A. The story is told of 2 marines who, in heat of the
battle, ended up in the same foxhole.
1. Sound of enemy guns got closer; bombs seemed
to be dropping closer
2. One marine turned to other and said,
a. “At times like this I wish we could pray.”
b. Second Marine: “I know how to pray.”
c. First Marine: “I don’t understand . You’re as
irreligious as I am.”
d. Second Marine: “When I was a little boy, I
was raised next door to a Catholic Church,
and I heard them praying all the time. I know
how to pray.”
e. First Marine: “Well, how about saying a
prayer right now.”
3. Second Marine: “Bow your heads’ and went on
by saying, “B-24, G-3, O-11, Bingo!”
B. It is amazing what some Churches are known for
1. Some are known for their Bingo Parties
2. Others are known for their softball teams -
nothing wrong with softball, and every church
ought to have fellowship and recreation, but
that’s not what they should be known for.
3. Some are known for their buildings, or budgets
- all sorts of things
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C. But what really is the Purpose of the Church?
1. What is our church known for? Why does our
church exist?
2. What are we accomplishing? What kind of
difference are we making?
3. What is the driving force behind our church?
4. And what is your role in fulfilling that purpose?
D. If I were to let you fill out a questionnaire today -
ask everyone here what you think is the purpose of
the church - I’m sure we would get a lot of different
answers.
1. And most of those answers would be good
answers, though some probably wouldn’t have a
clue.
2. Most would be based on your perspective and
your spiritual gifting
a. For instance, those with gift of evangelism
would say that soul-winning is the primary
purpose of the church.
b. Those with musical talents might emphasize
worship
c. Teachers might suggest that we ought to be
teaching people about Christ.
d. Those with gifts of compassion & mercy might
emphasize social reform.
e. Someone who is lonely, might feel that the
church exists as a place for fellowship and a
sense of belonging. (And one of the things
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we say about SLC is we are a place to
Belong.)
3. And the truth is: They would all be RIGHT!
E. In the Scriptures Jesus gives us two great
summary statements of the purpose of the church.
1. One is the Great Commandment; the other the
Great Commission
[Mat 22:35-40 NLT] 35 One of them, an expert in
religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36
"Teacher, which is the most important
commandment in the law of Moses?" 37 Jesus
replied, "'You must love the LORD your God with all
your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' 38 This
is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second
is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as
yourself.' 40 The entire law and all the demands of
the prophets are based on these two
commandments."
[Mat 28:19-20 NKJV] 19 "Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe all things that I
have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always,
[even] to the end of the age." Amen.
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2. I believe that these two scriptures distill and
define the purpose of the church into 5 tasks
that Christ ordained the Church to accomplish.
3. And I believe that a healthy church will be one
that works diligently to fulfill these purposes
with BALANCE!
F. The Five Purposes of the Church (All on one slide)
1. Worship: “Love the Lord with all your heart”
2. Ministry: “Love your neighbor as yourself”
3. Evangelism: “Go and make disciples”
4. Fellowship: “Baptizing them”
5. Discipleship: “Teaching them to obey”
G. I realize that this is really simple, but still a lot
of Christians struggle to determine what they are
supposed to do. These 5 things are the purpose of
the Church, but remember, Who is the Church? U R
And you should regularly be doing something that
falls into at least one of these categories.
1. New Series starting today
2. And hopefully by the end of our study you will
understand, maybe for the first time, just why
SLC exists - why you exist!
I. FIRST PURPOSE: WORSHIP
“LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART.”
A. The church exists to worship God.
1. How do we love God with all our heart? By
worshipping Him!
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2. When we express our love to God, we’re
worshipping.
3. It doesn’t matter if we’re by ourselves, with a
small group, or with 100,000 people.
B. Matthew 4:10, “Worship the Lord your God, and
serve him only.”
1. Notice that worship comes before service.
2. Sometimes we get so busy working for God
that we don’t take the time to express our love
for Him through worship.
C. Psalm 34:3 (NASB) “O magnify the Lord with me
and let us exalt his name together.”
1. Corporate worship is commanded by Scripture
2. Some would say, “I don’t need to go to church
to worship God - I can do it all by myself.”
3. But notice again the words: “with me”; “let
us”; “together”
D. My desire, and I believe God’s desire, is for our
church to be a worshipping church.
1. Not out of some sense of duty or obligation
2. But because we want to; recognizing the
greatness of our God
3. We should enjoy expressing our love to Him.
II. SECOND PURPOSE: MINISTRY
“LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”
A. The church exists to minister to people.
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1. You’ve heard me say that you are ministers,
but some of you haven’t quite grabbed onto
that concept yet.
2. You wrongly define minister as pastor - You are
not all pastors, but if you are a child of God
you are, or at least ought to be, a minister.
3. “Ministry is demonstrating God’s love to others
by meeting their needs and healing their hurts
in the name of Jesus.”
B. There are many different types of ministries
1. Why? Because there are many different types
of needs.
2. The church exists to minister to all kinds of
needs
- spiritual, emotional, relational, and physical
3. Some ministries are easily definable; such as
teaching, preaching, music
4. But Jesus said that even a cup of cold water
given in His name was considered to be a
ministry and would not go unrewarded.
5. Each time you reach out in love to others you
are ministering.
C. (Eph 4:11-12 KJV) And he gave some, apostles;
and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ:
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1. Unfortunately, many churches have lots of
meetings and members, but few ministers
2. We define success in terms of attendance;
while some members just “sit, soak and sour.”
3. The problem: One comma
a. KJV translators added comma that wasn’t in
the Greek text
b. Totally changing the focus of this text.
c. Should read, “For the perfecting of the saints
for the work of the ministry.”
D. I hope that every one of you, if you’ve been a
Christian for any length of time, have identified your
gifting and have found a way to use that gift in
ministry to others.
I. THIRD PURPOSE: EVANGELISM
“GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES”
A. If we would learn how to really love God and then
really love people, I believe that Evangelism would
flow naturally and easily.
1. Perhaps the reason we find it so difficult is
that we don’t love God enough - therefore we
don’t love people enough to tell them about
God.
2. The church exists to communicate God’s Word
- and the church is not a building, but people.
3. We are ambassadors for Christ, our mission is
to evangelize the world.
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4. It is the personal responsibility of every
Christian to share the Good News
5. And that doesn’t mean memorizing 20
Scriptures… It is just as simple as giving your
testimony… and if you’re a Christian, you have
a testimony
a. I once was…
b. Then I met Jesus and He changed my life
c. And now my life is…
B. It is so important that the Bible actually gave us
FIVE Great Commissions:
- Matthew 28; Mark 16: Luke 24: John 20: Acts 1:8
C. But it is more than a responsibility; it is a
Privilege
1. A privilege to have heard the good news; a
privilege to tell it.
2. If God gave you the cure for cancer - you’d
work day and night to get the word out.
- But you know something far more important
D. What a privilege to know that God has entrusted
to us the great task of telling others about Him.
E. As long as there is one sinner left in Tulsa, we’ve
got a job to do.
Conclusion: Musicians Come
One of the most important things in anyone’s life
is to have a sense of purpose. To know that you
matter. To know that you are making a
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difference. There’s something about walking out
our purpose that brings JOY to our lives like
nothing else can.
Have You Found Your Purpose?
1. Have you found the joy that comes in
worshipping God ? Loving Him with all your
heart?
2. Have you found the joy that comes from
serving God? Are you involved in some kind of
ministry that is helping expand the kingdom of
God? If not, what are you going to do THIS
WEEK to get involved in ministry?
3. Have you found the joy of sharing what Jesus
has done in your life – witnessing? If not, think
about those 3 parts of your testimony.
