Ecclesiology in Fellowship Forest

Introduction

Ecclesiology in Fellowship Forest – The Study of the Church

Key Truth: The Church is the People of God in Christ.

Metaphors

“Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space.” – Orson Scott Card (Science Fiction Novelist)

Sayings

“A diamond in the rough.”

“Heart of gold.”

“He’s a catch.”

“Beating a dead horse.”

“You are the light of my life.”

“Time is money.”

“He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.”

Sports

“I’m going to tackle this project.”

“That really helped move the ball down the field.”

“He really fumbled that one.”

“What’s the game plan?”

“You really hit that out of the park!”

“That covers all the bases.”

“Step up to the plate.”

“Right off the bat.”

“Rain check.”

“Slam dunk.”

“Par for the course.”

“The Ball’s in your court.”

Pictures are worth 1,000 words. And the Bible gives us pictures to illustrate the doctrine of the church. But before we get there, we need to set the groundwork.

Universal vs. Local

Local church practices mirror universal Church realities.

So we are going to look at these pictures of the church today. But the implications for them are more than universal realities. They also guide and direct how the church operates. What local churches do should reflect what Christ has done for the universal Church.

Picture 1: Body

Christ is the Head of the Church

Ephesians 1:22–23 CSB

And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Application: We obey Christ’s commands.

The Body is Made of Different Parts/Spiritual Gifts

Ephesians 4:11–16 CSB

And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.

We practice local church membership because we are members of Christ’s body.

Each individual church member is necessary to the proper functioning of the church.

The Church is diverse.

Spiritual Gifts

Church Membership

Picture 2: Bride

Christ Purifies His Church through the Word

Ephesians 5:22–32 CSB

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, since we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.

Christ purifies his bride into his holiness.

The Church is to pursue purity in holiness.

Church Discipline

Word-Saturated Ministry

When Christ returns, we will be made righteous.

Picture 3: Temple

Ephesians 2:18–22 CSB

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.

The Church is a place to grow in holiness.

The Church dies to herself so that she might live for Christ.

The Church is the center of worship.

The Church is where God’s presence resides.

Singing

Biblical Counseling

Growth Groups

Picture 4: Flock

Jesus, the Good Shepherd

John 10:1–18 CSB

“Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

Everyone in the church is equal.

Christ lovingly knows, leads, feeds, and protects his church.

Christ pursues his church.

The Church follows Christ.

Pastors, Shepherds Under the Good Shepherd

1 Peter 5:1–4 CSB

I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed: Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

As Christ is the head of the universal Church, so the pastors are the head of the local Church.

Pastors know, lead, feed, and protect their sheep.

Pastors Lead, Deacons Serve, Congregation Governs

Picture 5: Family

God is our Father. We are his children.

Romans 8:16–17 CSB

The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Romans 8:29 CSB

For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

1 John 3:1–2 CSB

See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.

The Church is God’s family.

The Church, the children, obey their father.

Christ is our big brother. He shares his inheritance with us.

The people around you are your brothers and sisters.

Key Truth: The Church is the people of God in Christ.

One of the metaphors is more essential than the others. While they are all pictures, one of them is more than that. One of them is not just metaphor, it is reality. Any guesses as to which?

The Family of God.

The Church is the Family of God. The church is like a body, like a bride, like a temple, like a flock. But the church is the family of God.

So as we conclude our journey through Fellowship Forest, we haven’t just been friends or hiking buddies. We have been doing this as brothers and sisters.

Another way the church is like a family is in two other practices. And we find these practices at Ordinance Outpost.

Ordinance Outpost

Baptism as Birth into the Family

Lord’s Supper as Family Meals