The Ultimate Goal

Berean Baptist on March 2, 2020

            Recently, I read an article titled Church Planting Is Not the Ultimate Goal. The title alone set me off before I read what the author had to say. For those of you not acquainted with the lingo, a church plant is not of the variety sitting in a pot on our platform. A church plant means a new church started in a place where there is none or where there is no true church of Jesus Christ.

            According to the article, it is not starting churches that is most important but the making of new disciples. The author wrote, “The Great Commission was not ‘go into the world and plant churches.’ Jesus said go and make disciples.” This is one of the most shortsighted misinterpretations of the Great Commission I have heard.  Can you imagine the apostle Paul would have returned from his mission trips to report to the church at Antioch, “I made a lot of disciples, but sorry, no churches?” This would be total failure for the man who wrote, “Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.”

            Much of the gobbledygook of misunderstanding derives from the wrong definition of the church. When it is taught that any disciple, anyone saved, anyone who believes is a member of the big church in the sky, it is easy to see why someone would write we are to make disciples not plant churches. In the Great Commission, the Lord did not give the commission to the apostles as mere disciples themselves, but to a group of men who were chosen as His first church. The Great Commission is a church commission. To make disciples presupposes the new disciples will be grouped together in the fellowship of a new church committed to perpetuating the same gospel. This is the Lord’s method of preserving the church until He returns. This means the ultimate goal of missionaries is exactly this—plant churches! If one of our missionaries said, “We’re not going to start churches but make disciples,” I would say, “Well, you won’t do it with our money.” The Lord’s money is too precious to waste on a fool’s errand. Good disciples are church disciples.

            The scriptures say the church is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15). It does not say any one disciple or even a missionary is the pillar and ground. This is the fertile field of the cults and of pastors that become lords of their little fiefdoms. The gospel, the truth of the gospel, cannot be preserved for future generations without the undergirding of the church. We start churches to preserve truth.

            Disciples are not biblical disciples until they are organized into a church that will do what churches before them have done. They are not true disciples and grounded disciples until they follow the Lord to become a part of the body of Christ. I am incensed when I hear anyone say the church is not important, or never becoming a member of one is inconsequential. Kevin DeYoung wrote, “The man who attempts Christianity without the church shoots himself in the foot, shoots his children in the leg, and shoots his grandchildren in the heart.”

            Those who refuse membership in the church are not grounded disciples. To follow Christ, one must love what He loved, go where He goes, and be what He wants him to be. The church is the bride of Christ, and His bride is not a universal entity that never meets, never observes His ordinances, has no power, and has never baptized a single convert.

            The goal—always the goal of missions—is to plant churches. Do not believe a person is a disciple or can be fully discipled until he is committed to a church. Let’s not try to sound profoundly intelligent by saying the commission is not to go into the world and plant churches, but to make disciples. Splitting discipleship from its foundation in the church is doctrinal suicide.

                                                                                                Pastor V. Mark Smith

MORE ENCOURAGEMENTS FOR CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

Berean Baptist on December 9, 2019

In last week’s article, I spoke about the need for Christians to be part of a Bible believing church. In the New Testament, the apostles were busy about the business of winning souls to Christ and then teaching the new disciples to band together in local assemblies. These assemblies are the same as what we call churches. Thomas Paul Simmons wrote in his systematic theology, “When one is saved, the next consideration that should claim his attention is the church. Gratitude to God for salvation should make him as conscientious about church affiliation as about matters pertaining to salvation.”

I believe this is an accurate assessment of the value placed upon church membership by the apostles in two ways. As Simmons states, we should be conscientious about affiliation. His primary meaning is that each Christian should carefully choose a church that is faithful to New Testament doctrine. To this we would add, a Christian should be conscientious about becoming a church member at all! Neither the apostles nor Simmons would imagine a Christian not being a part of a church.

In the Great Commission, the apostles were told to preach the gospel, to make disciples, to baptize them, and teach them to observe the commandments of Christ. Thus we find another great reason to become a part of the Lord’s church. The church is the place for the teaching of God’s word. Paul explained in Ephesians that God put pastors and teachers in the church for the purpose of building the faith and knowledge of His people. Contrary to the thinking of many, the church is not primarily a place for evangelism. Teaching those that have already received Christ is our primary mandate. Since God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of Christ, He gave His church as a place for us to receive instruction that we might come “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).

Additionally, the church is a place for Christians to gather to encourage one another. Hebrews says, “Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another…” (10:25). Church membership identifies you with other Christians and is acceptance of the responsibilities of your faith. Church membership is commitment to the cause of Christ and accepting the personal responsibility of carrying out the commission that Christ gave to His disciples. The Great Commission was given to the apostles as they comprised the first church. They were commissioned as a church for the perpetual work of evangelism. It is your responsibility as a child of God to assist in carrying out the commission through the work of the church.

The New Testament is filled with instructions for the church. Nine of Paul’s epistles were written specifically to local congregations. Three were written for instructions to pastors and deacons and for church order. The Revelation written by John begins with a message for seven local churches. Acts is the history of the growth of the church in the first century. These books along with the gospels and the general epistles are centered on the church. We cannot deny the local church is God’s plan His people today. I encourage you to join a true Bible believing church and serve God faithfully by committing yourself to its ministry. Be very conscientious about your choice of affiliation. Be sure your choice is a church that is committed to sound doctrine. I can think of none better than Berean Baptist Church! Join with us as we minister to this community and send the gospel around the world.

                                                                        Pastor V. Mark Smith