The Kingdom and the Castles

Introduction

In our text, Paul introduces his letter to a specific group of believers in what we call a local church. Although Christians all over the world and throughout the last 2000 years have been instructed by this Holy Spirit-inspired letter, it was not written to us. In God’s sovereignty, and through the example we have in how God speaks to the Church at Corinth, we are instructed by it and God uses it to speak directly to us, but we also have to recognize that we are not the specific local church that Paul was writing to. The letter is not addressed, “To all Christians ever,” but to the church in Corinth. In the same way that the words of a hero in a story may inspire us, even though his words are not directed at us but at another character in the story, God instructs us through a conversaiton Paul was having with the Corinthian Church

Now what is in this letter he wrote? Issues that this particular church had to deal with. Sexual immorality and incest, abuse of the poor and of the Lord’s Table, arrogance and out of control use of spiritual gifts, and lots of infighting as well.

Now I want to ask you an honest question: if you were a part of a church that was facing these problems, would you continue to call that place your home church? Would you feel comfortable to continue worshipping where a man was sleeping with his step mother and the elders were doing nothing about it until Paul’s instruction arrived. If we’re honest, we would probably think that any true Christian would not stay with such a wicked group of so-called “Christians.” So it is a shock at how Paul greets them.

He calls them the assembly of God that is in Corinth. Not even one assembly, by the body that represents the Kingdom of God in Corinth.

He calls them those who are Holy in Christ Jesus, and called to be holy ones along with every other church in existance.

We know that Paul had a heart for local churches because he wrong to them, he did not give up on them, and he considered them the true representation of the Eternal Kingdom of God in space and time where they were in the city of Corinth.

We can define the local church as the Kingdom of God existing in time and space before the eschaton.

The Kingdom of God is physically manifested in this age by the formation of organized, local gatherings which officially represent the authority of Christ on earth. When someone is converted and becomes a Christian, they are submitting to Jesus as Lord and thus must submit to the authority he has entrusted to the local church.

The Spiritual Church, or Universal Church, is the assembly of God’s people from all times and places into the eternal presence of God. But when we talk about the church in everyday life, we are talking about local churches.

So a local church brings that eschatological, glorifying fellowship with God in Christ that God’s people will experience world without end, and brings it into the here and now. Although diverse and sometimes divided, in error, or in sin, local churches are spiritually working together by the Power of the Spirit towards the end of the Universal, timeless church. They exist in a part of history that fills the gaps between the inaugeration of the Kingdom, and the full revelation of it.

The Kingdom, in the new creation, arrives over time, and so even though we are part of the Kingdom of Heaven, we continue to live in enemy territory until the day of glory.

If the Church is the Kingdom, then individual, local church bodies are castles and fortresses, built on enemy territory and pushing the Gospel forward.

These Castles are places where the soldiers of the Kingdom may find rest, healing, instruction, training, supplies, and comradery. Without these castles, the Kingdom will never advance.

Everything from the book of Acts to the very end of the NT are concerned with the local church, how these individual castles and forts are to function, how they must be structured, what legitimizes them, what we should expect of them, how Christ, our captain relates to them, and what our responsabilities are in them.

You are to be Part of a Local Church

The way the the NT is written does not leave room for lone Christians.

Every Christian is part of the Kingdom of God, and the local church is the officially established representation of the Kingdom for those alive on earth. Therefore, to reject the local church is to reject the Kingdom of God.

What it Means to be in the Church Today

“The local church is the authority on earth that Jesus has instituted to officially affirm and give shape to my Christian life and yours.” - Jonathan Leeman

Membership

A Biblical Concept

Local churches are “not businesses, they are families.” - Jonathan Leeman

A Necessary Practice

“Do you believe it’s your responsability to help build a healthy Church?” - Jonathan Leeman

“Maybe we’ve been duped by western society into viewing churches and voluntary associations.

Living in the Local Church

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

“Devoted”

L&N: “to continue to do something with intense effort, with the possible implication of despite difficulty—‘to devote oneself to, to keep on, to persist in.’”

Participation in the redeemed community is far from a casual experience. After joining the church, that became their main pursuit in life. It also was not a religious flare up that would soon die down, but they endured in that same full-hearted devotion. How devoted a masterful violinist has to be to the instrument, from a very young age, long before he wan see the final results of his work. So these activities were not once in a while, or in certain seasons in life, or when they feel like it. It is the focused everyday practice that bears fruit in the long run.

The Apostle’s Teaching

The Scriptures

The preaching ministry

Putting into practice what they heard.

Fellowship

Fellowship that encourages and challenges us forward in our walk with Christ.

According to Eckhard Schnadel: “(fellowship)should be understood as the personal, fraternal coherence of the individual members of the congregation,”.

Breaking Bread

The ordinances, specifically the Table.

Welcoming hospitality and gracious gratitude. A pure and open community spirit.

Prayer

Regular secret prayer for one another. This invulves deep investment in those you are praying for.

Regular corperate prayer with one another.

Conclusion

The local church is what brings the promise of the Kingdom of Heaven and the new creation into our present experience.

In these bodies, we function as a picture of the whole Church, waiting together, devoted to one another, devoted to the Word, and devoted to humble service.

In the local church we have the first fruits of our heavenly reward. Jesus says in Mark 10:30 that those who follow Christ and give up the world

Mark 10:30 (ESV)

will ... receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

The persecutions and loses in this world are made up for by the loving affection and sacrificial service of the believers are your local Church.