Thinking about the Church
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Introduction
Introduction
My desire as we begin this new series which will take us through the end of November is that we will think biblically and in so doing we will think rightly about the Church.
We hear the word church thrown around a lot.
There are so many different thoughts about the church, ideas about how we should be doing church or what the church is about in our culture.
In an age where things are so easily accessible you can find 1000 different ideas about church and what the church should be doing, what the church should focus on, what the church should be about.
Even as we begin this time I want to make it clear that it is my goal for us to think about the church biblically. In other words we want God’s thoughts about the church about ultimately what matters is what God thinks anyway, right?
I think of Revelation
“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.
“ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
“ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
It does not matter if a “church” has a reputation of being alive and they seem to have so many things going right and thousands are flocking to the doors what matters is the Lord’s assessment of the church right?
We will spend out time this morning looking mainly at
I think we see 6 things here that we can learn about the church.
We are going to church? Are you going to church?
The Certainty of the Church
The Certainty of the Church
The first that we will notice is that Jesus says,
I will build my church
not I may or I a going to try or I hope to build my church
Instead what we have here is a divine promise, the LORD will build His church.
Men can build buildings, they can grow organizations, they can gather people; but Jesus alone is the One who builds His church.
The church is supernaturally constructed, right? that is what we see here.
Listen to John Macarthur
“For all of the years of labor at Grace Church, it has been my prayer and my desire to see Christ build His church. I never want to come to the end of my life and look back and wonder if He did it or I did it. I want this church to be the church that Christ is building. That is why we resist the gimmicks and techniques and manipulations and all the rest that people use to increase attention or numbers, all we want to do is get out of the way so the Lord can build His church His way. And it has been an exciting ministry here for me because we have seen Christ build His church.”
So often I feel like most of the church growth in our day can be described or explained in merely human terms, it is based off of the newest or the best business model of the day.
Think of the church in Smyrna, it was not a place where the newest and the coolest plans for church growth in our day would have worked.
When is the last time that you saw a church growing and the only explanation for the growth of the church was that it was a work of the Lord
There was tribulation, poverty (but according to the Lord they were rich).
There was persecution and yet the Lord has nothing but positive and encouraging words for this small suffering church.
It did not look well but the Lord was committed to building His church and He promised faithfulness to that church.
Through the history of the church as it has ebbed and flowed there have been times when God’s few sat back and felt like this may be the end, it looks like we are going to be swallowed up, things look bleak, they look bad and we don’t know if they can get any worse.
So often the churches
And yet at those times the church has needed to remember what Jesus says here in , will build my church.
Jesus cannot lie, He cannot fail and so the certainty of the church is based on the unchanging, unwavering, absolute promise of God the power of God to do what He said He would do.
How does the Lord build His church?
Through the preaching of the Word, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit
Look in the book of Acts as the Lord is building His church, how does He do it?
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Notice the Lord added to their number day by day.
Brothers and sisters, if you are part of the church it is only because the Lord added you to the church.
By God’s grace you heard the gospel
By God’s grace you had ears to hear the gospel
By God’s grace you were convicted of your sin and your need for Christ
By God’s grace you repented of your sin and trusted in Christ
Another simple reminder as we think about this brothers and sisters is that we are called to be faithful to share the gospel, we are to be faithful to proclaim God’s Word but none of us in this room can build the church of Jesus Christ. There is no one other than the Lord Himself that can build the church.
We are to strive to be holy and faithful and obedient so that God can do His work and we may have the privilege of being instruments used by the Lord and brothers and sisters we are to be confident knowing that the Lord will build His church.
The Owner of the Church
The Owner of the Church
Not only will the Lord build the church but notice what the text says,
It does not say I will build the church
But I will build my church
The church belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He has purchased them by His blood.
He laid down His life to save the church from the coming wrath of God.
He saved them from their sin and from wrath
He
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more!
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 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. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
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.
Acts 20.
And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
The Identity of the Church
The Identity of the Church
How are we to understand this word church?
This word appears only twice in the gospels here and then in .
It appears more later in the NT, but this word does not come to us in a vacum. There is a context.
How would of the disciples understood this word?
The Greek word here is ekklesia and it is the word used in the Septuagint to refer to a congregation, that is a gathering of Jews, an assembly of people.
The word simply means a gathering, an assembly.
In fact in the NT the word is used to refer to Israel
This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.
In and 41 it is used to refer to a pagan Gentile crowd
And then check this out
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Here it refers to all the redeemed from all of redemptive history
The point is simply this,
there are times in the NT when it does have the technical sense of church like the church in Ephesus in
but there are also times when it is used to refer to an assembly, more of the non-technical usage.
I think what Jesus is saying is that He will gather together His people, He is gathering together all that the Holy Spirit draws to Him, all that are given to Him by the Father.
Sam Waldron
“There was a very important sense in which the church began as an institution and organism in the complex of events surrounding Christ’s first advent. There was a sense in which historically the church began in the events of Christ’s earthly ministry, death, resurrection and pouring out of the Spirit
On the other hand, the church is the climactic earthly expression of the people of God. Thus the church will one day be composed of all the redeemed.”
In other words though in a sense the church began with Jesus’ first coming, the reality is that the OT saints are part of the church in that they are part of the redeemed, they will only get into heaven by the blood of Jesus just like those of us who have trusted in Jesus after His coming.
The Foundation of the Church
The Foundation of the Church
This may be the central point for us to consider today.
What is the foundation of the church of Jesus Christ?
“On this rock I will build My church”
Catholic church have used this verse for the authority of the priesthood claiming that Peter was the first Pope, this has lead to all sorts of ungodliness and error.
Some have see the twisted and distorted doctrine of the papacy within the catholic church and have said this can’t be talking about Peter but about his confession.
Peter cannot be the head of the church, he cannot be the foundation of the church, Peter could not hold up this structure.
I do think that the text is clearly referring to Peter, but only in as much as he is lead by the Father in heaven to confess Jesus as Messiah.
Jesus is not saying Peter I am going to build the church on your office, on your talent,, on your rank, on your worthiness, on your intellect.
I am building the church on you because you are affirming the foundational truth of the church, namely that I am the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Some
In other words the Cornerstone is Christ, the confession of the Messiahship of Christ is the foundation upon which the living stones are built.
What is the point?
Christ builds His church on the truth of divine revelation and all who articulate divine revelation are foundational to the building of the church.
The church will be built as the truth of who Jesus Christ is and what He came to do is proclaimed.
Again notice the point
As long as Peter proclaims the centrality of Christ, of who Christ is and what He came to do he will be foundational but when he speaks according to his own wisdom he is a stumbling block
Peter, speak the Word of God and I will build my church on that
But be careful because you can easily become a stumbling block.
The foundation is the truth, it is divine revelation.
Every individual who is lead by the Father to confess Jesus as Messiah and to trust in Him is a part of the church who builder is God.
The Invincibility of the Church
The Invincibility of the Church
v.18 says that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church.
What does this mean?
Gates are not a weapon that someone uses to attack.
Instead gates are used to keep somebody in. With a gate you imprison someone, you contain them, you bind them.
There are not any gates the dominate the church, capture the church, bind the church if you will, destroy the church
Not even the gates of Sheol, that is the grave or death.
Gates of hell is a way of speaking of death
I said, In the middle of my days
I must depart;
I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.
The point is that nothing will be able to dominate the church, conquer the church, prevail against the church.
In other words the redeemed of the Lord will prevail.
There may be times when things look bleak, there may be times when it looks like the world and darkness will swallow the church and the gates of hell will prevail against her, but here we have a promise of the invincibility of the church.
This does not mean that every single local expression of the church will continue until the Lord returns, local churches are born and they come to an end but the reality is that the even though local expressions of the church may come to the end, the Lord will always have His people who will be faithful to Him, who will confess Him as Messiah, as the Son of the Living God.
Brothers and sisters, we must have great confidence, we know that the church will prevail, let us pray that the Lord will continue to sustain us and that He will use us in great ways for His glory in the days and years to come.
The Authority of the Church
The Authority of the Church
v.19
The person with the keys is a powerful person, right?
What can you do with keys?
You can open the doors and let people in or you can close people out.
You say, how does the church have that kind of power, the kind of people to open the door or close the door to the kingdom of heaven.
As the church, we are the protector of the truth.
As the church we have the authority and the responsibility to make sure that we are clear with people who is in the kingdom of heaven and who is not.
What i mean is this, if someone says they are a member of the kingdom of heaven and yet the reject gospel then we have the authority and the responsibility to let that person know that they are closed to the kingdom of heaven
If someone has a gospel testimony then we say
You are in the Kingdom, praise the Lord, welcome!
Importance of church membership, this is why I read testimonies when we vote to receive members, as the church you have the keys to the kingdom of heaven and by voting someone into membership you are saying welcome to the kingdom
We must make sure that we welcome those into church membership who really are a part of the kingdom of God
We don’t just welcome anyone and everyone into church membership, our goal is not to try to gather as many people as we possible can, as long as they are willing to join our club,
no brothers and sisters we have a responsibility, we are to welcome into membership those who are in the Kingdom and we are say to those who are out of the kingdom that there is only one way into the Kingdom and that is through the Messiah, that is through the Lord Jesus Christ
And we are not plead with them to turn from sin and turn to Christ.
We don’t tell anyone and everyone that they are in the Kingdom, we protect the kingdom and we preach the unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ.
As the church we are the people of God and we represent Him, we have a tremendous responsibility, we have a great privelege
Let us not cheapen it.
Let us be faithful the the Lord, faithful to His Word, and let us trust Him;
He will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.