Sermon Tone Analysis

Why does FBCL exist?

For the last six weeks or so I have been trying to paint a picture of what a healthy church should look like and expect as it lives out its mission.

Using a viticulture metaphor, we know that Jesus is the true Vine of Israel, the Messiah, the Son of God who was sent to bring salvation to all who would believe upon him.

Every branch that is connected to him that has his life pulsating through their spiritual veins, will bear fruit.

These branches are true believers who confess with their mouth and believe in their heart that Jesus is Lord and has risen from the grave.

The fruit they bear is threefold.

A great commitment to Jesus which expresses itself in obedience that is motivated by a genuine love for Jesus.

A great communion with Jesus that expresses itself in prayer that overflows from God’s word abiding in them.

A great commission mindset that expresses itself in sowing and reaping the gospel for the harvest and seeing conversions.

Branches that do not bear this kind will be broken off and thrown into the fire.

Jesus has made it clear that one can only bear fruit through his power.

he has said, “For apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).”

The purpose of bearing fruit is to prove you and Jesus’s disciples and to glorify God (John 15:8).

The world will know that FBCL is joyfully advancing the kingdom of God by our spiritual fruit that brings God glory.

To ensure that we bear as much fruit as possible, God has promised to prune us through is loving discipline.

He will bring hardship and suffering into our individual lives, and in the life of the church as a whole, in order to produce holiness, righteousness, deeper love for Christ, sustaining joy, and conversions.

God will work to conform us into the image of His Son so that, just as Jesus glorified the Father, so we will glorify the Father.

There will be times when the church will suffer persecution for the name of Jesus.

If a church is joyfully advancing the kingdom of God by making much of Jesus, then you can be sure the world will, at times, hate the church, and will act on that hate by attacking the work of God.

Nevertheless, the church must prevail for the mark of a true Spirit-empowered God-glorifying Christ loving church is endurance.

Jesus says elven times that we must remain in him.

We must persevere until the end.

Churches that continue to believe the gospel and preach the gospel and share the gospel will remain in Christ and Christ will remain in them.

Joy Abiding Strength

Remaining in Christ is very difficult, especially when the battle rages for a long time.

How do find the strength to keep going?

Jesus says joy is your strength.

Jesus joy was grounded in glorifying the Father.

For His joy to be in you, your heart must desire to glorify the Father.

Jesus wants His joy in you so that you joy and be full, able to satisfy, able to sustain you through discipline and persecution.

In other words,

Joy sustaining strength comes to those who bear the fruit of having a great commitment to Jesus, that enjoys a great communion with Jesus, that sees a great commission revival for Jesus.

With this in mind, I want to give you a summary application statement of John 15.

It is a summary application statement to applying what we have learned about life in the Vineyard.

It the world would ask, “What is the drive behind your mission?

What is the heartbeat that is pulsating behind FBCl joyfully advancing the kingdom of God?

As an individual who loves Jesus, I would say,

“Knowing that Jesus lives inside of me, that he empowers me to make much of Him, it is my desire to glorify God by both enjoying a deep abiding communion with him through prayer that comes from the overflow of His Word abiding me, and expressing my love for Jesus through joyful obedience to His perfect commands and Great commission.”

That is my heartbeat.

This is why I exist.

That is the life of Jesus pulsating through my veins.

As the pastor this church, this is the life I want flowing in and out of the spiritual veins of the FBCL.

I want all of us to say with conviction:

Being empowered by the Holy Spirit, FBCL desires to glorify God by both enjoying a deep abiding communion with Jesus through prayer that comes from the overflow of God’s Word abiding in us, and expressing our love through joyful obedience to His perfect commands and His Great Commission.

When we as a body encompass the heartbeat of this mission, we will accomplish out vision:

Vision: to see the church, community, and home joyfully abiding in Jesus.

We want the life of Jesus pulsating in the veins of our church so much that joy in Christ is the defining mark of our fellowship.

We want our joyful to come from love driven obedience, word abiding prayer, and great commission minded ministry.

We want it to be infectious on everything we set our hearts to do for Jesus.

We want our joy to spill over onto the community bringing life, light, and blessing.

We want our joy to saturate the home with a love for God’s word, his design for the family, and the presence of His Spirit.

This is what it looks like to joyfully abide in Jesus.

All of this is important to you right now because you will need the mission, the heartbeat, and the vision, at the forefront of your mind and heart as we move forward in the church.

We have to make some adjustments to our practices and expectations if we want to be true to our mission; to see our vision come to fruition.

For the remainder of our time, I want to get practical in our application.

I want to start at the very beginning with what it means to be a member of FBCL.

For us to fulfill our mission with a heart that is in rhythm with God’s heart, to fulfill our vision, everyone who is a member must be truly connected to the Vine.

Everyone who is committed to FBCL must be connected to the true vine if we are going to fulfill our vision.

So, this poses a question for us.

How does the church, who does not see the heart the way God sees the heart, discern who participates in the life of the church?

Meaning, who are the branches in the Vine at FBCl who are committed to lead, guiding, directing, and participating in the fellowship of the our local congregation?

The answer, simply, is church membership.

One of the ways we protect the fellowship and the mission of the church is discerning who is a member of our congregation and who is not a member.

This answer poses several more questions:

Is church membership biblical?

How does the church safe guard church membership?

What are the expectations of everyone who joins our fellowship?

How will the church remain committed to the mission and each other?

What happens if a member of FBCL is not abiding in Jesus?

I want to start with membership to FBCL by making a biblical case for membership.

Some may come to our church and not believe that formal membership is a biblical notion or expectation for New Testament believers.

Though there is not a command to become a member, there is a strong assumption you will be a member of a congregation.

Let’s begin briefly in the Old Testament.

The Day of Assembly (Deut 9:10; 10:4; 18:16)

God chose Isreal to be his designated people.

Even though there were people on earth who worshiped God before Abraham, God chose to express his electing love on Abraham’s descendants.

They were marked out by circumcision and they were a special people who he chose to love and use to reveal himself to the world.

God revealed to Abraham that his descendants would flourish in the land of Egypt and eventual become slaves.

After four hundred years, however, God would deliver his people and give them a special land to live.

God fulfilled this promise in the Exodus.

In Exodus 19-20, God called his people to meet with him at Mount Sinai.

God was present was with his people.

There were thunders and lightenings, trumpet blasts, a thick cloud, smoke, and trembling.

The people were camped around the mountain.

God spoke to the people and his people listened in fear and trembling.

This was the first church service if you will, but would not be the last.

In Deuteronomy, Moses would call the people together for the “day of assembly (Deut 9:10; 10:4; 18:16).

The word for assembly is sometimes translated congregation.

In many respects, here you have the beginning of the church.

Theologian John Frame says, regarding the day of assembly,

“In an important sense, this is the beginning of the church.

It was on this day that the nation of Israel became, by covenant, God’s holy nation, distinguished from all the other nations of the world.

God has redeemed the Israelites from Egypt; they are his treasured possession among all peoples (Ex.

19:4–5).

They are a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (v. 6).

Their constitution is the covenant-treaty called the Ten Commandments.”

John Frame

God entered into covenant with Israel to be their God and they would be his people.

He promised land, seed, and blessing if they would keep his commandments, and curses and plagues if they forsake his covenant.

New Testament Church

Fast forward to the New Testament.