The Church and its Members
Notes
Transcript
What is a church? What is its purpose? We are going to spend a few weeks talking about the church and its members. How are we supposed to understand it? What is a church member? How does one become a church member? What does it mean to be a church member? And perhaps more importantly, does it matter? There is a whole section of what we call systematic theology, that is seeing what the Bible says about a given subject, called ecclesiology. That’s a fancy word that basically means the study of the church. The basic question asked is, “What does the Bible teach about the church?” This subject covers what the church is, what its purpose is, how a church is supposed to operate, and much more. We are going to explore this subject to understand how we apply these truths in our context.
There are a number of metaphors that describe the church and the church’s relationship with Christ. We will talk more about them over the next few weeks.
To begin, we are going to revisit a very familiar passage. Jesus and his disciples have been traveling, and they arrive in Caesarea Philippi, a city located at the base of Mount Hermon, a little north of the Sea of Galilee. Here, Jesus asks his famous question of his disciples, “Who do you say I am?”
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.
This passage is the first to use the word church in the New Testament. It is the first of only three times Jesus himself uses the word church. All three uses of the word church appear in Matthew. The first is here, and the other two are in Matthew 18:17. There are 111 other instances of the word, but none of them are in the gospels. The question we should ask is what does he mean by church?
This is one of those instances where original languages is very important. The New Testament was written in Greek, and the Greek word for church means a gathering or an assembly. So it is true that while we call this building a church, it really is not. The building doesn’t gather. It provides the physical space for which we can gather. That’s why I say the church is not its physical address. The church is not the building. The church is those who occupy the building. So it is important that we understand the church is the gathering of Christ’s people. No individual Christian is the church. We can only be the church when we are together.
So if the church is the gathered people of Christ, how do we understand this as we experience gatherings of Christ’s people all over the world? Are we all members of the same church? If so, why do denominations exist? How do we know who is and who is not a member of the church? These are all important questions. But for the sake of our time today and the text in which we are exploring, let’s start with the church, its members, and some foundational principles.
The Church’s foundation is built on Christ.
The Church’s foundation is built on Christ.
Jesus asks his disciples who the people say he is. They begin to say that some people think he is Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. This is Jesus’ reputation among the crowds. Then he moves it to a more personal level. Who do you say I am? And Peter is the first person to speak up. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” Peter nails it. He has seen Jesus for who he truly is, and this is great news because no human being revealed this to Peter. Jesus informs him, his companions, and us as readers that this revelation came from God. Then Jesus gives Peter a new name. Simon becomes Peter, and Jesus says something interesting. “Upon this rock, I will build my church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
I want you to see first that the very first time the word church is used in the entire New Testament Jesus issues a profound truth. He is going to build his church. Christ is the foundation of the church. Yes, he is its head, but he is also its foundation. The church cannot stand on any foundation other than Christ. If we are wrong about Christ, we are not a church Christ has built.
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul is writing to address a conflict that arose that centered around who people were following. Some were following Paul and others Apollos. They started to get in fights over that. Paul wrote to address that conflict. Using the analogy of constructing a building, Paul writes,
According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.
For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Paul is arguing that neither he or Apollos are the foundation for the church in Corinth. Jesus is. They as laborers are building on the foundation of Christ, but they themselves are not the foundation.
In Ephesians 2, Paul does include the apostles and prophets in the foundation, but he highlights the importance of their relationship to Jesus.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,
having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,
As ancient foundations were laid, the cornerstone was the most critical piece. Every other stone was going to be laid in accordance with the way the cornerstone was laid. If the cornerstone was not level, the building would be a disaster. If you are building something and your base measurement is 1/16 of an inch off, it can lead to effects down the line that are several inches off. The church cannot be built on the foundation of faulty men unless anchored to something true, which is Christ.
Christ is building his church. He is the foundation upon which his church is being built.
The church is built through confessors.
The church is built through confessors.
Before Christ said he will build his church, he gave Peter a new name. Then he said that upon this rock he will build his church. Again, this is where knowledge of Greek can be useful. In fact, It’s pretty important here. In English we don’t see it, but in Greek, there is a bit of a wordplay going on. In Greek, the name Peter means rock. Then Jesus says that upon this rock, I will build my church. What does Jesus mean? The Greek word that is used for the name Peter generally refers to smaller more isolated rocks like stones or pebbles, like the kind you will find just outside our building. The word rock Jesus uses in “upon this rock” is a large, more solid rock, like a cliff or mountainside. Some argue that Jesus is saying that the church is built on Peter. In Roman Catholicism, this interpretation is at play when they claim Peter as the first pope. Others, because of the difference in meaning between these two words, conclude that Jesus is not saying he will build the church on Peter himself, but rather what Peter is confessing. Which one is it?
This debate has been going on for centuries, and many conclusions have come from this. While I don’t agree with the Roman Catholic conclusion that Peter was the first pope, we should still carefully consider what Jesus meant in this wordplay. The difference in meaning between the two words seems significant; the question is how significant is it? I am inclined to believe that the two Greek words used for Peter and rock are intentional. Therefore, Jesus meant something intentional by it. If we are to understand that the rock upon which Jesus is building his church is the confession Peter makes, this makes Peter a smaller part of something significantly greater: the gospel of Christ. However, it is also important not to downplay Peter’s role in the work of building the church. According to 2 Corinthians 5, the church has been given the ministry of reconciliation by which God makes an appeal through us to the rest of the world to be reconciled to him. The first people to carry out this work were Peter and the men sitting with him in Caesarea Philippi.
The church was only built by the apostles in the sense that they were true confessors. Christ is building his church. He began this work through investing himself in twelve men, who after praying continuously for ten days after his ascension, receive the Holy Spirit and spill out into the streets on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 people come to faith in Jesus. The confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God is the very foundation of the church. Confessions are made by confessors. There is no church without people. Peter and his companions were the first confessors who went to work convincing people who also became confessors. So the church grows as more people confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.
So the confession is of critical importance, but we should also remember that there is an intimate relationship between the confession and confessors. Christ is building his church, but he has chosen to work through confessors to do so.
The church is given authority to certify passports.
The church is given authority to certify passports.
There are somewhere around 173 United States Embassies around the globe and 88 consulates. Each of these offices represents the United States and her interests in other countries. The United States shares a common understanding with other countries in that the embassy or consulate constitutes sovereign soil for that nation. When you are in another country and you step foot into a United States embassy, you are once again under the jurisdiction of the United States government. But in order for you to enjoy all of the rights and privileges of that jurisdiction, you must be able to prove you are an American citizen. If you are traveling in a foreign country, your most valuable possession just might be your passport. It identifies you as an American citizen, affording you all the rights and privileges that come with it.
In verse 19 of our text, Jesus says to Peter that he is giving him the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever he binds on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever he looses on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, there is a debate here, but what everybody does seem to agree on is that Jesus is giving Peter authority. The keys are symbolic of authority. For example, if I give you a key to my house, I am authorizing you to enter my house. Then I must trust you to operate in that house in a way that aligns with my will for the house. Similarly, Peter is given the keys to the kingdom, a role in which I believe he shares with the rest of the apostles. As Jesus departed from the earth, he gave his followers the authority to certify citizenship in his kingdom based on confession.
There is a problem. The kingdom of Christ is a kingdom without borders. It is a kingdom not tied to a specific race or geographical location. Churches, that is local expressions of the body of Christ, need a way to determine who is a citizen and who is not. Who is part of the forever family, and who is not? The church is given the authority to declare this just as God has given government the authority to bear the sword. Do we get it right every time? No. But the authority is still vested in us.
Now, it is our job to certify one another’s passports. How do we do that? We are going to talk about that in the coming weeks. For today, we need to understand that you are either a citizen of the kingdom or you are not. There is no middle ground. You can only be a citizen through the proper confession. Evidence of that confession will be seen through the way one lives his life. The kingdom of Christ will one day be the only kingdom. Everyone is given the opportunity today to be a part of that kingdom. Are you in or out?
