ECCLESIOLOGY: THE STUDY OF THE CHURCH.

EQUIP TREK

ECCLESIOLOGY: THE STUDY OF THE CHURCH.

WHAT IS THE CHURCH

THE BODY AND BRIDE METAPHORE

THE BODY

Romans 12:1

12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service. [1]

Brothers and Sister = community

Your bodies = more than one body

A living sacrifice = 1 sacrifice

The church made up of many individuals offering themselves as an offering to God is received by God as one offering not many individual offerings.

Ephesians 1:22-23

1:22 And God put all things under Christ’s feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things. 1:23 Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. [2]

1 Cor 12:12-20

12:12 For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body—though many—are one body, so too is Christ. 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit. 12:14 For in fact the body is not a single member, but many. 12:15 If the foot says, “Since I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. 12:16 And if the ear says, “Since I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, what part would do the hearing? If the whole were an ear, what part would exercise the sense of smell? 12:18 But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided. 12:19 If they were all the same member, where would the body be? 12:20 So now there are many members, but one body. [3]

THE CHURCH IS ONE AND IS MADE UP OF INDIVIDUALS.

· The Church is therefore one diverse body.

· Unity in and through our diversity.

· A diversity that is brought into unity through Jesus.

· Each individual serves the whole and is served by the whole.

· Individuals are like cells that form the body of Christ.

THE BRIDE

Revelation 21:2

21:2 And I saw the holy city—the new Jerusalem—descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband.[4]

· The Holy City – the Church of Jesus is the bride.

Ephesians 5:25-27

5:25 Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 5:26 to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, 5:27 so that he may present the church to himself as glorious—not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless[5]

· Husbands are compared to Jesus.

· The Wife is compared to the church (not individuals)

· Jesus adorns, loves, gave himself for, to sanctify the CHURCH.

KEY POINT = The Church is the Bride of Christ and the Church is made up of individuals from across time, space, and made up of every tribe, language, sex, and socio-economic group of world history.

Jesus has one Bride, the Church and therefore the Church is one.

Men, the image of the bride is a corporate image not an individual image. (No wedding dresses for the dudes.).

Jesus loves His Church, He died for the salvation and sanctification of His Church.

THE CHURCH IS CORPORATE AND PHYSICAL IN NATURE, CREATED AND SUSTAINED BY AND FOR JESUS. THE CHURCH IS A VISIBLE WITNESS TO THE GRACE OF JESUS CHRIST.

THE MARKS OF THE CHURCH: WHAT MAKES A COMMUNITY OF JESUS PEOPLE THE CHURCH?

Mark Dever, in his book “The 9 Marks of a Healthy Church” gives 9 marks that he believes will help the Church recover it’s ancient purpose, mandate, and reality, separating it from the culture it is surrounded by.

While Dever and others like him have much to say to the modern Church, we want to know, what were the ancient signs or “Marks” that distinguished a corporate gathering of people from the corporate gathering of the CHURCH.

THE HISTORICAL MARKS

Our book points us to the Nicene Creed (One of the oldest and agreed upon Creeds).

One – Holy – catholic – Apostolic

“When the Church is faithful, we embody these marks as a witness to the grace of Christ. We also must acknowledge the ways in which the church fails, hiding or defacing these realities that meant to mark us. The Church bears these four marks, but in tension. These marks are the truth about the Church,…Until the Kingdom of God is present in fullness, we bear these marks partially and brokenly…”

One – Unity

John 17:17-23

· Vs 17 – Set apart in unity through the Truth of the Word

· Vs 18 – As the father sent Jesus, Jesus has sent us – Unity in Mission

o The Church is to be in the world like Jesus.

· Vs 21 – May they (Church) all be one. A Trinitarian unity. Perfect unity with God and one another.

· Vs 22 – The glory of God given to us by Jesus is how we are unified. – In other words, we cannot make unity happen in our strength, but it is a gift of Grace from God through Jesus to the Church.

· Vs 23 – Unity is for mission – That the world may know.

Holiness

Ephesians 2:19-22

· Vs 19 – We are the household of God (A Holy God). Grace brought us here.

· 20-22 – Laid on the foundation of the Apostles and Jesus being the chief cornerstone – Jesus is building the Church into a HOLY Temple.

1 Peter 1:13, 15

2 Tim 1:9

· Holiness is an issue of Grace and the corporate Body.

· Jesus through the Holy Spirit in the Church is slowly forming His body into a HOLY Temple.

· Law says, you must be Holy to get in.

· Grace says, you are in, now with patience and endurance stay, as the Holy Spirit working in you and your brothers and sisters will bring about His Holiness.

“God is the only standard for holiness, and for the church to be holy is for the community to be like God. When the church is holy, we bear visible and material witness to God’s love for the world.”

· Community in the Church is not about acceptance of sin but of embracing one another in an, “as iron sharpens iron” relationship.

· When the Church is marked by holiness we are a material sign for the world of freedom in Christ and of His love towards the world.

Catholicity – Small c catholic

Universal and whole – Speaks of the whole, universal church throughout time and history up to our present day.

Acts 2:42-47

· Different cultures and languages making up the church.

· Love, holiness, and devotion towards Jesus and one another.

· God’s power was over this diverse yet single body as a sign to the world.

· Daily the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Rev 7:9-10

To live as a Universal Whole is an act of God’s grace and not human achievement.

The sign to the world is the catholic nature of salvation – it is for all humanity, in all nations, and all people groups.

Apostolic –

Matt 28:18-20

· Apostle means sent ones.

· The Church is sent into the world as God sent Jesus John 17:18

· We are sent on a mission to be ambassadors of the Gospel of Jesus to the world. (2 Cor 5:11-21)

· Prophetic in that it declares the truth into the surrounding culture through, word, deed and life.

· The Apostolic church teaches the Apostolic message that was handed to us through the Apostles. We do not need nor should we invent new doctrine. The truth has been given to us – now we go into the world with it.

[1]Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2005), Ro 12:1. [2]Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2005), Eph 1:21–23. [3]Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2005), 1 Co 12:12–20. [4]Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2005), Re 21:2. [5]Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2005), Eph 5:24–27.