Sunday, February 28, 2016 am
OTHERS (9)
Serving others (4)
The Distinction Between
the Church and Individuals in Serving Others
This month we have been addressing the subject of serving others.
It is important that a Christian understand that he is a servant
and what that involves. We
have tried to introduce these thoughts including examining the life and
teachings of Jesus as our ultimate example of what a servant is.
Today, I want to conclude this study about serving others by taking a
look at the distinction between the church and individuals in serving
others. There are some who
advocate that what the individual can do, the church can do.
Others see the work of the church as including general (unlimited
or expanded) benevolence, social advocacy and a social gospel where the
church provides various social activities for its members.
But
in the Bible, we find the work of the church is limited in its scope.
While the Bible does address the works of the church, what and
how these are done is restricted to the boundaries of scripture (1 Cor.
4:6).
a.
In this lesson, our
description of the church is dealing with a congregation (local) rather
than the church in its universal sense.
The universal church is the body of all who are saved – if you
are a Christian, you are part of that relationship with Christ (Acts
2:47, Ephesians 1:22-23).
A local church is a group of Christians (this SHOULD be determined based
upon God’s plan of salvation) who join together in a given location to
do the specific works God has given us to do together.
These works include:
i.
Worshipping God
corporately (coming together) – cf. 1 Corinthians 11:18-26, 14:23, 26,
etc.
ii.
Supporting evangelism –
Philippians 4:15-17, 2 Corinthians 11:8
Sounding forth the word – 1 Thess. 1:8
iii.
Building up the body
spiritually (aka edification) – Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Corinthians 14:12,
26
iv.
Limited benevolence (in
scripture ALWAYS directed only to needy saints) – 2 Cor. 8:1-5, Acts
11:29-30, etc.
b.
In terms of service, the
congregation:
i.
Serves God in worship –
worship is about God.
ii.
We serve each other by worshipping together
– we are edified. Note how
edification is about being built up in the word – Ephesians 4:16
Colossians 3:16 – we are teaching and admonishing one another in our
singing.
Those leading the worship service are serving the brethren in that
capacity at that time.
iii.
Leaders – serve
in the word of God – Ephesians 4:11-16.
We have addressed this previously.
Elders are watching out for our souls – Hebrews 13:17, and lead by
example – Heb. 13:7, 1 Peter 5:2-3, etc.
Preachers are ministers of the word – 1 Thess. 3:2 – (minister in
the gospel),1 Tim. 4:6.
Deacons – who by their
title are servants assist the elders in maintaining the church in those
matter she is involved in.
iv.
Benevolence –
the church can help needy saints collectively – cf. 1 Timothy 5:3 –
taking care of widows (but notice the “qualifications” – vs. 9-10).
This might include relieving needy saints in other locations as well
This certainly would be one way that we serve one another.
a.
Our study the past 3
weeks has emphasized this.
b.
1 Cor. 4:2, the steward
is to be faithful.
c.
Galatians 5:13 - Through
love serve one another
d.
Matthew 20:26-27 – to be
great, become a servant; to be first, become a slave.
e.
Galatians 6:10 – the
context is addressing individual Christians.
Sometimes this context is used to say that a local church can do
good to all (mankind) as they have opportunity, but when you examine the
context (1-10) Paul is addressing individual Christians.
NOTE: Let us be careful to not limit this text to physical “good”.
The text deals with spiritual matters and certainly INCLUDES the
sharing of God’s word with others.
f.
James 1:27 – the context
is addressed to individual Christians as well.
Beginning with 21-27 we find it very much about individuals.
a.
The Bible is clear in
several passages in making a distinction between an individual and the
church.
b.
1 Timothy 5:16
– in a passage that addresses the church and benevolence that IS
authorized (5:3-16) it speaks of widows who can be helped.
There are “qualifications” necessary which demonstrate that a
congregation is not to be flippant with its resources.
It is clear the church can only help, when all other means have been
exhausted! Consider vs. 8 –
and the admonition to family members.
THEN in vs. 16 there is a CLEAR distinction between the work of
the individual and the church.
c.
Matthew 18:15-17 – when you have an offense with a brother – take care of it – as
privately as possible. The
“assembly” or “church” is not to be involved unless individual efforts
fail. AGAIN, the text makes
a distinction between the individual and the assembly.
d.
1 Corinthians 11:18, 33
– when you come together as a church – implies that there are times that
you are NOT working as the church (11:18-34).
The way Paul speaks there are things we do when we come together
which also implies there are things that we need to take care of when we
are NOT assembled as the church (such as eating in this case).
e.
Acts 5:3-4
deals with Ananias and Saphira as they attempt to deceive their brethren
concerning their giving.
Peter rebukes Ananias noting that his lie was against the Holy Spirit
and God. While not
mentioning the church specifically by name (it was money laid at the
apostle’s feet), it shows a distinction between collective (what is done
as the body) and distributive (what an individual can do to contribute
to the collective) action.
In this there is STILL distinction between the individual and the group.
f.
A failure to make this
distinction has caused many to misunderstand the very nature of the
church – to build up saints in their faith through the word of God.
g.
HOWEVER – one thought
that we need to address here is how we as individuals affect the church.
The church is only one aspect of our lives as Christians, (next
month we are going to examine how every area of our lives affects
others). We have a
responsibility to support her in various ways – attendance (Hebrews
10:24-25), worshipping together (1 Corinthians 11 & 14), supporting her
work financially (1 Corinthians 16:1-2, etc.), support the elders (Heb.
13:7, 17), and doing our part to spread the word of God (Eph. 4:16).
But, even in other areas of our lives (family, business, social
and government), EVERYTHING we do has an impact on the influence the
church can have within a community.
Our conduct is a reflection of the church we are a part of.
The point is that our conduct as
Christians ought to bring glory to the Lord’s church rather than
denigrating her through bad example.
If the church is manifestation of God’s wisdom (and it is –
Ephesians 3:10-11), when we live as Christians, it will reflect
positively upon that congregation.
BUT, that does NOT imply that everything we do is the church
functioning. As we have
seen, there is a distinction between the work of the church and the work
of the individual Christian, though there are times they intersect (i.e.
when we are acting as the church).
This is a brief study that shows a distinction between the church and
the individual Christian in the matter of being servants.
While it is certainly true that the church depends upon each one
of us as members to fully function (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27,
Ephesians 4:16), we have responsibilities as Christians that extend
beyond the work of the church. That
responsibility can be summarized in our duty as faithful stewards.
May we strive to be servants of God in all that we do!