Good morning, beloved. I invite you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter 2, we'll read verses 4 to 10. You can find that on page 1015 in the Pew Bibles. 1 Peter 2, 4-10. Hear the word of the Lord. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious, You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your kindness to us in your Son, Jesus Christ, and thank you that you comfort and lift up the downcast as a church body. You have given us such an acute reminder of the truth that as your pilgrim people we are sorrowful and yet always rejoicing. We thank you for that, for your care for us in the midst of all this. We pray now for this moment of meditation on your word that you will draw near, you will unite our hearts, you will fix our gaze on the beauty of your glory in the face of Christ. And I pray that you would enable me to speak as one, uttering the oracles of God. I ask in Jesus' name, amen. My goal this morning is to bring a series on churchmanship to a close by showing you from the New Testament how faithful churchmanship blesses the world. So this will not be a regular expository sermon as we have had in the past as is our practice where we take one text and walk through it so that the main point of the text is the main point of the sermon and the argument of the text is the argument of the sermon. This is a sermon that will be somewhat topical. And I want to begin by just reminding us that as Christians, we do not live in an alternate universe. We hear and know and experience the groans of the present evil age in which we live. Our hearts break when we hear of starving children and people in hunger-stricken countries. We feel searing pain and holy indignation at the evil of abortion. We hate to see innocent and unsuspecting victims trafficked and abused. We feel a holy rage when we see young boys and girls led astray and plunged into even more brokenness in the so-called sexual revolution and used to advance political agendas. And on top of that, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have been brought by divine grace to believe with trembling that the God of the Bible will bring every deed to judgment. We tremble at that reality. So because of these kinds of things that happen among us and around us and in the world in which we live, Some Christians, especially younger believers in Jesus Christ, can tend to think that the church is somewhat out of touch with the world. that the church is somewhat detached from the world, that the church is somewhat cold towards the world, maybe even downright uncaring towards the world. They can be tempted to ask or think there has to be better and more efficient ways to accomplish great things for God. There can be that temptation. And what I want to do this morning is ask one simple question with you, and it is this. What is the relationship between being a faithful church member, a faithful church man or woman, and the needy state of the world in which we live? What's the connection point? Where does the fact that God calls you to be invested in your particular local church intersect with the needs of the world? Is there even a contact point? Is there even an overlap between the brokenness in the world and faithful churchmanship? What's the relationship between the suffering and pains and groans that we hear and see all around us and your commitment to GRBC or any other church that you are a member of? And I wanna lift up two truths from the New Testament that I think answer that question very compellingly and to show us that faithful church membership is the most effective way to have a lasting, eternal impact on the world in which we live. Two truths that show us that loving your church, serving your church, prioritizing your church is the most effective way to impact the world for good. If you have flown, you have surely heard flight attendants say things like, If it happens that the air pressure in the cabin of the aircraft drops, oxygen masks will deploy. And if that were to happen, you should strap your own oxygen mask first. I've used this illustration before and I love it. You should strap your own oxygen mask first before you try to help anyone else who is next to you, even if that person is a child. And they say that because if you try to help someone before strapping your own mask, a disaster could ensue. And that illustrates for us that there are certain things in life that the most effective way to give attention to those things is to first look away from those things to something else. Focusing on those things in and of themselves could destroy the very things you are trying to care for. And that illustrates for us a Christian's impact on the world. If you think you can help the world by deemphasizing commitment to the church, you will hurt the world and hurt the church and hurt yourself. Faithful church membership emphasizes an inward focus on a local church, not to the disregard of the world, but rather in order that we might have a sustained, God-exalting, outward effectiveness in ministering to the world in which we live. It is not only when we commit ourselves to being, it is only when we commit ourselves to being the kind of church man or church woman that God calls us to be that we are of maximum benefit to the world. You will not be as effective as you could be in rescuing people from the world unless you are deliberate in prioritizing your commitment to your church. Now why is that? Here's reason number one. Faithful churchmanship is critical for effective gospel communication. You need to be plucked into a church and be invested in that church in order to participate meaningfully and in a lifelong way in the calling to proclaim the gospel. Look with me at 1 Peter 2, the text we read, just verses 9 and 10. Peter says this to these first century believers in northern Turkey. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. The point of that text, especially verse nine, is very transparent, very clear. Peter tells us who we are, and what we exist for, the raison d'etre of our existence, the main purpose for why we exist as God's people. God has chosen us to be his people. He has established us as a royal priesthood, has appointed us as a holy nation to be his special possession. To what end? Peter answers so that we may declare the excellencies the praises of this God who has called us out of darkness into his wonderful light now that's not something new God designed the same purpose for his old covenant people Remember when he brought Israel out of Egypt, he would say in Exodus 19, he bore them as on eagles' wings from the smelting furnace, the iron smelting furnace that was Egypt, to bring them to himself. And he uses the same language. in Exodus 19.5, things like, even though the whole world is my possession, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession, hear the language, among all peoples, and you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Now what was the purpose of that? Isaiah tells us that the purpose in Isaiah 43.21, by describing God's people like this, the people whom I formed, that's God speaking, for myself, that they might declare my praise. Very similar language to what we read in 1st Peter. So what Peter is doing is pull together Exodus 19 and Isaiah 43 to show us that just as God designed for Old Testament Israel to be a proclaimer of His praise, so the church is designed by God to be a proclaimer of God's praise. That's why we exist. As God formed Israel to be for his praise, so he has established the church as his new covenant people to be for his praise. And what Peter is referring to here as praise is both worship and evangelism, spreading the good news of God's saving wonders to all people. But if you are honest, you will recognize there's a problem. the proclamation of the excellencies of God to lost people around us, what we call evangelism, tends to make many of us uncomfortable. We know we ought to do it, but we remember how inconsistently, if at all, we have done it. We can barely remember the last time we opened our mouth and intentionally said something evangelistic to an unbeliever. We feel deeply challenged by it, we fear it, we feel awkward about it, we remember our failures in that regard, and we come to develop some kind of a hatred for it even. And that's where faithful churchmanship comes in to help you and help me be an effective proclaimer of the excellencies of God. Let me explain. Notice that in this passage we just read, verses nine and 10 of 1 Peter chapter two, Peter is not thinking mainly of individuals functioning as priests and proclaimers. If he were, how can an individual be a race? or a priesthood, or a nation, or a people. Peter is primarily thinking about a corporate group, the people God has chosen, saved in his Son, and put together in the church. That's what Peter is thinking about. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God's possession, and because we exist as such, We are called to proclaim the excellences of the God who has called us. As one commentator put it, Christians exercise priestly functions, but always as members of a group who will exercise the same function. We are never doing it solo. We are never doing it as individuals let loose by God and let on our own to do the best we can. It's a corporate responsibility. bestowed on us by God's undeserved grace. Now I'll tell you four stories that I believe show us that this proclamation is happening in our midst as a local church and that God is using it powerfully. It's happening in our midst and in other places. Pastor Kent and I listened to the testimony of a beloved sister in Christ this past Wednesday. She knew a GRBC member in high school, but they were not really friends. But at one point in her life, she was sitting at her home, had just had a baby. And through a workplace interaction, the GRBC member, who was known to this new mom, learned that this new mom had had a baby. And then the GRBC member sent a gift to the new mom. Communication began between them. They met up for coffee. Then the young mom began thinking about starting to go to church. And then she is nervous and wondering how she will be looked at at any given church she could choose to go to. So she reaches out again to this GRBC member and asks about which church she goes to. The member eagerly invites her to come with her to GRBC. So she visited for the first time. And sometime between visiting for that first time and the near future, God did a work in this young mom that only God could do. And she testifies like this, I realized I am a sinner and that I could never save myself and that God was the only way to salvation by what his son did on the cross by dying. for our sins and rising on the third day. My life has changed so much in such a short span of time, and this is not my own doing, but God working in me and his grace and mercy on my life. Proclamation happened one way or the other, and this new mom now became a member of the Royal High Priesthood of God. How many can compute the number that was saved and strengthened and built in the faith through the campus ministry that Pastor Stu did at UNC campus many years ago? How many can compute the number that was saved and built up in the faith through the ministry that Pastor Michael did at Elon campus a number of years ago? And not only that, but the fruit that continues to come from the fruit of their initial labors. Two more stories. He had GRBC, a brother emailed me three days ago. He had been working. And then out of the blue, he had lost touch with a particular fellow co-worker. And then out of the blue, he receives a message from this former co-worker of his, who had grown up in a church. and got hurt by the church, became an atheist for many years. And then he writes back to this brother and says, I am returning to Jesus. Oh, I have returned to Jesus. Now, but the interesting thing here is why did he write to this brother who attends GRBC and is a servant here? You'd love this. He had noticed that on this brother's LinkedIn profile, the professional networking platform, he had noticed that on this brother's LinkedIn profile, the brother lists his work for GRBC there. And therefore he decided to reach out to the brother and speak. And then part of his message to the brother said something like, you have never really said it, but it always was very clear that you are a Christian. Now this brother is seeking resources to send to this atheist turned believer in Jesus Christ to help them grow in the faith. A LinkedIn profile. Mentioning JRBC on a LinkedIn profile became part of what God used to start working in the heart of a believer. One more story. Mark Stiles, in his book on evangelism, testifies of a Brazilian student who came as an exchange student to Portland, Oregon. She was hosted by a Christian couple, and the name of the man, John, the name of this student from Brazil, Kelly, and the name of the man's wife who hosted this student, Connie. So she lived with them, they loved her, they prayed for her, she was a hardworking student, but she wasn't interested in the Jesus of this family. but she had become very dear to this man and his wife. So they prayed for her. Even when she finished school and returned to our country, they kept praying for her. Connie prayed for Kelly for five years and 10 years and 15 years. She was still praying for her and keeping contact and communicating with her. 15 years later, a gifted evangelist, Heathers, who was pastoring in Dubai, is invited to speak in Portland, Oregon at the church of John and Connie. And then he comes with his wife. During lunch, the wife of the evangelist is sitting right next to Connie, who had hosted the Brazilian student. And then Connie says to the wife of the evangelist, long ago, we hosted a Brazilian student at our home. She's such a sweet girl. And right now, she works as a flight attendant for Emirates Airlines. Could you please reach out to her? She's going through a really hard time. She just broke up with her boyfriend and is in the midst of a really lonely time. the wife of the evangelist was delighted to reach out to kelly and because she was going to delay in the states before returning to dubai both she and connie wrote emails to kelly back in dubai she received the email she reads the emails she searches out the church that was recommended to her in the emails and that was redeemer church of dubai she goes there she's welcomed at the church she's given a visitors package she sees gospel saturated books in the package she'd never read any books like that she devours the books and starts to love the church by the time the wife of the evangelist returns to dubai she meets up for lunch with kelly and kelly is telling her all about how she's loved the church how she's been welcomed at the church and is saying i want to join that church are there membership dues that i have to pay to join and Connie explains the gospel to her. God convicted and converted Kelly and she was baptized at that church. Now just think about the providence of God in that one salvation story. Multiple continents of the world, a couple of churches, many languages, numerous ethnicities and diverse personalities, years of prayer, spoken and written communication, two lunches and one gospel. brought Kelly to God. Is that the proclamation of the excellencies of Christ or what? In each of these testimonies I've shared with you, there is one indispensable human ingredient that was necessary, and it's this, intentionality. Deliberateness, living with a self-conscious commitment to the fact God has made me a member of his holy nation and therefore it is part of my work to proclaim the excellences of the God who called me out of darkness. So I'm not, beloved, I'm not inviting you to go out and change your personality and become a social butterfly so that you could share the gospel with everyone you meet. You don't have to create a LinkedIn profile or host an exchange student. You just have to be intentional and deliberate about proclaiming the excellences of Christ. And there is no better way to be that deliberate other than being an invested, plucked-in member at your local church. Because it is the local church that feeds that intentionality and strengthens that intentionality. Sometimes you just need to send that invitation to church. Sometimes you just need to send that invitation to lunch. Sometimes you just need to say that one word and God will open doors that you could never have imagined. Is that not why Paul said to the Colossians, walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. In other words, be marked by intentionality. Be marked by a self-consciousness, the fact that God has called me to proclaim his praises. God can and will use some of your brothers and sisters in this church, or whatever church you are a member of, or other churches, or even other countries, to continue a work He has begun in a sinner by drawing them to Himself, just because of a word you spoke over there. or a prayer you uttered, or a lunch meeting you had, or an invitation you extended for them to come to church. One reason evangelism is so daunting for us is because we tend to think that we are called to do it solo. We are called to just launch out on our own. It's like God calls us, ministers to us at church and says, okay, now you're on your own. That's not true. We always have the backup of our brothers and sisters. God can walk through us and connect with what he's doing through another brother or sister or another church, and a sinner will be saved. We are always operating as members of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a corporate community that has been shown mercy, and that is why Committed churchmanship is the most effective way to become a gospel proclaimer, to be one who declares the excellencies of God, to be one who is marked by a deliberateness and an intentionality in doing that. Second and next reason. Faithful churchmanship blesses the world through good works. Remember, the question I'm asking with you in this sermon is, what's the connection point? What's the intersection between being a faithful member of a church, of a biblically ordered church, and the needs of the world, and the brokenness in the world? And we have seen, when you are a member of a church that is ordered according to the Bible, seeks to preach the Bible, seeks to extol Christ, you are discipled and exhorted and encouraged to be a faithful proclaimer of the gospel in the context of doing so as a member of the Royal Priesthood of Christ. But the second thing is... Faithful churchmanship blesses the world. If you're thinking about, how do we help the world? It blesses the world through good works. Every believer in Jesus Christ is marked by a zeal for good works. You want to do something to help another. You want to do something to benefit another person. And I'm not just saying that from experience or from things I've seen. I'm saying that on the authority of God's word. Titus 2.14 describes Jesus as, Jesus Christ is the one who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession. Now here, who are zealous for good works. So what is one thing that distinctly marks somebody redeemed and purified by Jesus? Answer, a zeal for good works. You wanna do good, you wanna benefit the people around you. That's a key mark of somebody caught out of darkness, redeemed and purified by the cross work of Jesus Christ. And my argument on this point is to say this. Faithful churchmanship is the most effective way to discharge your God-given zeal for good works. You don't really have another context better than the church where you are plucked in as a member to be able to live out the zeal that grace, saving grace has created in your heart for other human beings around you. Jesus could have created any number of humanitarian organizations to show compassion to the world. He could have built a UN, a much better UN than what we have had. He could have built the Red Cross or any other thing. But he said, I will build my church. So how does your commitment to a faithful local church provide opportunity for an involvement in good works that have lasting and enduring results? There are two ways I wanna propose to you. First, it provides opportunity for you to show Christ to the world by caring for the physical needs of your brothers and sisters and for them to care for your own physical needs when they come. That's the first way. When you're a member of a church, you have a God-given opportunity to attend to and care for and provide for the physical needs of your fellow brothers and sisters at that church, and they have the opportunity to provide for your own needs when the needs come. We don't often think about this as often as we should, but part of our calling as God's people is this. As we go through life, we take turns to care and be cared for. That's the way God has designed our lives to function. We take turns to care and be cared for in the context of the church. Seasons come and go. There will come seasons of a job loss, seasons of sickness, the arrival of a baby, or the loss of a loved one. Or when you have become so reduced in your strength and energy, you can only be in a nursing home or some care facility. We all will have a season in which we have what it takes to serve another, and we will all have a season in which it is someone else who has what it takes to serve us. So that oscillation between serving and being served is a key way by which Jesus has designed to make himself known to the world through the medium of his church. And that's why I'm saying, when you become a faithful church man or woman, you have that God-given opportunity to show Christ to the world by catering to the needs of your brothers and sisters and having your own needs catered for when they come. Listen to John 13, 34 and 35. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. By this, hear this, a very well-known verse. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Beloved, unbelievers cannot help but notice when Christians love and care for one another in this way. When we love not only in words, but in deeds, it grabs the attention of the world. When unbelievers recognize that we have been brought together, not by race or ethnicity, not by some kind of social status or professional interest. When they realize we are not a political interest group trying to push a certain agenda, but that we've been brought together by the gospel of Jesus Christ, they take note of the fact that the gospel is indeed the power of God. Some of them will be saved just by seeing the church love on each other. And you don't have an opportunity to show Christ in that way if your commitment to your church is casual and spotty. There is no other association in your life that provides you the opportunity for such good works better than a biblically ordered and healthy church. Are we not so grief-stricken this week over the passing of our brother Jack because he was such a man full of good works in the midst of a community of God's people? Is that not why we feel such a loss of him? Is that not why the widows felt such a loss when Tabitha died? Because she was full of good works in the midst of the community where God had placed her. And that is a key means by which Christ is placated. before the eyes of the world. So that's the first category of good works. Second category of good works that faithful churchmanship provides you the opportunity to do to the benefit of the world. These are good works directed towards the world. The first one I talked about are good works directed inwards. Fellow brothers and sisters serving one another. Now good works directed towards the world is another category. You have to remember, in a gospel where Jesus says, I will build my church, The Gospel of Matthew, he also says to his disciples, you are the salt of the earth. So you who will be the church that I built, you are the salt of the earth. And he meant to say by that, that his disciples will be preservatives in the world. They will be moral disinfectants. They will be helping to hold back the decay and degradation, the moral decay and degradation that we smell everywhere around us. That's what he meant. And they will do that by conforming to the kingdom standards that He had given to them. And then He asked, Matthew 5, 14. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Now hear this. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. So there you have a calling for you and me, for us as a church, to let our light shine. And what is the light by which we lighten up the world? That text says our good works. Our conforming to everything we are and do that reflects the mind and the will of God to the world. That is what we light up the world by. Again, where does the strength come from? It's easy to see an unbeliever, see one of suffering somewhere, and do some helpful things. It's easy to see an unbeliever, totally unconnected to Christ, totally unconnected to any church, help here and there. But where does the strength come from to live a life of good works? I'm not just talking about occasional. doing of good. I'm talking about a lifelong commitment, joyful engagement with the doing of good works that benefit others with no anticipation of a payment. or even appreciation in this life? And the answer is, the power comes from being connected to Christ by the power of the gospel, being plucked in a local church, where in the process of ongoing discipleship and encouragement and exhortation, you are given the strength you need to continue to benefit the world in that way. In 2009, at our church in Louisville, our lead pastor, Ryan Fullerton, preached a sermon on the sanctity of human life. That was on Sanctity of Life Sunday. In response to that sermon, a couple at our church, Dave and Stacy, began every Saturday morning to go to the abortion clinic that is located downtown in Louisville. Then they were soon joined by a small group of believers. They would pray and provide sidewalk counseling to the women who were coming into this abortion clinic to murder their babies. They would plead with them to abandon their plan of murder. Shortly afterwards, other Louisville churches began to join. By 2010, so the ceremony is preached in 2009. By 2010, a ministry has begun called Speak for the Unborn. Maybe some of you have heard that. Then that ministry grew, began developing resources, and began equipping people across the country, across the US, on how to do sidewalk counseling in that 11th hour when a baby stands between the precipice of death and life. That ministry has continued to grow by leaps and bounds. How did all that start? Like this. a couple that had been shaped by years of faithful preaching at a church, and had been discipled by healthy gospel community at a church, had been primed by God for a particular striking advance in good works. And then one Saturday night, this God put a sermon in the mouth of Ryan Fullerton. He preached it in the power of the Holy Spirit. A ministry was born that has saved many lives of babies. Do you see how a commitment to membership at a local church can save lives in the world? God works through the church to benefit the world. Time would fail me to talk about how Christians have brought about prison reform, and medical care, and trade unions, and the control of drugs, drug trafficking, and the abolition of slavery, and child labor, and the establishment of orphanages, and the reform of penal codes, and on and on. Things Christians have spearheaded down the years and across cultures. because they are transformed by the gospel and are being discipled by a church to show forth the righteousness of Christ to this death and sin darkened world in which we live. here at our own church, some of you members have taken just honorable, wonderfully encouraging initiatives to do things like the Senior Breakfast that we heard about, heard announced, the Nursing Home Ministry, the Tanglewood Ministry, Worthy Ministry. Julie Scott Ammons has been working tirelessly with Human Coalition just this past week The Ladies Missionary Society of our church sent funds to Malawi to buy food for starving people in that country. That tells the story of people being empowered by the gospel through fellowship in a local church for the benefit of the world. So if you're wondering, what's the connection between being a faithful church man, a faithful church woman, and all the decay and suffering that I see around me, there's your answer. God's master plan for showing compassion to the world is the church, is the local church. And you could hear these things that I talked about, big things like stop fighting against abortion and sending money overseas for the feeding of hungry people. And you think, God didn't put me together for those kinds of big world changing things. And you may be right to say that, but here's the thing. The kind of good works that the Bible talks about that benefits unbelievers to the glory and praise of Christ is not limited to world-changing things. And God misses nothing, whether it's world-changing or it is not. All kinds of good works are available for us to do, and it's counted as a good work in the eyes of God, whether it's small or big, whether it meets a material or a spiritual need, and the recipient can be anybody. So the good works I'm talking about that Matthew 5 talks about, that Titus talks about, that all of the pastoral epistles talk about, that Ephesians 2 10 talks about, these are not things that you necessarily become famous for doing. I had lunch with a brother who was saying he received a promotion at work. A colleague of his had been eyeing that position. And when he was promoted instead of the colleague, the colleague made his life really difficult. And they had a pretty rocky relationship and difficult interactions for a season. And then in his devotions, he had been reading through the book of Proverbs and just received conviction and deep instruction on the use of speech. And then he started applying his proverb lessons at work. Guess what happened to the relationship? A radical transformation in the relationship. That is a good work. Benefiting somebody at work, creating a more livable environment for unbelievers who don't know a thing about what God is doing in secret with this brother. And where did he learn? You have to read your Bible and pray and let the Bible shape the way you think and interact with the world. Discipleship at a church. Christians who submit themselves to the government and oversight of a church that is biblically ordered, are discipled and encouraged and exhorted and reminded to refuse to rob their employers by being lazy at work. to refuse to rob their employees by being stingy. They will be discipled and encouraged to be the first to help a colleague or neighbor who is in difficulty. They will be the last to return insult for insult. They will be the last to speak evil of another in their neighborhood. They will want to show perfect courtesy to everyone, to not gossip, to not slander, to honestly desire the advancement of their colleagues and their neighbors. And they will dislike mocking and making fun of others who are made in the image of their God. So there is a limitless array of opportunities for you and me to be involved in good works that benefit the world. And the power to do that comes from being discipled by a biblically ordered church, which is why you should be a faithful member of a biblically ordered church. After you have repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ, the brightness of the light of good works that will shine from your life is directly proportional to the degree of your investment at your local church. your local church that's going to be capital in helping you show forth Christ in a consistent and life-giving way. The more invested you are with your church, where the Bible is taught, where you are discipled to be more like Christ, the more gospel light will radiate from your life through the good works that you do. So let us let our light shine before men. Let us not be weary in doing good. It will benefit people. Yes. Not everyone who benefits from our good works will believe. But guess what? Some will believe. And there is no more valuable thing in the world than one human soul. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul? That's why Paul says, let's not be weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. And the way to do that is to be deeply invested with your church. Brothers and sisters, we live in an age that prizes and promotes non-committal. to relationships, to associations, and to various things. We live in a world where some in the name of religion have committed heinous wickedness so that there is deep suspicion, even resentment and hostility against organized religion. But this series has been intended to remind us as believers in Jesus Christ that we do not take our marching orders from the world. We do not take our marching orders even from our own experiences, good or bad. You might have been burned by a church, you might have been greatly helped by a church, but those are not the ultimate sources. of your marching others. We take our marching orders from our King and Savior Jesus Christ and his will for you and for me is that we be invested in and prioritize the particular local church that he has placed us in. If you are not a member at a church, and I don't mean just attending, I mean formally joined to a church and submitting to the oversight and government of that church, I plead with you, for Christ's sake, to just seek the Lord. Pray before him and let him lead you to a biblically ordered church. I don't want you to be missing out on the high privilege of proclaiming the excellencies of Christ as a member of a healthy church. I don't want you to be missing out on the high privilege of doing good works by the power of the Spirit. because of your being encouraged at a local church. If you join this church, we will be delighted. If you join another faithful church in town or wherever, we will be delighted because that's Christ's gift for you. That's the way to maximize the future that we look to where Christ will say, well done, good and faithful servant. If you are not a Christian, your first step is not to join a church. Your first step is to repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ, who made purification for sin and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Then and only then, with involvement with a local church, be meaningful in your life and count in view of eternity. Let's pray. Father, thank you for saving us and not leaving us all to ourselves in a world that is full of darkness and deception. Thank you for giving us the community of your people. Thank you for your Holy Spirit and your Word and the fellowship of your blood-bought people that strengthens each one of us on the pilgrim road. where we have set our feet by your grace. Please strengthen us, help us that our love for you works itself out in our love for your church and in our love for the world. And may we run the race with perseverance, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. In his name we pray, amen.