The Church
Course 5 of 6

INTRODUCTION

The New Testament speaks frequently of the church making it an important study. There are so many “churches” in our country today with different names and practices that it makes religion difficult and confusing. As in all things spiritual, the Bible should be our guide as to what the church is and should be doing.

The word church comes from the Greek word “ekklesia” and was a verb meaning to “call out.” The word is used of an assembly and simply means a calling of people to an assembly. This could have been to a town meeting or any other meeting to which people were called to. Thus the word is fitting for Christians as they have been “called out of darkness” to be an assembly of “God’s own special people” (1 Peter 2:9.)

From the above definition we can see an important point. The view of most today is to see the church as acorporate entity for people to join and be loyal to. But the very definition of the word “church” shows that it IS the people. The church doesn’t exist for people to join as we shall see.

There are 2 elements needed for a church to exist—God’s truth and people. We must be clear on this. To decide anything spiritual there must be a standard to go by and that standard is the Bible. All that the church is, how folks get into it, what it does, and how it worships are found in God’s word. The truth of God is always there but in the absence of people, the church can only have a potential existence. The word and truth belong together (John 17:17) but that word awaits application in the lives of people. God’s word is given to those who are of a submissive and obedient mind (Hebrews 5:8-9.) As people apply truth to themselves, THEY move from the world and are added to the church by the Lord Himself (Acts 2:47.)

Read and study Matthew 16:13-19. Jesus asked His disciples who He was. Peter said Jesus was the Son of God (v. 16.) Upon that fact, Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…” (verses 18-19.) Here Jesus states that He will build the church and not even the grave (the gates of Hades) will stop Him. In other words He is saying that even though He would die and be buried, He was still going to build His church.

Fast forward to Acts 2: 22—47. This passage has been used before in this series but it is very important. Verse 47 is the first time that the Bible speaks of the church as being in actual existence and it was the Lordadding people to it. What happened between the time Jesus said he would build His church (future tense) and the time in Acts 2 that we read of it existing? The Lord had died, been buried, and raised from the dead. Indeed the gates of Hades had not stopped Jesus from building His church.

We have already noted that the Lord’s death and shedding of blood is that which washes sin away. We have also seen that faith, repentance, and baptism are based on that death. In Acts 2 we see those elements come together for salvation. Those Jews believed (verse 36-37), and were told to “repent and be baptized for the remission of sins” (v. 38.) Those who gladly received this word were baptized and “there were added unto them about 3000 souls” (verse 41.) Who did the adding? Verse 47 says “The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

Jesus purchased the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28) but is people that are saved. Doesn’t it make sense to do what was done the very first day the church existed in reality?

Another important part of Matthew 16:18-19 is the terms Jesus used. Notice He said He would build His “church”and in the same breath gave the apostles the keys of the “kingdom”. Many today believe the kingdom has not yet come but the Lord is telling us that the kingdom and church are the same. Those to whom Jesus spoke would see it come (Mark 9:1) and that His kingdom was “not of this world” (John 18:38) meaning it would not be a kingdom in a literal sense. Remember on page 1 that Christians are those “called out of darkness?” Colossians 1:13 says we are “delivered out of darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” The same thing said about the church is said about the kingdom. They are one and the same—on earth– right now. That is, if we believe scripture.

Jesus built the church and He is the head of it. “And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:22-23.) Jesus has all authority in religious matters and the word “all” excludes any person from having one bit of religious authority. The church in the New Testament did not have any central, earthly headquarters and should not today. To do so is to deny the headship of Jesus Christ. He makes the rules.

Local churches were governed by elders who had the charge to feed the saints and watch for their souls (1 Peter 5:2; Hebrews 13:17.) They did not speak for God nor legislate religious matters. Churches also had deacons to help serve in physical matters (Acts 6:1-7.) Philippians 1:1 shows a properly organized local church as consisting of elders, deacons, and saints. Local churches governed themselves (again 1 Peter 5:2 “among you.”)

First century Christians did certain things when they came together to worship God. “And they continued steadfastly in the Apostle’s doctrine, in fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayer” (Acts 2:42.) Teaching God’s word was a part of worship and so was prayer. The original meaning of “fellowship” had to do with giving to those in need and later came to mean ‘joint participation.” It did not have anything to do with eating a meal. Breaking of bread here obviously referred to eating the Lords supper. We later read “speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16.) “Speaking to one another” is obviously something done when saints come together. Interestingly, instrumental music was not used in a worship service until 786 A.D. That means for 700 years, Christians understood the meaning of the New Testament and just sang songs. That’s just historical fact.

Two things were said to be done on the first day of the week in particular. I Corinthians 16:1-2 tells us togive on Sunday. This is a pooling of the saint’s resources and is the only way a local church is authorized to raise money. In Acts 20:7 we find saints meeting on the first day of the week to partake of the Lord’s supper in remembrance of the Lord’s death for us ( 1 Corinthians 11:23-25.) Worship should be for edification (1 Corinthians 14:19); decently and orderly (1 Corinthians 14:40); and to praise God (Hebrews 13:15.) It is possible to worship God wrong (Matthew 15:9.)

The attitude of many is that “the church” does certain things collectively as though the church is an entity of itself, capable acting by itself. In reality, the universal church has no organization. Each local church could support the preaching of the gospel (2 Corinthians 11:8), and local benevolent issues (1 Timothy 5:9) but even this is limited. The entire New Testament shows individual Christians what they need to be doing. Many letters are addressed to churches but the individual is almost always specified. Paul wrote to the “church of God at Corinth, to those who are sanctified…” (1 Corinthians 1:2.) Christians should be preaching the gospel (Acts 8:4) and doing good to all people (Galatians 6:10), showing their faith by benevolent works (James 2:14-17), and encouraging one another (Hebrews 3:13) among other things. No outside human organizations were needed in Bible days for individual Christians were getting the job done. Saying we need to support other institutions is to say that Christians in the church cannot do the work God gave.

The Lord’s church does not exist as a corporate entity in a denominational sense nor does it exist to add to the many denominations out there. The prayer of Jesus (John 17:17-21), the teaching of the inspired Apostles, and the instruction of the New Testament demand a laying aside of man-made doctrines. Today the question is, Does the church have the right to remake its organization, worship, and work as society changes, or should it remain faithful to the ancient New Testament text? The answer is that if the church of the first century operated as God wanted, it will do so today. We need to return to the church of the first century and be united in one body. Where God’s truth is cherished, followed and believed, the Lord’s church will be there—united in mind and purpose. Then we will know without question that we are doing what is right.