Church; Every Member Ministry ~ 20250323 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
03/23 Church; Every Member Ministry (1 Peter 4); Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20250323_church-every-member-ministry.mp3
Jesus said:
Matthew 16:18 ...on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Jesus promises to build his church on the solid foundation of his own divine identity is Messiah, Son of God. The church gathers to worship, and to recognize one another as members through baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The church scatters for evangelism. The church operates under Jesus’ authority to make disciples of all nations.
We’ve been looking at the church, who makes up the church, what the church is and what we as the church are to be about.
We have seen that the church is a Holy Spirit created New Covenant community of born again baptized believers. The church consists of all those who call on King Jesus for salvation; all those who swear allegiance to him (through baptism), publicly identifying as his followers.
The church is a temple, a dwelling place for God by the Spirit; as living stones joined together we enjoy the presence of God among us.
The church is the betrothed bride of Christ; Jesus purchased us with his own blood, he is washing us, purifying us, sanctifying us, so that our affections are only for him, as we eagerly anticipate his return for us.
The church is a family, who love one another and seek to uphold the family name.
The church is a flock, stray sheep brought into the fold by the good Shepherd, those who know the voice of the Shepherd and follow him. As sheep we are prone to wander; we are to hold one another accountable and go after the strays, those who begin to wander away from their Shepherd.
The church is a body made up of many diverse body parts, each with unique God-given gifts that allow the body to function properly as each member does its part.
Practical Every Member Ministry
As we’ve looked at who and what the church is, I trust we’ve seen some useful truths that we’ve been able to put into practice in our own lives, and our life together as the church. Today I want to get really practical and look at what every member of the church does.
Understand, the church is an every member ministry; there are not performers and consumers. None of us are to be passive recipients; we are all to be active participants. We all are called and equipped by God’s grace to be ministers of the gospel, and we all are to receive gospel ministry from one another. To minister simply means to serve. Ministry is service.
Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Here’s a short list of some of the things that every member does: believe, be baptized, devote yourself to the teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and the prayers, love, give, serve, share the gospel, be discipled and disciple others.
One-Another Loving Service
I Peter 4 says:
1 Peter 4:7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Do you see the ‘one-another’s’ in this passage? Keep loving one another, show hospitality to one another, serve one another. As members of a body, various body parts, we have different gifts, different functions, different roles in the body. But whatever gift we have (and this passage makes it clear that every believer has been given gifts), use those gifts through love to serve one another.
Do you know anyone particularly gifted in hosptality? Have you experienced the blessing of being a recipient of that gift? Do you know anyone especially gifted in generosity? In teaching? In serving? Have you ever thanked them for blessing you through their service, and they respond something like ‘Oh, it was nothing.’ It was not nothing! It was profoundly meaningful and impactful. But that may be a way of saying that the act of service was simply doing what that one was created and gifted to do. It seemed natural to them (although we know it is supernatural, Holy Spirit empowered and enabled).
You may not know what gifts you have received, but do this: pay attention to the needs around you and in love seek to serve others, for their good, to bless them, and you will most likely end up using your God-given gifts.
We are all differently gifted (that’s what makes up the body), but there are certain things we all are to be about.
Believe and Be Baptized
Every believer must be a believer. That ought to go without saying, but we must say it. The church is built on the real identity of Jesus of Nazareth. If you aren’t trusting in the real Jesus, you aren’t a genuine believer. You may attend church services, but you are not a member of the church. You don’t really belong. But that’s the beautiful thing about Jesus’ church; you may not be believing, but there is a standing invitation calling you to believe and enter in. No matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, no matter what you may have done, you are invited to turn away from whatever you were trusting in, turn ot Jesus, depend on him alone for your eternal hope, enter in to a relationship with Jesus, and as an extension, with his church.
Believe and be baptized, where you publicly confess Jesus as your Lord and rescuer, and where the church hears your testimony of faith in Jesus alone and welcomes you in to the fellowship.
Teaching and Fellowship, Breaking Bread and Prayers
As we saw last week in Acts 2, all who received the word, the good news of Jesus crucified, raised, exalted and reigning, all who pledged allegiance to him as King were baptized and added to the church, and they were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers (Ac.2:41-42).
All were devoted to the teaching of the apostles. All the believers were listening and learning together. They had the privilege of hearing the apostles’ proclaim the good news and teach from the Scriptures. We now have the apostolic word written, the prophetic word more fully confirmed (2Pet.1:14-19). We as the church gather to devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching.
All believers were devoted to the fellowship. We have Jesus in common, and we gather to celebrate that sibling bond. We don’t gather because we have hunting of fishing or cars or sports or hobbies in common, we gather because we together are forgiven and set free by the blood of the only Son of God (1Jn.1:7). We devote ourselves to the fellowship.
All believers were devoted to the breaking of bread. Jesus said “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk.22:19). Breaking bread together is a weekly way of affirming for ourselves and to one another that we are still standing firm in the good news that is the only thing that is saving us. We devote ourselves to reminding one another and remembering together the once for all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins.
All believers were devoted to the prayers (Mt.6:9-13). Prayers of worship and adoration to God, prayers for his name to be lifted high, prayers that he be honored on earth as in heaven, prayers for our needs (and we have many), prayers for one another, prayers for our brothers and sisters, prayers for our leaders, prayers for the world. We devote ourselves to the prayers.
Give
We also saw in Acts 2 that:
Acts 2:44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
All the believers were practicing generosity. They were giving, supplying one another’s needs. The Old Testament laws of tithes and offerings were replaced by a spirit of abundant generosity and practical meeting of needs. Later we read:
1 Corinthians 9:13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
We are not under Old Testament law, but just as a starting point, and because it makes the math easy, if we take the tithe (which means a tenth) and each family were to give a tenth of their income, ten families together would give one average family income, and a ten family church would be able to support one pastoral family in full time ministry. If there were twenty families, they could support two pastoral families, or maybe one family and rent for a place to meet. Again, we are not under Old Testament law, but the gospel sets us free to be more generous. The church, inspired by the lavish generosity of God in the gospel, was generous with one another. The church gave to the point that ‘there was not a needy person among them’ (Ac.4:34).
Be Discipled, Evangelize, Make Disciples
The church exploded exponentially because disciples were making disciples.
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus commanded his disciples to make disciples of the nations, and he anticipated that his disciples would make disciples who would make disciples who would make disciples to the end of the age.
What does making disciples look like? It’s not primarily ‘come with me to hear the professional speaker at church and maybe you will be persuaded to give your life to Jesus.’ This was ‘I’ve been transformed by Jesus as you can plainly see, and I would like to tell you how you can have your sins forgiven and enter into a relationship with Jesus too, and then you can get connected with the church to publicly confess your faith in him and grow together with the other believers.
Jesus made disciples by spending time with his disciples, mentoring them, teaching them, letting them get to know him and discover who he really is, to the point that when he said difficult things, things that were to swallow, like:
John 6:56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 ...whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
When he asked if they too were going to turn back and stop following him, they were able to respond:
John 6:68 ...“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Evangelizing (which simply means proclaiming the good news) is something that followers of Jesus do. We have been told the greatest news ever, and we want others to get in on the sweetest of all deals that we have been given. This is the great exchange; I get to trade in my sin, my shame, my sorrow, my guilt and the condemnation I deserve, and Jesus takes it all, pays my price in full, and he gives me as a gift his own perfect record of righteousness and invites me in to relationship with him forever?? It doesn’t get any better than that!
2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Evangelism is simply taking the greatest of all messages, receiving it, believing it, being changed by it, and letting others in on it. Remember, we are not making disciples of us; I don’t want any mini-me’s running around! We are inviting people to become disciples of Jesus along side of us.
And notice what Jesus says ‘teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.’ That is not ‘come to Jesus and have your sins washed away but don’t let him change your life.’ This is receiving the gospel, standing in it, holding fast to it, being transformed by it. This is learning to walk with Jesus through the good, the bad and the ugly. This is following Jesus even when it’s costly. This is taking up your cross and following Jesus. We are not only called to make disciples but to be disciples, and being disciples means being discipled (Heb.10:23-25). We need each other. We have blind spots we cannot see, so we need others alongside us to graciously point out those blind spots so we can grow and follow Jesus more closely. We need the accountability and the one-another ministry of the body. We need to be both giving and receiving one-another ministry. Encourage one another. Stir up one another to love and good works. Through love serve one another.
Summary
The church is an every member ministry: there are no spectators; we are all active participants. Every believer believes in Jesus and is baptized as a public confession their union with Jesus, Every member is devoted to the teaching, the fellowship, the breaking bread, and the prayers, Every member through love serves one another, Every member gives generously, Every member shares the good news, is discipled and seeks to disciple others.
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2025.03.23 Sermon Notes
The Church; Every Member Ministry (1 Peter 4)
Jesus said I will build my church
Matthew 16:16-18
Church is an every member ministry
Galatians 4:13
Use your differing gifts to serve one another
1 Peter 4:7-11
What every member does:
-Believe and be baptized Acts 2:41-42
-Devoted to Apostles’ teaching 2 Peter 1:12-19
-the fellowship 1 John 1:7
-the breaking of bread Luke 22:19
-the prayers Matthew 6:9-13
-Give Acts 2:44-45; 1 Corinthians 9:13-14
-Make disciples Matthew 28:18-20
-Evangelize 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
-Be discipled Hebrews 10:23-25
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org