Mission of the Church

Text: 1 Timothy 3:15

Series: Restoration Sermons

Date:

Speaker: Ed Rangel

Location: Waupaca Church of Christ

Bible Version: NASB 1995

Sermon Type: Expository

Learning Objectives

By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:

1. State the mission of the church and rule out the things that are not its mission.
2. Show that the church's mission is identical to Christ's — to seek and save the lost.
3. Take up that mission personally as a member of the body.

Thesis

The church is by its very nature a missionary institution: its God-given mission is to uphold and spread the truth of salvation and to seek and save the lost — the same mission as Christ's — and every member shares it.

Burden

A congregation that forgets why it exists will fill its calendar with everything except the one thing it was built for. The church drifts into being a social club, a concert hall, a fund-raising society, a community service center — all good-sounding things, none of them its mission. "Nothing walks with aimless feet"; everything has a purpose, and the church's purpose is fixed by God, not chosen by us. This lesson clears away the counterfeits and puts the one mission back in front of us — to seek and to save.

Introduction

Everything has a mission, and the church's mission defines it. All its true work is missionary work; it should do no other kind. The church of God is, in nature, spirit, and position, essentially a missionary institution. the approaches it first by clearing away false conceptions, then stating the true mission, then pressing it on each Christian.

I. False Conceptions Cleared Away

We grasp the negative more easily than the positive, so begin with what the church's mission is not:

1. It is not to give its members social prestige — a place in "the first circle of society."
2. It is not to give them financial standing.
3. It is not to furnish entertainment — neither amusement for its members nor performances for the world.
4. It is not to raise money to fund human institutions.
5. It is not to build fine houses, gorgeous temples, or imposing cathedrals.
6. It is not an agency for the state to spread its propaganda — for war or anything else.

Strip all of that away, and what God actually appointed comes into focus. A church busy with everything on this list can look successful and still be failing its mission entirely.

II. The True Mission (1 Tim. 3:15; Luke 19:10)

What, then, is the church's mission?

1. The church is "the pillar and support of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15), holding forth the word of life (Phil. 2:16). No other institution is. It stands in harmony with all truth, and all truth harmonizes.
2. It is the only God-ordained support of the truth of salvation — the gospel is entrusted to the church to guard and to proclaim.
3. The church is identified with Christ as His spiritual body (Col. 1:18, 24; Eph. 1:23) — so closely that a person cannot come to Christ without coming into the church.
4. Therefore the church's mission is identical to Christ's. His mission was "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10; Rom. 5:8; 1 Tim. 1:15), and He was never idle in it — "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me" (John 4:34; cf. 5:17; 9:4; 17:4). The body exists to carry on the work of the Head.

III. The Mission of Christians (Matt. 5:13-14)

The church is made of members, so its mission becomes the mission of each one:

1. Every Christian is to seek and to save — the body's work is the member's work.
2. Christians are the salt of the earth and light of the world (Matt. 5:13-14); salt that loses its savor and light that is hidden have failed their purpose.
3. The church — with its principles, spirit, precepts, and spiritual life — is God's highest conception of human society.
4. The highest stage of civilization is reached not by technology or wealth but when people are brought, in the church, to Christ's view of God and man, sin and righteousness, time and eternity.
5. The conclusion is simple: put every Christian to work at soul-saving, and the mission of the church is fulfilled.

Application

Measure your congregation — and yourself — by the mission, not by the calendar. A church can have full pews, fine facilities, and busy programs and still be missing its one assignment if it is not seeking and saving the lost. And the mission is not the preacher's alone; it belongs to every member who is salt and light. Ask honestly: when did I last try to bring someone to Christ? The church's mission will be fulfilled exactly when its members take it up personally — and not one moment before.

Conclusion

The church is a missionary institution by its very nature. Its mission is to uphold the truth of salvation and to seek and save the lost — the identical mission of Christ, whose body it is. Everything that competes with that mission, however respectable, is a distraction from it. Put every Christian to work at soul-saving, and the church becomes what God made it to be.

Invitation

The mission of the church is to seek you and to save you — and tonight it does. The gospel calls you to believe in Christ, to repent, to confess Him, and to be baptized for the remission of your sins, that you may be added to His body and take up His mission yourself (Luke 19:10; Acts 2:38). To come to Christ is to come into the church that bears His saving work to the world. Come while we sing.

Word Study

Scripture Interlock Table

---

Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 27. Doctrinal audit: core-framework — church = body of Christ and pillar of the truth; mission identical to Christ's (seek and save); coming to Christ = coming into the church; rejection of the church as a social/entertainment/fund-raising institution. No correction. Style audit: heavy OCR cleanup ("MISS IO N"→Mission; "missionmy"→missionary; "ENTERT AINMENT"→entertainment; references normalized). No source text line; primary text 1 Tim. 3:15 supplied from the outline's key reference.