Universal Church

There is an old joke I was told by may pastor a while ago, my pastor who was a baptist pastor in a baptist church. There was a man that went to heaven and He was being toured around is it was his first day there. They went past a group of people worshiping and Peter told the man this is the alliance church, the walked a bit farther and came upon another group worshiping. He informed the man that this was the Mennonite church. The next group they where approaching Peter warned the man he had to be evry quiet and tip toe past. When they where past the man asked why he had to tiptoe and be quiet by the last group? Peter said they are the Baptist’s and they think they are the only ones here.

Disclaimer, this is all in fun, I don't actually believe this and it is written from many different churches perspective. but the point being that from the outside looking in, sometimes it can be a bit confusing as to what the church is and why there are so many denominations, and what on earth is going on.

The church is something that has been another thing that we can not seem to agree on. This is going to be one of those sermons that I jump around a little bit to show you what the church is supposed to be and how that should change the way that we live our lives. We are also going to go over what is not the church, even though there are church's that claim to follow Jesus yet do not, how do we know the difference.

the body of Christ, the church, is an essential to the faith. The teaching that upon salvation we join a much larger group of people that constitutes the body of Christ. A Hill worth dying on is that we are all, as followers of Jesus, to be united as one body with many parts.

We believe in the universal church, the living spiritual body of which Christ is the Head, and all regenerated persons are members. We believe in the local church, consisting of a community of believers In Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, and associated for worship, Ministry, and fellowship. We believe that the mission of the church is to bring the good news of Jesus Christ into our lost world

what is the church?

In the apostles creed there is a statement that may make you think, or question me even. The apostles creed is not necessarily a bible quote but based on statements from the bible that came through the catholic church. Part of the creed says

I believe in the Holy Catholic Church

Now the original meaning behind the word catholic is Universal. The original statement did not use the word catholic, but it was added in later. It is a statement that probably many of you know, or have heard.

I believe in the universal church, that is that the body of Christ is made up of believers all over the world. I believe the bible says all over the place that the church is not just here but everywhere.

the church consists of all those who are followers of Jesus, we can see this here and in a few other places.

1 Corinthians 1:1–2 CSB

1 Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Sosthenes our brother: 2 To the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called as saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord—both their Lord and ours.

There are many that may call themselves a church, or part of the body of Christ but that does not necessarily make it so. Here we see a qualifier for becoming part of the body of Christ.

to the church in Corinth, it says that the church is those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus. This is saying that first of all the church, the body of Christ consists of those who are made Holy by Jesus. We went over this a little last week. How we are changed by the HS upon salvation.

SO all who have been regenerated by the HS upon salvation by faith are those that are part of the church, that is the body of Christ. it is not the building that makes this a church, but the people in it.

Those who call on the name of the Lord and are sanctified, but we must be careful as not all who call on the name of the Lord are saved we are told. not all those who call themselves the body of Christ are.

This is why we are going through the essentials of the faith. What is vital that we believe. We must seek the wisdom of God in all that we do. For there are those who call themselves the body of Christ, and yet they might think that they are but there hearts are far from God.

I remember going to other countries, where I had the opportunity to worship with churches in other countries. I preached through an interpreter to a church in Germany, where the pastor thanked me for sharing the gospel, for He wasn't allowed to do that there. I worshiped in other churches where friends took me and I had no idea what was being said, but the songs where familiar, if in a different language.

I trusted them because I trusted my friends who took me there. The familiar songs I sang out in English and it brought me to tears to be able to worship with people from across the world.

We are a church that is just part of a bigger whole. The universal church.

what is the local church and what are they to do?

then we move to the local church. There has been some confusion over church denominations and why there are so many. Some of it has to do with the government and charitable organization rules. I do believe though that denominations, though not in the bible, are not bad.

We are part of a baptist denomination. A group of like minded churches that work and share together which helps us all. We partner as a group with others (seminary). Not bad, just different.

but we move from the universal church as a whole to the the local church, where do we fit into all of this?

1 Corinthians 12:12 CSB

12 For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:13 CSB

13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

I have preached on this before, but that is okay. As the local church, this passage applies the same. We are part of a much bigger whole. One body, many parts.

The job of the church locally is to be Jesus where they are at. They are to get together and worship together. They are to go from the church gathering and tell others about Jesus.

We have the command we got from Jesus, the same command that he gave his disciples to go into the world and tell others about Him and what He taught them to do. our job locally is to use the gifts that God has given us for His glory and for the edification of the church.

1 Corinthians 12:7–8 CSB

7 A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good: 8 to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit,

1 Corinthians 12:9–10 CSB

9 to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of tongues, to another, interpretation of tongues.

1 Corinthians 12:11 CSB

11 One and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as he wills.

we all are given gifts to use for the common good it says, for the glory of God. We do not choose our gifts, we are given our gifts.

but the thing is as a local church our job is to worship together, to grow together and to go out and spread the good news of the gospel together. Our job is to go out and help those in need, but we can not forget that the reason is so that we cna share the gospel together.

the local church is important, we have a job to do. We can not forsake the meeting together of one another, (temporary is different) to learn together. We are meant ot be a body working together not a single limb on our own.

Though I stand behind the stance we took during covid, one of the downsides is people got used to the comfort of church from the comfort of your Pj’s in front of your tv. It was to easy. Though important for a time maybe, we had people not want to give up their Sundays at home anymore.

But it is important that we meet together, that we minister together that we share the gospel of Jesus together.

The church is essential because it is the body of Christ, that should be enough for us to understand the importance of it. It is essential that you use your gifts that have been given you for the Glory of God as the church. The are not meant to keep to yourself.

What is your job as a member of a church though? this we have gone over, but I want to go to one more example in the book of acts.

throughout the book of Acts the apostles would be sharing the gospel of Jesus with those around them as they traveled and it tells us that 100’s would turn to the Lord and be saved. They would join the local church as this happened. They believed, where baptized and joined the local church.

what they did when they joined the local church though is also worth a mention.

Acts 2:44–45 CSB

44 Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. 45 They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Acts 2:46–47 CSB

46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

They gave what was eneded for the work of the church, they worked together and helped those together for the purpose of sharing the gospel.

So what?

what do we learn from the essential truth of the body of Christ?

Meeting together as the body of Christ is an essential

we may not think it so, but we are called to meet together, to work together and to worship together as the body of Christ. the building is not important in itself. The building does not make us the church, but it is what God has provided us to sue for His glory.

I met a church in Vietnam. They met on a river to hide from the prying eyes of the communist govt. some well meaning church group came out to help them build a building for them to worship in. it was massive, and out of place. All they needed was a piece of ground to sit on where they could wotrship together.

Doing this they did great things for the Lord. They started a secret building to help kids in need, to teach them and share the gospel with them. Imagine what we could do if we all used our gifts for the glory of God like this.

Not all people who call themselves a church are.

This is important to mention. Just because people use the word “church” to describe themselves does not make them a church. A church is the body of Christ as we have mentioned that teach what the Bible teaches.

there are people who call themselves a church of Jesus but teach things that go against the word of God. We must watch out for them. Not all people who call on the name of the Lord are believers.

we must be wise enough in the scriptures to know the difference and not be decieved and led astray.

what do we do with all of this? it is an essential that we meet together as the body of Christ. but if there is anything we can take from this is that as the body of Christ we must not sit there and do nothing.

it is not our job to sit on our gifts an det them get hidden. We are all to serve as we are blessed and use our gifts for the glory of God. Do you have tlaents? you must use them in the body of Christ to serve Him where He has led you and to share the gospel outside the church. Are you given spiritual gifts? the same things applies.

We look to our vision to what we could become if we did this and I cant wait to see what God has in store if we do this.