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The Work of the ChurchIntroduction:
I. The church is a divine body and has a divine mission.
II. It is neither political, nor social, but altogether
spiritual in its design. Its concern is not the
entertainment of people but the saving of souls.
III. The Work is threefold in nature.
a. Evangelism
b. Edification
c. Benevolence
IV. The primary mission of the New Testament church,
however, is to evangelize the world.
I. The Importance of This Work:
A. First seen in the universal need of salvation.
1. Romans 3:9-10 – All under sin.
2. Romans 3:23 – All have sinned and fallen short.
3. Galatians 3:22 – All things under sin.
4. Ephesians 2:1-5 – Dead in trespasses and sins.
5. Ephesians 2:12 – Having no hope, without God.
B. The Gospel of Christ is God’s power to save.
1. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 – Corinthians saved by
Gospel.
2. Acts 11:14 – Words to save Cornelius.
3. 1 Corinthians 4:15 – Begotten by the Gospel.
4. John 15:3 – Cleansed by the words of Christ.
5. Matthew 13:19; Luke 8:11 – Word of God is the
Seed of Kingdom.
6. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 – Those to whom Gospel is
veiled perish.
7. Ephesians 3:6 – Partakers of promises of Christ.
8. Acts 20:32 – Able to give inheritance among
sanctified.
9. 2 Timothy 1:10 – Life and immortality brought to
light.
10. Romans 16:25-27 – Made known unto obedience of
faith.
II. The Church is God’s Agency in This Work of Evangelism:
1. Matthew 20:1-16 – The church compared to a
householder who goes out to hire laborers into the
vineyard.
2. 1 Timothy 3:14-15 – The Church is the pillar and
ground of the truth.
3. Ephesians 3:10 – Wisdom of God to be made known
through the church.
4. Ephesians 3:21 – God to be glorified in the Church.
III. Evangelism:
A. Local – In addition to preaching the Gospel during
worship services, churches need to utilize:
1. Radio preaching.
2. T. V. Programs where ever possible.
3. Door to door contact – At least once a year the
members need to knock on every door in the
community, conducting censuses, or distributing
tracts, or enrolling in Bible Correspondence
Course, or to ask for an opportunity to come in
and engage in a Bible study.
4. Use the Mail – Bulletin – Special tract mail out
programs. Bible Correspondence Course, etc.
5. Gospel Meetings – Meeting house – Parks, tents,
etc. The day of the Gospel Meeting is not over.
The Key to their success is adequate
preparation.
6. Vacation Bible School.
7. An aggressive Home Bible Study program.
8. Members can bring their regularly to the
services. (How long has it been since you
personally brought a non-Christian with you to
the worship services.
9. Use the Newspapers – Weekly articles designed to
reach the lost have been used most effectively.
10. Religious periodicals for non-Christians may be
sent into their homes regularly. Weekly,
monthly.
11. Additional ways: members may conduct services at
rest homes, homes for the aged, hospitals,
jails, etc.
12. One of the best ways of reaching the local
community with the Gospel is for each member of
the church to become a personal soul winner for
Jesus.
a. This is the answer to the challenge of
reaching the local community for Christ.
b. Acts 5:42
c. Acts 8:1, 4.
d. 2 Timothy 2:2
13. The number of soul winners in a congregation
depends upon the size of its membership.
a. If a church has 1000 members it should have
1000 soul winners.
b. 100 members – 100 soul winners.
14. Personal soul winners for Christ is the greatest
need in the church.
a. The greatest need is not for more
meetinghouses, more aggressive Bible school
programs, etc, but a revival in personal soul
winning for Jesus!!
15. Until we can get each individual Christian
filled a love for lost souls, and a readiness
and willingness to be personally involved in
working diligently to save others, we cannot do
the work of local evangelism that God would have
us to do.
[Daddy worked up this sermon before the days of the Internet,
however, today I feel sure that he would have included the use
of web sites to spread the Gospel. – Stanton]
B. Non-Local:
1. Acts 1:8
2. The church at Jerusalem. Acts 8:14
3. Acts 13:1-3 – The church is the sending agency.
Acts 14:27-28
4. The Churches of Macedonia supported Paul in
preaching the Gospel at Corinth – 2 Corinthians
11:8-9.
5. Philippians 1:3-7. The Church at Philippi.
a. The church had supported Paul. Verse 5
b. Paul was convinced that the church at
Philippi would continue to manifest the same
interest in and participation in the support
of Gospel preaching.
c. The Church here at Eastland has responded to
some of the “Macedonian Calls” which
continually come.
(1) Supported men in the field as these
churches did Paul.
(2) Helped send men to foreign fields of
labor to save the lost in those great
areas of lost souls.
(3) Sent your local evangelist to preach in
meetings to instruct, exhort, admonish,
and encourage brethren as well as try to
win souls.
(4) the farthest you have sent me to preach
the Gospel has been to Maine.
(5) This year you have sent me on four such
efforts.
(a) Winston-Salem, N. C. in February
(b) 2 meetings in Minnesota. Spring &
Fall
(c) Shaboygan Falls, Wisconsin – Fall
(d) I preached at Southeast in Gallatin,
TN at my expense.
(6) Arrangements agreed upon when I began
work at Eastland.
(a) Hold 6 meetings of my own.
(b) Mission meetings to be considered on
an individual basis as the calls
came.
(c) Although many preachers hold 12, 15,
more meetings per year, this is the
first time that I have held as many
as six since I have been at Eastland.
(d) Five of these six have been mission
meetings.
6. This is the type of work for which Paul
commended the Church at Philippi.
a. Thus Paul would commend you for your interest
in and support of these Gospel efforts.
7. Philippians 2:19-30
8. Philippians 4:10-18
9. 1 Thessalonians 1:2-8. The Church of
Thessalonica sounded out the Word of the Lord.
Conclusion: Not until we catch a vision of the great need and responsibility to help to the extent of our ability away from home, will we really become zealously effected about evangelizing the people of the local community. A church cannot pull itself into a shell like the tortoise and be concerned only at home without soon losing what fervency of spirit they may have had in the work at home. We must understand that the primary mission of the church is to “evangelize the world.” If we are to please the Lord in 1981 we will have to do all that we can, both at home and abroad. May God Help Us to That End. Howard I. See (Daddy preached this sermon at the Eastland church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee on December 28, 1980, January 4 and 11, 1981.)
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