Being the Church Series.

Being the Church - One in Faith:The Church as the Body of Christ, empowered by the Spirit.

“The church, the body of Christ both local and universal, the priesthood of all believers — given life by the Spirit and endowed with the Spirit’s gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.” - Article 11, Evangelical Alliance Basis of Faith.

See if you can work this out - “ornithological specimens of the same or similar plumage tend to habitually congregate in the closest possible proximity.” Got it? Let me translate it for you - “birds of a feather flock together.”

The unity of the New Testament Church is a unity of faith in Christ as One Body, empowered by the Holy Spirit!

1. “The church, the body of Christ both local and universal.”

This is a reminder of something we saw at the outset of our series that shows that the Church means literally, “called out ones”. We are called out of the world to belong to Christ and make up His body!

The Church is, as the Nicene Creed states, “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.”

We are “holy” because we have been set apart by God and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

We are “catholic” because we belong to the universal church of Christ.

We are “apostolic” because we follow and ascribe to the teaching of the Apostles as taught them by Christ.

a). The Church is the body of Christ:

The Church is the “body of Christ” - The major metaphors for the church include the people of God, the temple of God, a royal priesthood, the flock of God, and the bride of Christ, the household of faith.

Each metaphor illustrates certain core ideas about the attributes, activities, or relationships of the church and these are crucial because what’s important is not just identifying the images but applying them so that we become what the name suggests, a holy people who are known in the community to belong to God; love God and live together in peace with God.

The metaphor here, “the body of Christ” is frequently used in the NT. It reminds us of the organic, connection and interconnection of the Church to Jesus, the Head of the Body. It also implies dependence on Christ for life, health, growth, and direction.

It also reminds us of our interconnection and submission to Christ and to one another as “members of one body”. Paul refers to this in Eph 1:22,23;Col 1:18; Eph 4:11-16. Perhaps the most helpful Scripture for us to look at it 1 Corinthians 12:13-27 which teaches us that there is a diversity of gifts within the church, all of which are meant to contribute to the functioning of the whole.

We are the body of Christ, lets make it our ambition to show Him to the world: “Do not be satisfied with God's calling or His gifts in your life. Be satisfied with Jesus Christ Himself.” ― Brother Yun, The Heavenly Man.

b). The Church has a visible and invisible expression:

The Church is “local” - it is visible and has physical expression - as it gathers in a geographical area in space and time in villages; towns; cities; regions; countries, etc.

Hence the Church of Jerusalem; Rome; Galatia; Ephesus; Thessalonica; Whitby! (Note: Not just WCF, though we are included! But all true, born again believers who belong to the body of Christ because of the work of the Spirit). see Acts 15:4;Rom 16:1,5.

The Church is “universal” - it is invisible and has a spiritual expression - in that it is found throughout the world but also, throughout time, past, present and future. see Matthew 16:18;Acts 20:28

We should not separate these two ideas for as Augustine of Hippo said: the invisible church exists within the visible - think of it like two circles, one inside the other. The outer circle is the Church visible - Augustine called this a “corpus permixtum” literally, “a mixed body” because it is made up of believers and unbelievers, containing people who are in Church but not in Christ! - “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matt. 15:8). - whereas the true Church of believers is found within the outward expression and it essentially spiritual and invisible as it is known fully to Christ and comprises all who are born of the Spirit.

Question 1 - If you do not have to go to church to be a Christian why does Hebrews say, that people should not forsake the assembling together (Heb. 10:25)?

2. “The Church...the priesthood of all believers.”

The apostle John testifies that Christ has “made us to be a kingdom to be priests unto His God and Father” (Rev. 1:6).

There is an essential equality in the Church. We are all “priests”. Peter makes this clear in 1 Peter 2:5,9.

Priests serve God before the altar, in the Temple. Believers are “set apart” and called to serve one another in the Church as part of the Temple of the Holy Spirit. see Heb 13:15-16;Rom 12:1-2.

The concept of “the priesthood of all believers” speaks both to out privilege of access to God and to our responsibility. We are given the immense privilege of serving God and the huge responsibility of serving one another through prayer and sacrifice. see Col 4:12.

It’s worth noting that the Bible places a much greater emphasis on the Church plural rather than the individual ministry of a person.

As David Platt suggests: “God's glory is most majestically displayed not through you or through me, but through US. God raises up the Church, and says to all Creation in the heavens, on the Earth, and under the Earth, this is the bride and body of My Son, bought and purchased by His blood to be My people and receive My power, and enjoy My presence, and declare My praise forever and ever.” ― Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live.

Question 2 - A Church that does not have active members is an unhealthy church! Discuss...

3. “The Church...given life by the Spirit and endowed with the Spirit’s gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.”

a). Given life by the Spirit

John Calvin said that it is the task of the church to make the invisible kingdom visible. How does this happen? By the empowering, energy and gifting of the Holy Spirit who alone can give life to dry bones!

The Church exists because of the Holy Spirit, that much is clear from. Acts 2 and Pentecost - “The Kingdom of God is not going to be advanced by our churches becoming filled with men, but by men in our churches becoming filled with God.” - Duncan Campbell

b). “endowed with the Spirit’s gifts”

Jesus taught us that it was to our advantage that He went away so that the Holy Spirit would come to us. - John 16:7.

He was sending His disciples out “into all the world to preach the Gospel and make disciples” and it was impossible for Jesus, in His incarnational body to be present with all believers, all over the World, but He promises, “Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age”(Matthew 28:19,20). How could He do this? By sending the Holy Spirit to be with us.

And as we have already noted when we studied the doctrine of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is God and He is the agent of regeneration; the giving of new life so that the believer is “born again”(John 3:5).

Jesus says, “the Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing”(John 6:35) which is another way of saying, in the spiritual life, we can contribute nothing, we receive by grace and by the Spirit, the life that we need in the Church.

c). “to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.”

The Church says R.C Sproul is “to embody and to incarnate the life of God’s Spirit in all that it does so that its good works are not hidden under a bushel, but they are plainly in view. We should bear witness to the presence of Christ and to His kingdom in the world.”

And this life of the Spirit expresses itself in “the Spirit’s gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.”

The passage we need here in 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14 as well as Romans 12. These are passages that show the variety of spiritual gifts that the Spirit gives to the Church so that the Church may express the love and hope of the Gospel in the world!

And it’s important to remember that we are given these gifts not to glorify ourselves but Christ - “In his sermon on the baptism of the Spirit, Chamberlain points out Peter's focus in Acts 2. The amazing work of enabling the apostles to speak languages in which they had not been trained drew the attention of the crowd so Peter could address them. No doubt, they wanted an in-depth explanation. But Peter uses this incident to point to Christ and uses the attention he has to fully explain the Gospel – NOT to sensationalize a gift of the Spirit.” ― Daniel Chamberlain

“In order for the assembly (ekklesia) to be built up, every believer needs to rise up and be actively seeking the Lord and functioning according to the gifts that the Spirit has given each one.” ― Henry Hon

Question 3 - Have you identified your spiritual gifts? What are they? How do you use them to serve God and one another? How could you use them even more?

We need to take out calling to serve Christ seriously - 2 Peter 1:10.

In Luke 6:46 Jesus says, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” In the cathedral of Lübeck, Germany, titled “The Lament of Jesus Christ Against the Ungrateful World.” The text reads:

You call Me master, and obey Me not;

You call Me light, and see Me not;

You call Me the way, and walk Me not;

You call Me life, and live Me not;

You call Me wise, and follow Me not;

You call Me fair, and love Me not;

You call Me rich, and ask Me not;

You call Me eternal, and seek Me not.

If I condemn thee, blame Me not.