The Purpose Driven Church
Scripture
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. And I
will give unto thee the keys of the
Introduction
The era within which we live has
become the era of self-help books.
Virtually anyone with a computer, a particular philosophy and a little
ability to write seems to have presented the world with their own version of
what is needed to cure some, many or all of the ills of mankind.
The religious realm is not exempt
from this phenomenon, in fact we could probably find as many or more books of
this nature related to the religions of man and man’s spiritual wellbeing as we
can on any other subject.
One of these books, published in
October, 2002 was written by a man by the name of Rick Warren, founder and
senior pastor of the
First of all I do not recommend Mr.
Warren’s book. Everything that it
proposes to provide to mankind has already been provided by God’s Word. It claims to be Bible centered but is
perverted throughout by man-made doctrines.
What it presents as quotations of scripture are taken from something
called The Message Bible, advertised as a contemporary paraphrase written by a
man named Eugene Peterson. Any
resemblance to the real Bible is purely coincidental.
Secondly, it is not my intent to
discuss “What on earth am I here for?” but rather The Purpose Driven Church,
“What is the church here for? What is
the purpose of this blood bought institution established by God himself that we
have been added to (Acts
Matthew
We know that church
was established and when it began because of what we read in Acts chapter
two. The Apostle Peter, as Jesus had
promised, presented the people at
“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts
Jesus Christ, who promised to build
his church is both its Lord and Christ, its ruler, its saviour, the word Christ
means “God’s Anointed”; Christ in the Greek, Messiah in Hebrew.
“Therefore
let all the house of
These people that
were being saved from their sins, that were becomingchildren of God through their obedience to the
apostles’ instructions were then collected by God into the church or “called
out” and we’re told that they continued:
“Praising God, and having favour with all the
people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Acts
So the church was established by God
on the day of the Pentecost feast after the ascension of Jesus at
So what is its purpose? What
works should it be doing? Is it just a
group of people without function or duty?
Hardly!
What The Purpose of the Church
Is Not!
First of all let us consider what
the purpose of the church is not. Of
necessity we will not be able to appeal to scripture for what the church is not
because the New Testament is silent on these matters. A silence that man must honor or be contrary
to the will of God; but that as we show in the lesson “Respect For The Silence of God.”.
It is not in to be in secular business.
The church does not own or operate nor do we have anything in scripture
that authorizes it to own or operate a secular business, day care center,
college, elementary school, book publishing house or any thing of that
nature. Individual members of the Lord’s
body, outside of that body, can band together to do these things and have the
freedom to do so. But nowhere in any
part of the New Testament or first century history do we have authority from
God, Jesus Christ or his appointed spokesmen for His church to conduct such
businesses.
The church is not a humanly originated organization. It is not to be made part of an organization
originated by men. It is not to have
organizations of human origin as part of its work or purpose. God hasn’t authorized, nor will he authorize
anything of this nature to His called out people. It has no authority to create a separate
organization governed by men for the purpose of sending out missionaries to
preach and teach God’s Word. The
creation of missionary societies, governing bodies, and organizations of this
nature are the invention of men used to usurp the responsibility of the church
to evangelize the world, but more about that later. This is one of the problems that generated apostasy
or rebellion against God and
the division of the Lord’s church into the various Christian
Church denominations in this country in the 1800’s.
It does not have God-given authority to create an organization, such as
the Churches of Christ Disaster Relief, governed by men, usurping the
responsibility of the church to perform the benevolent work given by God to his
“called out.” Have men attempted to
duplicate in some ways the work of the religious denomination called the
Salvation Army? It would almost appear
that they have.
Where in scripture is the church authorized to finance, provide or
otherwise make available recreation facilities or entertainment for its
members? Yet, when we travel between
Where in scripture is it the responsibility of the church to provide
secular education? Yet many
congregations are involved in supporting elementary, high schools and colleges
directly from their weekly contributions.
God directed that responsibility to the family, long before the church
ever existed:
“TRAIN UP A CHILD
IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO: AND WHEN HE IS OLD, HE WILL NOT DEPART FROM IT.” Proverbs 22:6
The Apostle Paul,
writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, not only confirms the wisdom of Solomon but gives the responsibility directly to
fathers:
“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to
wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4
So these things are not the work of
the church, God’s called out. If the
purpose of the church is not many of the things our liberal and
denominationally minded brethren are doing, then what is the purpose of the
church? I submit to you that there are
three general works in which the God’s called out are to engage themselves.
Evangelism
Evangelism –
(Webster) “the preaching or promulgation of the Gospel” of Jesus Christ
God set the stage. In modern terms God began and established the
process that he wanted used to propagate, to spread, his revealed word. First we find that a voice would be sent to
proclaim the coming of the greatest blessing that would ever be known to
mankind. First the preaching of the
prophet tells that there would be one come that would be:
“The voice of him that crieth in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD,
make straight in the
That prophecy was fulfilled and the job to evangelize the Jewish nation
and prepare them for the Messiah to follow was begun:
“…the word of God came unto John the son of
Zacharias in the wilderness. 3And he came into all the country about
And the Word of God
was brought to the people by preaching, by evangelism as was God’s purpose:
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching
in the wilderness of
When John’s mission was complete;
when God’s purpose of having John prepare the way for the Son of God to follow
after him was finished John the Baptizer was removed from the scene. Now it was time for Jesus to begin his
work. And what work was that? Evangelism!
Matthew
4:12-13 “Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast
into prison, he departed into Galilee; 13And leaving Nazareth, he
came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of
Zabulon and Nephthalim:” v17
“From that time Jesus began to preach,
and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
When God’s time was right Jesus
chose from among his followers a select group of disciples. He prepared them for the work that needed to
be done and sent them out to do what? Evangelize
God’s chosen people.
Matthew 10:1 “And
when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease.” v.5-7 “These twelve Jesus
sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles,
and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6But
go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7And as ye go,
preach, saying, The
Just as the personal ministry of
John the Baptizer was to come to an end, the personal ministry of the Son of
God needed to come to an end as well.
Jesus Christ had taught and prepared a people for the coming of the good
news of redemption. Jesus had prepared a
group of men to carry forward his work.
Jesus had other work to do. He
was the sacrifice for our sins; shedding his blood so that you and I could have
our sins removed from our souls.
Providing the means for our souls to be redeemed by God from that which
would keep us eternally separated from Him; un-forgiven sin.
First He gave his chosen disciples reassurance that they would be
properly equipped for the work that was to continue:
“These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall
teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I
have said unto you.” John 14:25-26
Then he gave them and us his
marching orders:
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”
Matthew 28:18-19
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall
be damned.” Mark 16:15-16
When God determined that the time
was right; these disciples began to do the job that Jesus gave them to do. The power, the Comforter came to them in
But their evangelistic work didn’t
end there. The work of the church to go
to or evangelize the entire world had only begun. Due to persecution in
Yes the purpose of the church that
Jesus built is to evangelize, preach and teach the word of God, the good news
of redemption, the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. It was true in the first century and it is
just as true today.
“For
after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” I
Corinthians 1:21
Edification
Edify: (Webster) to
instruct or benefit, especially morally or spiritually; uplift, enlighten, to
build, strengthen:
When Jesus gave his chosen disciples
their marching orders to evangelize the world he didn’t overlook the fact that
those converted would need further instruction and assistance. He continued his instructions to teach and
baptize with:
“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of
the world.” Matthew 28:20
This teaching,
after sinners are converted, is part of the edification that is the purpose of
the church.
In addition to doing evangelistic work the new Christians in
“…continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine
and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Acts
All these activities
were designed to strengthen or build up the faith of these new disciples. The essence of the definition just
rendered. So how was the church edified?
They continued in the apostles’
doctrine or body of teaching, the doctrine or body of teaching that Jesus had
given them. But was it his?
“Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is
not mine, but his that sent me. 17If any man will do his will, he
shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” John
7:16-17
Their body of teaching;
the doctrine with which they were to be instructed was God given. At this point in the history of the church it
was not written down so by necessity it was as directed by the Holy
Spirit. So they continued teaching God’s
word.
They continued in fellowship. Briefly, what is fellowship? How does scripture define fellowship? One definition is communing and reasoning
together.
“And it came to pass, that, while they communed
together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and
went with them.” Luke 24:15
Jesus tells us
through the pen of the beloved apostle that love and being one in mind and
purpose are included:
“A
new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are
my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:34-35
In Jesus’ prayer:
John
Also included in the work of edification is worship, the Jerusalem
church also continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread, participating in
the Lord’s Supper and prayer. They
worshipped together and Jesus tells us that God wants our worship:
“But
the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” John
4:23
Benevolence
Lastly we have the work of
benevolence. Benevolence – (Webster)
desire to do good to others, goodwill, charity.
The first century church was concerned about and worked at addressing
the needs of others. We find the root of
benevolence in what Jesus tells us is the second greatest commandment:
“And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other
commandment greater than these.” Mark
The
“…sold their possessions and goods, and parted
them to all men, as every man had need.” Acts
They cared for
their widows. Acts 6 tells us they administered to them daily and when a dispute
arose over those administrations they appointed men to make sure that these
tasks were performed properly.
The first century church gave of their means during their worship
assembly. We read of two purposes for
which funds provided by the church were used.
One purpose was for support of missionaries. Those who were preaching and teaching the
gospel of Christ were supported at times.
II Corinthians 11:9 “And
when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that
which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in
all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto
you, and so will I keep myself.”
But the reason we
read most about in scripture for giving of their means was for the work of
benevolence:
Romans 15:25-26 “But
now I go unto
I Corinthians 16:1-2 “Now
concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches
of
They gave to
provide the means to do good to others who had need. So, to whom is our
benevolence to be extended?
Galatians
“pure religion and undefiled before God and the
Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27
Please note that
the word in the original Greek that is translated visit here does not mean just
to stop by and chat for a while. It
means to understand their needs and provide what we have to help them.
So what is the purpose driven
church? It is the church, the called out
of God that accomplishes the purposes for which it was created as set forth by
Almighty God. It engages itself in
evangelism to bring the good news of salvation to a lost and dying world. It practices edification to encourage, build
up, strengthen, and protect the spiritual well being of its members. It practices benevolence, doing good to all
men, but especially to those of like precious faith. It is one that follows the pattern of work
established during the first century when children of God were being directed
by the Holy Spirit. It honors
commandments of God regarding its purpose and leaves the opinions, notions and
organizations of men to those who are of the world.
Invitation:
We must believe – Mark 16:15-16, Hebrews 11:6
We must repent – Luke 13:3-5
We must confess our
sins – Matthew 10:32, Romans 10:9-10,
Acts 8:37
We must be baptized
for the remission of our sins – Acts
If you have need of
the prayers of the congregation because of special needs or sin, then
come. James 5:16