| THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH (Part 1) Jerry D. McDonald |
Paul wrote “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with the
wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect” (1 Cor. 1:
17). There has been much discussion about Paul’s statement, over the years, that
Christ sent him not to baptize. Most have come to the conclusion that Paul was
saying that Christ did not send him to baptize in his own name. Their reasoning for
this conclusion is found two verses previous: “Lest any should say that I baptized in
mine own name” (v:15). While this reasoning seems sound this isn’t what Paul
meant when he said that Christ sent him not to baptize. There was the problem that
Paul was dealing with, one we commonly call “preacheritis.” That is that some were
saying that they were following Paul, some were saying that they were following
Peter, Apollos, and some, of course , Christ. Paul asked if he or any of the others
(Peter, or Apollos) were crucified for them. He said that he thanked God that he
baptized none of them other than Crispus and Gaius and the household of
Stephanas. He didn’t want anyone to be so devoted to him that they would follow
him rather than follow Christ. He, then, states that Christ sent him not to baptize.
He didn’t say that Christ didn’t send him to baptize in his own name. He said that
Christ didn’t send him to baptize.
If you ask 10 members of the Lord’s church what the mission of the church
is, you will likely get different answers. However, the most common one you will
probably get is that we are to baptize people. This answer comes to us because we
know that baptism is essential to our salvation. However, that is the wrong answer!
Baptism is not our mission. Baptism is the fruits of our mission. Our mission is to
preach the gospel. This is why Paul said “for Christ sent me not to baptize, BUT TO
PREACH THE GOSPEL....” If we preach the gospel, people will hear it and some
will believe and be baptized. This is the way the early church did it, and it is the way
that we are to do it today.
We should always allow the early church to be our model in evangelism,
edification and benevolence. These are the three things that make up the mission of
the church. The mission of the church is to SAVE SOULS. Solomon wrote: “The
fruit of the righteous is the tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise” (Prov. 11:
30). We are to be out winning souls, and we are to do this in one of three ways: (1)
Evangelism, (2) Edification, and (3) Benevolence. I happened across a discussion
between a religious person and an atheist last week, on the internet, and the atheist
was trying to drag the religious person over the coals for not caring about people.
The religious person asked the atheist how much money his organization had
donated to the hurricane Katrina victims. He pointed out that his denomination had
donated so much and other denominations had donated so much. He then asked the
atheist how much his atheistic organization had donated. The atheist’s only answer
was: “we teach people how to think properly.” Well, that’s all fine except when you
have an empty stomach that needs to be filled, you aren’t into listening very much.
This is why Jesus had compassion on the multitudes and fed them (Mt. 14:15-21).
He knew that they needed to be fed and if they were fed that they would be more
susceptible to the gospel after they had eaten than before. Although the food came
after his healing them, he understood the need to take care of the physical problems
as well as the spiritual.
We often forget that our mission involves benevolence just like it involves
evangelism. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth saying “Whiles by the experiment
of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection to the gospel of
Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all men” (2 Cor. 9:13).
He also wrote to the churches in Galatia “as we, therefore, have opportunity, let us
do good unto all men, and especially to them of the household of faith” (Gal. 6;10).
James wrote that “pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To
visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted
from the world” (Jas. 1:27). The word for “visit” here means to visit for the
purpose of relieving their physical burdens, their material needs. Whenever we help
someone physically, we have a much better chance of helping them spiritually. It is
always good to show people how to think properly, but if we aren’t careful we will
get into doing what James talked about when he said
“If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you
say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give
them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” (Jas. 2:
15,16).
It does little good to tell someone how to think properly when they are starving for
food, and helping those with their physical needs is just as important as any other
part of our mission.
Another part of our mission comes in with our edification. Paul wrote to the
church in Ephesus and said;
“From whom the whole body is fitly joined together, and compacted by that
which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working of the measure of
every part, maketh increase of the body by the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:16).
This part of our mission is equally important because if we don’t keep what we
have, it makes no sense to get it in the first place. Many people don’t save a dime
their whole lives. They spend everything that they make and don’t think about it
until some emergency comes up where they need a little extra. It is always good to
put some back. In as far as the mission of the church is concerned it is not only
good, but it is required that we work to keep that which we have. When a couple
gets married and begins to start a family, they want to keep each and every child that
they bring into this world. They don’t have one, then let it die and say “O well, we
will have another.” No if that one gets sick they tend to it so it will get better.
Why? Because they love it and they want to keep it. Brethren it does us no good
whatever if we baptize 150 people per year and do not keep at least part of them.
One congregation boasted of a goal that they intended to baptize 150 people that
year. At the time their attendance was around 300. At the end of the year they
boasted that they had fulfilled their goal and had baptized 150 people. However, in
looking at their attendance in the bulletin they sent out, I only found their attendance
to be around 300. I wonder, “what happened to those 150 people they baptized?”
Now, I am no math scholar, but even an old country boy like me can figure out that
if you start with 300 and baptize 150 you should have some where around 450
people.
The problem was that their goal was all wrong. They went out to baptize and
nothing else. They met their goal of baptizing 150 people, but what good did it do?
It did no good at all, either for them or the 150 people. Our mission is not to baptize,
our mission is to save souls and we do that by benevolence, evangelism and
edification. Next week we will look at the evangelistic part of our mission.
wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect” (1 Cor. 1:
17). There has been much discussion about Paul’s statement, over the years, that
Christ sent him not to baptize. Most have come to the conclusion that Paul was
saying that Christ did not send him to baptize in his own name. Their reasoning for
this conclusion is found two verses previous: “Lest any should say that I baptized in
mine own name” (v:15). While this reasoning seems sound this isn’t what Paul
meant when he said that Christ sent him not to baptize. There was the problem that
Paul was dealing with, one we commonly call “preacheritis.” That is that some were
saying that they were following Paul, some were saying that they were following
Peter, Apollos, and some, of course , Christ. Paul asked if he or any of the others
(Peter, or Apollos) were crucified for them. He said that he thanked God that he
baptized none of them other than Crispus and Gaius and the household of
Stephanas. He didn’t want anyone to be so devoted to him that they would follow
him rather than follow Christ. He, then, states that Christ sent him not to baptize.
He didn’t say that Christ didn’t send him to baptize in his own name. He said that
Christ didn’t send him to baptize.
If you ask 10 members of the Lord’s church what the mission of the church
is, you will likely get different answers. However, the most common one you will
probably get is that we are to baptize people. This answer comes to us because we
know that baptism is essential to our salvation. However, that is the wrong answer!
Baptism is not our mission. Baptism is the fruits of our mission. Our mission is to
preach the gospel. This is why Paul said “for Christ sent me not to baptize, BUT TO
PREACH THE GOSPEL....” If we preach the gospel, people will hear it and some
will believe and be baptized. This is the way the early church did it, and it is the way
that we are to do it today.
We should always allow the early church to be our model in evangelism,
edification and benevolence. These are the three things that make up the mission of
the church. The mission of the church is to SAVE SOULS. Solomon wrote: “The
fruit of the righteous is the tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise” (Prov. 11:
30). We are to be out winning souls, and we are to do this in one of three ways: (1)
Evangelism, (2) Edification, and (3) Benevolence. I happened across a discussion
between a religious person and an atheist last week, on the internet, and the atheist
was trying to drag the religious person over the coals for not caring about people.
The religious person asked the atheist how much money his organization had
donated to the hurricane Katrina victims. He pointed out that his denomination had
donated so much and other denominations had donated so much. He then asked the
atheist how much his atheistic organization had donated. The atheist’s only answer
was: “we teach people how to think properly.” Well, that’s all fine except when you
have an empty stomach that needs to be filled, you aren’t into listening very much.
This is why Jesus had compassion on the multitudes and fed them (Mt. 14:15-21).
He knew that they needed to be fed and if they were fed that they would be more
susceptible to the gospel after they had eaten than before. Although the food came
after his healing them, he understood the need to take care of the physical problems
as well as the spiritual.
We often forget that our mission involves benevolence just like it involves
evangelism. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth saying “Whiles by the experiment
of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection to the gospel of
Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all men” (2 Cor. 9:13).
He also wrote to the churches in Galatia “as we, therefore, have opportunity, let us
do good unto all men, and especially to them of the household of faith” (Gal. 6;10).
James wrote that “pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To
visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted
from the world” (Jas. 1:27). The word for “visit” here means to visit for the
purpose of relieving their physical burdens, their material needs. Whenever we help
someone physically, we have a much better chance of helping them spiritually. It is
always good to show people how to think properly, but if we aren’t careful we will
get into doing what James talked about when he said
“If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you
say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give
them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” (Jas. 2:
15,16).
It does little good to tell someone how to think properly when they are starving for
food, and helping those with their physical needs is just as important as any other
part of our mission.
Another part of our mission comes in with our edification. Paul wrote to the
church in Ephesus and said;
“From whom the whole body is fitly joined together, and compacted by that
which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working of the measure of
every part, maketh increase of the body by the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:16).
This part of our mission is equally important because if we don’t keep what we
have, it makes no sense to get it in the first place. Many people don’t save a dime
their whole lives. They spend everything that they make and don’t think about it
until some emergency comes up where they need a little extra. It is always good to
put some back. In as far as the mission of the church is concerned it is not only
good, but it is required that we work to keep that which we have. When a couple
gets married and begins to start a family, they want to keep each and every child that
they bring into this world. They don’t have one, then let it die and say “O well, we
will have another.” No if that one gets sick they tend to it so it will get better.
Why? Because they love it and they want to keep it. Brethren it does us no good
whatever if we baptize 150 people per year and do not keep at least part of them.
One congregation boasted of a goal that they intended to baptize 150 people that
year. At the time their attendance was around 300. At the end of the year they
boasted that they had fulfilled their goal and had baptized 150 people. However, in
looking at their attendance in the bulletin they sent out, I only found their attendance
to be around 300. I wonder, “what happened to those 150 people they baptized?”
Now, I am no math scholar, but even an old country boy like me can figure out that
if you start with 300 and baptize 150 you should have some where around 450
people.
The problem was that their goal was all wrong. They went out to baptize and
nothing else. They met their goal of baptizing 150 people, but what good did it do?
It did no good at all, either for them or the 150 people. Our mission is not to baptize,
our mission is to save souls and we do that by benevolence, evangelism and
edification. Next week we will look at the evangelistic part of our mission.
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