What is the Church? (what it is not)

We need to consider a passage this morning, which is overlooked by most Americans. The truths contained in them don’t line up with people’s flawed logic. Something God designed as good and to produce good is being rejected at a higher rate than ever before. Over the last many years, those who study spirituality in the USA say a few things are true.

(statistic slide?) First, the enormous spiritual need in our country is at an all-time high. There are approximately 328 million people in the USA and an estimated 384 thousand churches of all denominations. If those numbers are close to being accurate, this means if every person in the USA attended church, the average church should have 850 members. (PAUSE) Do you know that 60% of all US churches report a member roster of 100 people or less.

According to one study, 81% of all Americans answered “yes” to this question: “Do you believe you can be a very good Christian without attending a church?” 81% of all Americans, most of those other Where are those other 750 other people who also have intense spiritual needs? Where should spiritual needs be met? In bars? Theaters? Psychiatrists? Sports stadiums? Golf courses? Hunting blinds? No!

Spiritual needs are to be met in spiritual centers which exist in almost every community in our nation, yet 81% of all people wrongly interpreted or simply ignored the book of Acts and almost all of the New Testament! Spiritual needs can only be met through the church.

Can God work powerfully in your life if you don’t regularly attend church? Can God work powerfully in your life if you are not willing to commit wholeheartedly to a local church? Can God be radically transforming your life regardless of your participation in a local church? The answer is a resounding “NO.” The church is not just some random thing thrown into the New Testament. If everything God created is good and is to produce good in the lives of God’s children, how can people become very good by opting out of God’s good plan? It doesn’t make sense!

God’s incredible experience of salvation always drives truly regenerated people TO the local church, and not away from it. Never away from it. If you really get it, if you really understand God’s plan of salvation, you will be wholeheartedly driven toward your church family.

It is impossible to come away from our studies in the book of Acts and believe we can be very good Christians apart from the local church and the focus on God’s good Word which should be emphasized there. I need you to interact with me for a moment… In Acts, when were people disconnected from each other? Before salvation or after salvation? They were disconnected BEFORE salvation. When were they always together with other people? Were they meeting REAL needs? The widows and the fatherless were being neglected in Jerusalem by the general populace. Their needs were not cared for until the Gospel radically changed people’s lives and the people of the church solved that problem!

Remember that Acts 10 and 11 are hinge passages for the remainder of Acts, and the New Testament. That verse says that Peter’s accusers fell silent...

Acts 11:18 ...and they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

The mystery of the church had been revealed, and the Holy Spirit from that point on has always consistently worked God’s good plan out in the context of the local church. Please open your Bibles to Eph 3:1-12 (repeat). Our brothers and sisters in Acts struggled to understand the mystery of the church because it was still being revealed to them. We know the mystery because the Apostle Paul explained it in Eph 3. Please follow along starting in verse 1...

Ephesians 3:1–12 ESV

1 For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 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. 6 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. 7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 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, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 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. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

Here, Paul wrote about...

The Church

and stated that he was a steward of God’s grace. What did he mean? What is a steward of God’s grace? First, God exercised great grace to Paul while he was “breathing threats and murder” to Jewish Christians. God saved him and prevented him from carrying out further great wickedness. Paul was an apostle and certainly had an obligation to be Jesus’ witness from that standpoint, but he was also a steward by default: all Christians are to faithfully proclaim God’s message of salvation.

Second, Paul was a steward of God’s grace because he was an apostle, one who recieved revelation and interacted with Jesus himself. Paul humbly, yet authoritatively reminded his readers that God revealed truths to him: God’s message was not his to keep. God’s revelation came to him, so He was to faithfully proclaim salvation and God’s other revelations which intersected with salvation.

The key revelation Paul is concerned with is the“mystery” which is the key word of this passage. You may wish to highlight the four times it appears in verses 3, 4, 6, and 9. For something to be a mystery, it needs to be hidden until it is discovered or revealed. God’s plan of salvation was extended to the Gentiles. What always took place after salvation? Baptism and church membership.

Ephesians 3:6 ESV

6 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.

Ephesians 3:10 (ESV)

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.

The mystery was revealed in Acts 11:18 which took place around A.D. 33. This mystery was Gentile salvation and the church. The book of Ephesians was written almost 30 years after Acts 11:18. During those 30 years, Gentile salvation and the function of the church had still been a hotly debated topic. Paul understood the mystery and was responsible as both a Christian and as an apostle to guide others into an understanding of the topic. Here we are, 2000 years later where 81% of all people polled still do not understand how the church body is supposed to function even though the Bible is extremely clear what the church is, what the church is not, and how believers should operate toward others and the world around them.

As an apostle, it was his right, when necessary, to emphasize his authority. The church was a critical part of God’s plan, therefore, it was critical for Paul to get people’s attention, so he emphasized his authority 8 times in these 12 verses. He wrote in verse 2... “God’s grace was given to me.” Verse 3... “the mystery was made known to me.” Verse 4, “you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ.” Verse 5 “it has now been revealed.” Verse 7, “I was made a minister of God’s grace which was revealed to me and the other apostles and prophets.” Verse 8, “Grace was given.” Verse 9, he was “to bring to light the plan of the mystery.” and verse 10, so that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known.”

Paul clearly knew what God intended for the church and called for obedience to God’s good plan. God has a plan for what the church is and for 2000 years there is still confusion about what the church is and is not. I want to highlight, with the time that remains what...

The Church is Not...

The church is not a body-less entity. (Acts 2:44-47, Eph 3:6)

People in our country use the words “the church” loosely. Sometimes we say “The church has this problem or it has that problem” or “The church” will help you. The church is not an entity. When you talk about Walmart or Aldi, or Home Depot, or Joanns, you probably think of the building and the corporate establishment it represents instead of the people and personalities which cause the entities to function.

People tend to think of the church similarly but Acts 2:44-47 teaches us differently. The community of Jerusalem was was largely until believers banded together and solved community problems.

Acts 2:44–47 ESV

44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 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.

We don’t see terminology that, “the church” was selling their possessions or that, “the church” was selling their homes, and so on. Each person was acting individually through the moving of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the same, unified good result.

If you look at Eph 3:6 again we find that...

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.

The church is made up of diverse people, diverse gifts, diverse backgrounds, interests and experiences all under one roof. We are the church. We make up the church. In Acts, Christians came together and prioritized God’s things. They were the church and they were the hands, feet, nostrils, toenails, teeth, and hair follicles, of their local church bodies. When we criticize “the church” or a member of the universal church we belittle the very body which God intended to do very good things through. When we criticize one member of the body of Christ, we criticize and harm our own body. Why would I cut my nose off to spite my face? Harming my own physical body doesn’t make much sense and harming my spiritual body certainly doesn’t make much sense.

Every spiritual need that is met in Acts and all the following books is met inside of the the establishment of the local church. If we view the church as people, envision their faces, the joy they bring us, and talk as if they were right in front of us, our church would be closer to grace-based living and we would be better equipped to propagate the Gospel. The church is not a body-less entity.

The Church is not Israel.

The Jewish Christians were very concerned that Gentile salvation might indicate God turned his back on His people and broke the covenants He made with their forefathers. Paul addressed this concern in...

Romans 11:1 ESV

1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

When God made the covenants with Israel, He knew Israel would forget He was their God. He knew Israel would reject His son and crucify Him. God’s plan all along was to include the Gentiles in His great plan of salvation, as Eph 3:11 states “…according to His eternal purpose.”

The church will not inherit the blessings which God specifically promised to Israel. Gentile salvation was a mystery because illegitimate children, Gentiles, are spiritual brothers and sisters with the Jews through adoption in Jesus Christ. Gentiles, through adoption as “fellow heirs” receive the spiritual riches that God bestows on His children. We, Gentiles are partakers of the promise… heirs of the gift of eternal life through the preaching of the Gospel. Gentiles were grafted into God’s plan.

Were Gentiles taking their place? Would Gentiles share/take away their blessings?

The church is not but does include Jews. The Jews were and will always continue to be God’s chosen people. Think through what you know of the OT. God made a covenant with Abraham establishing the promises of land, seed, and blessing to his offspring… the Jewish nation. Ishmael, though the firstborn was rejected and did not inherit God’s promise. Only the child of Abraham and Sarah would receive the blessing. There was a distinction there.

Please flip to Romans 11.. God also used Gentile nations throughout the book of Judges and other places to cause the Jews to repent of their sins and turn back to God. This was one of God’s purposes for the mystery of the church…

Romans 11:11–14 ESV

11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! 13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.

God’s plan was to bestow the same kinds of blessings on the Gentile nations to cause the Jews to miss the relationship they once had with God.

If you move your finger down the page to Romans 11 verses 17-24, you will find that Israel is compared to a wild olive tree. Jesus is the root, the natural branches are those of the Jewish nation, and then we find that other branches are grafted in. That is us, the Gentiles. If we were to receive the same blessings as Israel, why make a distinction between the branches?

I don’t have time to go into all the parts of this vast topic, but what we believe about the church significantly impacts the way we live, which is why I included the point on this list. In Ephesians 3, the Gentile nations inherit the mystery which is God’s plan to incorporate Gentiles into the blessing of eternal life. God will eventually redeem Israel, culminating in the 144,000 Jewish elect so God can complete the prophesied things through Israel. Why keep Israel and Gentiles separate in the NT? Because God has different plans or different programs for each group in the current age and in the end times.

If we believe we are the kingdom, we will be acting differently, acting outside of God’s program for the church in this present age. God is using the church, comprised mainly of Gentile peoples to bring Israel to the place where they realize Jesus is God’s son and indeed was crucified and risen.

The church is not the kingdom.

We are not living in the kingdom of heaven. The church and God’s coming kingdom are two very different entities. Flip to Eph 1:22-23...

Ephesians 1:22–23 ESV

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

The church IS Christ’s body, and is not the kingdom. Throughout our Sunday School study in Revelation, we have seen that the church is not mentioned in any of the events because the church is raptured, taken out of the world before kingdom events begin. God is doing something different in the dispensation of the church.

Colossians 1:18 ESV

18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

The church is the body, Christ is the authority in that body. God is using that body to accomplish His purposes until the kingdom dispensation comes. Look at 1 Thess 4:15-18

1 Thessalonians 4:15–18 ESV

15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The Lord has not yet descended from Heaven. This message was written to the church informing the church that another age was going to come, but that the church would be saved from the wrath that would come as a precursor to God’s eternal kingdom. Again, this has huge ramifications on the way we live life, but many well-known preachers on TV and the internet and TV believe the church and specifically, the church in the USA is Gods gift to the world and is working with human effort to cause God’s kingdom to be ushered in. The kingdom as I read it in Scriptures is all God’s doing, ALL God’s plan, and All, as written in Eph 3:11 according to God’s eternal purpose. The church is not the kingdom. The day of Gods wrath is coming. It is not a mythical event. It has not already happened and the church will not be present when it occurs.

(IMAGE OF CATHEDRAL)

The church is not gilded halls.

Matthew 6:19–20 ESV

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

The church should never be a place where the building is of more emphasis than the people who worship in the building. Our offerings do not go to enrich anyone and are not to be spent on flying buttresses, gold plated domes, and elaborate paintings by world-renowned artists. Beauty comes from the inside.

Matthew 23:27 ESV

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.

Look at Eph 3:8

Ephesians 3:8 ESV

8 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,

Physical riches should be spent wisely and in such a manner so that others are pointed to Christ’s great and vast spiritual wealth.

The church is not isolation (Eph 3:10)

I cannot expand this point this morning without getting into passages and points which effect next week’s message, but I do ask you to consider all that you know about the Church in Acts up to this point.

Have you seen evidence of anything so far to prove that Christians can be very good people apart from the church?

Where were people growing in the faith and knowledge of God? Where had Christians been just prior to doing very good deeds in their communities? They had been in people’s homes and in the temple praying together and serving each other together.

Remember the statistic that 81% of people think they can be very good people without the church? Those people believe the church is something it is not and they ignore what the church is supposed to be and ignore the Acts model.

Ephesians 3:10 clearly spells out God’s plan...

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.

Please turn to Heb 10:24-25, one other verse Christians often ignore...

Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV)

24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, 25 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.

Look at the together words tightly woven together in these two tiny verses: “Let us” “one another” “together” and “one another.” 4 times togetherness is stressed in two tiny verses. Doing life on our own was never God’s plan. Doing good deeds apart from other Christians whom we fellowship with was never God’s design. Doing life in isolation is a perversion of God’s good plan. We have a word for that… “sin.” 81 percent of people are living in sin because they believe they do not have to be connected with the church. 81% is a huge statistic and we cannot ignore that a statistic this large includes many of us who attend First Baptist here in Randolph.

Let each of us closely examine our beliefs about the church. If you are not intimately connected with our church and living life closely with other believers in our body, you are living in sin. God will not give you peace, joy, contentment, love, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, or faith when you are outside of His will… connectedness with the people of His church. Why do you struggle with life? The answer is very clear in Hebrews 10:24-25. You have not been connected to the church as God intends you to be. Lack of God’s blessing is God’s way of working His good plan in you until you submit to all that He wants you be INSIDE of the church body.

The church body exists to stir up love and good works among each other. Your version may use the word, “stimulate” or “encourage,” but I like the translation “provoke.” I am an older brother. At one time, I was really good at provoking evil responses from my younger brothers. Eph 6 tells fathers to not provoke children to wrath. Why? Because it is easy and natural to provoke others to sin. When we study the church, good works can only be provoked by the Holy Spirit moving people toward God’s will and toward using their abilities inside of the church body.

When Christians use their spiritual gifts, other believers become stimulated to use their gifts for good. Each independent “electron” of the church body becomes excited by the energy current causing bright and glorious light to emit from the church. Why is the church on the decline? Because 81% of people are disobeying God instead of, as Hebrews 25 says meeting together more and more often as each day bring Christ’s return even closer. Our church can only survive by being together. Our church will only complete good in Randolph if we are together more and more and more frequently. The days are getting darker, we should be getting brighter. We can only survive the cold darkness by being together around the warmth of God’s word.

What do you believe about God’s church that is wrong? What is preventing you from becoming more connected with other believers in our local body? And, by the way, that phrase, “encouraging each other all the more” does not mean encouraging the same people you are comfortable being around… it also means we must obey God by finding ways to connect with people in our church body we have previously been disconnected with. You may attend church every time the doors are open. You may get together in other’s homes whenever possible, but are you doing that with the same group of people all the time or are you obeying God by continually enlarging the people you connect with. Isolation not only means disconnectedness… isolation includes segregation… picking and choosing who you are comfortable with.

We have a lot to consider and one message, two messages, a year’s of messages are not enough to change our approach to church. God’s plan IS the church, God’s plan in this dispensation is accomplished by the people IN His church.

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