We're continuing today our look into God's Church, God's Way. God's Church, God's Way, and I wouldn't have it any other way, and I pray the same for you. Matthew 28, 18-20 is our base text. Matthew 28, 18-20, if you'll turn there with me, God's Church, God's Way, and these two terms, God's Church and God's Way, are united in Matthew 28, 18-20. I hope you will see and agree with me as we get there together. And let's read this text again. Verse 18. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. God's church, God's way. For God so loved the world, He gave His Son. Jesus came to the womb of the Virgin Mary, walked this earth, and died on the cross. All for His church. God's church. God sent His Son to purchase a church. We are fundamentally just that, a purchased people. You remember from last week, Jesus Christ being the Lord of the church, verse 18, and Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me and to heaven and to earth. And He does have the authority over the stars. He has the authority over our little star. He has the authority over our moon. He has the authority over Pluto. There's the authority over this globe and all that are on it. And he especially has authority over the church. When he says, all power and authority have been given to me, primarily he is speaking to the church because that's who he is speaking to. He is speaking to his apostles who would go and plant his church. He is speaking to his messengers who would go and proclaim the New Testament, the new covenant of his blood. the foundation of which this church will be built, the foundation which we will celebrate this evening. All authority. Christ is the Lord of the church. He has purchased the church with His blood. 1 Peter 1.18 and 19, you remember, that with the precious blood of Christ. 1 Peter 6.19 and 20, you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit. We are bought. We are purchased. Christ, on the cross, paid the price of His blood. Paid the price of His flesh. He was pierced for our transgressions. We are a purchased people. He is the purchaser. He is the head of the church and as the head, he leads the body. As any good body, such as your own, follows the direction of the head. We, the body of Christ, must follow the Lord Jesus as the head of the Church. Ephesians 1.22, He put all things under His feet, Christ's feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things, the Church. Colossians 1.18, He is the head of the body, the Church. Christ is the head of the Church. The Church doesn't wake up on every Sunday. day and say, what will we do this week? What shall we do? I know, let's have a skit. I know, let's have a song and dance and a chorus run. I know, let's play a portion of a rated R movie. And we'll call it an application or an illustration of God's Word. The church does not wake up and say, what shall we do? Let's be creative, let's think something up. The church wakes up and says, ah, another day to glorify and follow the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who purchased us. The church, the body, follows the head. Even as Jesus later said, teach them to observe all the things that I've commanded, verse 20, and lo, I'll be with you even to the edge. I'll be alongside, working amongst you. Even as we see in the first chapter of Revelation, Jesus Christ walking in the midst of His church. He is the head of the church. And the church is to follow the head of the church. The church is to follow the purchaser of the church. The Lord Jesus, Matthew 16, 18, said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He will build His church, and we have the privilege of coming behind Christ as the head, and following Him as He builds His church. And we serve Him as He has commanded, and we are learning to obey, learning to observe all as He has commanded. That is our privilege. The church doesn't day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, decade by decade reinvent itself. to reach a new sinful culture, to reach a new group of people that are all like sheep having gone astray. The church has to reinvent itself every decade. We have the postmodern generation. In fact, we're past the postmodern, aren't we? You older folks are postmodern. We're into the Generation Xers now. And so the church has to reinvent itself. So many so-called experts. Now the church continues to follow Christ. The church continues to obey the commands of Christ. The church continues to be the church that Christ died for, that Christ designed. The church victorious. Oh, victory in Jesus. We can only find that as we continue to be the church that Christ designed. not reinventing it to fit our culture, but bringing our culture into subjection to Christ. Christ is the groom of the church, you remember from last week. He is the groom of the church, and we are the bride, and He is going to wash His bride with the water of the Word. He will not fail. He intends to, and He will carry out the washing of His bride with the water of the Word, and we find out In Ephesians 5.25, Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water of the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Thus it is fundamental for the church gathering together to sit under the teaching and the preaching of the Lord of God. Because Christ wants His bride, you and me, His bride, to be washed with the water of the Word. And a skiff won't do it. A portion of a rated-R PG-13 movie won't do it. A song and a dance won't do it. But the Word of God will not return void. It shall accomplish what the Lord pleases. It shall prosper in the thing for which He sent it. The groom of the church will wash his bride and we must submit to him as the groom and be washed by the water of the word individually in our homes. and corporately together as the Bride of Christ comes to worship and celebrate the groom. Christ is the cornerstone of the church, asks for its end. He says, Let it be known to you all, to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God has raised from the dead, by whom this man stands before you whole, this Jesus is the stone which is rejected by you Berbers, which has become the chief cornerstone. 22, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. 22, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Christ is the cornerstone of the church. We are built upon him. He is the cornerstone. The apostles are the foundation stones, and we're built upon their teaching corporately. We deviate from the commands of Christ and the commands of his apostles, which were all the commands of Christ, and we deviate from the head, from the groom, from the purchaser. We deviate from the plan of God. We hijack the church and take it astray. Christ is the cornerstone of the Church. He is the firm foundation that we are built upon. He is the vine of the Church. John 15, 5-8, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather them up and throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit so that you will be my disciples. Christ is the vine, we are the branches. We will produce no fruit as a church. You will produce no fruit as an individual Christian unless you are on the vine. unless you are abiding in Christ, dependent upon Christ in prayer, dependent upon Christ in obedience to His Word. You don't pray unto the Lord to find out the mystical will of God. You pray unto the Lord that He would illumine your heart to His will through Your Word, that He would direct you through His commands, that He would give you a heart to obey joyfully, and to follow after the One who purchased you. He is revived. If you abide in me, my words abide in you. What does it mean to abide in the divine? To have his words abiding in you. If you're abiding in Christ, you delight in his words, you delight in his commands. Jesus said, you will like my yoke. You'll not find it difficult and hard, but easy. Light. You will enjoy the yoke of Christ if you're abiding in Christ. Christ is the chief shepherd of the church. John 10, 11, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life to the sheep. Verse 14, I am the Good Shepherd, I know my sheep, and I'm known by my own. Christ knows his sheep. He knows today whether you are one of his sheep. Church attendance does not mean you're a sheep. Reading your Bible now and again doesn't make you a sheep. Bending your knee, confessing Christ as your Lord, and following Him back as a sheep. He says, I know my sheep, they hear my voice, they follow me. If you are a sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ's fold, the Good Shepherd's fold, you hear His voice, and what does His voice sound like? It sounds like the reading, the teaching, and the preaching of His Word. And you say, yes, and amen. You hunger and thirst for it, and you follow after Him as Christ, the Good Shepherd. And remember, this was our transitional point to the second point of the sermon last week, which became really this week's sermon. A transitional point that Christ, the good shepherd, the true shepherd, called under-shepherds. Elders, overseers, bishops, rulers, all these biblical names given for the under-shepherds of Christ. He called them to do what? To be able to say to the sheep of his own fold, follow me as I follow Christ. Follow me as I follow the good shepherd. Follow me as I obey him. Let's obey him together. Under-shepherds are simply serving Christ and calling others to follow Christ, not to follow them. A pastor, an elder, a shepherd doesn't have the right to take the church wherever he likes, to stand before the church and teach whatever he desires. The Lord has given the design of the church, he's given the mission of the church, and he's given the food that the shepherd of God is to feed to the church, and that's the Word of God. The good under-shepherd feeds the sheep faithfully the word of God. The Lord's called and equipped elders. Before we delve into the under-shepherds fully, before we embrace God's plan for the church regarding shepherds, elders, pastors, and perhaps today deacon, and by an absolute miracle, The ministers, and that's you folks, my job as a shepherd is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. You're the ministers. Truly, you are the ministers, probably next week though. Before we get to the mission of the elder, let's remember that Christ is the Lord of the church. He is the purchaser of the church, the redeemer. He is the groom, He is the cornerstone, He is the vine, He is the chief shepherd. And so whatever Christ says, as the head of the church, the church says yes, and amen, and follows after. In our current age here in America, across our land, and especially in our fellowship, the fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, there are a group of men that have indeed hijacked the church and have said, well, yes, that's all good and fine, but we've got a new plan. It's a wonderful strategy for church growth, and we are being hugely successful in it. And they have effectively stolen the church away. Now, mind you, not the true church. The true church will always exist, the remnant will always exist, and sadly I'm sure there are true sheep caught up in this movement. But this movement needs to be exposed for what it is. It is a purpose-driven, seeker-centered, user-friendly church. I'm going to give you 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, you stop me if I go too far, reasons why we are not a purpose-driven, seeker-centered, user-friendly church. First reason, Christ is the Lord of the Church, not culture. The culture does not dictate to Christ's bride what she will look like. The simple culture of man does not come into the church and tell us what our music should sound like, tell us how long our services should be, how long our sermons should be, how we should dress. Christ tells the church all of these things. He is the Lord of the church, not the culture. The fundamental idea of a purpose-driven, seeker-centered, user-friendly church is that we find out what the culture likes. And we change the church to be pleasing to a sinful world. We make short sermons shorter. We make the music louder and more enticing. We do away with hymns, for the most part, all together, because those precious truths that are contained in those hymns aren't important enough to retain. We must keep current and sound exactly like the current rock and roll and every other kind of music, I can't keep up with the various kinds, that are on MTV and that are on the radio stations of America today. We must sound exactly like them. And so we do away with the great hymns of the faith. I love the modern worship music with many exceptions. That which is sound theologically which is a small group out of the broad number of worship songs out there. That which is solid theologically. That which comes out of groups that are centered on worshiping the Lord, not centered on being a Christian band, making millions and having groupies follow them around from place to place with mosh pits out front as they're supposedly glorifying God. Christ is the Lord of the Church, not the culture. Secondly, why we aren't a purpose-driven, seeker-centered, user-friendly Church. Christ has designed His Church. As the Lord of the Church, He has designed it. The whims of man are not to design the Church. The whims of a pastor or a group of pastors should not design the Church. Christ has designed His bride. He has given us the blueprint. Oh, there is some room for variation, certainly. But the variation that we're seeing as a result of the purpose-driven, seeker-centered movement is variation outside of the blueprint of God, outside of the command of Christ who will build His church His way and no other. How does Christ build His church? He builds His church with elders and deacons and saints who are the ministers of God. What are the elders to do? They're to preach the word, whether in season or out of season. They're to dedicate themselves to prayer. What are the deacons to do? All that which the elders won't do. Just kidding. But to do those more practical areas of service. And the deacons, you'll know a deacon when you see one, their heart is just exploiting to do anything and everything they can. To give sweat and blood and to get paint all over themselves. Deacons, hearts to serve. Not just tables as in Acts 6, but everywhere. And we also see, and as we'll later see when we get to deacons specifically, that deacons tend to have a heart for the gospel, not just the elders, but they're given great boldness in the faith. So yeah, first 1583. And then the saints of God, being the ministers of God, going forth as this very text, Matthew 28, 18 says, 19, go therefore. We'll come, we'll get equipped, and we'll go. Making disciples. That's the design of Christ. Or there's some room for variation in there, but whatever an elder is, that's what they better be. Whatever he commands an elder to be, that's what the elders in the church better be. Whatever he commands the deacons to be, that's what they better be. Whatever he commands the saints to be and to do, that's what we better be doing. We better be being. I liken it to Moses in the tabernacle. You know, God gave Moses the law. The law was very specific, very strict. This way, no other. Worship me this way, no other. What happened when, say, a few young men came in with profane fire? Fire from heaven came down and consumed them. Nadab and Abihu. The Lord smoked them. What if, say, Israel said, you know what, we really like Miriam. Moses' sister. She is really a gifted speaker and she's really a snazzy gal and she has those nice dresses. We'd like to hear Miriam a little more often, Moses. Can we hear from Miriam, please? Would you just sit down? Come on out, Miriam. Bring your tambourine. Sing us a song. Preach us a lesson. What if they said, You know, that tabernacle thing, you know, that's kind of boring, those colors the Lord chose, and you know, some of the skins and such, you know, they're just outdated, outmoded. Let's get with some pastel hues. You know, the little pink curtain, that Holy of Holies chamber, you know, that is kind of offensive to sinners. You know, they can't go in there unless they have bells and a rope around their leg, unless they die and not have a way to get out. That's kind of offensive. Let's just get away from that altogether. Essentially, that's exactly the heart of today's church. That's the heart of the purpose-driven, seeker-centered model of church growth. Let's do away with all of what Christ said to do. Let's redefine what church is. Let's redefine what an elder is. Let's redefine what deacons are, what they're to do, if we have any at all anyway. Let's run the church like a business. Let's have communities within the church, and division commanders. All sorts of nifty ideas. But not elders as God designed them, and deacons as God designed them. Doing a ministry as God designed it, to equip the workers, the saints, for the work of the ministry as God designed it. Christ is the Lord of the Church. Christ has designed this church. Lord, Christ has directed His church, not man's creativity. Not only did He design it, He directed it. He gave commands. Commands, not just a general design over here, leave it or take it. It gets you going. Nice start. But commands for the church, such as I've just been speaking. First, man is fallen or totally depraved, however you want to look at it. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. We are sinners before holy God. No one is righteous, no not one. No one understands, no one seeks God, no one is good. Why does that come into the discussion? Because the idea behind the purpose-driven, seeker-centered church is that you can make the church appealing to unsaved man. Make the church an appealing thing to unsaved man. Let me put that in layman's terms. You can make repentance. That would be turning away from a life where you are your master, you're your commander, you call the shots, where you decide what's right and wrong. A life where you're not accountable to anyone but yourself, turning away from that life, and building a new one, confessing Jesus Christ as Lord, and giving up all the things that once enticed your heart, the loss of this world, and now living for righteousness, and for the glory of God, rather than your own vainglory. Now how can you make that enticing? To read. who are like sheep who have all gone astray. How can you make that enticing to man who is not good, no not one, to man who is not righteous, no not one, to man who does not understand spiritual truth, who does not seek after God, who have all turned aside or together become unprofitable? How? You can't! And by the way, did Jesus say, I have been given all authority in heaven and earth. Indict and make disciples. Bring them into the church and make them disciples. He said, go and make disciples. And so, man is fallen and totally depraved. The idea that we can make the church appealing to sinful mankind is wrong-headed. It comes out of poor theology. Now, you can make the church appealing to sinful mankind. How? By making the church carnal, fleshly, sinful. God is sovereign. Fifth point of why we aren't a purpose-driven, sinner-centered, user-friendly church. God is sovereign! Why is it that any sinner totally depraved comes to Christ? Your Bibles, John 6, verse 44. 644. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for the church. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Go back to verse 39. Excuse me, verse 36. And I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe. The Lord Jesus speaking to this massive crowd that he had just fed, remember the multitude, they followed him across the lake. You saw me, you've seen my miracles, you've heard my message, yet you don't believe. And here's why, verse 37. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I'll by no means cast out. All whom the Father gives will come. No one can come unless the Father who sent me draws him. God is sovereign. Fundamentally, the user-friendly, seeker-centered, purpose-given church is errant. They don't believe in a sovereign God and they don't believe in fallen man. Their theology is poor, which is no surprise, because you have a church that is virtually devoid of sound biblical teaching. Certainly not biblical exposition, chapter by chapter, book by book. It is no surprise. But the fifth reason, God is sovereign. That design will only work as you make the church carnal and as you bring worldlings who are still worldly into the church and you make the church the world. All the sins they had outside of Christ, somehow they still have in Christ. It's not a surprise that the purpose-driven churches have to have psychologists in their midst to deal with the gross problems in the lives of their people. They have 12-step program after 12-step program after 12-step program. Christian psychologists, and that's not an easy mix in my understanding of God's truth, Christian psychologists to bring peace to their soul. Somehow, coming to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, wasn't sufficient. Somehow, having their own Spirit of God, and their third of the Spirit, by the way, one of which is peace, wasn't sufficient. Somehow having the blessed gift of prayer, being anxious about nothing but in everything, through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, lifting up all your requests to God, the peace of God, guarding your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, somehow that was not sufficient. Why is it? Because they didn't get enough truth to truly see their sins before a holy God, to truly bow down in repentance and confess Christ as Lord, and begin to follow Him, and be washed with the water of the Word, to have their minds renewed, to be born again, and to be made new creatures. It is sad. I don't envy the 20,000 Willow Creek Church. I pity them. I pray to them. God is sovereign. Sixth, the well is tainted. Jeremiah 2.13. Why include a purpose-driven, seeker-centered, user-friendly church? Because the well is tainted. Jeremiah 2.13. What does Jeremiah say about the well? He says of his people, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. The thousands of pastors and thousands of elders and thousands of churches that have embraced this model of church have forsaken The living waters. And they have found for themselves broken cisterns that the world loves to drink out of. But they can hold no water. They hold no water. They're thirsty. Their souls are dry. And their thirst will never be quenched. Always pseudo quenching. through a self-help pep talk that they call a 20-25 minute sermon, a pseudo-quenching through the Christian psychologist that you can visit at your church, through all the incredible programs and activities that come in abundance, through the mini-mall and food court right within the church. Oh, their thirst is quenched and yet they are parched. Now, specifically, I want to speak to the heads of this movement, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Saddleback Community Church, Willow Creek. Who are these men? The world is tainted. These men are tainted. Oh, some of what they say is true, by all means, but who are they and what else do they say? Who is Rick Warren? Who is Bill Hybels? Where did they come from? I'll tell you where they came from. They came from the Robert H. Schuller Institute for Preaching. They came right out of Robert Schuller's clutches, right out from under his training, to apply what they learned. And they are still his champions. Rick Warren still to this day, promote and speak in Robert Schuller's Institute of Preaching seminars. 2004, Robert H. Schuller Institute, from his website. The theme for the 2004 Robert H. Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership is, if you can dream it, you can do it! That's biblical, huh? How about, I will build my church The gates of hell shall not prevail. Now, if you can dream it, you can do it. Where did we get that? Norman Vincent Peale. The power of positive thinking. Schuler is a disciple of Norman Vincent Peale. If you can dream it, you can do it. Dare to dream that your church can overcome, can succeed, and can make a difference in your community and your world today. Is your church all God wants it to be? Send your pastors and lay church leaders to the 34th Robert H. Schuller Institute for successful church leadership, which brings together the most prominent pastors who make faith come alive in some of the country's largest churches, like Bill Ivins of Willow Creek Community Church and Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, both graduates of the Institute. And again, not just graduates, but speakers. Speakers in the Institute regularly. They come from Robert Shuler. If you go to his website for the 2004, you can see Bill Heibel's picture right there, highlighted on the website, how very exciting it is for them to have so prominent a speaker come back after being so very successful in the methods that he learned. Rick Warren contributes his success, at least in part, to Robert Shuler. He says, let me find this quote, ah, there it is, in an interview in Christianity Today, in an interview, and it was entitled, A Regular Purpose Driven Guy, he said this, during his last year in seminary, he and Kay, that's his wife, drove west to visit Robert Shuler's Institute for Church Growth. We had a very stony ride out to the conference, his wife says, because such non-traditional ministry scared her to death, as it ought to have. Schumer, though, won them over. He had a profound influence on Rick, Kay says. We were captivated by his positive appeal to non-believers. I never looked back. A regular Purpose Driven Guy, Christianity Today, 1108, 2002. Nick Warren continues to hold conferences to this day with Robert Shuler, such as we just looked at, the 2004 conference. Who is Robert Shuler? Robert Shuler is the one who claims, he says, it's an undisputed historical fact that I am the founder, really, of the church growth movement in this country. I advocated and launched what has become known as the marketing approach in Christianity. And we say, wow! Look at that success! He must be a tremendous guy! Well, perhaps not. You know, the Mormon Church has been hugely successful. And we say, wow, let's get on board. The Catholic Church, over a few thousand, well, thirteen, seventeen hundred years or so, has been very successful. And we say, wow, let's get on board with that. Jehovah's Witnesses, really for an organization, have been fairly successful. Wow! Let's get on board. Now, success in the eyes of the world, meaning numbers and dollars to support the organization, does not necessarily at all mean success in the eyes of God. What does Huber believe? Well, on Mary King Live, just before Christmas 1999, he said this, I am not trying to convert anyone from another religion. I'm only trying to reach people who have no religion. He said this, in Time Magazine, March 18th, 1985, I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ that, and under the banner of Christianity, that has proven more destructive to human personality, and hence counterproductive to evangelism, the evangelism enterprise, than the often crude and uncouth and unchristian strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition. crude and uncouth to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition. Nothing worse for evangelism has been done than what you and I labor to do day in and day out. What you and I just spend an hour praying men and women would do. And what if we're going to be counted among those who hear, well done, good and faithful servants, what we must do. He stands directly opposed to the command of Christ. Go therefore and make disciples. How ill will you please? would say Robert Schuller, except the way Christ commanded. What was Jesus' first message? It was this, repent and believe the gospel or you will not see the kingdom of heaven. What did Jesus say to those Pharisees that came and said, did you consider the blood that was mixed with the worshippers there in Jerusalem by pirates? What do you think about that, Jesus? Jesus said, do you consider that they were worse sinners than you? I tell you no. And unless you repent, you will likewise perish. Robert Schuller is an enemy of Christ and Christ's gospel. He is an apostate at best, a heretic certainly. Robert Schuller, the trainer of Rick Warren and Bill Hybels, that ought to terrify those who flock to get their books, who make incredible changes to bring their church into conformity with their plans for church growth. Robert Schuller, in his book, Living Positively One Day at a Time, page 201, just the title ought to tell you something, Jesus knew his worth His success fed His self-esteem. He suffered the cross to sanctify His self-esteem. And He bore the cross to sanctify your self-esteem. And the cross will sanctify the ego trip. Boy, those are profound words that will take you straight to the pit with your ego trip intact. Robert Schuller in his book, which I have, Self-Esteem, the New Reformation, 1982, page 47. I bought the book for a quarter, by the way, and it's not worth it. I bought it for a quarter so I would know what's in it, so I'd have it first hand. It says this, if the gospel of Jesus Christ can be proclaimed as a theology of self-esteem, imagine the health this could generate in society. For Robert Seward, he's just a social scientist. He's just a psychologist to the world from his Crystal Cathedral. And Jesus Christ is his psychotherapist that he tries to introduce you to. That you might have whole self-image. That you might have positive self-esteem. This is the man that trained Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. There's just a few more quotes, at least, I want. Oh, this one is terrifying. Regarding Lick Warren directly, and I read this, as Providence would have it, you know how many USA Today's I've read in five years? One. And you know how I got it? I was down at the Expositors Conference in California, being trained further to preach the Word of God. And I was staying at the hotel there, and sure enough, what's on the doorstep? USA Today! I opened the door, I said, well, I've got a few minutes, I'll look through. Robert Shuler in there, of all things! And this, very quote, excuse me, not Robert Shuler, Rick Warren. USA Today. That Warren's pastor training programs welcome Catholics, Methodists, Mormons, Jews, and ordained women. Quote, I'm not going to get into a debate over the non-essentials. I won't try to change other denominations. Let me read that again. Warren's pastor training programs welcome Catholics, Methodists, Mormons, Jews, and ordained women. I'm not going to get into a debate over non-essentials. I won't try to change other denominations. Do you know that my email has received 10, 12 encouragements from our fellowship. Oh, Pastor Chuck, you and your pastoral staff must, must, must, you need to, it's an imperative for you to attend the Purpose Driven Church Seminar. Oh, you've got to do it. The encouragements likewise have come again and again. You've got to embrace the Purpose Driven Life book and get your people into it. Are you doing that yet? Oh, I don't know. If you don't embrace the purpose-driven church, purpose-driven life books, Rick Warren, the author of them, then you're nearly seen as some kind of fundamentalist pastor, which I'm just fine as being seen as. Fundamental means you hold to the truth of the word. You hold to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of the church, and you'll not depart from Him. Rick Warren. is a dangerous man with a very dangerous movement that fundamentally replaces the Lord Jesus Christ with the Lord, a sinful culture. It replaces the exposition of God's Word every chapter and every verse. As the Apostle Paul said in Acts 20, I have no blood on my hands, for I have not refrained from giving the whole counsel of God. The whole counsel of God. You can read, as I re-read portions last night, I have the Purpose Driven Church that Rick Warren wrote. You can read in there that you should only preach those positive portions of scripture. Those upbeat portions of scripture. Those really exciting, enticing portions of scripture. Don't preach the negatives. Don't preach hell. Don't preach sovereignty. That's hard for mankind to take. We love freedom! Don't preach the whole counsel of God. Especially don't preach those things regarding God's design for the church and who should lead it. Why? Because it's interesting, as Christ the Good Shepherd calls under-shepherds, elders, as Christ defines elders as the husband of one wife, a man who has his family in good order, that both the Willow Creek Church and the Saddleback Church have women teaching and holding authority over men. Both of these churches have embraced an egalitarian view of church leadership, meaning that men and women are equal across the board, not just in worth and value, which is biblical. Men and women are equal in worth and value. But we're not the same. The biblical view is called complementarian, meaning we are different, we complement one another. And I find that to be true both in my home, husband and wife, as God designed certain roles for me and certain for my wife, and I find it to be true in the church, both of which, by the way, the Lord has designed and given us commands for. The husband is to be the head of the home, and elders, men. are to be the head of the church, and that's God's design, and any church that doesn't submit to it is a rebellion against the Lord Jesus Christ. To be a member of Willow Creek Church, under Bill Hybels, you must sign a statement that says you will submit to lady, women, female elders, to their teaching, to their correction, to their rebuke, and to their training in righteousness. It's not an option. It's not just that they do that, you must submit to it, or you're not welcome there. you can move on down the road. From World Magazine, March 29th. 1997. It speaks of this. New Dietarians assert that women should be pastors, elders, co-heads of families. Gilbert Bozekian, which is probably a terrible pronunciation, professor emeritus at Wheaton College, which is tied to Willow Creek Church, and author of Beyond Sex Roles, puts it bluntly, there cannot be authentic community as described in the New Testament without the full inclusion of the constituency of the members into the ministry, life, and leadership of the group. Mr. Bozekian is a founding elder and influential theologian at Bill Hybel's Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. Willow Creek's rapid growth and its influence on other evangelical churches throughout the 2,200 member Willow Creek Association churches makes its position on the issue important. There is a Willow Creek Association of Churches. It's become a denomination. And this writing, this is 1997, there were 2,200. It's far more than that at today's date. Willow Creek has had women elders since its founding in 1978, but in the past year the church has made explicit among its leaders the reasons for its position and demanded a level of agreement from staff and prospective church members. In January 1996, John Ortberg, one of Willow Creek's teaching elders, taught a two-hour class to church ministry leaders in which he said that staff needed to serve the convictions of the church or study until they served those convictions, and they had a year to do so. This is called enforced egalitarianism. It's enforced. You must come on board. At first, the egalitarians simply wanted to be tolerated. We think this is okay. Then, they brought the ladies fully on board as elders, and now, it's enforced. You must submit to this departure. Mr. Altman's teaching became the basis for a draft position paper dated January 1996, which World has obtained, and it says this. They have sought, as a church, to ensure an appropriate level of consensus on this issue with new staff members and to avoid an environment that would be destructive to authentic community and effective ministry. The statement makes clear the church's belief that when the Bible is interpreted comprehensively, it teaches the full equality of men and women in status, giftedness, and opportunity for ministry. and a few scriptural texts that appear to restrict the full ministry freedom of women. And so they give a brief bit of verbiage to say there are a few texts that seem to be in contradiction to this, but we'll just press on, never looking back. By the way, a great book called Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood by John Piper and Wayne Goodham holds to the word of God, to the commands of Christ for his church, the complementarian view, and effectively refutes these egalitarian lies. However, they have forbidden it from their bookstore on their campus. We can't have that here. That might actually bring people to the biblical truth and conviction. Willow Creek teacher Mr. Whitburg says that the need for agreement is an issue of integrity, but complementarian Wayne Grudem uses no euphemisms in his analysis of the Willow Creek position. The way an egalitarian view triumphs is by a suppression of information and discussion. In other words, by refusing to hear the word of God. Now, Wayne Grudem has been a champion on this position, and I appreciate the fact that he has championed the Word of God regarding God's design for elders, but I don't stand with Professor Wayne Grudem in his view of ongoing errant prophecy. So the fact that I quote him here doesn't mean that I stand side-by-side with him in every area. I would critique him harshly in that. The idea of ongoing errant prophecy is, again, unknown to Scripture. So, on this issue, he has heard the Scripture, and he's fighting the good fight. On that other, I don't know what he's doing. Pray for him. The last bit here, this is World Magazine, March 29, 1997. Willow Creek notes explicitly the connection between the egalitarian position on women's roles and Bible translations. The January 1996 statement on sex roles states that Willow Creek is committed to encourage the use of translations of scripture that accurately portray God's will that His church be an inclusive community. And that would be the new NIV version that's come out, at least overseas. It started to come out here and the church protested and they stopped. It's coming out again in which all the language is made to be gender inclusive. God is no longer spoken of as He. It's not a translation, by the way. The words translated correctly are very gender specific. God has given himself gender-specific terms. He, the Father. Very clear. And so what do we see? We see Willow Creek, we see Saddleback, we see Bill Hybels, we see Rick Warren hijacking the church. Do you see the difference here? One church has elders as Christ commanded and designed, calls and equips, following after Christ, the head of the church. This other church, the purpose-driven, has elders that Christ did not call. Elders that Christ did not equip. Elders trying to under-shepherd who can't say, follow me as I follow Christ. If they do say it, they are liars and the truth is not in them. For God did not equip them, God did not call them, He did not design for them to be at the helm of His church under His Son. This is a theft. It is a hijacking. And so, as our fellowship embraces the Willow Creek design, the purpose-driven design. As our fellowship continually takes counsel from Willow Creek, always quoting men and women out of Willow Creek and out of Saddleback, as we continue to send our pastors, our associate pastors, our elders and leaders in the church, women and men, to be trained under these men and these organizations, we are departing from the Lord of the church. We're departing from the groom. we are rebelling against Christ and we very well may be successful. We may make peace with the sinful world and they may flock into our churches and our churches may become just as carnal and as psychologically needy as the purpose-driven churches that have gone before us. And what a sad day that will be. Pray for our fellowship Pray for this church, that the Lord will be pleased to use us to stand against this. To cry out to them to stop. Stop! You must repent, or you will perish in a multitude with you. Back to the text. The Lord called and equipped all of us. God's design, not Willow Creek's. God's design, not Saddleback's. God's design, not Robert Shuler's. Just the connection with Robert Shuler ought to make us throw away every piece of mail, every book, every article that comes out of these movements. The Lord has called and equipped elders. As we see the command, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I have commanded you, and there I am with you, even at the end of the age. Who is to go first? Who's the lead in the going? The elders are. Who's to train the saints to equip them for the work of the ministry? The elders are. It's a ministry of elders in Matthew 28, 19. Going and equipping the church to go with them. Last time we looked at Titus 1, 5-11, of course, elders in every city And then the qualifications for those elders, and then that one non-moral qualification, that one issue that they must be able to do, and that's verse 9 of Titus 1, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exert and convict those who contradict. Holding fast the faithful word. if you haven't noticed the last 30 to 45 minutes I've been attempting to hold fast the faithful word to call the church back and it is our intention as elders to make this message public to the fellowship that they would be called to repent of their departure to come back to Christ as the head of the church and to give up this This fascination with church growth is Bill Heidel's and Rick Warren designed it. First Timothy 3, 1-7 gives a very similar list of pastoral elder qualifications. If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work, the bishop must then be blameless, the husband or wife temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach. Again, all these qualifications are moral except one, able to teach. Just like the verse 9 of Titus 1, holding fast to truth, able to refute those in error, able to teach. Another mark of the purpose-driven, seeker-centered, user-friendly church is, guess what? You only teach the positive. You never expose the error. You never expose heresy. How could Rick Warren expose heresy? When he invites to his purpose-driven program, guess what? Mormons apostate Lutherans and Presbyterians, and there are good Lutherans and Presbyterians, but there are many, a great many, that lost the gospel 20, 30, 40 years ago. He invites them right in, He trains them, and they go right back out and they use His worldly principles to build even more worldly churches. What are we to do? We're to teach the Word, the whole counsel of God. Able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous. By the way, some of this movement would say that this message is quarrelsome. To point out error is quarrelsome. Well, their quarrel is with Christ. Quarrelsome in the flesh, as in, no, I want this, and you want that, and no, I want my way. They have a quarrel with Christ. They want to do it their way. I'm standing with the Lord Jesus Christ and saying, come back. Do it God's way, God's church, God's way. Not quarrelsome in a fleshly, carnal manner. Not covetous. One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence, for if a man does not know how to rule his house well, how will he be able to take care of the church of God? You tell me how you can plug a woman into this office. How are we plugging women into this office? A man? The husband of one life? If a man does not rule his house well? It is willful rejection of the counsel of God. Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." Now, I spent a little more time when we looked at Titus last week. Most of these character qualifications are fairly Easy to understand, so I'll not take that time again. But able to teach, and a man of upright character, a man who is blameless, and it is very specifically, clearly, indefinitely, by the design of God, a man. It's not sexist, it's design. It's design, and it's command, and it's the plan of God, and if you won't submit to it, you won't submit to Christ as your Lord. Whether you're a church, or an individual, or a pastor. The church is not yours. The Christian life is not yours. That's why the first point of God's Church, God's Way, is that it's God's Church. I don't have the right to do anything else, and I'll be rebuked if I do. I dare not. Acts 14.23, so when they had appointed elders in every church, in prayer and fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Appointing elders in every church. How do they appoint them? According to God's design and God's command of what an elder should be and what an elder should do. Appointing elders in every church. Acts 20, 28. The Holy Spirit calls and equips elders to shepherd. Therefore, to accede to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. Take heed in yourselves. First pastors must take heed in themselves to be sure they're in the faith, to be sure they are submitted to Christ, to be sure that they meet the qualifications, that they've not raised themselves up to do this job in their flesh, but rather been called and equipped by the Holy Spirit, by God himself, by Christ, the head of the church, to be an under-shepherd. among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood." By the way, you see here both overseer and shepherd. You see pastor and overseer. Overseer, also ruler. Those are synonymous. If you're a shepherd, you're an overseer. You're a bishop. You're a ruler. Those aren't terms we take. I'm not going to express that in some nutty way, as the Apostle Peter won't allow. First Peter 5, 1-4. The elders who are among you I exhort, I am a faithful elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not with dishonest gain, but eagerly, not being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory. that does not fade away. The Apostle Peter commended the elders to shepherd the flock of God which is among them. That's my mandate, from God, via Peter, to shepherd the flock of God that is among us, right here. Why preach against the purpose-driven, seeker-centered, user-friendly church? Because some of you are wondering why we don't incorporate those methods. Some of you have relatives and friends who are saying, why don't you do that? Why haven't you done this? Because the influence in the Christian culture is strong, pervasive, and forceful. We must preach against the error if we're really going to hold to the truth and be a bastion of faith. If I'm going to shepherd the flock of God, I must shepherd them away from that grass that has been tainted. The still water, perhaps, but the still water that has strychnine in it. Shepherd the flock of God. Lead them to that good and plush grass. Lead them to the waters that are pure. Shepherd them, says the Lord. Don't let them go astray. Don't let them receive everything under the sun. Don't let them eat every plant in the field. Shepherd them. Take them to that beautiful field where they will become beautiful sheep for the glory of God. Shepherd the flock which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, not because somebody forces me into it, but willingly, not for dishonest gain to get rich, more as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. When the true shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. And that is my goal, so I must stand firm that we would follow the head, Christ, that we would not deviate, that we would be in full submission to the Lord of the church, to the groom, to the purchaser, to the vine, to the chief shepherd. And that I would lead you in prayer for the rest of the church, that they would come back There are some, I can't say many, some that it stood from. Few in comparison to the many. We must pray for the many. Let us pray.