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Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a

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moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith.

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Today, the church and you. Who is the church anyway? And what does this church mean to you,

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dear listener? But first, we at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church

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have met and spoken with so many of you in our radio audience over the years. I just appreciate the

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feedback that you've given me over the years. Constructive, it has been for the most part,

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and we love you. We appreciate your support. And what we would like to do in this new year

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is offer you an opportunity to meet and to fellowship with us and we with you in a friendly

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environment. Therefore, what we propose is a fellowship spaghetti dinner on the last Wednesday

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of every month at 5 p.m. in our fellowship hall. And our first one will be Wednesday, January 25th,

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a fellowship spaghetti dinner. Wednesday, January 25th is our first one, 5 p.m. Come and meet me,

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Pastor Bass, and some of our people. And we can just talk about, relax, kick back, discuss anything on your

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heart and on your mind. I'd appreciate it if you could call us, though, to make a reservation so we

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know how many to expect. And that number is 5-2-3-0-1-9-6. 5-2-3-0-1-9-6. Now, on with our topic,

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the church and you. Who is the church anyway? You are the church if you're a Christian. And what

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does this church mean to you? Now, if we could don a pair of God goggles, if I could put it that way,

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whereby we could view what is actually going on in the world of the Spirit simultaneously with the

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world of the physical around us, we would see Christians who are our brothers and sisters as

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they make up the church gloriously and slowly but surely, piece by precious piece, stone by precious

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stone, building what the apostle Peter calls a spiritual house of which you yourself, and he's

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emphatic about that, you yourself are living stones. Well, this spiritual house of which we speak

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is the house of God, the temple. On a plain and in a manner beyond our thorough comprehension,

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God is building his heavenly dwelling, his temple, in which he will live eternally. And you,

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believer, are one of those components, a living stone in that living temple. Paul puts it this way,

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Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together

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grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, he goes on to say, that is in Christ. In him,

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you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit, unquote.

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Listener, throughout history, grand physical structures have been built to God to represent

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his power, his majesty, glory, and presence among his people, including churches and cathedrals.

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But chief among them is Solomon's temple, built in the 10th century BC under the wisest and most

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glorious of the kings of Israel, Solomon, son of David. Gold, cedar, marble, stone constituted its

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elements and the design evoked the Garden of Eden, where man originally enjoyed the life and presence

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of his creator. How Israel thrived in its glory days with the temple in Jerusalem, it became the

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central focus of Israel's worship, the center of the world, the place where I will put my name as God

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had promised in the wilderness. But just as Israel was meant to evoke and foreshadow so much of Christ

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in his church, so Israel's temple was meant to evoke and foreshadow the church as the living dwelling

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place of God. If we had our figurative God goggles, we might see God by his Holy Spirit living and dwelling

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amongst his living stones, even as his presence was in the Holy of Holies in the old temple of Solomon.

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Only now it is we, his people, Christians, his church in whom he dwells and lives.

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And in exhorting the Corinthians to eschew evil, Paul employs graphic temple metaphors to make his

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point. What agreement, he says, has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living

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God. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them and I will be their God

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and they shall be my people. He has made his dwelling now in us, dear listener. He walks among us as he

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walked in the cool of the evening in the garden with Adam and Eve. We are now his people and he is now our

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God and he is sovereignly, lovingly putting us together one by one, spiritual stone by spiritual

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stone into that holy temple that will one day be complete. And this reality has profound implications

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for you, listener, for you and your life here too. Your union with the visible church must be made

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manifest in the visible church. I'm sorry, your union with the invisible church must be made manifest in

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the visible church. So please do not tell me that you are a member of a church, the invisible church,

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pastor. I'm a part of the invisible church universal of which you were just speaking. And so I don't have

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to be a member of a local congregation. Poppycock, perhaps you also have an invisible brother or sister

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born of an invisible mother who lives an invisible life in your room. That'd be all right for a child's

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imagination, but adults with such imaginings get put away in an institution. It's patently absurd. So it is

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saying that you are a Christian, but not a member of a visible local congregation. Your union with the

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invisible universal church is verily an invisible one as in non-existent. People who say such things,

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things like, well, I'm a member of the universal church, the invisible church, but so I don't have to

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be a member of a visible church. People who say such things generally fall into one of two fundamental

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errors. Number one, first error, you may be insecure in your Christian life and commitment. You may be

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insecure in your Christian life and commitment. Many Christians are skittish about being transparent in

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any way about their Christian life, their walk of discipleship, maybe their familiarity with the Bible

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and or doctrine too. Perhaps they are painfully aware of how sinful they are and how short they fall in what is

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expected in the Christian life. But this is okay. Such an attitude is a good sign of the stirrings of

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humility. As a matter of fact, all believers should be ready to confess what the tax collector said of

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himself in comparison to the self-righteous Pharisee. Jesus put it this way, but the tax collector

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standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God be merciful to

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me a sinner. Well, dear listener, if all those clean scrubs, suit and tie Sunday morning church people

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toting their Bibles under their arms, I'm not ready upon reflection to do this very thing. Well, they're

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probably more like the proud Pharisee who said of himself, and Jesus put it this way, God, I thank you

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that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a

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week, and I give tithes of all that I get. What did Jesus say of the two? Well, he said this, I tell you,

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this man, that is the tax collector, went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone

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who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted, unquote. Well, this

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person, then the tax collector and the stirrings of humility, as well as the unchurched person, should be

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encouraged to come with his sin and his insecurities and his risks and join those of us who share those

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same insecurities and humility. In the church, we find forgiveness of our sin in Christ, and we also

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find exaltation, so to speak, that is a lifting up and encouragement in fellowship with others of like

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mind. There are those of us just like you. Dear listener, if you are unchurched today, don't let the

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hypocrites keep you from coming to us. Much can be said for our insecurities concerning our knowledge

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of the Bible and doctrine, too, dear listener. Many Christians, whether they be new or mature,

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they may be hesitant to come to church because they're afraid to expose what they think might

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be their lack of knowledge of the Bible and its teachings, which is called doctrine. It requires

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as much patience and humility to learn as it does to grow in discipleship in the Christian life.

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Perhaps in important terms that we hear in the Bible all the time, seem intimidating at first,

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don't they? Justification, imputation, propitiation, for example. Yet with a little patience and

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diligence, anyone can learn what the Bible teaches about these important matters of life and faith.

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Even something as innocuous as saying, let's all turn to the book of Hezekiah, for example.

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This can be intimidating to some Christians who may not be as familiar as their neighbor is with the

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various books of the Old Testament and New Testament, and may find themselves embarrassed,

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thumbing back and forth in their Bibles long after everyone else has found their place and now

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listening intently. Has this ever happened to you? Please, not to worry. Anyone near is ready and

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willing to help you find your way in God's precious word. Come to church. Come to New Geneva.

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You will learn in time. This is what I want to underline in this regard. Paul said,

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grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Christian life is not

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only a growth in grace, but also knowledge. This is why we teach. Do you see the community in which

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we as Christians grow? Our discipleship and knowledge of Christ and His teachings cannot be

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attained without one another. This in turn cannot happen without the face-to-face, look-me-in-the-eye-skin-in-the-game

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fellowship that only a church environment provides. This often means we risk very much. This keeps

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people away too. The risk of getting our feelings hurt or having our lack of knowledge in the Bible

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exposed for all to see. And then the risk of trusting church leaders, for example, with the

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money we give and the souls that learn and grow. That means we and our children. Also the risk of

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trusting church leaders for the destinies to which we go. So believe me, dear listener, we in the

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Orthodox Presbyterian Church understand this to our toenails. And consequently, we take ordaining of

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church officers very seriously. The author of Hebrews puts it this way, remember your leaders,

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those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their

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faith. This is quite a standard to live up to, dear listener. We in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church take

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this very seriously. Hebrews also says, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping

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watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not

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with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Unquote. You, in order to obey a leader, must have

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a leader over you and submit to them in terms of these church offices and functions. And we, in the

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Orthodox Church, take these things very seriously. We understand the sense of risk to which you put

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yourselves as sheep of the flock, but this in no way lessens your obligation to commit yourselves to a

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community of believers, dear listener. A look at the one another passages in the Bible is a beautiful

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testament to this. Just listen to a few of these. Though we are many, we are one body in Christ and

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individually members one of another. Love one another with brotherly affection. Live in harmony

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with one another. Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. Instruct one another. Greet one

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another with a holy kiss. May there be no division in the body, but that members may have the same care

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for one another. Exhort one another every day. On and on we could go, dear listener. In all of these,

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there is the implicit understanding that we are self-consciously together in a plan with one

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another, not just randomly bumping into each other as Christians at Walmart or the Chuckers game.

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And that plan is, of course, the church. The church is the arena in which the love of Christ we

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have for one another is expressed with all of the risk of hurt and offense and humility,

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as well as the reward of love and affection and edification. You will never know the reward

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without putting your heart out there at risk, dear listener. Come to church, risk getting hurt and

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offended. And you will always experience the reward, too, of love and affection and edification

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because there is forgiveness for one another and in Christ. There can be no substitute for

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worshiping together, dear listener. In his instructions on worship, Paul begins in the first

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place when you come together as a church. When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson,

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a revelation. On he goes. And of course, there is that exhortation, not neglecting to meet together,

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as is the habit of some, that you are doing, dear listener, if you're not a member, a community of a

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church, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. And

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all the more, as you see the day drawing near, Hebrew says, the necessity is certain. We are one

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body in Christ, wired to express that oneness in worship as the gathered people of God on Sunday in

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a physical locale. If your heart does not yearn to gather with other, to be with other Christians on

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Sunday, if your heart does not long to gather in worship with other believers, please do not tell me that

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you are a Christian. I don't believe it. And there can also be no substitute for learning together.

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Learning and teaching can only occur when there is a teacher and a student. Like teacher, like student,

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Jesus said. The touchy-feely you can learn from me and I can learn from you concept derived from a

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decentralized network like that found in a home church movement is nowhere found in the Bible.

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Since the days of the apostles, God has clearly gifted particular men in the church to teach

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as distinguished from others with other gifts. Paul puts it this way in Romans 12. So we, though

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many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ

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according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith,

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if service and serving, the one who teaches in his teaching. Dear listener, your learning,

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your growth and grace is dependent in part upon teachers whom God has gifted and given to the church.

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There can also be no substitute for serving together, brothers and sisters. You cannot serve

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effectively as a solo Christian, a cowboy, lone ranger on the plains of the church. The Bible says,

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through love, serve one another. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another,

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Peter says, as good stewards of God's very grace. Oh, dear listener, do not let your insecurities

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and your feelings of inadequacy keep you from fellowship in Christ's visible church. We need

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each other. As Paul says, the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head

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to the feet, I have no need of you. That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may

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have the same care for one another. Oh, this cannot occur in a vacuum of one. If you're out there,

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dear listener, without a church community, come to us, we say, come to us, come to New Geneva

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Orthodox Presbyterian Church. If not us, then seek out another body of believers who preach and teach

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God's word and attempt to live it. Howsoever imperfectly that might be. Well, this brings me

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to my second impediment to life in the church, why people don't come into fellowship and community in

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the church. Number two, they are too proud to come into fellowship with and under the authority of

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another. This may be you. Many who do not join a church, come into fellowship with a church, are too

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proud to come into fellowship with and under the authority of another. This is the rub for many a

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person who claims to be a Christian, but will not join a church. In my years of experience as a pastor,

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I find that the first group of persons that is those who may be a bit insecure, may be a bit

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unwilling to risk in their Christian life and commitment, they can be encouraged and coaxed and

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loved into life in the church. But the proud? Solomon says this about the proud, scoffer is the name of

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the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride. These, the proud, rarely come into fellowship

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in a local congregation unless they come into true humility before the Lord. Peter says this,

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you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one

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another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. The proud who refuse to come to church

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generally have three issues. I've delineated these many times. First of all, the proud who refuse to join a

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church and come into fellowship with the church have three primary issues. They are unteachable,

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incorrigible, and unmanageable. Yes, they are unteachable. They're unwilling to learn from

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authority. They're incorrigible. That is, they're unwilling to receive discipline from authority,

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and generally they're unmanageable. That is, they're unwilling to have they and their family led by

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authority. You see the theme in all of these, and that is authority. First of all, the proud man

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who will not join a church invariably is obstinate and unteachable. As I've observed with you,

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God has gifted his church with able teachers. I've been the beneficiary of so many of them.

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This is why I acknowledge here and now that I am glad to align myself with a particular church

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and submit myself to its teachings. One who has taught the word must share all good things

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with the one who teaches, Paul says. Support a local church and its teachers, dear listener.

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Pride drives men to sequester themselves and their families at home, thinking they're smart enough,

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wise enough, and gifted enough that they don't need teachers to grow in their faith.

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Oh, the old Reformation adage, sola scriptura, means scripture alone is our authority for doctrine.

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Excuse me. Sola scriptura. How true and precious. But so many twist sola scriptura to mean solo

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scriptura. That is, I alone am the authority for interpreting scripture, sitting on my couch in my

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home with whatever ideas I have about what the Bible means, undisturbed by what others may think,

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no matter how wise, gifted, and experienced they may be. Do you know somebody like this? Perhaps you are

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somebody like this. And this is precisely how distorted, error-prone doctrine begins, too. How

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many hobby horses, irrelevant tangents, worthless digressions, and sad error I have encountered in

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those who refuse to come into the church, sit under the teaching of the word. Certainly, the Bible is

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clear and understandable to all. This is fundamental. But while the Bible is comprehensible to all, its basic

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message of salvation by grace through Christ, it is also complex in many of its parts. And speaking of

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Paul's letters, Peter puts it this way. I quote him. There are some things in them, that is, Paul's letters,

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that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the

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other scriptures, unquote. Every believer must come under the magisterium of the church, that is, its teaching

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authority. Certainly, you must be wise, you must discern error, you must embrace truth. Do not turn

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your mind and your spirit off, but this must also be mixed with the humility that Christ has much to

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teach me at the feet of others. The church is his chosen instrument to build you up and teach you

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in the way. Come to New Geneva today. If not us, then another Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church.

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Secondly, the proud man. He is not only unteachable, but the proud man who will not join a church

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invariably refuses to be corrected. No one really enjoys having his life measured by the word of God

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with a good chance that he'll be checked and corrected in his behavior somewhere. I still don't

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like this, although I have benefited in my spiritual growth from correction. Whoever ignores instruction,

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Proverbs says, whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof

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gains intelligence, unquote. Perhaps there's some sin that is cherished or error that is believed

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or lifestyle choice followed over which the proud man knows he would be called out if the church got

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to know him. Many do not join a church. Therefore, he stays away from the light, lest his deeds be

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exposed, as Jesus puts it. Instead, dear listener, find a church of loving people and wise leaders who

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themselves are open to correction and discipline. This is one of the great salutary benefits of life

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in the church is that we humbly acknowledge that we need each other to discipline one another.

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Paul says in Galatians 6, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression,

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you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself,

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lest you be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, unquote. Oh, great

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advice. Are you too proud to be corrected and therefore you don't join a church?

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Hebrews says, for the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the

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peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it, unquote. That's the secret to

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the Christian life, dear listener. No man knows the peaceful fruit of righteousness until he has

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experienced the painful pruning of discipline. Painful pruning yields peaceful fruit. Any of you

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gardeners know this, don't you? Come to New Geneva or else find another church of like mind and faith

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where you indeed will be humbled and share in the discipline of the Christian faith. Thirdly,

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the proud man who will not join a church is invariably a control freak. I've seen this so

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often. The proud man who will not join a church is invariably a control freak. This type of person

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has a problem relinquishing control over his life, perhaps his family's life and their circumstances.

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He cannot come to trust teachers, elders, deacons, and other Christians in the church to have any say

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in his spiritual life or that of his family. If he has a family, that is. And this goes back in part to

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our previous issue of trust and risk. But dear brother, if this is you, if this is your circumstance,

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you know it, that you will not join a church because you're a control freak. There must be a balance

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in your life between following those you trust and reliance upon your own judgment, gifts, and

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discernment. You must use them both. You cannot go it alone. Christ did not give us the Christian life

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to go solo. At some point, you have to let go some of that control to godly men and women who love you

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and have you and your family's best interests at heart. Once again, the author of Hebrews says,

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remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life

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and imitate their faith. We have leaders in the life of the church for this precise reason.

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Author of Hebrews also says, obey your leaders and submit to them. You cannot obey and submit unless you

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indeed are part of a church, members of a church, part of a community of the church, and you will have

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leaders in that church. And Hebrews says, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping

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watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with

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groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you, unquote. We just encourage you, therefore, to come

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to New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Come and join us, fellowship with us, see how we teach and

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live the Christian faith. But if not us, then join another church of like mind and faith, where you

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will be taught, where you will be loved, where you will be embraced as a brother or sister in Christ.

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We at New Geneva have met and spoken with many of you in our radio audience over the years.

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We have so appreciated the feedback we've gotten from you, and we love you. We appreciate your support,

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too. And what we'd like to do in this new year is offer you, a radio listener, an opportunity to meet

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and to fellowship with us and we with you in a friendly environment. And therefore, what we propose

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is a fellowship spaghetti dinner, a fellowship spaghetti dinner on the last Wednesday of every month

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subsequent, and that would be at 5 p.m. on the last Wednesday of every month. Our first one will be

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Wednesday, January 25. Put this on your calendar. Wednesday, January 25 at 5 p.m. Come and meet

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me, Pastor Bass, and some of our people at New Geneva, and we can talk and kick back and discuss

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anything on your heart or your mind. And that would be Wednesday, January 25 is our first one at 5 p.m.

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You can call us for reservations. Let us know so we know how much spaghetti to make. 523-0196. That's

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523-0196. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for

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holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call

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us for further information at 523-0196. Check out our websites, two of them, newgenevaopc.org.

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Newgenevaopc.org. And then our new website in which we have cataloged our previous radio messages,

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and that is omnispotestas.org. Let me spell that. O-M-N-I-S dash P-O-T-E-S-T-A-S dot org.

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Omnispotestas.org.