Normal Context is the Local Church

Pastor Martin notes wryly that if the church set its preaching schedule by congregational vote, they'd 'probably have ice cream cones every Sunday.' He's glad these things are not determined by common consensus.

a return to the more systematic study of the Word of God. Well, all I can say is you ought to be glad that we do not determine these things by common consensus, or we'd probably have a pretty neat split right down the middle of the congregation. But rather, as your elders, we seek prayerfully to assess the needs of the congregation and regulate the public ministries accordingly. And so this morning, we return after a digression of almost three months,

2:19 - 2:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that your willful absence from the assembly silences part of the corporate sacrifice of praise God has appointed you to offer.

When I go to sleep, all of me goes to sleep - I can't leave my head upstairs to keep studying. So when the body of Christ gathers, every member is needed; you cannot withhold a part.

When I go to sleep, all of me goes to sleep. Now, I wish there are times I could leave my head upstairs to do some more studying, but when I decide to go to sleep, the head's got to go where the rest of me is. There are times I wish I could have my head up in the study while my hands were out in the garden pulling weeds. I look out the window and see all the weeds that need to be pulled, and I'd love to go out and pull them, but I've got to feed God's sheep, and so I'm torn between pulling weeds and

45:49 - 46:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that your willful absence from the assembly silences part of the corporate sacrifice of praise God has appointed you to offer.

He recalls when Trinity was a small church of 50 or 60 - now that the body has grown, individual members are tempted to think they are needed less. The opposite is true.

I want to speak even more specifically to a mentality that has emerged in the last few years, and it's this. Well, back when Trinity was a little twerk and there were only 50, 60 of us, I really wouldn't think about being away any more than was absolutely necessary to fulfill duty, either to my family, to fulfill duty in some other respect. But Trinity's so large now, I don't need to be careful about whether or not I'm present. I can be a lot more relaxed about deciding to go off to visit this friend or that friend or this relative and that relative. What's the difference? When you've got 325,...

47:13 - 48:09 Read in full sermon

The point: As the body grows, you are needed more, not less - more brothers and sisters require more of your one-anothering ministry.

When a body was a baby, all it had to do was hold a rattle and stick a thumb in the mouth. As it grows, every member is needed for vastly increased responsibilities.

When this body was smaller, it had much less in the way of responsibility as a corporate organism. As a little baby, all it had to do was hold a rattle and stick a thumb in the mouth in between feedings. That was about the extent of its responsibilities. But with the growth of the organic whole comes increased responsibility for all the members in that body. And dear ones, that's true of this church.

48:42 - 49:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine whether your slow growth is connected to a lancing tongue, a judgmental heart, or unforgiveness toward a fellow member.

Pastor Martin pictures a man on Bloomfield Avenue holding a penknife over a parking meter slot, lancing his own hand for no reason. We would think him insane. Yet that's what believers do when they lance fellow members with gossip, slander, and judgmental attitudes.

My friend, what would you think if on the way home today you saw a man standing on Bloomfield Avenue with his hand over a parking meter and he had a penknife and was standing there lancing his own hand? You would stop in shocked horror and say, what in the world is that man doing? Is he crazy? What is he doing? Piercing and lancing his own hand, a member of his own body.

52:41 - 53:05 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine whether your slow growth is connected to a lancing tongue, a judgmental heart, or unforgiveness toward a fellow member.

He invokes Christ's words: 'Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me.' Mistreating a brother is mistreating Christ.

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my little ones, ye have done it unto me. Away with this piousity of saying, all is well between me and my Lord, when all is not right between me and my brethren. If a man says he loves God, but hates his brethren, If he does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he has not seen? That's John's answer to that piosity. May God grant that we as a people will suffer the word of exhortation as we are serious about progressing in likeness to Christ.

55:02 - 55:49 Read in full sermon