The Anatomy of the Church
The Skeleton
2 Peter 1:12-15
Let me share with you a letter that I came across. It was written by a young pastor to Dr. John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Fellowship out in California.
"This letter comes to your attention for several reasons; and though we have not met personally, I have read some of your books and heard you on the radio several times. Let me explain my great concern, one which I have not been able to correct and one that is causing me to consider leaving the ministry. Perhaps the Lord will use your insights to give me some light.
"First of all, my position. I firmly believe that the leadership of the church should be the very best, not only in their personal spiritual lives, but also in setting the pace for people they lead. Now, I hasten to add that I am not talking about perfection or any type of super-humanness; just a living, growing personal relationship with our Lord. I firmly believe that, if the leaders of the church do not present a lifestyle of commitment and dedication to their Lord and to the local body, that those following won't either.
"The problem, Pastor MacArthur, two-thirds of our elected officers attend only one service per week. Again, I'm not talking about being or having to be present every time the doors are opened;
but I do believe that other than unforeseen situations, illnesses, and vacations, that the leadership of the church should make a double effort to be present at the services, if for no other reason than for the encouragement of the saints and the pastor.
I find it extremely difficult to believe that proper leadership is or can be provided when the leaders do not spend enough time with their people to even know where their hurts and fears are. I go to board meetings and find that, by far, the majority of the time is spent on items that have no direct relationship to the needs and hurts of people. I believe that, because of this, our church has come to a stalemate, which is equal to going backwards instead of moving ahead.
I have brought this to the attention of our board on several occasions; and, to be honest, not even all of them are faithful in their attendance...and expressed my concern with absolutely no results.
"Again, I'm not talking about men and women who just cannot make it, but about those who could but will not. I receive the normal replies, "My schedule's awfully busy. I'm just too tired at the end of the day." Or they don't even offer an excuse; but these very same people are not afraid to remind me often that they are the power of the church...it often happens.
"Pastor, I've come to the place where I am, if this is carried on into next year, ready to resign the pastorate.
How is it possible for a pastor to direct his flock, establish the needed programs, develop spiritual leadership if he can't even get the backing to get started? I'm open to your advice. I believe our church has great possibilities; but as long as we're lukewarm, the Lord will not bless us or use us."
That letter could've been written by thousands of different pastors, including me. I find myself often reflecting on the faithfulness and obedience of our leadership; deacons and Sunday School teachers who consistently don’t attend church more than once a week. They don’t participate in the weekly prayer time. They don’t come to visitation, and I too must ask myself “why should God bless or use us as long as we are lukewarm?
It becomes so easy to take for granted the good things God has given us. I don't want you to do that. I don't want you to take it for granted.
Take a look at 2 Peter, chapter 1.
Notice verses 12-15
Now if you were to take the time to look back at the preceding verses, you would find that Peter is concerned that these believers “stumble”. And he is encouraging them to pay attention and be all the more diligent in their walk with God so that doesn’t happen. And then in our text he goes on to say, to see that that doesn’t happen I am going to remind you of some things you already know.
In fact, he says as long as I’m alive, I’m going to keep reminding you of these things. So what I want to do this summer is call us back to the basics.
And for most of you, through the course of the next 8 or 9 weeks, I will say nothing new. But I will tell you up front, that is not my desire. I don’t want to share anything new with you. I want to just remind you of some things that are old that you need to remember.
And the thing is, I know you know them. But apparently you need to be reminded of them.
You need something to jolt your memory. So that is my assignment and that is what I will do. In fact, like Peter, my plan is to keep doing it until one of two or three things happens. Either you get busy doing what’s right, or you or I die or God moves me.
Now this is not a new phenomenon. God’s people have always had a tendency to grow cold and indifferent; to get lazy and apathetic. It is a problem that is as old as the people of God.
Think about the first people ever designated as the people of God, the children of Israel. That certainly was their testimony.
God, in His wonderful grace, chose His people Israel, brought them out of bondage, put them in the Promised Land, literally inundated them with grace and blessing.
Notice what He says to them in 6:3-4
The very first thing he says to them is keep the commandments; be true to the faith. Then He says, if you're going to be true to the faith, you’ve got to love God with everything you’ve got.
Love God more than you love the world. Love God more than you love your new car, your house, your job, your money, your wardrobe, anybody, anything, anyplace.
And so he says, "It starts on the inside. I put you in a land with milk and honey. I put you in the best place of blessing, but you're going to have to get it in the inside.
And then it moves to the outside in verse 6.
Not only in your heart, but on your lips. Teach to your children. Talk about 'em when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up. What's your conversation like? Do you talk about godliness? Do you talk about God? Do you talk about Christ? Talk about the Holy Spirit? Talk about the Bible? Talk about virtue? Talk about things that are good and honest and pure and lovely?
When you’re with others what do you talk about? Why is it we never talk about God, never talk about spiritual things, never talk about things for which you should be accountable in terms of obedience? Where is your conversation?
See, if we're going to hold onto these things, we have to love God with all our heart. We also have to talk about it all the time so that it stimulates our minds; and we need to be exposed to that. I believe one reason God expects His people to consistently be in church is because of the endless onslaught of godlessness that you are exposed to.
You’ve got the whole world talking to y9ou trying to sell you godless philosophy from every possible angle; and you can hardly make it from Sunday to Sunday without falling out in terms of your own spiritual commitment.
We need to take advantage of the resources God has provided us. We ought to be buried in those things so we don’t forget the good stuff.
And then in verse 8, He says to put reminders up.
Verse 8
In other words, He says, "Jog your memory with some symbols." Our homes and offices need to be filled with reminders to jolt our memories into the things that we ought to be thinking about.
So it starts in the heart, it comes out on the lips, and it is to be jogged in our minds by signs and symbols.
Why?
Verses 10-12
The tendency is to take it all for granted. I think back on the history of this church and what God has done here, and I just marvel. And I guess I fear that some of us who were a part of that process may forget the way we saw God move; and I fear that new folk come in with no knowledge or appreciation for that. You have no idea how God worked and we get to where we just take it for granted.
I mean we have a wonderful church of wonderful people. We are the richest church in the world in terms of the wonderful people God's given us. We bless His name for that.
But I also know that there are many people who come only when it's convenient. It was convenient today, so you came. If it wasn't convenient, you wouldn't come. And you look at the church like you look at everything else in life. If it serves a need for you, then you go. If you can find something else that serves your need better, you go there. If you think it's better for you to take off, you take off. If it's okay to go to church, you go to church.
For other people, they come whenever they want. They don't see any real need for commitment. Sunday night, to them, is just something they never get involved in. And Wednesday night that’s almost unheard of. That’s for someone else. They think one sermon a week is enough. If you think that's true, you need 200 sermons at least this week, to just sort of blast you out of your complacency.And don’t even mention visitation or prayer time.
As somebody said, "People think that the preacher is an actor, and they're supposed to come and be his critics. What they don't know, is they're the actors, and he's the prompter offstage reminding them of their lost lines.’
it's so easy for us to get to the point where the world just kind of revolves around us. Everything’s for you and your convenience. Do your thing. Have it your way.
And unfortunately that spills over into the church. As a result, people look at the church and if it's got something to offer, you show up. You don't understand the responsibility of supporting the church and the pastor. Many people could care less that the pastor prepares messages for Sunday and Wednesday nights. What ingratitude!
And that's the kind of attitude that breeds complacency in a church, and that's the kind of thing that kills great ministries.
We just take it granted. People work hard every week to prepare Sunday School lessons and teach your children and work in the nursery and drive the vans and do all the things they do, and it's so easy for us to just take it for granted.
Well I don’t intend to let us get caught up in that. So for the next several weeks, I want to use an analogy that Paul uses to remind you of some things you probably already know. The analogy is that of a body and I want us to consider “The Anatomy of the Church”.
Now the body can be seen in four features. This is not a clinical study, but just for the sake of our analogy. The body consists of a skeleton, internal systems, muscles, and flesh.
The church needs to learn to think of itself in that same way. There has to be framework or a skeleton. There has to be internal systems. There has to be muscle and there must be flesh.
Every part is vital. A skeleton is important. You must have form. But form is not enough. A skeleton will never live. Muscles are vital, but they must attach to the skeleton. Internal systems are necessary but they don’t exist in isolation. Flesh is important but not exclusive of the others.
So I want us to spend the next several weeks talking about the anatomy of the church from the viewpoint of these four components.
Today, let’s think about the skeleton. For the body to function and work, it has to have a skeleton. It has to have structure. It has to have form. It's the skeleton that gives the basic structure to the body. In fact the skeleton determines how large the body will be and how ably it will function and move.
Now, in regard to the church, there are certain skeletal truths to which we must be committed. These are the non-negotiables; these are unalterable. These are invariable. These are things that we will not compromise in any way, shape, or form. They are essential to our functionality and effectiveness. In fact, they determine everything else about us.
And I believe the church has to be committed to these things. And when I say “the church” that means you. I’m talking about the fundamentals of everything we do whether it is teaching the Bible through Sunday School, deacon ministry, youth or children’s ministry; whatever it is.
Let me give you four skeletal, non-negotiable issues that provide our form. First there must be a
1. Proper Understanding of God
Deuteronomy 6:4
It is absolutely essential that the church understand that it exists for the glory of God. Now, that is so basic that it just seems like you wouldn't even need to say it; but I believe that most people no longer see the church existing to glorify God, but rather to help people feel better about themselves.
We are supposed to patch up the marriages, teach the kids, provide recreational opportunities, always be political correct and keep Jesus out of the public square. But the primary reason for the church’s existence and you and I being a part of it is to bring glory to God.
The reason that is the priority is because once you’ve got that established, then everything else will find its place. The answer to everything in your life is to first of all be rightly related to God. The Lord is the beginning of all wisdom; and when you have a right relationship with God, and you take God seriously, and you get rightly connected with God, then all other things fall out in their proper place.
That doesn’t mean the church is not to help people with their needs and do all we can to improve family life and teach the kids and all that, but there is a balance and everything begins with a high view of God.
I just think it would be kind of nice if every once in a while God would strike someone dead during the offering. Not one of us, you understand. But maybe some visitor and if it could just be made known they were playing games with their offering, and putting on a show and robbing God of His glory. Wouldn’t that be cool? I get kind of tired of people thumbing their nose at God like His Word doesn’t matter and they aren’t obligated to live by it.
We’ve gotten to the point that if somebody dies we are upset with God and say, “How could God have let this happen” when the truth of the matter is God should have blasted us all a long time ago!
In fact, just this week at camp a friend was telling me of a situation he was aware of where an old boy in a church resisted the church growing and was opposed to them building a new building because his momma and daddy had helped build the first one. You could throw a cat through the walls, but he was agin’ it.
The church was to have a discussion and recommendation on a Sunday morning and vote on Wednesday night. He told ‘em what he thought about it and said they would build over his dead body. He didn’t come back for church that night, and didn’t show up Wednesday for the vote and when the pastor went by to check on him Thursday morning, he found him dead.
He apparently had a heart attack while out working on his farm and froze to death two days earlier.
Listen: God is to be taken seriously, and just because God is gracious is not reason for you and I to become complacent and indifferent. We must have a high view of God.
We’ve forgotten what it is to tremble in the presence of God. We no longer tremble at God's Word. We don't know what it is to have an awesome confrontation with an infinitely holy God that leaves us broken over our own sinfulness and, therefore, usable to Him for His glory. We want to feel good about ourselves. We want to get all that we need and have all our problems solved with no cost to us.
But ultimately God must be exalted and lifted up. He must be the center of attention, not man and his needs. We want to reach out to everyone in the love of Christ, but God must be the focus of our worship and our life and our church. It’s a fundamental.
Therefore, we don't look at the Bible as a place where you find a little formula to solve all your problems. We look at it as a book that reveals God so we can learn to give Him the glory He deserves. That leads me to the second non-negotiable and it flows right out of the first, and that is the
2. Recognition of Scriptural Authority
Deuteronomy 6:6-9
We must hold God's Word up as the absolute authority. The Bible is always attacked. And the worst attack of all is by the people who say they believe it and don't know what it teaches. That's the worst of all.
There are people all across America who say, "I believe the Bible from cover to cover." They just don't have a clue what it says.
In fact, to the dishonor and discredit of America we now have a president who believes it to be all right for two people of the same sex to be married. What is even worse is that he would twist the words of Jesus Christ Himself to justify his position.
Now it’s very easy to get to that place. Just eliminate the Bible and you are free to believe and practice anything you want to do. And if you don’t want to risk the support of Bible-believer’s then just quote it and mention it when it’s convenient and at the same time ignore its authority.
Just keep it in the church where it belongs. Don’t get it involved in the public square, and God forbid it should get into the voting booth with you. Why it might cause you to have to forsake your party ties and everyone knows being a Republican or Democrat is much more important than honoring the authority of God’s Word.
But Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."
That's why I'm an expository preacher. If we are to be fed by every word that comes out of the mouth of God, then we ought to study every word. With God as my helper I will do my best to keep us focused on the Word of God.
Some will say, "We don't need another sermon. We like to have fellowship." Well, that's fine.
I hope you can find some somewhere. We're just going to keep feeding you the Word because that’s what makes you grow.
Fellowship's important. All that's very important, but it is not a replacement for the Word of God. In fact, if you want to know the truth, the sweetest, purest, best, and most rewarding fellowship you will ever find is not sharing a bag of Doritos and a bottle of Coke. It is always around the Scripture.
I know there are some who think they’ve arrived. They don’t need to study any more. They’ve heard it all before. That is the height of arrogance. The discovery process never stops. The great joy of my preaching ministry is not the preaching. The preaching is the work part. The joy is the discovery part.
Getting in there, finding out things that I never saw before, never knew before, never fully understood and then having the privilege of sharing those with you. I think every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is important. That's a non-negotiable.
Third, and again this just flows out of what I’ve already said. You start with a high view of God, and if you make your commitment to God, then you're going to depend upon His unchanging, inerrant Word.
Then if you hear and know His Word, then there follows an obligation to the
3. Practice of Sound Doctrine
Deuteronomy 6:17-19
There is such a doctrinal vagueness across Christianity. There's such a fuzziness. We just hear sermonettes for Christianettes. It’s just pithy little nice, helpful little things. It just seems to me that nobody believes much of anything anymore. There's no sound doctrine.
Nobody much is telling the truth about God and life and death and heaven and hell or man and sin and Christ and angels and the Holy spirit, the security of the believers, the priesthood of the believer, the flesh, the world, the devil whatever it is.
I mean give me something I can get my hands on. Give me a truth. It’s not that hard. Take a text. Find out what it says, and then draw out of it the divine truth that is provided there. Then establish that truth in the minds of people.
That’s the purpose of preaching. I try to take you to a passage, pull out a divine truth, and hit you with it over and over again until it sinks in. Then from this passage and that comparative passive, and this passage and the other passage, and so forth, I want to drive into your mind a truth straight from God’s Word.
Where did I get that? I just listened in while Paul told young Timothy, "Teach sound doctrine. Nourish your own heart and communicate it to your people. Sound doctrine."
We've lost that doctrinal clarity and distinctiveness in preaching that belongs in the pulpit. People need solid answers out of the Word of God. Listen: There is a reason that “Southern Baptist” is above our doors and on our signs and letterhead.
It means something. We’re different from the Assemblies of God and the Church of Christ and the Methodists and Lutherans and Episcopalians. And it has to do with what we believe about the Bible and what it teaches.
One of the skeletal fundamentals of the church is to provide you some things you can build a life on; sound, solid doctrine; and I believe we must teach the Word of God and teach it with principles that are divine truths, that are foundational for life.
The fourth thing is a
4. Commitment to Personal Holiness
Deuteronomy 5:13-15
I fear that we're being victimized by an absolutely unholy influence. We are living in the midst of a depraved, godless, filthy society. The filth and trash and garbage that are pumped out seeks to corrupt the mind away from the things of God.
We call it entertainment and try to convince ourselves that it doesn’t affect us, but those are simply the fleshly desires of a worldly heart trying to appease our sinfulness in light of what we know about God’s Word.
He commands purity. We are required to be like Him. Holy as He is Holy. And if we will ever live a holy life we’re going to have to draw some lines in the sand when it comes to personal holiness and being careful where we expose ourselves and our children and the people around us.
You can't be watching anything you want to watch down at the movie theatre or on the cable channels in your home and reading trash and garbage and exposing yourself to all that and not pay a price.
Second Corinthians 7:1 says, "Having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and Spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
Personal holiness is a non-negotiable if we will be the church the God desires for us to be.
And by the way, this matter of personal holiness is so intricate. We often want to look only at the outside, open flagrant sins. But that’s not all there is to it.
Some of you have a spirit of unforgiveness. Someone wrongs you and it’s all over. You hold grudges and develop a bitter spirit.
Some are gossips. Others are prayerless. Some are so critical of others. You can go into any flower filled meadow and immediately find the manure pile.
What about the study of the Word of God? What about fasting? What about meditating? When do you sit and meditate on the Word of God?
Where are we in terms of holiness? Where are we in terms of real communion with the living God?
The final thing is a
5. Respect for Spiritual Leadership
Notice Deuteronomy 5:1
This message was from God, but it came through Moses. I believe with all my heart that a church must understand that there is authority over those people in that church and that authority is Christ who is the head, who mediates His rule through godly pastors.
By the way, I didn’t invent that. The Baptist church didn’t come up with that. That's just what the Bible says, that elders have the rule over you in the Lord. It's just that simple. They have authority.
Now, that can be abused. There are men who get into that seat of authority, and they wield that authority as if it were authority given to them by the office or by their own personality. It isn't that. It's the authority of the Word of God in the hands of a godly man.
In other words, I don't have any authority to say to you, "Listen, folks, we are going to build a new building." Or, "I want some more vacation or raise my salary or I demand that these walls be painted green, because I'm in authority."
I don't have any authority over the paint. I don't have any authority over that stuff. The only authority I have is to speak and apply the Word of God.
And when a pastor gets outside of that, he violates it; but, when it comes to the Word of God, there is authority there.
Now, as I said, one of the problems with that is the abuse on the pastor’s side. But there is a companion problem and that is some people just don't want to be under spiritual authority. Maybe the second is caused by the first, I don’t know. But the church must understand that God has given to the church godly men who have the authority to represent Jesus Christ by example and precept in that church and the church is to lovingly come under their leadership.
It will not be flawless and it will not be perfect but you and I ought to pray constantly that it may be as close as it can be.
It is God’s way of doing church and it is a non-negotiable. In fact, you are required to do more than just acknowledge it. First Thessalonians 5 says to honor those people, to esteem them highly in love's sake for their work. And in Hebrews 13, it says submit to them, for they watch for your souls. Follow their example. We have to understand that; and this church will always come under the care of those people. Always.
So what have we said? If the church is going to be the body of Christ, it has to have the right framework. It has to have a high view of God. And in seeking to know Him, it has to have a high view of Scripture, for that is the place where alone He may be known; and so we will have that high view of Scripture; and we will be committed to doctrinal clarity, sound doctrine, personal holiness; and we will submit our souls to the care of those who are over us in the Lord in spiritual authority.
Well, that’s the skeleton. Next week we’ll start looking at the internal systems and then move on to the muscles and then the flesh. I want you to know that I only have one life to live. God has called me to serve my days as a pastor. If God is content to leave me here all those days, I’m happy. For me, the adventure is just beginning.
The Call to Worship had just been pronounced starting the Easter Sunday morning service in an East Texas church. The choir started its processional, singing "Up from the Grave He Arose" as they marched in perfect step down the center aisle to the front of the church.
The last lady in the alto section was wearing shoes with very slender heels. Without a thought for her fancy heels, she marched toward the grating that covered that hot air register in the middle of the aisle. Suddenly the heel of one shoe sank into the hole in the register grate.
In a flash she realized her predicament. Not wishing to hold up the whole processional, without missing a step, she slipped her foot out of her shoe and continued marching down the aisle.
There wasn’t a hitch. The processional moved with clock-like precision. The first man after her spotted the situation and without losing a step, reached down and pulled up her shoe, but the entire grate came with it! Surprised, but still singing, the man kept on going down the aisle, holding in his hand the grate with the shoe attached.
Everything still moved like clockwork. Still in tune and still in step, the next man in line stepped into the open register and disappeared from sight. The service took on a special meaning that Sunday, for just as the choir ended with "Allelujah! Christ arose!" a voice was heard under the church shouting, "I hope all of you are out of the way ’cause I’m coming out now!"
There was a little girl standing next to the aisle who shouted, "Come on, Jesus! We’ll stay out of the way."
The passion of my life is this church. I am now in the closing years of my life and ministry. Chances are I have more years behind me than I have ahead of me. I am not content to coast out the remainder of my days. I believe God's got a great future for us as we renew and maintain our commitment to the real foundational things. I just want to stay out of the way and let Christ build the church He wants us to be. I hope you will join me.
Let's bow in prayer.
