What is the Church?
Notes
Transcript
Good evening, for those who don’t know who I am, my name is Kent Hinrichsen and I am the youth pastor at Crosspoint Community Church. Does anyone like riddles? Does anyone think that they are really good at solving riddles? Here are a few that I know…
Riddle:
You live in a one story house made entirely of redwood. What color would the stairs be?
Answer: What stairs? You live in a one-story house.
Riddle:
Only one color, but not one size,
Stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies.
Present in sun, but not in rain,
Doing no harm, and feeling no pain.
What is it?
Answer: It's a shadow!
Riddle:
What does a body, vine, olive tree, field of crops, a bride, a temple have in common?
Answer: They are all metaphors for the church
The church is the topic that we will be talking about tonight. More specifically we will be addressing question of what is the Church?
The simple answer to this question that the church is the community of all true believers for all time. All true believers, regardless of what time period they lived in, make up the true church. In 2020 Christianity is the largest religion as there are over 2.3 billion people (about 1/3 of the worlds pop.) who would identify as Christian. Out of that number about 800 million to 1 billion are protestant Christians (which means not Catholic). We would call that the big C or capital C Church or the global church. This Church is something that is not defined by a building, I don’t think there is even a physical building on earth that could hold 1 billion people. We would describe the global church as invisible because a physical visible church cannot contain the amount of Christians that there are in the world; and that is just talking about the Christians who are alive let alone those who have died in the past. So we see this aspect of an invisible church but the church is also visible as every Sunday across the world, people gather together to worship God together. This is something that is visible, something we can see with our very own eyes. We call this the local church or small c church.
So we see this truth that the church is invisible yet visible at the same time.
The Invisible Yet Visible Church
The Invisible Yet Visible Church
This can be confusing for us to think of something as invisible yet also visible. A way to simplify this truth is to look at it from a different perspective.
For example think of an optical illusion. Show face-cup illusion.
From one perspective we see one thing and the other becomes non-existent until we see it from the other perspective. When you see the picture one way it becomes visible as the other becomes invisible. Both are present it’s just a matter of perspective.
When it comes to the church what is invisible to us is visible to God. The difference between the face-cup illusion and the church is that God can only see the true global church, we cannot change our perspective to His. What is visible to God is invisible to us.
Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, bearing this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who calls on the name of the Lord turn away from wickedness.
Now that we understand the differences between the global church and the local church, let’s explore what makes a local church a church. In this section we are talking about the visible church or the local church.
What Makes a Church a Church?
What Makes a Church a Church?
A local church needs two things to be present in order for it to be considered a church.
1. Gospel-Centered Preaching from the Bible
2. Administrating the Sacraments
If a church is not preaching the gospel from the Bible, then that Church is not a true church.
What would be some examples of a false gospel? Works based salvation, prosperity gospel.
Any group of people who teach a false gospel has gone away from the truth. An example of this are Mormons who may preach the name of Jesus but they believe in a false gospel that is based on works not grace. It is no coincidence that they also use a book that is not the bible but rather called the book of Mormon.
So first thing you must have is Gospel-Centered Preaching from the Bible. The second thing you must have is the ability to administer the Sacraments. What are the Sacraments? Does anyone know? There are two main sacraments that are mentioned in the bible and they are baptism and communion. The presence of the sacraments is what separates the church from a church camp, para-church ministry such as Youth for Christ or FCA, and even youth groups. Yes you heard me correctly, youth group is not the same as church because in youth group you normally won’t see the sacraments observed. A youth group is part of the church but it in of itself is not on the same level of the local church.
Gospel-Centered preaching and ability to administer the sacraments are the two essentials marks of a true church. Out of these two things should present the characteristics of purity and unity. If a church is preaching the true gospel then they should be growing in becoming more Christ-like to those around them (in other words growing in purity). At the same time that church should be growing in unity with others as they have more of an awareness of their need for grace and forgiveness which is something that should unify Christians.
Now is the church just there for sermons and sacraments? What else is the Church supposed to do? What do you think? What else do you think a church is supposed to do?
What Is the Church Supposed to Do?
What Is the Church Supposed to Do?
Do is an action word. Either I do an action to someone else or I can do an action to myself. So when we talk about what the Church is supposed to do we are talking about actions of the church. Actions always involve someone doing something and someone receiving the action. We usually use the word mission when talk about the actions that a church does. There are three directional components to this mission.
Upward
Inward
Outward
The upward action is referring to the worship of God. This happens usually on Sunday mornings when a local church gathers to worship God through song, prayer, and the preaching of God’s word.
The inward action of a church is referring to discipleship. Discipleship is the process that someone helps someone else become more Christ-like. Discipleship happens in small group bible studies, one-on-one meetings, sermons.
We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
The Outward action of a church is referring to the church going out and spreading the gospel to those who haven’t recieved the good news of the gospel. This action is done by word and deed. Word meaning explaining the gospel to someone and deed meaning actions such as helping the poor, homeless, hurting, or struggling.
How in the world can a church do all three actions. It seems like a lot right? Left alone, a church could do nothing but because we as believers have the Holy Spirit inside of us we are able to worship, we are able to disciple others, and by the Spirit’s power we are able to reach a hurting, and sinful world around us. It is only when a church relies on the power of the Holy Spirit, that a church can accomplish the mission and purpose that God has called it to do. When a bunch of small local churches are living out this mission in their own communities, you will see the global church changing the world. But that can only happen when you rely on the Holy Spirit to help you where you are at in your own community.
Why Join a Church?
Why Join a Church?
This all sounds fine and dandy but why should any of you join a church. Can’t you do this on your own? No you can’t. All the actions that a church is supposed to do involves multiple people. You need others to lead you into worship, ideally it is those same people who lead in you worship are also leading you spiritually as they disciple you and build you up so that you can reach others around you.
When we talk about joining a church, we use this word membership. What does membership mean to you? What are some characteristics of a membership.
One of the main characteristics of membership is commitment. When you have a gym membership, you have committed to pay a certain amount of money per month.
Church membership shows your commitment to the church. You commit financially to the church as you pay tithes to the local church. You commit time as you spend time serving others in the church. You commit your allegiance to a local church as you submit to the authority of the elders and pastors and follow their leadership.
Give a history of church membership.
Connect it to today’s context of church membership.