SERMON MANUSCRIPT
In July 1961, Vince Lombardi, coach of the Green Bay Packers, stood before thirty-eight professional football players ready to start a new season. Six months previous, they had lost the championship in the final minutes, had been sitting in that memory ever since. These were athletes ready to adjust what needed adjusting to make sure this year was different and were waiting for their coach to direct them.
Lombardi looked out over the second-best team in the world, held up a football, and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” And with those words Lombardi expressed his intention to take that team back to basics, to the fundamentals of the game.
Sometimes churches need to go back to basics; to the fundamentals of why we exist. Many of us have been around the church and Christians long enough that we know how this works, what goes on, and maybe even our role. But it’s good to, once in a while, sit under God’s word and hear it tell us afresh, “Brothers and sisters, this is a church.”
I want us to remember today what on earth Oakridge is here for. What must we do? What are the bare essentials of our mission? I want us get a refresher on the fundamentals of a local church upon which everything else must sit and to which everything else must contribute.
We Exist to Exalt Our God
And, there are three. First, and perhaps most important and most all-encompassing, we exist to exalt our God. Oakridge Bible Chapel exists, at the most basic level, to worship the God of all Creation; to declare the absolute worthiness of the God of the Bible, he who has revealed himself as triune—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We revere him for what he’s done, what he’s doing, and what he has promised to do.
As a former pastor of mine once said, “worship is a human response to divine revelation.” In fact, as we walk through the Bible we see that it is the natural reaction to an experience with the Almighty (see, e.g., Ex 33:10; Neh 8:6; 9:3; Job 1:20; Ps 95:6; Matt 2:11a; 28:9; Rev 22:8–9).
And that should be each of us. As we encounter the grace and power of God on a daily basis, we should be moved to worship him, to declare his worthiness with our devotion, prayer, praise, sacrifice, and testimony. There’s a sense in which each of us, as individual believers, is to be a walking worship service (Rom 12:1).
But the pinnacle of Christian worship is when Christians assemble to collectively exalt the God they share. When we gather to pool our resources of praise, thanksgiving, lament, and wonder. A soloist is beautiful but a choir is powerful. A soldier brings safety but an army brings security. As individuals we can worship but as a church we can worship, like two-hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork—that being the greatness of our God, the beauty of Jesus, the power of the Spirit. We exist to exalt our God, apart but also together.
And when we’re together, we let God tell us how he wants to be worshipped. We sing (Col 3:16). We pray (1 Tim 2:1). We give (2 Cor 9:7). We remember (1 Cor 11:26). We baptize (Matt 28:19–20). We listen (1 Tim 4:13). We learn (2 Tim 4:2).
What on earth are we here for, Oakridge? Well, for starters, we exist to exalt our God. It’s not about me and it’s not about you. It’s not about our preferences or conveniences. It’s about our God—a God worthy of all the time and diligence and humility and effort and inconvenience there is. And as we worship well together, we leave here as better individual worshippers only to return the next week and worship well again together. It’s all for him.
With that in mind, I want to encourage and challenge you this year: make this, the corporate gathering of God’s people, the gathering of the church family to which you belong, the assembling of the body of which you are a member, a priority.
I know online is convenient and has been useful and helpful. But it’s not the same. No one is hearing our contribution to the redeemed choir when we’re on our couches. No one is being blessed by the sacrifice of our presence when we’re at home. No one is being served by us when we’re absent. And we reinforce the lie that it’s about us and not God.
This is one of the purposes of the church gathered: to exalt our God. May we not settle unnecessarily for a facsimile, a shadow of the real thing. It’s to our detriment and the detriment of the whole.
We Exist to Equip the Saints
The second fundamental purpose of the church is that we exist to equip the saints (Eph 4:11–16). Jesus, in all authority and wisdom, gave certain people as gifts to his church—apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. The first two have been given, past tense (see Eph 2:19–20). Apostles and prophets already laid the foundation, now evangelists and pastor-teachers are to build upon it.
To what end? To train believers, to move them toward maturity in Christ so that they will be strong, resilient, unified, knowledgeable, and useful. This is the job description of the elders of Oakridge. But not only the elders. Notice that the leaders are to (4:12) equip “the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.“ Who does the building? The saints, having been trained. Throughout the NT there are almost sixty explicit commands for the body to do the work of ministry, to help one another mature in Christ under the leadership of the leadership God gifted them.
“Be devoted to one another” (Rom 12:10). “Instruct one another” (Romans 15:14). “Serve one another in love” (Gal 5:13). “Carry one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:2). “Forgive one another” (Eph 4:32). “Teach one another” (Col 3:16). “Encourage one another” (1 Thes 4:18). “Spur one another on” (Heb 10:24). “Confess your sins to one another” (Jas 5:16). “Pray for one another” (Jas 5:16). “Offer hospitality to one another” (1 Pet 4:9). “Love one another” (1 John 3:11).
This is why we exist. We don’t exist to merely entertain people, affirm sinners, cultivate friendships, or change culture. We exist to equip one another, to mature one another toward godliness. In many ways, the church is like an army barracks and army hospital. We are brought into this place to be strengthened and prepared for war. Then we’re sent out into the battle where, inevitably, we get wounded and weary. So, we come back to the infirmary to get nursed back to health by God’s people, God’s word, and God’s Spirit. Then, sent back out again.
We Exist to Evangelize the Lost
And what are we doing when sent out? That brings us to the third fundamental purpose of the church: we exist to evangelize the lost. We are here to go into the world with the unbelievably good news of salvation by grace through faith in Christ. We are here to bring the gospel of everlasting life to those who are perishing (Matt 28:19–20; 1 Pet 3:15; 2 Tim 4:5).
Notice we go out to accomplish this task. God’s people gather, like we are today, to exalt our God and to equip the saints. And then God’s people scatter to evangelize the lost. We go out into our classrooms and workplaces, homes and teams, clubs and friendships to be salt and light charged up with corporate worship and corporate equipping for that very task. As one author has rightly said, “We will not commend to the world a God we do not adore” and, I would add, a God we do not know. Then, when by God’s grace we are used by him to lead someone to truth, they trust Christ, they pass from death to life, we bring them in to worship with us and to learn with us.
We exist to evangelize the lost. We go to them, perhaps earning a right to be heard, perhaps simply making ourselves heard. All of that under this precious truth that the privilege of leading someone to Christ “is often appointed to the one who has first suffered for that person in [prayer]” (Chafer, True Evangelism, 72). We exist to evangelize the lost.
“Gentlemen, this is a football.” One author records what happened after this now-famous statement.
“Lombardi’s methodical coverage of the fundamentals continued throughout training camp. Each player reviewed how to block and tackle. They opened up the playbook and started from page one. … His team would become the best in the league at the tasks everyone else took for granted. Six months later, the Green Bay Packers beat the New York Giants 37-0 to win the NFL Championship” and Lombardi never lost another playoff game.
Brothers and sisters, this is a church. We don’t want to take the basics for granted. We exist to exalt our God, sacrificially, intentionally, corporately, and submissively. We exist to equip the saints, training one another to be more like the Son of God, as revealed in the word of God, depending on the Spirit of God, for the glory of God. And we exist to evangelize the lost, bringing them the best news with zeal and urgency, graciousness and love. This is a church.
And all three work together. As we learn of God, we worship him more knowingly. As we worship him, we commend him more passionately. As we evangelize, we serve him more diligently. It’s all connected.
So, where do we go from here? Well, in addition to simply being reminded this morning of what, at the very least, we at Oakridge must be about, I wanted to provide a way to step into training camp and apply these fundamentals. Three fundamentals, three challenges as we start a new year.
First, as I’ve already said, make corporate worship a priority. Sacrifice to be here. Listen when you’re here. Sing when you’re here. Encourage when you’re here. Commit yourself to worship this year and sacrifice to make it happen.
Second, we’re called to equip the saints. When you came in today there was a sheet of paper on your chair that list some of the happenings at Oakridge as of this fall. There’s a list of Bible studies and small group gatherings you could join. There’s a list of ministry areas in our church life in which you could serve. There’s a list of upcoming special events this fall to which you could attend. And there’s a list of elders for which you could pray and to whom you could reach out in times of need, with questions, and for encouragement.
I want to challenge you to invest in each of those four lists. Find a group to join, to which you can belong and grow and pray with a smaller group of believers. Find a ministry to which you can contribute. Invest your time in this church family. Get to know your elders.
Brothers and sisters, you get out what you put in, there’s no doubt. But, let’s remember, it’s not about us. We go, we invest, we learn, for the sake of Christ, for the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and for the sake of those who don’t know Christ.
Finally, evangelize the lost. I want to challenge you to share the gospel with at least one person this year. Let’s start by praying specifically for that individual, asking God to soften their hearts, embolden ours, and give us an opportunity.
Josiah has served the Oakridge Bible Chapel family as one of its elders and one of its pastoral staff members since September 2018, before which he ministered as an associate pastor to a local congregation in the Canadian prairies. Josiah's desire is to be used by God to help equip the church for ministry, both while gathered (edification) and while scattered (evangelization). He is married to Patricia, and together they have five children—Jonah, Henry, Nathaniel, Josephine, and Benjamin.
