Why God Believes in Church and Why You Need to Be There

God believes in church. He believes in you being part of a local assembly. We all need to be involved in the church’s ministry because it is a ministry of people. When a church lives, it lives because the people are vital and active. When a church dies, it withers and dies not because the brick and mortar and carpet and pews get old and begin to crack and rip and crumble. A church withers and dies because the people wither and die. I think a vivid illustration of this comes from a true story of a young minister in Oklahoma who went to this little, though long-standing, church in hopes of really reviving the ministry of it. He had stars in his eyes and great hopes for the future. He thought he could turn it around. And he gave it his best effort and his best shot week after week, to no avail. Finally, he had one last idea, and it seemed to work. On Saturday, he announced in the local newspaper that the church had died, and on Sunday afternoon, there would be a funeral service at the church itself, and all who wished could attend. For the first time in his years there, the place was packed. In fact, people were standing outside on tiptoes looking through the window to see this most unusual funeral service for a church. To their shock, because most of them got there twenty or thirty minutes early to get a seat, there was a casket down the front. And it was smothered with flowers. He told the people as soon as the eulogy was finished, they could pass by and view the remains of the dearly beloved that they were putting to rest that day. They could hardly wait until he finished the eulogy. He slowly opened the casket, pushed the flowers aside, and people walked by, filed by, to look in and leave sheepishly, feeling guilty as they walked out the door because inside the casket, he had placed a large mirror. As they walked by, they saw the church that had died.¹ Funerals for churches, that’s not the plan — that’s the target we are to shoot at. Why God Believes in Church and Why You Need to Be There, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Seven Witnesses to the Mission of Jesus

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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

God believes in church. He believes in you and me being there. Commit to a local assembly today. It is there that you can grow to your full potential in God.

Join the Conversation

Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
This week’s question is:

Question: What has been the value of the local church that you attend? How has it added to your life? Please share your testimony in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

You can find more information on the book of Ephesians by clicking on the links below.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 40 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic, you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

Podcast Notes

God Believes in Church: The Purpose of Ministry Gifts

Ephesians 4:11–16 (ESV) — 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

So, in this passage — these set of verses — we have the reason God believes in Church and why you should also.
Look at this list of ministry gifts that Jesus died to obtain, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
God put these gifts in the Church for a reason.
It’s that reason that we are exploring in this week’s Light on Life podcast.
Why did He do it?
Why did God give these ministry gifts?
He told us right here in this passage of scripture.
Listen to the reasons now.
- To equip the saints.
- To attain the unity of the faith.
- So, His people can arrive at the knowledge of the Son of God.
- To attain mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
- So that we may no longer be unstable children easily deceived.
- To the end that we may speak the truth in love.
- So that we may grow up
- For the body of Christ having the express purpose of building itself up in love.
So, we have eight distinct reasons why God believes in church and why He believes in you being there.
Now, get this: you don’t get any of these benefits without the influence of these five ministry gifts.
The saints can’t be equipped for the work of ministry.
There is no attaining the unity of the faith — that will go by the boards.
As part of the Body of Christ, the individual believer won’t get the knowledge of Jesus that they should have.
They won’t mature and develop right without these five ministry offices.
Going on further, we have some side effects of isolating ourselves from church.
You could say this is the negative side of the story.
Without the ministry gifts, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, children of God will be unstable in their walk.
They will be easily deceived.
There is a tenderness that will be lacking among them because they won’t have the ability as they should to speak the truth in love.
They will be diminutive in size — they won’t grow right or develop properly.
And because they don’t develop properly, the whole body is affected because they will not be able to build up one another in love.

Where Do You Find These Ministry Gifts?

Here is the million-dollar question, and with that thought, here’s the Question of the Day.
Here’s the question: where do you find these ministry gifts? — in Church.
They are in Church where we all are supposed to be.
People say you can be as good a Christian at home — you don’t need to come to church — yes, you do.

The Anointing without Measure

In a previous podcast, we made a note of the fact that the Holy Spirit of God rested upon Jesus in the fullness of measure.
What I mean by that is that Jesus had the Spirit of God without measure.
You find that reference in John’s gospel chapter 3 and verse 34.

John 3:34 (ESV) — 34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

Jesus is the only person that ever walked planted earth that had all of the ministry gifts functioning in his life at one time.

Jesus As Apostle

The multitudes received the benefit of the Apostolic anointing that was upon Jesus.
The word Apostle means a sent one.
This person is anointed and sent forth from the Lord to accomplish a specific mission.
The action of that anointing fulfills that mission.
Jesus is the ultimate example of a sent one.

John 5:36 (ESV) — 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.

He was sent from God to redeem you and me.
Now people get a little hung up because they think there were only 12 apostles.
Some people teach that mess – and I call it a mess because it is error.
There are not only 12 Apostles.
The New Testament lists over 20 apostles.
There were the 12 Apostles who saw the Lord after He was resurrected.

Acts 14:14 (ESV) — 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out,

Then there was Paul and Barnabas.
That makes 14.

Galatians 1:19 (ESV) — 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.

Then you have Jesus’ brother James – that makes 15.
Shall I go on?

Philippians 2:25 (ESV) — 25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need,

The word messenger here is the same Greek word for apostle.
So, now we are up to 16.
Not to belabor the point – we could go on, but I think the issue is clear — there were more than 12 apostles.
Today, we still have apostles.
We still have sent ones.
Many of our modern missionaries are apostles in that God sent them to those countries.
There is an anointing that’s upon them to do the work of building the Kingdom in that country to which they were sent.
So, we still have apostles today.

Jesus as Prophet

The multitudes received the gain of the prophetic office that worked and flowed through Jesus’ lips.
Jesus prophesied by the anointing of the Spirit of God upon Him concerning end-times, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, which came to pass in the year 70 AD.

Jesus As Evangelist

The multitudes received benefits from Jesus’ evangelistic anointing, for the Spirit of God was upon him to preach the gospel to the poor.
You find that reference in Luke 4:18.

Luke 4:18 (ESV) — 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

Here’s another reference.

Luke 19:10 (ESV) — 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

That’s the anointing of the evangelist.

Jesus As Pastor and Teacher

The multitudes gleaned great benefits from Jesus’ teaching where at times, the scripture says He would go up on top of a mountain and sit down and open his mouth and expound to the people the wonders of God’s thinking.

Matthew 9:35 (ESV) — 35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

So, here’s a verse that references several of Jesus’ ministry offices in the same place.
You have the teaching anointing here.
Also, you have proclaiming the gospel — that’s the evangelist anointing.
And finally, you have a healing anointing — that is tied to the prophetic office.
Functioning in the pastoral role, Jesus gathered as many as would allow Him to do so into his flock, for He was the Great Shepherd.
That reference? – John ten.

John 10:11 (ESV) — 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

So, Jesus had all five ministry gifts functioning in his life.

Why God Believes in Church: Summation of Jesus Ministry Offices

Now, here’s a vital truth about ministry offices.
I went through all of those descriptors in a ‘light manner’ — meaning not too much detail — for time’s sake — to make this point about ministry gift anointings.
During the earth walk — the ministry of Jesus — if you wanted to receive the benefits of the anointing upon Him, you had to go where He was.
If He were in Galilee, you would have to go there.
If you wanted to gain access to His prophetic office or receive counsel via His teaching ministry, you had to go where He was physically.
If He was in location A, you had to go to location A.
Etc. — if He was in location B, Zama, Zama, — that’s where you had to go — location B.
Now, Jesus no longer walks planet earth in the physical sense or, in the earthly sense, of His ministry.
He died — He led captivity captive, and, He distributed these ministry gifts to men.
If we can say it this way, He took the anointing that was upon Him and put that anointing upon different people throughout the world.
The principle of physical location is still the same.
If you want to experience the pastoral ministry gift anointing, you have to go where the pastor is at.
Where is the pastor at?
He is in church.
If you want to experience the Apostolic anointing, you must do the same thing.
Experiencing the evangelist anointing works the same way.
You have to go where they are.
The same goes for teachers — the same goes for the prophetic ministry.

Why God Believes in Church: Wise Pastors

Several of these ministry gifts are traveling-type ministries.
Some hold meetings of their own.
They rent facilities, ballrooms, theaters, and civic centers.
Mario Murillo was just here — he’s an evangelist extraordinaire.
All of that is well and good.
But, a wise pastor, we’ll bring these different ministry gifts into the local assembly and allow their people to be exposed to these different anointings.
There’s a reason why this is good practice.
There are a lot of false versions of these ministry gifts.
In the first century, Paul was dealing with false apostles himself.

2 Corinthians 11:5–6, 13 (ESV) — 5 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. 6 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things…13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

There are false prophets in the land.
False teachers are creeping around.

2 Peter 2:1 (ESV) — 1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

Jesus also warned along these lines.

Matthew 7:15 (ESV) — 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Some claim to be an apostle when they are no more an apostle than I’m a man on the moon.
Some claim to be prophets, and they are no more prophets than you’re a billionaire.
Can I just give a general rule of thumb here?
This is not true in every case, but it is true more often than not.
Watch the advertisers.
If a person advertises himself as an apostle, as a prophet, if he puts that advertisement in his name, that is, that he calls himself prophet so and so or apostle so and so, I would run from that fella just about as fast as I could.
In most cases, these people are more talk than action.
They are probably people puffed up with pride who want to appear as spiritual leaders in the church.
And, they will lead you alright if you are not careful right into error.
It’s unfortunate, but many have indeed made shipwreck of their lives because of failing to heed these things.
We have already read what Jesus said about these kinds of folk: ‘Beware of them.’
The Greek word ‘beware’ means to be on one’s guard, be cautious or wary about, or be alert to.
I can tell you from personal practice I have a very narrow limit of who I listen to in the body of Christ.
Almost instinctively, if someone introduces themselves to me via whatever media, television, radio, mail, or whatever they call themselves and label themselves prophets, I instinctively shut that person off.
I trust my pastor.
I believe in being led.
So, it’s wise for the local pastor who has the general oversight of the saints to expose his people to these ministry gifts to attain these eight areas of maturity and development that we’ve already listed.