Why, Church?
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Beginning a new series!
There are a number of reasons that I believe that the Lord has asked us to study this question.
Why, church? What is church? Why do we meet on Sunday mornings? What is the purpose of what we do?
Are we doing the right things? Are we focused on the right things or have we strayed?
Why do people just not want to come to church these days? How do we get people to come to church or even seem interested in church?
What is the church? Why, church?
These questions have been on my heart for a couple of months now and it has come up in multiple conversations that I have had with you all over the past month or so.
So, I have been studying and praying over this topic for a while and I feel like the Lord is desiring us to understand these questions according to His Word.
We will start by talking about from a biblical perspective of the why, church and then we will discuss why specifically THIS church. Why are we a church at CCR? Why has the Lord specifically planted us here?
I have a lot of questions that I hope to address. As, I was praying over this this week, I asked the Lord why is He having us study this. What are the goals of us studying the topic of why the church?
There was three reasons, that were confirmed at the Men’s study this Friday.
These are the three reasons why, I believe the Lord wants us to study this topic.
To unify us through a sense of purpose
To motivate us to action through a sense of responsibility
To see the full potential of Christ’s intent for the the church
Purpose, why we have this church, when understood, believed and bought into by you, will bring us into a deeper place of unity as a church. We will be so focused on the purpose and vision of what we are doing that little disagreements won’t matter because we are heading in the same direction.
A sense of loving responsibility to the Lord and to others, once realized, can become a strong motivator for us to step into action and into our gifts as we need each of us working together.
To reach the full potential of how Jesus desires His church to function and shine into the darkness of the world is something that I deeply and passionately desire and I hope that you do too!!
Are we doing this? Are these purposes being accomplished?
I don’t think the church in America is living up the intent of what Jesus desires of us.
So, let’s dive in.
Join me as we pray.
Pray for clarity in truth, unity in purpose, motivation is responsibility, and the fullness of Christ’s intent for the church to be realized in our church and others around us.
Amen.
Let’s start in Matthew 16:13-20.
Why you may ask? Well, its the first time in the Bible the word church is used. Jesus uses the word first and gives us what I believe is the foundation of the what the church is supposed to be founded on.
Read Matthew 16:13-20
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
Jesus in this passage uses the word church for the first time in scripture. I consider that significant.
The Greek word used here is
1711 ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia), ας (as), ἡ (hē): n.fem.; 2. LN church, the totality of all congregations of Christians at all times (Mt 16:18)
Now, this word is uses a huge number of time after this point but this is the first. And in this conversation, Jesus is referencing totality of all Christians, Christ followers, believers in Jesus across all time.
Now, there are two ways that this passage is typically interpreted. I have heard it preached both ways.
The first is that Jesus is saying that Peter, whose name means a small stone, is the rock upon which Jesus will build His church.
Now, I think there is merit to this interpretation and a reason to think this. Peter is instrumental in the launch and leadership of the church throughout the book of Acts in the early years of the church. Of that, there is no doubt.
Our Roman Catholic friends interpret it this way and say that Peter is the first pope and upon him and his teachings begins the catholic church.
However, I don’t necessarily believe that this what Jesus is saying here.
In this moment, God the Father divinely revealed to Peter, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
Up to this point, Jesus had not explicitly proclaimed this truth to them. He had not taught them this. Jesus said, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father who is in heaven.
Jesus called Peter, petros, meaning a small stone, but the word rock that He uses to describe the foundation of the church is petra, meaning bedrock or foundation boulder.
so, we have the small stone of Peter and a large boulder as the foundation of the church.
Jesus used petra or large boulder in the parable of the wise man who built His house upon the rock in Matthew 7. That is the man who hears and keeps the commands of the Lord.
And Peter uses Petros, or small stone in 1 Peter 2, when he talks about each of us as believers are like living stones being built into a spiritual house.
My interpretation of the Matthew passage is the Peter is not the rock that the Christian church is built upon but the divinely inspired declaration of Jesus being the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God is the foundational truth that the church of Jesus Christ is built on!
In fact, its in the definition of the word church!
The totality of Christians at all times. The totality of those who proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Its kind of the main requirement for being a Christian is to believe that!
It is my belief that this was revealed first through Peter in this moment and Jesus identified it as the central truth, the foundational boulder that will hold the church up and strong in the battle against the gates of hell.
That His death, burial, and resurrection is the basis of the power of the church to bind and loose things in heaven and Earth.
I don’t believe that this passage is talking about Peter and him being the foundation of the church, because three verses later Jesus calls Peter satan and tells him to get behind Him.
The foundation of this church, Connection Church at Richland will be in the essential truth that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah, born to take away the sins of the world.
That He was both God and man and lived it to perfection.
That He was crucified on the cross in my place and His blood was poured out to pay the penalty of MY sins!
And that because He was the Son of the living God, He raised His from the dead to defeat death and the enemy!
Because of this foundational truth, we as a church, as we advance, have the power to defeat the gates of hell and bind and loose that which heaven proclaims!
And that putting your faith in this truth and believing in that Jesus is the Messiah is how you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior!
This is foundational doctrine to our church and it is where our power arises from!
As a church, this is what we stand on.
And if you as a human being believe the same thing, if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus being the Christ, the Messiah,
as the Lord of your life, meaning you have turned away from living the way you want to and submit to His authority,
and as your Savior, meaning you put your faith in His ability to save you and nothing else, then you are apart of this church that Jesus is describing here! You are apart of the totality of Christians across all times!
You are apart of a group larger than this gathering of believers. You are apart of much larger community of believers in Jesus Christ.
I love how the definition of the word says at all times.
Scripture talks about those who put their faith in the promised Messiah before Jesus was even born. They were looking forward in faith and we are looking back in faith. But all of us are apart of something bigger that ourselves or even this congregation.
Our God, since the beginning, has been building a group of people to show Himself to the world. Did you know that?
Since Abraham, and Moses and the law. Our God has been building a group of people to join together, be united in worshipping Him, and looking different in the world to shine His goodness and power into the world.
God gave Moses the law and in Deuteronomy 4, tells him why.
See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
He says, you are going to look different and stand out because of how you are going to live but also, because they are going to see God near to you and His power will be obvious to all who look at you.
Does that not sound like that the church is supposed to be?!
We just studied the Beatitudes and how those are supposed to cause us to live and look different in this world. How when the Spirit produces those attitudes in our lives, we will shine the light of Jesus into the world, they will see our good works and glorify God!
They will see God in us!
They will see that God is close to us as well!
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
If we hear His commands and keep them, we are proclaiming our love for Him and building our lives on the foundational boulder of Jesus Christ and God will manifest Himself to us!
The world will see that God is close to us and shows Himself to us!
When the church is living to the full intent of what the church is supposed to, the world will see the power of God manifested on earth in a way that is undeniable!
Our God is a groups builder. Or a nation builder if you will. Peter says so.
You need to note that these “You’s” are not singular but plural. He is essentially says Y’all!
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
9-10
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, then you are not an individual anymore. You are apart of something bigger! You all are apart of a royal priesthood, a holy nation, set apart from the rest of the world to look differently, to live differently, to love differently. To show the nearness and power of God to the rest of the world!
The issues with the American church is that we are a church of individuals. We are a nation of individuals. But that is not what the church is supposed to be. The church is those who has surrendered their individual rights and freedoms to obedience to Christ commands.
We are meant to be a holy nation, set apart from the desires of self, what I want in this life.
This is why church attendance is down. People are hopping from place to place looking for what they need and they desire rather than realizing they are apart of a holy nation, a church that is not centered around what they are supposed to get out of church but what they are supposed to invest into others.
Love God and love others! The greatest in the kingdom is the servant to all.
Great love has none than this, that they lay down their lives for another.
JFK talked about the country but we should be asking not what the church should do for me but what can I do for the church!
(slow down)
I believe that the intent of what church should be are those united in Biblical purpose, motivated by loving responsibility to God and each other and we will see the full extent what what Jesus intended the church to look like.
But we, as the church, have not done a great job teaching this. We teach that its all about that moment of salvation and then start checking to with you to see how your individual walk is going.
How is your relationship with the Lord going? A good and solid question but we have missed a larger point.
I heard and illustration of it like this.
I give you a present and you open it and its ice skates.
You think oh cool! I love this!
And you go to the ice rink and practice skating and having fun.
I check in with you and ask how the skating has been going. You tell me that its great but you are just trying to figure it out and its not been easy.
What if I came to you instead and said, I never meant for you to just go figure this out for you to go skating! I am starting a hockey team and I want you on it! We aren’t just going to goof off though, we are going to join the NHL and play against the Preds and Blackhawk, and Red Wings. Not only that but we are going to be able to beat them and win it all! If fact, we are the returning champions! We have already beat all of the other teams out there! I want you to join the winning team!
The church for too long has been checking on how the individual is skating instead of tell you to lace up and join the holy nation of believers that the gates of hell will not prevail against! You are apart of a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a larger group of people that proclaim the excellencies of God!
There is a purpose for this team and we need to unite around it!
There are responsibilities that each of us have for this team and it should motive us to practice and contribute to the defeat of the enemy!
Jesus Christ has an intended purpose and power that He wants to work out through us, His church. And its going to take us all to see it accomplished.
And I desire to see it happen.
Over the coming weeks, we will dive into this purpose and our responsibility to this nation.
I’m excited for this study!