About Church, Part 2 (0f 2)

 

The church, while intended to be a body of individuals saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, is still peopled with fallible men and women. The writer of Hebrews warns us that sin can ensnare us, Hebrews 12:1. James warns us that, “we all stumble in many things,” James 3:2. He includes himself with the addition of “we,” and observes that “many things” cause us to stumble. The danger is universal and legion. Paul, confronting the Galatian church over the error of legalism tells us that saints can “fall from grace.” Meaning, positionally we have moved away from the simplicity of the gospel and polluted our thinking with additions to salvation’s message that are not necessary, welcome, or Biblical, Galatians 5:4.

Paul is the apostle that also contends with the ridiculous assertion that license, or freedom to sin, is also a plausible practice for Christians. He writes, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!” Romans 6:1, 2. John makes it abundantly clear that Christians can and do still sin in his epistle. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” 1 John 1:8, 9. The saints will still sin, though this is not God’s will for us. The church, one more time, is filled with fallible people worshiping an infallible God.

 

The church sprang into existence on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on the 120 believers gathered in Jerusalem who would, in course of time, go out to turn the world upside down with the message of the gospel. The church is a continuous corporate witness to the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and the commandment He gave before ascending to the Father. We baptize in the triune name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We receive communion to proclaim the Lord’s death until His triumphant return as a memorial to Him. The foundation of our strength is the gospel narrative and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, who abides continuously and forever within every person that believes Jesus is the Son of God. The church is an evangelistic engine; it’s purpose is to raise up teachers and equip them like soldier to go into the battlefield of this sin-wrecked world, “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:5.

 

Yes, we gather for worship and fellowship. We are to edify and comfort one another, being like-minded: fellow saints purchased by the same Lord and put in His service to do His will. We are slaves of Christ, bondservants of God. Slaves only know their Master’s will, and seek to fulfill it. Is this how we view church today? Is this what your particular church embodies? If not, it’s witnessing lampstand has been removed and it’s plunged into collective darkness until there is corporate repentance. By my own admission my family has been remiss from going to church for several years despite the command we find in Hebrews not to forsake the assembling of ourselves, Hebrews 10:25. We recently joined a Bible-believing church body and now serve in it with a desire to obey the command given us. It is a sin of neglect on my part that I pray thanks to God has been rectified for my family’s edification and obedience, that we may in any way glorify our Lord.

 

Remember, Jesus Himself, the church’s head and Owner by His blood (Acts 20:28) defined the church as: “where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them,” Matthew 18:20. Numbers do not matter. Two people corporately gathered to worship through the Spirit in obedience to sound doctrine comprise a church. Romans 16:5 tells us that Paul sent a greeting to, “the church that is in [Priscilla and Aquila’s] house,” later writing to Corinth from, “the church that is in their house,” 1 Corinthians 16:19. This married Christian couple opened their home to believers, and in that house the church gathered. The church is not a building of stone or wood; it is a corporate witness of believers who come together (anyplace that “together” might entail) to worship God and enjoy spiritual fellowship.

 

Yes there are sinners and hypocrites within, and I am certainly no exception. But by the grace of the God whom I serve, we are saved sinners, redeemed from sin’s power and penalty through Jesus Christ, who gives each of us eternal life when we believe on His name. So important is the reality of the church that we read in Acts 2:47 that, “the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” But a little later we learn that Jesus is so closely associated with the church that it can also be said, “believers were increasingly added to the Lord,” Acts 5:14. The believers that comprised this church met, “in every house,” and, “they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ,” Acts 5:42.

 

So what is the church? It is a corporate representation of the unified belief that its constituents profess. The only genuine church as the Bible permits is one that has Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone and only Savior of mankind, and sound doctrine as the only vehicle of communication from God to impart divine truth to the hearer. Ephesus forgot this and departed from their first love, risking their lampstand, or the Holy Spirit’s power for evangelizing or good works, Revelation 2:4, 5. My best counsel is simply to find believers to fellowship with and keep the ordinances our Lord commanded as we wait for His return from Heaven. Mind sound doctrine so our worship is directed at the true God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Everything else, John warns us, is idolatry, 1 John 5:21.