John 20:23: The Blessing of the Church

Scripture Reading

Ephesians 2:19–22 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.

Intro

How much do you love your church?

For many Christians church is… optional.

I’ve got Jesus what do I need a church for.

Its not a religion… its a relationship.

And for the ones that even do go to church there are many more that never actually join a church in any kind of committed church membership.

And I’m convinced that the weakness of the American church and the emptiness many Christians still experience in their Christian Life…

Still struggling with the same sin…

Still feeling distant and far off from God…

Is a direct result of how we prioritize church in our lives.

And I don’t just mean coming to worship… which is a part of it… I mean how we prioritize and value a local church body.

A local body of believers that we bind and commit ourselves to… and that we can call home.

This morning I want to help you see the glory, grace, and blessing that Christ has given us in the local church.

Why a local church… your church!… is such a blessing for your life.

And why committing yourself to a local body of believers is absolutely, 100%worth it and one of the greatest spiritual investments you can make with your life.

Our Big Idea for the day out of John 20:23 is this.

The Church is one of Christ’s greatest graces to the Believer.

The Church is a gift.

And the more we lean in to that together as a body… the greater Christ’s gift is.

What I hope to do today is show you how the church is absolutely essential for your life and for us as a church to give glory to Christ for the great gift He has given us here in this place with one another.

We are going to have 3 points today on the Blessing and Gift of the Church.

Number 1… The Church is an Assurance.

Number 2… the Church is a Refuge.

Number 3… The Church is a Blessing.

Let’s start with point number 1 and John 20:23 where…

I. The Church is an Assurance

John 20:23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.

Christ says these words in the context of the Early Church.

The Disciples are all gathered together and Christ comes in and says As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

This is the Great Commission.

And in the context of the Great Commission, Christ says If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.

Now what this does not mean is that the Church has the power to forgive sins.

Only God can forgive sins and Christ alone is the One True Mediator between God and men (Luke 5:21; 1 Timothy 2:5).

What this means is that the Church has the authority to do two things:

Number 1… To Proclaim the Forgiveness of sins…

And Number 2… to Recognize the forgiveness of sins.

Proclaim

In other words, just as Christ had the words of eternal life and a sure and true word from God Himself for how we might be saved (John 3:31-32, John 6:68)…

So too does the Church now have that sure and true word as well as the authority to say, “All who trust in Christ will be saved.”

We can say with the authority and testimony of God Himself that all who trust in Christ will have their sins forgiven (cf. John 13:20, John 3:33-34).

Recognize

With these words, Jesus also gives the church the authority to recognize the forgiveness of sins.

In other words, the authority to look at a person’s words and works and say by your testimony and by the fruit of your life, you belong to Christ and are forgiven of your sins.

So again… its not bestowing forgiveness like the Catholics teach… its recognizing forgiveness based on someone’s profession of faith in Christ and the fruit of their life.

How?

And this is the part I really want to focus on because how does the church do this?

How does the church exercise this authority to recognize who is in Christ and who is outside of Christ and still dead in their sins?

The answer is in Biblical Church Membership.

It is by identifying and affirming who is a Member of a Church and who is not that the Church recognizes whether or not someone has been forgiven of their sins.

We call this… theologically… the keys of the Kingdom.

Who is in the Kingdom of God and who is out?

And we call it that because that’s the language Jesus used in another passage using similar language to describe this authority of the Local Church.

Keys

Look at Matthew 16:17-19.

Jesus and His Disciples had come to Caesarea Philippi and Jesus asked His disciples, Who do people say that I am?

And some said Elijah…

Some said Jeremiah…

Others said John the Baptist.

And then Jesus asked… But who do you say that I am?

And Peter said Matthew 16:16 You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

To which Jesus said…

Matthew 16:17–19 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.”

That language of binding and loosing is that similar language to If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld (John 2:23).

Rabbis would use “binding” to talk about unforgiven sins or tying sins to someone…

While using “loosing” to talk about forgiving or untying sins from someone (MacArthur, Biblical Doctrine, 730).

And this isn’t just given to Peter… again like the Catholics teach… because the same language is used in Matthew 18 with Church Discipline which we are going to look at in a moment which Jesus applies to the whole church.

So what Jesus is doing is again giving the Church the authority to proclaim the Gospel with a sure and true promise of that salvation and then to recognize that forgiveness.

And the way He does that is by saying I will give you the Keys of the Kingdom.

Keys are obviously for locking and unlocking.… opening and shutting.

The gist is that the Church has the authority to open the Kingdom to the one that confesses Christ… you are the Christ, the Son of God… and shut the Kingdom to the one that denies Him.

Proclaiming and recognizing forgiveness.

Baptism

Now the way this happens practically is obviously Baptism.

And in fact, this is one of the things that make us Baptists.

We believe that one of the first steps for any Christian is Baptism and that Baptism is reserved for believers.

Baptism is not just how someone goes public and makes their profession of faith in Christ.

Baptism how a church says we have heard your testimony and your faith in Christ and based on that testimony you are forgiven.

After all… what does Baptism symbolize?

That all of your sins are washed away.

That you are raised from death to life.

This is why we do not baptize infants or those that have not made a credible profession of faith.

And when you are baptized you are baptized into membership of a local church.

This is why we believe baptism should happen in the context of a local church body, and not just in some pool somewhere with family and friends.

Because the Church has the authority of the Keys of the Kingdom and that authority is not just expressed in Christians in general… the Church invisible or the Church Universal… but in local gospel churches.

Baptism Application

So some of you young men and women whose parents are members of this church but you’ve now come to a personal faith in Christ…

You would say with Peter, You are the Christ! The Son of the Living God!

Or maybe someone older who’s just come to faith…

You’re first step in following Jesus is to be Baptized and make your faith known.

And in that Baptism… the Church can give you an assurance that your sins are loosed… gone… forgiven!… and you are bound to Christ!

Now does that mean the Church always gets it right?

What about apostates… those that continue in sin or deny the faith?

We try… we do our best to baptize only those that give a credible profession of faith.

But in certain cases that’s where Church Discipline comes into play.

Church Discipline

In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus says If your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault and if he repents you’ve gained back your brother but if he doesn’t you go again with two or three witnesses.

Either two or three witnesses to the sin…

Or two or three witnesses to the confrontation to see your pleading and begging for reconciliation.

If they don’t repent even then Jesus says verse 17…

Matthew 18:17–18 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

That is like an unbeliever… someone outside the faith.

Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

There’s that language again… the Keys of the Kingdom.

In baptism you recognize their faith and testimony…

In Church Discipline… its the whole church… based on that person’s sin and unrepentance… saying we can no longer affirm your faith in Christ and cannot say you are forgiven of your sins.

Discipline = Local

By the way… Church Discipline itself implies membership in a local church body because the only Christians who can obey this command are church members who recognize other Christians as fellow Church Members.

Paul says For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? (1 Corinthians 5:11-12).

Inside the church isn’t just inside the faith because otherwise you would have every Christian having the authority to excommunicate every other Christian until pretty soon everyone is shut out of the Kingdom of God.

Inside the Church is inside the confines of a local church body.

Application

So here’s the point…

The Church has the authority to proclaim the forgiveness of sins and two recognize the forgiveness of sins.

They Keys of Kingdom.

The govern their own borders so to speak and determine whose in Christ and whose not.

So let’s make a few quick applications.

Application for the Unbeliever

For the unbeliever… someone that does not yet believe.

Maybe that’s you here today.

The Church has a sure and true word of salvation.

A word and testimony from God Himself of how you might be saved.

Trust in Christ.

Jesus died in our place for our sins and rose again three days later.

The only way to be forgiven of our sin is by faith in Him.

You Receive and Rest on Christ.

Believe He died on the cross for you and give your life.

Say God be merciful to be a sinner and then be Baptized in Him I(Luke 18:13; Galatians 3:27).

Application for the Believer Outside a Church

Application for the Believer who has been baptized but is not a member of any local church…

Also for you children in here who will one day grow up and leave your parents house…

You need to join a church.

Its inevitable.

Every time you talk about local church membership… the comment comes back “I don’t need to join any local church. I’m part of the universal church.”

The church is all the people of God not just some building.

You’re right… we are going to talk about that.

But let me ask you a question… How does the world see the salt and light of the universal, invisible church?

In local, visible churches.

The New Testament has no concept for a Christian who is not a part of a local church.

And by a part I don’t just mean coming on Sundays… but joining and covenanting to that church body.

How can you ever exercise or participate church discipline if you are not in a local church?

You can’t.

“Well,” you say, “Church Membership isn’t in the Bible.”

Neither is the word Trinity, but it doesn’t mean its not there.

In Acts 2:41 The saints are baptized and then added to the church counting their number… about three thousand souls.

That’s a membership roster.

Let me give you my best argument… my quickest case for Church Membership.

Leaders

In Hebrews 13:17 it says Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.

Now what leaders are you called to obey?

Everyone who calls themselves a pastor?

I hope not.

No! He says Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account (Hebrews 13:17).

The leaders you are to submit to are the leaders who are going to give an account for your soul.

This only makes sense in the context of a local church membership.

No Need of You

Paul calls the Church a body saying we are all members of one another and then says The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable (1 Corinthians 12:21).

But if you as a Christian, refuse to join a church… however that church practices membership… are you not just saying to every other member in the body, I don’t have any need of you… I’m good on my own.

The very thing Paul is saying not to do in that passage?

Every Christian needs to join a church.

Your faith and your discipleship will suffer for the lack of it.

So for some of you… the application is to join the church.

And if not this church then some other church that preaches the gospel.

But to stop playing church on Sundays thinking coming to church on Sundays is enough and commit yourself to a local body.

Application for the Church Member

And now for the Church Member.

One of the great blessings that Christ has given you in the Church is the assurance of your salvation.

Especially for you that struggle with doubt.

Am I really forgiven?

Does God really love me?

Besides the inward witness of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of your life you can look at the body and say, “They say I am” (Romans 8:16).

How do you know you’re not a false Christian or that you’re following the true, biblical Jesus and not just one of your own imagination?

By Persevering in the Faith and joining a bonafide, local church body that preaches the gospel and has the authority of Christ Himself to look at your life and to look at your testimony and say… you are forgiven.

This Church is Christ’s gift for us to give us rest for our restless souls.

To know we are loved and accepted in Him.

The Church is an assurance.

Number 2…

II. The Church is a Refuge

Look at Hebrews 10:24-25.

Hebrews 10:24–25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

There is something essential for you in the church.

Something necessary to help you remain faithful to Christ and continue following Him.

This is connected to the idea that the Church has the True Words of Eternal Life.

As the Church preaches the Gospel… it both feeds and protects the believers of that body.

And that idea of Feeds and Protects is why I say the church is a refuge and shelter from the storm.

The storm of life and the storm and hatred of the world.

The Church is a Refuge that feeds and protects the sheep.

Both of these ideas are found in the Gospel of John connected to Christ as the Chief Shepherd.

Feeds

First, the Church is a Refuge that Feeds the sheep Sound Doctrine and the Word of God.

When Jesus restores Peter in John 21, three times Jesus says Feed my Lambs… Feed my Sheep… tend them.

Just as God promised in Jeremiah 3:15 And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

A Church that preaches a sound gospel and the whole counsel of the Word of God… and a church that receives that whole counsel…

Is a blessing to the flock.

It is only by knowledge of the Word that you and I grow in Christ.

Protects

Number 2… the Church is a Refuge that Protects the sheep from sin and wolves that aim to destroy them.

As Jesus said in…

John 10:12–15 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for 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; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Sheep need protection… and the Good Shepherd has given the Sheep Under-Shepherds to Feed and Protect them.

Pastors.

One of the words the New Testament uses for Pastors is Shepherd.

Going back to Peter in 1 Peter 5.

1 Peter 5:1–2 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Chris… shepherd the flock of God that is among you.

Paul addresses the Ephesian Elders in Acts 20 and says…

Acts 20:28–29, 31 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock… Therefore be alert.

Your Pastors are one of Christ’s great gifts to you (Ephesians 4:11).

Those that will give an account for your soul.

And I can tell you, your pastors here are well aware of that.

One of our greatest prayers is, “Lord, just help us be faithful.”

Obligations to Pastors

This is why the Bible calls you to respect your leaders and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13).

To provide materially and financially for those who labor in preaching and teaching (1 Corinthians 9:14, Galatians 6:6, 1 Timothy 5:7).

To pray for them (Ephesians 6:19, Colossians 3:4, 2 Thessalonians 3:1, Hebrews 13:18).

And like we saw earlier Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them.

Authority for Good

And the Pastors for our part… are to use that authority not to bless and enrich ourselves but to labor for your good.

That’s the mark of a true pastor.

The standard you should hold us to.

Not puffing ourselves up… Lording over you.

But serving you for you good (Luke 22:25-27)… Feeding you… protecting you… shepherding the flock of God under the Chief Shepherd Jesus.

As Paul said For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed (2 Corinthians 10:8).

The authority given was for the building you up.

So the Church is gift not just for your assurance… but also for feeding and protecting you.

A Refuge and Shelter from the storm.

And in that gift your Pastors are a gift… not sufficient in ourselves but holding this treasure in jars of clay… (2 Corinthians 3:5, 4:7).

This is why you need the church.

Its Christ’s gift for you… for your good and blessing.

And that takes us to point number 3 where we really take everything we’ve said and summarize it down to a point of application…

III. The Church is a Blessing

1 Peter 2:5 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.

The Church is a people not a building.

You’ve heard that before… but let me put some meat on it.

Peter says you… as in the whole church… are like living stones being built up as a spiritual house.

We are God’s Temple.

All of us together.

No the church is not a building and no its not just its pastors.

Its the whole body bound and committed together in love.

And the blessings we enjoy as a Church are innumerable.

We’ve looked at some…

Assurance.

Feeding.

Protection.

Even Church is a blessing because there’s people around us that love us enough to say you’re on the path of death… repent… turn around.

Don’t keep going that road.

But there are also so many more.

We bear one another’s burdens.

Encourage one another.

Pray for one another.

Provide for each other when we have need.

In this church we have our people… our tribe… the ones you can count on.

But only in as much as we commit ourselves to one another.

That’s what Church Membership is… Love… Commitment… Devotion.

Goods and Services

One of the problems plaguing the American Church today and many Christians is that we look at the church as a collection of goods and services.

This one’s good enough for now… but like any restaurant I’ll move along when I get upset or find something better.

That kind of mentality stunts our spiritual growth prevents the church as a whole from experiencing all the blessings Christ as given to us.

How do you have true love and commitment… true biblical community when everyone’s got one foot out of the door.

When everyone looks at the church and all the other members of the body… and says what are you going to do for me.

That’s the opposite of what Jesus called us to.

He said Love one another (John 13:34).

We serve one another for one another’s good (John 13:1-16).

Ownership

If we are all the body… if we are all living stones… then all of us have an ownership and responsibility of the church.

To look at the church and say I have just as much of a responsibility to fight for and defend this church…

To make this church go… as much as the pastors do.

If we are going to hand this Church over to the next generation to be a faithful light that’s not going to be because of Me, Pastor Chad, or Pastor Jeff…

Its going to be because of all of us… at least it should be.

How much do you love your church?

Do you see this as your church or just the place you attend?

All of us are responsible for making this place go and the more we commit ourselves to that the more we will reap and enjoy the blessings of the church.

Commit yourself to the long haul.

As long as this church is preaching the gospel, I’m here.

We’ll work through sin, we will work through difficulty… but we all make this place go.

Membership has got to matter… or its not any kind of membership at all.

Practically it should be really hard to leave a church.

Paul calls it a body… members of one another… if we chopped off a hand or a foot… it would hurt.

It should.

But as we press into the church… stick with it and commit to one another then we will all be built up and… as Paul says in Ephesians 4:13 attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

We will all grow into Christ-likeness.

Love

Now what does that look like?

Love!

Love is the mortar that binds us as spiritual stones together.

When we are talking about Commitment… Church Covenant… what we are really talking about is love.

We are committed to love one another and walk together as the People of God.

That’s all Church Membership is… that’s what a Church is!

In Colossians 3:14 Paul said…

Colossians 3:14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

The commitment we make to one another in covenantal Church Membership is a Covenant of love.

A commitment to love one another just as Christ said… A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you (John 13:34).

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

You want to get the most out of a church?

Give yourself to the church.

You get out what you put in.

And the more we love one another and the more we commit to one another… the more we will enjoy the blessings Christ has given us.

Conclusion

And I’ll tell you.

You are a great church.

What Paul said of the Thessalonians we could say of you…

1 Thessalonians 4:9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

My hope for this sermon was to remind us what we are doing here but to also help us give glory to God for all that He has given us in this church.

God has been so faithful to us.

For those of you that have been here a long time…

God has brought us through financial woes where we didn’t have enough money to give anything to missions to now being functionally out of debt.

He’s brought us through church transition and pruning that we might bear more fruit.

Pastoral transitions… Church splits… divisions…

Hard times… and God has been faithful through them all.

What God has given us here is a gift.

The Assurance.

The Feeding… The Protection…

The Refuge… the Blessing.

The Last Pledge of our Membership Covenant is Membership is a Gift… and this Church is a gift to us.

Christians all over the world long for what we have… and its all God’s grace in us.

The Church is a Gift.

It is an assurance, refuge, and blessing and one of Christ’s greatest graces to the believer.

Are we grateful?

Do we give ourselves and our life to it.

Do I have an ownership stake in this church… committed to this church or do I still look at the church as a collection of goods and services?

Do I see the church… this church as one of the greatest gifts and one of the greatest blessings of my life?

Let’s Pray

Thanks for the gift

Commitment to the Gospel

Commitment to one another

Help us forgive and live in harmony

Help us to bear one another’s burdens and spur one another on towards Christ

Help us to love like Christ loved us

Build us as your church into mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ