What is the Church? (3)

WHO AM I? What would you say?

What is it that unites you with Christians 7,000+ miles away with someone in China.

She goes by many names, the Church, People of the Way, Disciples, Christians, People of the Spirit, the Bride of Christ, and many more. But who is she? There seems to be a bit of ambiguity in our culture about what the church is and who

What is the church?, What is her mission?, What is your role?, What is organizational structure?

“Followers of Christ who derive their identity and mission from Jesus and understand themselves to be the true eschatological community of God.” Lexham Bible Dictionary

Eschatological means “end things”. In the day o the Lord when all of the physical limitations and things that now divide us are passed away and gone, what is left will be the true and perfect church the kingdom saints perfected, united.

O to dwell with Saints above that will be my glory, but O to dwell with saints below well that’s another story.

This definition I think gives us a road map for our understanding biblically of what the church is.

The full and final church in all her glory with every saint elected from the foundation of the earth not one missing is the church that here in history being built and gathered. It is that which at any moment is visible and manifesting the glory of God here on earth.

Nicene Creed Circa 325 and later additions and slight changes later. “We believe in one holy catholic and Apostolic church.”

In 396 Augustine the Bishop of Hippo began to see abuses arise within the church, such as covetousness, defrauding, thievery, drunkeness. I believe that this arose largely over time beginning around 315 with the edict of Milan under Emperor Constantine, which essential made Christianity the state religion. Imagine an influx of polytheistic, pagan worshippers that were flooding into the church and you can imagine the conflict. This led Augustine to closely study the biblical reality of the church as expressed in 2 forms. The visible and invisible church.

“The Invisible church is found substantially within the visible church” Augustine

The Invisible Church

A. Holy

The church is sometimes called our mother in the sense that she is the one who instructs and guides and us not in her own authority but in the word. Timothy’s mother and grandmother taught him the scriptures as a young man.

2 Timothy 1:5 ESV

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

Though it is the visible local church that carries these things out in any given place, the faith that they pass on is an ancient faith one that is rooted in history, which we would do well to study.

B. catholic

We must be very careful and clear when we use the term catholic notice that it is not capitalized. It refers not to the Catholic. In fact the Catholic church as an institution did not even exist at the writing of these words.

Remember that Peter in his first epistle is writing to whom? Not to a local church, not the church in Rome, or in Ephesus, or Corinth, or Philippi, but to the universal church, he is writing to exiles who are scattered all over the known world, to those who have been elected to the salvation of God.

Peter calls the church a chosen race a people. Not the color of skin, or age, or a country. A people from every nations tribe and tongue.

The term universal church carries the idea of doctrinal unity. But when we look out into the protestant church today, is this what we see?

1 Corinthians 1:12–13 ESV

What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

Christ cannot be divided, there cannot be 50 different churches or even 2 or 3 different churches. There is the true church that hold to true and faithful doctrine and there is the false church which rejects Christ and the authority of scripture and substitutes something else whether the words doctrines or tradition or whatever.

In the small town of Chestertown alone there are well over 30 churches. There are baptist, Assemby of God, Presbyterian, Episcopal, United Methodist, AME, pentecostal, Lutheran, Nazerene, and on and on. It would seem at first glance that we are divided, but Christians from all generations are not divided, the universal invisible church is not divided. Christians have always gathered under the banner of what were the doctrines of the reformation, namely Sola Scriptura, that the word of God is the Supreme, and sole authority for life, and faith and doctrine. That is in its entirety inspired and infallible. It is the only thing that the church or the world for that matter posesses that is “theopneustos” that is greek for “God Breathed”. And the church has always affirmed Sola Fide, that man is justified by faith alone in Christ alone, apart from ones own work merit or work, but soley by the satisfactory work and merit of Christ.

There are many who hold to this historic faith, and for those who do we are far more united than we are divided, we are citizens of the same kingdom, the invisible and universal church, though we are separated on on other issues, some small and some more significant though not fundamental to the salvation.

I will give you an example: A few years ago I was invited to a gathering of pastors from all denominations, and the goal was to try to bring unity among churches and find out why churches were so silohed. I was somewhat puzzled by what seemed obvious to me and when asked the question my response was that we as the pastors and leaders could not even fundamentally agree on what the most fundamental and basic question of the scriptures. What is the gospel? Out of the hand full of churches represented there were so many different answers, and not just different ways of stating the same thing, but contradictory answers.

If we are apart of the universal, invisible, church then we must be united under the banners of Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide.

C. Apostolic

Unfortunately many protestant churches are afraid of church history even embarrassed by it. And for certain this is partly true, but contrary to popular belief the history of the church does not begin with Billy Graham. Ours is a historic faith, one that is rooted in apostolic authority and the canon of scripture.

Jude 3 ESV

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Ephesians 2:19–22 ESV

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

The Visible Church

The local invisible church is just that, the invisible made visible.

Have you ever pulled back the curtains at your house to let the sunlight in and been amazed at the dust that is floating around your house. The drawing back of the curtains made what was invisible visible.

It is a microcosm of the invisible, universal church. I was watching not too long ago a video of how they make cheese and they had these cheese tasters, they would take a big huge truckle or wheel of cheese. And they would take this coreing tool to take out a small sample to test. That little sample, will be representative of the quality of the entire batch of cheese. And so it is with the local church, though she might speak a different language, and might have different traditions and she will represent the whole in that she proclaims Christ, she upholds the word of truth and passes.

Works of John Owen: Volume 13 Chapter 9

“It is a society of men called by the word to the obedience of the faith in Christ, and joint performance of the worship of God in the same individual ordinances, according to the order by Christ prescribed.”

“it is the task of the church to make the invisible church visible.” John Calvin

The visible church of every age must take up the mantle to make the light of the gospel known to their generation. Think about what sparked the Reformation, it was the gospel being recovered in that generation, not that it ever was completely lost, as God always in every age preserves a remnant group of men and women faithful to the truth, but every age must strive to protect and to make known the light of the Gospel. This is why one motto of the reformation was “Post Tenabras Lux” that is “After Darkness Light”

Conclusion:

The visible is contained in the invisible. It is the core if you will. Imagine a huge circle which represents the invisible unseen church, and inside of that circle are lots of little circles little local church all laboring to build the one true church.

You want to be apart of the invisible church the kingdom of Saints in glory, then look to that which is visible the local church. She has been entrusted with the gospel, from her walls as the Word of God is faithfully preach and exposited it goes out into the world. She gathers kingdom saints and invites them to come where she ministers the word and sacrament.

Some of of may be deceiving ourselves. We claim to love Christ and despise his bride. We habitually and consistently absent ourselves from the visible church. Our commitment is to other things, sleep, work, boating, sports. What ever it might be.

A thermometer read the temperature, but it cannot change the it. It does not warm the room. But indicates what is. So brother or sister, you commitment to the local church reads and indicates the temperature of your soul. Let me be clear no one ever was saved by merely stepping foot in a church, but we deceive ourselves about the true condition of our souls if we claim the invisible but not the visible church.

The church: Her identity, her mission