hate. And we believe them because they are found in God’s Word. Therefore, we have a choice to make.
One example of this is how we interpret the Scriptures. Will we interpret them as the author originally intended, or will we interpret them as our modern society interprets them? In other words, do we believe that God’s Word means the same thing that it did when it was written or that it’s meaning can change over time?
I have made it a rule for myself that I will only vote for “originalist” judges. The State Supreme Court Chief Justice election here in Faulkner County is one in which that rule was applied. One of the candidates was an originalist.
I normally applaud the decisions of Supreme Court Justices that are originalists. On the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett are originalists. I will always be hoping for originalists to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
An originalist just means that the judge will interpret the Constitution according to the author’s intended meaning. They are not interpreting it according to what a person today thinks it means. They are interpreting it according to what the framers of the constitution meant.
We are to interpret our Bibles in the same sort of manner. We don’t get to just make things up as we go. We don’t get to look around and say, “Hey, culture has changed.” And change our views on fornication or homosexuality.
We interpret the Scriptures according to their original meaning and apply them to ourselves today as best we can. We are the pillar and ground of truth, not he molders of truth. And so, as we head into the battles we face, we don’t change the Scriptures to make the fight easier. We commit ourselves to the truth.
Will we stand firm upon God’s Word or waver from it? Are we committed to preaching and teaching God’s Word? Are we committed to helping our children to understand God’s Word at home?
And are we committed to obeying the truth?
The Faithful Church Is Committed To Obeying The Truth (28-31)
Paul spent time admonishing people to follow the truth. This because following the truth is of utmost importance to the church. There seem to be two things going on here. One, is that people are drawn away from the truth by wolves. We spoke a lot about this last week, so I will just mention it here.
There are a lot of people out there that would attempt to draw you away from faithfulness to God’s Word. These people are dangerous and are to be avoided.
But this is also about those that follow the truth, that is are obedient to the truth.
Who is it that loves Jesus? It is the one that follows His ways.
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”” (John 14:21 ESV)
Knowing God’s Word is not enough. It is not enough to just know the truth. We are to be doers of God’s Word as well. As a church, we must be committed to the truth and not error and following that truth wherever it will take us.
You can know everything there is to know in the Scriptures and if it is not transforming your life, then you don’t really know it.
How many times have we seen famous pastors, who seemed to be mighty in God’s Word, fall? How many of them have learned the Scriptures but not really been transformed by them? How many of them taught their congregation the evils of adultery only to cheat on their spouses?
Some of these men spent considerable portions of their week for many years studying God’s Word. I have personally benefitted from knowledge some of these men delivered. But they themselves were not living what they were preaching. They were not living according to the knowledge they gained from God’s Word. They warned others and did not heed the warning themselves.
That is a real danger for a pastor, but it is also a real danger for those in the congregation as well.
More than once I have been shocked by stories of the behavior of people that almost seemed saintlike as I talked to them at church. It is sometimes shocking to hear that someone is a completely different person behind closed doors. And most of the time these people had heard all the sermons, gone to all the Bible Studies, and had not applied these things to their lives.
And I want to add one thing more. Since I have framed our discussion in the midst of our conflict with the world, there is something else to say. This also pertains to whether or not we will live courageously out in the world. It’s not just about being nice. It’s about standing firm upon God’s Word.
Cowards join the “faithless, the detestable…murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liers” in the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8 ESV)
For the Christian, there is a deep commitment to God’s Word. They trust the Lord and go forth into the darkness.
For the last few weeks I have been thinking about people that tend not to shatter when difficulties rise. I’m not sure why, but this is how my brain works.
It seems to me that there are some people that fall apart when difficulties arise and then there are two groups of people that tend to face difficulties without doing so. The first group, which I see a lot of, are people that are somewhat fatalistic, and the other trusts the Lord and so can face hardships or even go out into the fray without fear.
What I see most often from people is the attitude of “Touch of Grey” by the Grateful Dead. They just see life as a cascading from of one bad thing after another and they say to their self, “I will get by, I will survive.”
“I know the rent is in arrears, the dog has not been fed in years
It’s even worse than it appears, but it’s alright
Cow is giving kerosene, kid can’t read at seventeen
The words he knows are all obscene, but it’s alrightI will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive”
That is not where Christian courage comes from. Christian courage is not just facing hardships and saying, “I will get by.” Christian courage is deciding to face the hardships of this world, and even to delve headlong into the conflicts of our age in faithfulness to the Lord. We don’t just understand that we “will get by”. We understand that the Lord is with us. We won’t just get by. We will be victorious.
As a church, we know that being committed to obeying the truth is not popular. It will likely not win a lot of friends. But we also know that we are called to be courageous people that stand firm upon God’s Word no matter how much it may cost us. And we can do this, without fear, because we know that God is with us.
The Faithful Church Is Committed To The Gospel (21, 24)
The Gospel is what Paul was commanded to preach. It’s what we are commanded to preach as well. As a church this means we are commanded to understand, know, and teach in accordance with the gospel. And this means that we are to go out and declare this gospel to a lost and dying world.
We are committed to going out and sharing the gospel with others. This is the message of what Christ accomplished for us. It is the message of our salvation. We rebelled against God, we earned His wrath and justice. And God the Son took on human flesh to redeem us from the curse that stood over us. He paid the punishment for sin and rose from the grave three days later. He paid the punishment that wicked sinners owed. He lived a perfect life and credited wicked sinners with righteousness. All those who turn from ruling their own lives and trust in Jesus Christ have their sins forgiven and are counted as righteous. That is the message we proclaim.
We are committed to knowing it and equipping the people here with knowing it so that they can go and share with others.
We are committed to seeing the Kingdom of God expand here in Conway, Arkansas.
We are committed to seeing the Kingdom of God expand across the globe.
This commitment to the gospel means that we are committed to seeing people come to faith in Christ. We are committed to doing what it takes to get the message out there to those who need to hear it.
We attempt to bring people in from this lost and dying world. That means we long to see the hurting and sinful come to faith in Christ and connect with us here. We long to see them connected to us and their lives transformed.
This is how we go forth in battle against sin and Satan. This is the commission that Jesus gave us in this lost and dying world. We carry the message of the gospel. We make disciples.
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” (Jude 1:20-23 ESV)
When we think about what we’re doing as we go forth and share the gospel with a lost and dying world, we think that we are just delivering a message. In some sense that is what we are doing. But in a much more real sense, that is not all we are doing.
As the hymn goes,
“Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.”
(Fanny Crosby, Rescue the Perishing)
We rescue the perishing by delivering to them the message of Jesus, the mighty to save. Yes, our job is to deliver the message. But in delivering the message, we are working to snatch the perishing from sin and the grave. By the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, God uses us to rescue the perishing.
Last week I mentioned it, and this week I will mention it again. I have been praying for God to continue growing this church in a more specific way. I have been praying that, by the end of next year, we would see 100 people in this church week after week and 25 baptisms as well. That’s a lot for this little church. But I hope, pray, and work toward that happening.
Why?
There are two reasons. Jesus left us with the Great Commission, to go forth into all the Earth and make disciples. As a local church here in Conway, Arkansas, we are to do that here in Conway, Arkansas. When I pray for those things to take place, it is praying for that to happen here.
The second reason is that we long to see the perishing rescued. We long to be used by God for the salvation of sinners.
And so, we are committed to the gospel. It is the message we have been commissioned to take to the ends of the earth. And it is the message that saves sinners.
The Faithful Church Is Committed To Giving (Acts 20:33-35)
Paul then emphasized, through his own life’s example, that a faithful church is committed to giving. Paul worked with his own hands and paid for himself and for others.
And then Paul discussed the teachings of Jesus “and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
The truth is, we are not certain where this quotation comes from. It could very well be that Paul is just summarizing the teachings of Jesus on this point. There are passages that teach this very thing in other words,
“give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”” (Luke 6:38 ESV)
Jesus taught this, whether this is something that Paul had been told by one of the disciples about this thing that Jesus had said, or if he was summarizing what Jesus said. And so, in this last bit of teaching, Paul tells us that we are to be committed to giving.
What is giving supposed to do for a church?
As individuals, we understand that it is an act of worship and obedience to God.
“Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” (Proverbs 3:9-10 ESV)
Giving helps us to provide for the needs of the church. This ranges from keeping the lights on around here and paying for a pastor. But giving does more than that, or it should.
Giving helps us to give to those in need within our church and outside of our church. Our church prioritizes this. And we should, this is what is within the text we read today. The church prioritizes giving, therefore, they are able to help those in need.
I am proud of something our church has done. And we saw it yesterday.
Because our church was loved by a young man who had a disability, his family decided to give a portion of the proceeds from a sell of his house to our church. Our church decided to use those funds to purchase and upgrade a shed so that it could store food. And yesterday was the first day we were able to give food to families.
We began this as we looked at the Book of Acts and saw how the Church prioritized giving to those in need. We began discussing this and working toward getting this made after that. And we waited a long time for permissions and inspections…to build a shed…from the city of Conway before we could get as far as we have.
I am so thankful that Ruth and Amber worked so hard in thinking through the food and talking with the city. aspect of all of this. Ruth went and learned from another Baptist Church that has done this for years. I am thankful that Dan, Joe, and Pat have put in work on the building to make it usable. I am thankful for the work that all the men put in a few Saturdays back to put in insulation and walls.
And I am thankful that our church is committed to starting this endeavor. And here is the truth of the matter. The more money given, the more we can give to those in need.
Giving doesn’t just help those that have physical needs. It should help us to war against sin and Satan as well.
What should a church do with more money?
A local church that has more money should not just squirrel it away somewhere, nor should we spend ourselves into debt. We are in a spiritual war. We must use that money wisely for the growth of God’s Kingdom, for the spread of the fame of God’s great name, so that people will come to know Jesus Christ.
Last week I stated that money is bullets. And I say it that way because Christians are in the middle of this warfare with sin and Satan. We’ve been given a commission to deliver the gospel amid this conflict. And money is necessary for that to take place. And, if the church has more money, we are able to do more things toward that end.
We give, ultimately because the Lord commands it and because it is an act of worship to Him. But our giving does serve a function, and that is what Paul discusses here. The sacrifices we make with our money go to help those in need.
If you were to decide to skip a meal or a few of them and give what you would normally spend to the Food Pantry, then it would go to feed more families. There would be more food and so your sacrifice would directly help some people in need.
If our church were given more funds, it should not just go in the bank. It should go to help those in need of hearing the gospel. That can take a lot of different shapes. But if our mission is to make disciples, then that message needs to be sent far and wide.
Conclusion:
As I was writing this sermon, a song rang through my thoughts. It’s not one that we sing a lot. But it is one that encapsulates the message that we have heard here today.
“Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before!
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;
Forward into battle, see His banner go!
At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee;
On, then, Chrisitan soldiers, on to victory!
Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise;
Brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise!
Like a mighty army moves the church of God;
Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod;
We are not divided; all one body we,
One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.
Onward, then, ye people, join our happy throng,
Blend with ours your voices in the triumph song;
Glory, laud, and honor, unto Christ the King;
This through countless ages men and angels sing.”
Onward Christian Soldiers, Sabine, Baring-Gould
Paul gave these directives to the churches at Ephesus that were not just facing hardship but were on the march.
This is where we are as a church today. Yes, we face trials. But we are not just resting here facing trials. We are facing trials as we are on the march. As we go forth in confidence, we prepare for the battles ahead by being a faithful church. And if we are going to stand firm as God’s people amid the strife, we must have strong commitments to the truth, the gospel, and to giving.
R. Dwain Minor