Corporate Means of Grace

Driving home: As surely as God has appointed a way into life and no substitute will result in the attainment of life, so God has appointed means for the sustaining of that life and no substitutes of man, however sincerely conceived, c…

Martin uses the analogy of immunization and purging a spiritual bloodstream to describe his goal of protecting believers from errors and rooting out any that have taken hold in their thinking.

This adult Sunday school class was held on May 1st, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, for many months in our adult class, we have been examining together what we have entitled some major principles of living the Christian life. And at the very outset of this series of studies, I mentioned that my goals in leading you into this study and all the way through the study were basically threefold. It was my concern to sketch in a theology of the Christian life, to seek to immunize you as God's people from the many errors that are floating about and have floated about...

0:05 - 1:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Take the teaching of the Bible at face value regarding the necessity of corporate means of grace for spiritual nurture and development.

To help the audience understand the majesty of a 'cedar in Lebanon' from Psalm 92, Martin compares it to the massive sequoia trees on the west coast, conveying a sense of being 'swallowed up' by their size.

The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Now a cedar in Lebanon to us means very little, but it means a lot to us. But if you've seen pictures of the sequoias out on the west coast, you get a little picture of the majesty of those trees.

18:32 - 18:51 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He identifies the public corporate means of grace, focusing on Acts 2:41-42: continuing steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship (koinonia), breaking of bread (Lord's…

Martin humorously imagines early Christians who might have claimed spiritual leading to stay home and study their Bibles, contrasting this with the steadfast corporate gathering described in Acts 2.

Low births. Many who were so spiritual that they just were convinced the Lord was leading them to stay home and study their Bibles on their own. That's the most spiritual thing, you know. Oh, the Lord just made it plain to me that I was to stay home today and just spend the day reading my Bible.

26:36 - 26:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He identifies the public corporate means of grace, focusing on Acts 2:41-42: continuing steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship (koinonia), breaking of bread (Lord's…

He imagines early Christians complaining about 'one-way communication' from apostles like Peter, highlighting the human tendency to resist the ordained means of grace.

With nature being what it is, I'm sure they had the full spectrum of all the same kind of kookishness that we have. But it says they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. You think they had some who said, what good can come from one or two of these blokes standing up? One-way communication, I mean, let's get with it.

26:57 - 27:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He identifies the public corporate means of grace, focusing on Acts 2:41-42: continuing steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship (koinonia), breaking of bread (Lord's…

Martin describes the early church's koinonia as so real that it was 'unthinkable' for an individual to see a brother in need and not use their own means to help, rather than just praying.

You read the passage, and the koinonia involved the total sharing of life, even to the point of people relinquishing title to homes and houses and lands. Read about it. Nobody commanded it, but so real was this sense that they were constituted one body, it was unthinkable. It was unthinkable that this individual would look upon his brother in need and say, well, God bless you, brother, I'll pray the Lord will meet your need, when he had the means to meet his need in his own bank account or in his own deeds to property.

28:21 - 28:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Stop constantly projecting and protecting an image of what you hope people will think you are; be authentic in fellowship.

He uses the metaphor of 'fellowshipping with mirages and with images' to describe the futility of trying to have true fellowship while projecting a false image of oneself, rather than being vulnerable.

We're one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. It means we've got to get to the place where we're willing to be vulnerable, to really know what the burdens of our brothers and sisters are. And it means we've got to be willing to be known. You see, we can't fellowship with mirages and with images that we project.

30:52 - 31:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Stop constantly projecting and protecting an image of what you hope people will think you are; be authentic in fellowship.

Martin describes the common human fear of being truly known, shaking in boots lest someone finds out the 'bundle of insecurities' behind the projected image, which hinders true fellowship.

Some of us spend altogether too much time constantly projecting and protecting, the image of what we hope people will think we are. Scared to death that anyone would really find out what we are. Shaking in our boots, lest someone really find who's behind that image.

31:17 - 31:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Afford yourself the luxury of projecting what you really are within the church, knowing that as redeemed sinners, you will be accepted.

He likens a biblical church to a 'society of people who have felt' the Father's embrace of the returning prodigal, arguing that such people are not in the 'rejection business' when fellow believers reveal their true selves.

And some of you are stunted in your growth, because you're constantly projecting and protecting an image of what you think you have to appear in the image of God. In the eyes of others, in order to be accepted. When in reality, in any church that even approaches the biblical norm, it's the one place on the face of the earth where you can afford the luxury of projecting what you really are. Because we're a bunch of redeemed sinners.

32:16 - 32:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Afford yourself the luxury of projecting what you really are within the church, knowing that as redeemed sinners, you will be accepted.

Martin imagines early Christians feeling tired and doubting their presence would add anything to a prayer meeting, illustrating the common temptation to neglect corporate prayer despite its importance.

That's an exceptional matter. But in terms of the whole idea of coming to someone and giving the Lord's Supper to an individual, no, they continued steadfastly in their corporate identity in the breaking of bread and, notice, in the prayers. And the article is there in the prayers, that is, in their stated seasons of prayer, which could well have been the seasons of prayer at the temple, which they are now, as it were, Christianizing and turning over into a season of true Christian church prayers. Now, human nature being what it is, what the time of prayer came, do you think there were people ...

34:32 - 35:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not assess corporate means of grace solely by identifiable blessings received at a single gathering, but recognize their cumulative and imperceptible benefits for spiritual maturation.

He compares the cumulative and imperceptible benefits of corporate means of grace to the growth of children, which is often unnoticed by those closest to them but evident to those who haven't seen them for a while (like grandparents).

And just like the growth of our children, often very imperceptible to us and those closest to them, yet we visit the grandparents who haven't seen them for a year, and they look at them and they say, why, I hardly recognized you. How you've grown. And this is what happens in the spiritual life as well, that there is growth and there is development, but it is so imperceptible as it were from week to week that to ourselves and perhaps to those closest to us, it cannot be seen. But over the long haul, that growth is indeed very real.

38:41 - 39:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not assess corporate means of grace solely by identifiable blessings received at a single gathering, but recognize their cumulative and imperceptible benefits for spiritual maturation.

Martin explains how a congregation with pervasively Trinitarian worship can teach the doctrine of the Trinity cumulatively, even without explicit sermons, so that when challenged, believers not only have biblical knowledge but also a deep experiential conviction.

For instance, take the Ephesians 4 passage where the purpose for depositing these gifts of public ministry in the church, one of the purposes is that you be no more children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men. Well, you see, how are you going to measure the degree to which you have been immunized against the cunning craftiness of false teachers on any given Lord's day? You see, it's in the totality of life together. In a congregation where the worship is pervasively Trinitarian, you may not hear a sermon on the Trinity for months and months, and yet your whole ex...

39:16 - 40:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not assess corporate means of grace solely by identifiable blessings received at a single gathering, but recognize their cumulative and imperceptible benefits for spiritual maturation.

He illustrates how the grace of humility is nurtured by interacting with mature believers, sensing one's own spiritual smallness, and hearing mature men confess their spiritual poverty in prayer.

portions in the Word of God to offset that challenge, but He knows, He knows that it is a violation of all of His religious experience to deny the Trinity. You see? And it's the cumulative effect of these corporate means, particularly, those means in which the people of God are found together in the exercise of those means. Likewise, with reference to so many other doctrines that are constantly set forth, not perhaps explicitly in a topical treatment of them, or in terms of a verse-by-verse exposition in which that doctrine is set forth in a very pivotal way in what we would call an epitomizin...

40:45 - 41:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Practice hospitality and distribute to the necessities of the saints, doing so in a way that honors biblical principles of private giving.

Martin shares an anecdote about a family overwhelmed by the spontaneous outpouring of practical help (meals, casseroles) from the church after the birth of a child, illustrating biblical body life in action.

You are members one of another. Likewise, this distributing to the necessity of the saints. Just a short while ago, someone whose family had been graced with the presence of a little one was just overwhelmed by the fact that with no specific planning from the deacons, no exhortation from the pulpit, they were overwhelmed by the outpouring of concern to minister to them in this time of adjustment to the presence of a little one. And the meals brought in, the casseroles brought in, the help offered, and this individual spontaneously mentioned to two of your elders that he was just overwhelmed by...

50:44 - 51:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He provides further examples of semi-private corporate means, including submission to church leadership (Hebrews 13:17) and hospitality/distributing to the saints (Romans 12:13)…

He uses Jesus' close relationships with Peter, James, and John, and John leaning on Jesus' bosom, to argue that natural groupings and varying levels of intimacy are normal and biblical within the body of Christ, refuting the idea of equal input for all members.

So being of one heart and one soul does not mean that we all have an equal input concerning all of the needs of all of our brethren or that we have the same chemistry of intimacies of varying levels of friendship. Among the twelve disciples, Jesus had three especially close ones. Who were they? Peter, James, and John.

52:40 - 53:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Minister to one another in the words of God, sharing how God has blessed portions of His Word to your heart.

Martin humorously considers the literal application of 'singing psalms... one to another' from Colossians 3:16, noting that for some it would be torture, to emphasize that the principle is about sharing God's Word in various forms.

Let the word, the word of Christ, dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in your heart unto the Lord. Now, does that mean that when we greet one another, we ought to start singing a psalm to one another? Well, for some, that would be a form of torture on the ears. Yes.

54:55 - 55:20 Read in full sermon

The point: If a brother is overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual, restore such a one.

He uses the metaphor of 'sawdust dressed up to look like good food' to describe substitutes for God-ordained means of grace, emphasizing that they cannot nourish the soul, even if not outright poison.

It may not be poison. It may be just sawdust dressed up to look like good food. But you cannot nourish your body upon sawdust. And you can't nourish your soul upon means that are not ordained of God.

58:01 - 58:16 Read in full sermon