The Church
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The importance and definition of the Church
The importance and definition of the Church
Matthew 16:18 “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.”
Ephesians 5:32 “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”
THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
What is a mystery?
When used in the Bible the word “mystery” refers to a truth that people could not discover for themselves.
It is a truth that was kept secret by God until the appropriate moment in history.
At that time He revealed it to mankind.
There are 14 “mystery” doctrines recorded in the New Testament.
Can you find the other thirteen!
What is the mystery of the Church?
The Word of God divides the human race into three seperate groups?
Anyone know what they are?
1 Corinthians 10:32 “Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God,”
The Jews
The Greeks
The Church of God
The Greeks refer to the Gentiles - all nations of the earth except the nation that came from Abraham when he was called our of Ur of the Chaldees 2000 years before the time of Christ.
God chose Abraham and his decendent for a special role?
What was that role?
Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””
To bring blessing to the whole world.
Through Israel, in spite of their failures, came God’s greatest gifts to us!
The written Word of God
The Lord Jesus
To protect the Messiah’s line through Abraham and David to Christ, God erected a “middle wall”.
If the Jewish nation became absorbed into other nations, how would God provide “the of David, the son of Araham”
Matthew 1:1 “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
So God walled of the Jews.
He gave them different food laws and customs which kept them from intermingling with other nations.
But once the Saviour came, God took down that middle wall!
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
Of course, there were some Gentiles saved in the Old Testament period.
Some examples are:
Rahab
Ruth
Uriah
But the mystery of the Church is this:
When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Believing Jews and Gentiles now come to God on the same basis - the redemptive work and shed blood of Christ.
They also sharing the same blessings.
The believing Jew has no advantage over the Gentile.
WHAT IS THE CHURCH?
WHAT IS THE CHURCH?
People have many ideas about the meaning of the word “church”.
Some think it refers to an ornate building and that by going into that building brings them blessing.
But we want to look at the way the Bibles uses the term so that we can find its true meaning.
In Corinthians we see a good description of a New Testament Church in the introduction to the letter.
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Notice:
Its ownership “the church of God”. It is God’s church.
Its locality “in Corinth”.
It has to be made up of those seperated from the world. Those “sanctified” and “called to be saints”. Saints come from the word santicified. Sanctified means seperate or set apart.
Though it is local - Corinth - the overall picture is that is part of something much greater - “all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.”
All members of the true Church and one thing in common.
We have been saved by:
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
by repenting and believing the Gospel
and we have
John 1:12 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”
Was a wonderful truth.
Every true Christian, whatever their denominatonal persuasion is a child of God and our brother and sister in Christ.
THE FIRST MENTION OF THE CHURCH
THE FIRST MENTION OF THE CHURCH
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.
There is one one building that will survive the collapse of the universe!
Consider this passage.
“I” - The Architect
Man made structures are doomed.
They will fail.
Only the Lord Jesus can design, build and see the completion of “His glorious Church”.
so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
He paid the price to redeem it with His own precious blood.
“WILL” - The Purpose
During the Lord’s time on earth, we see very few occasions where He expressed His own will.
He was obedient to the will of the Father - even to the death of the cross.
However, here, we see Him express His will and His power very clearly.
“I WILL” build My Church.
We also see this in John 17:24
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
“The gates of hell” - Satans relentless attacks will not prevail against it.
The Lord will not fail.
He will not grow faint or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.
We see the truth of this throughout Church history, where the church has continued despite the most terrible persecution and efforts of Satan to destroy it.
“BUILD” - The Construction
When the Lord spoke, He was speaking about the future.
This building project would begin in the books of Acts “when the Day of Pentecost has fully come”.
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
We know from Scripture that the Church is a New Testament work only.
Why. Because its foundation is apostles and prophets.
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
His death at Calvary would make the “peace” to bring Jews and Gentiles together.
1 Peter 2:4–5 “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.”
Now stone by stone the structure rises.
One day the last stone will be added and the structure will be complete.
You are a living stone.
You are part of that wonderful structure, the Church, that the Lord is building!
“MY” - The Owner
We must acknowledge no other head but the Lord Himself.
God’s blueprints for the Church are in His Word.
Ephesians 3:8–9 “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,”
Paul says that to him was given a responsibility.
To preach the unsearchable riches of Christ (the doctrine of the Gospel and he did this in Romans)
And to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God (the doctrine of the Church)
Both truthes of the Gospel and the Church are unbreakable linked together.
This is vitally important to know because God did not just plan to save us from our sins, as wondeful as that is.
But more than to be part of His Church, the Body of Christ.
In that Body, eveybody has a part and everynody has responsiblity.
“CHURCH” - The Masterpiece
The Church is not an earthly organisation.
It is not a physical building.
It is a living organism made up of all true Christian - each being a member of the Body of Christ.
Through the Church God shows:
HIS GRACE
Ephesians 2:7 “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
2. HIS WISDOM
Ephesians 3:10 “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
3. HIS GLORY
Romans 9:23 “in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—”
One day, perhaps very soon, we will see the Church (of which we are part)….
Revelation 21:2 “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
What will God’s grace have made her…
Ephesians 5:27 “so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”
GOOD BREAK POINT
THE MEANING OF THE WORD “CHURCH”
THE MEANING OF THE WORD “CHURCH”
We are going to consider the words “church” and “churches”
Firstly, we see that the Bible makes clear that it refers to people and not an organisation.
Acts 11:22 “The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.”
Acts 12:5 “So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.”
1 Corinthians 15:9 “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”
It has ears, can pray and can be persecuted.
In the English language the word church is derived from an anglicized form of the Greek word kuriakos.
The meaning of this word is ‘that which belongs to the Lord’.
This is appropriate as He is our centre and our gathering place as stated in Gen 49:10
The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
2. The word most often used in translation is ekklesia.
This means ‘called out’.
This is very appropriate because we are:
1 Peter 2:9 “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.”
Acts 15:14 “Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.”
We have been called out of the world (like the Israelites out of Egypt) into new society of those love and follow the Lord Jesus.
That is why we are saints!
3. There is also another translation of the word and this is the one most often used.
It is assembly.
It carries the idea of being called out and called together.
Although we are no longer part of this world we are not alone.
“CHURCHES”
“CHURCHES”
We need also to distinguish between a “The Church” and “churches”
Here we gather as one of many “churches” or “assemblies” of God’s people just as those did in Corinth which we look at previously.
But now we need to think about the difference between:
THE UNIVERAL CHURCH
THE LOCAL CHURCH OR CHURCHES
The universal Church is the great company of saved people, most of who are already in heaven.
Denomination or creed does not determine being part of the universal church.
Rather trusting in Christ for your salvation.
The moment you were saved you were added to the universal church.
Notice what happened in the early part of the books of Acts.
Acts 2:47 “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
The Lord added to His Church
What did He add them to.
His Body - the universal church.
Ephesians 1:22–23 “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
Every Christian from Pentecost to the Rapture is included in this body.
For practical reasons the universal Church cannot meet on earth!
Imagine if it was meeting in Australia.
On Friday night I would have to say to Ruth, darling, we must head off to the meeting to be there in time.
And that would only be if I had the resources to do it!
Impossible.
So, God had a plan in mind.
Groups of Christians, in every locality, come together.
They meet as a VISIBLE representstation of the universal church.
That it what we do when we gather as the Zirnesti Christian Assembly
How does the Word describe these local churches?
1 Corinthians 11:16 “…churches of God.”
As churches of God. God is the source, the giver, of all the churches blessings
2. Romans 16:16 “…churches of Christ ”
Christ is the Redeemer and the Head. He also ministers to Her needs as the Great Shepherd.
3. 1 Corinthians 14:33 “…churches of the saints”
Only saints can belong to the universal Church.
Only saints should being to the local church, made holy through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Local churches are oftenr referred to by their location: Corinth, Philippi, Zirnesti…
