Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20070429.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Corinthians: Discipling Believers With Very Sinful Backgrounds
V. Special Application: Aligning With God's Goal For Fulfilled Stability In The Local Church
(1 Corinthians 7:23)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Many churchgoers are dissatisfied and are becoming restless:

(1) A recent study by LifeWay Research of the Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest Protestant denomination, reports: "The faithful are restless . . . They're switching from church to church . . ." ("Dissatisfaction, yearning make churchgoers switch," by Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY, April 23, 2007, p. 6D)

This unrest affects even the popular megachurches. Scott Thumma who has authored the upcoming book, Beyond Megachurch Myths, claims that " . . . after years of examining megachurches, 80 % of the people who join, including those who go through new member classes, are gone within the first two years.'" (Ibid.)

Experts can not readily explain this trend; Brad Waggoner, LifeWay's vice president of research and ministry development claims: "There's no simple answer why people are so restless.'" (Ibid.)

(2) The problem is worldwide. Our web master recently scanned Internet "blogs" and found a believer who speaks English as a second language uses our site to meet spiritual needs he claims his own church fails to fill. He has recommended our site to one dissatisfied seeker in New York State and to another one in New Zealand! Then, a new convert to Christ who lives in a country that is half Muslim and doubts the validity of Christianity was directed by him to our web site!

(3) As I was typing these notes, an area Evangelical leader stopped by our Church to promote his organization. I had to tell him our Church had stopped its involvement with his group because of its unbiblical ecumenical evangelism efforts! He acknowledged he was familiar with our stance, but that he had made a "tough decision" to lead his organization down the ministry path he had! Even so, he said he was always reevaluating the moves he made, and that he would seriously take my comments into account!

What I knew then but did not tell him was that I was aware that several long-term, devout believers had left his organization this last year over the very same concern!

So, in view of this worldwide unrest among churchgoers, we may be asking, "What is going on, why is it occurring, and how may we effectively respond to it all?!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "With churchgoers increasingly feeling dissatisfied so that they move from church to church, craving spiritual fulfillment, what are the spiritual dynamics involved, and how are WE to respond?!"
  1. The restlessness in today's churchgoers comes from SPIRITUAL WAYWARDNESS in the PULPIT AND/OR in the PEW:
    1. Isaiah taught that such unrest is often caused by wayward hearers:
      1. In the era of the prophet Isaiah, the Hebrew people traded the heeding of Scripture for communing with evil spirits, Isaiah 8:19.
      2. Isaiah critiqued them, noting that if they did not say, "To the law and to the testimony" (KJV), a phrase like our "Let's get back to the Bible," there was no spiritual light in them, Isaiah 8:20! Thus, ceasing to look to Scripture alone for their insight in a world that is so full of error left them in total spiritual darkness!
      3. With this darkness came discontent that ended in hopeless dismay:
        1. As they had failed to heed Scripture, the people were left in total darkness, and roamed about oppressed and unfulfilled, Isaiah 8:21a. (Edward J. Young, Isaiah, vol. I, 1974, p. 320-321)
        2. When their roaming proved futile, they turned angry, and spoke "contemptuously against their king and their God" as they looked "upward", seeking fulfillment from leaders on their own (manipulative) terms, Isaiah 8:21b ESV. (Ibid., p. 321)
        3. Desperate, they looked down even to subordinates for solutions only to find in that direction the same unbearable total spiritual darkness, Isaiah 8:22 ESV. (Ibid., p. 321-322)
    2. Then, wayward pastors cause spiritual unrest: many cease expounding Scripture to teach from other sources to pacify wayward hearers just as Paul predicted in 1 Timothy 4:1-3 and 2 Timothy 4:3-4 with Isaiah 8:19 in their exchanging Scripture truth for even doctrines of demons.
  2. God's SOLUTION is the application of 1 Corinthians 7:23 in the wide Bible context: PASTORS and their CONGREGATIONS must yield to GOD as HIS SERVANTS in their ROLES in the Church:
    1. As we found in our last message in this series, Paul's 1 Corinthians 7 address on human institutions was part of the main principle that in every realm of life, the believer is to stay in his calling, unless it is immoral, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to 1 Corinthians 7:17-24.
    2. We also learned this principle arose from the 1 Corinthians 7:23 truth that the believer was purchased by God to be His servant SO THAT HE MUST SERVE GOD VERSUS SERVING MAN in STAYING STABLE in the institutions in which God had called him!
    3. Now, in light of other Scriptures, obeying 1 Corinthians 7:23 relative to ministry takes a CHOICE by the pastor and by the congregation:
      1. On the part of the PASTOR, he must do God's will as GOD'S SERVANT to EXPOUND SCRIPTURE versus HEEDING the WILL of WAYWARD hearers who want him to BACK OFF from doing just THAT, 1 Timothy 4:6, 13 with 2 Timothy 4:1-4:
        1. The pastor must see that his role in producing STABILITY in the church starts with viewing himself as GOD'S SERVANT versus the servant of the congregation, 1 Corinthians 7:23!
        2. Thus oriented, he must NOT YIELD to the manipulative efforts of wayward hearers in the body who try to get him to back away from expounding Scripture to please their interests regardless what their response might be (2 Timothy 4:1-4; Isaiah 8:20-21)!
        3. Unless they repent, the wayward hearers will go from anger to despair while godly hearers in tremendous contrast will "feed" and be fulfilled, Isaiah 8:20-22 with 1 Timothy 4:1, 16.
      2. On the CONGREGATION'S part, its hearers must yield to GOD'S will as HIS SERVANTS to HEED and APPLY the expounded SCRIPTURE versus EXCHANGING Scripture for OTHER FUTILE ideas or views on their OWN initiative (versus 1 Corinthians 7:23) that do not fulfill or may even be instigated by demonic influence, Isaiah 8:19-20; 1 Tim. 4:1-4!
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as Savior to receive eternal life, John 3:16. (2) Then, equipped by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:1-9), be we a pastor or hearer in the congregation, may we (a) view ourselves as GOD'S SERVANTS as opposed to serving any OTHER master, and (b) HEED God's Word (c) either to give out (pastor) or to take in (hearers) Scripture truth, and (d) apply it in our lives (e) by God's power (f) for blessing!

Lesson: The restlessness in today's churchgoers is due to a DRIFT in SOME PASTORS as well as in SOME CHURCHGOERS from their ONLY source of FULFILLING SPIRITUALITY -- THE EXPOSITION AND APPLICATION OF GOD'S WORD done in GOD'S POWER. Everyone in the church -- pastor and hearer alike -- must view himself as God's SERVANT to HEED His Word regarding his role and function if he would see God's rich blessing in his Christian walk and service!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

God illustrated this message before I prepared it, and He did so in a very powerful, edifying way at our last Sunday evening service.

The message that night had been the final of a series on Christ's preincarnate ministry, and the passage was a relatively rarely used one, that of Ezekiel 1:1-2:6. There, in appearing to the prophet Ezekiel, our Preincarnate Lord was seen riding upon a chariot powered by angelic beings in great, fearful majesty and divine power. This vision was aimed to motivate Ezekiel to revere God more than the wayward hearers he was to address so he would speak God's Word unto them.

As I closed the message, I said I could have used several illustrations. However, since they were negative in nature and sharing them might not edify, I instead closed with a charge to do God's will in ministering even to wayward people out of reverence for Him.

Well, after the service, a believer came up to the front of the sanctuary to speak with me. She shared how God had moved her that afternoon out of a deep sense of reverence for Him to do His will in a certain area in her life. She had seen a connection between what I had taught on God's motivating Ezekiel to fear Him and so to heed Him and God's driving her out of a reverence of Him to perform that deed!

What she could not have known was that the very deed the Lord had directed her to perform victoriously countered one of the negative illustrations I had chosen not to use in the message that night! It was God's amazing, powerful encouragement for me!

I habitually rehash spiritual ideas in my mind for days, anyway, so, as you can imagine, I enjoyed a veritable feast on the import of that conversation all this last week! I saw God indicating that if ANY hearer or ANY pastor is yielded to GOD as GOD'S SERVANT to do HIS will in his ROLE, and that out of REVERENCE for GOD, HE will SOVEREIGNLY spiritually FULFILL them BOTH!

So, may we ALL view ourselves as GOD'S SERVANTS who are to HEED His CALLING out of REVERENCE for HIM! (a) May I as your Pastor KEEP ministering God's Word as HIS SERVANT, and (b) may we as a congregation also heed Scripture as it is expounded unto us. (c) Only THEN will we be SATISFIED in CHRIST, a blessing that many restless, dissatisfied churchgoers and many pastors around the world are MISSING!