Tonight, we’re studying what the Bible teaches about the church. I don’t know of a better place to begin than in Matthew, chapter 16. If you want to read along with us, we’ll begin with verse 13:
Matthew 16:13-20:
Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of Man is?
14 And they said, Some (say) John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
15 He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Who is in heaven.
18 And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock (that is, the confession you have just made) I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
20 Then charged He the disciples that they should tell no man that He was the Christ.
Jesus Christ never built anything except what He said He was going to build in this passage: “I will build My church.” He came to this earth for the purpose of building it, and He did build it. It was, and is, of exceeding preciousness to Him, and we will see that degree of preciousness in the course of our study tonight. It must be precious to us, as well. The only religious institution on the face of the earth that exists with the approval of heaven is the church…that…Jesus…built.
In Matthew 15, verse 13, the Lord said that “Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted…up.” He was not giving a lesson in agriculture, or horticulture. He was talking about religious plants. Sooner or later, every competing religious institution will go the way of all fleshly and material things, because that is what they are. There is one spiritual institution that shall endure—it’s the church that Jesus built.
There are five things that I want to study with you tonight—and they’ll have to be studied very briefly—about the church. We’ll look at its origin; we’ll look at its past; we’ll look at its nature and work together; we will look at its identity; and then we will look at its destiny.
The Origin of the Church
With Whom did the church begin? It was no mere man who said, “I will build My church,” in this text. It was not even an angel or an archangel. It was the Son of God Who said before He left this earth, “All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth,” Matthew 28, verse 18. In the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, built His church lies the Truth that we…dare…not…tamper…with…it! No man has the right to change anything about it. The very term “change agent” connected with the church is out of place; it’s an oxymoron; we have no right to be agents of change in that which is changeless, which the church is!
There is only one sense in which the church is a human institution. It was built for humans—for our benefit. It wasn’t built for angels. There’s not an angel who has ever been, or ever will be, a member of the church Jesus built. It wasn’t built for lower animal forms. It was built exclusively for the benefit of we human beings. When we’re talking about the plans for the church, the organization of the church, the worship of the church, and every other feature of the church the New Testament reveals to us, that’s sacred ground. The Lord built it like He wanted it, and we dare not question His wisdom in how He built it. The church originated with Christ.
When we think of origin, we think of time and place. The time was drawing near when Jesus said, “I will build My church.” The last verse of that very same 16th chapter of Matthew [verse 28] has Him saying, “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” That’s not a “second coming” passage. That’s a statement saying that “I’m going to come in My kingdom; I’m going to bring My kingdom,” which He identified with His church in the passage we read, “in the lifetime of some of you men.”
Mark’s account has it a little bit differently worded, chapter 9, verse 1: “Verily I say unto you, There are some here of them that stand (by), who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come with power.” That’s what Jesus was saying. Within the lifetime of His contemporaries, He said, “I…will…establish My kingdom. I will build this church.”
Now, if the 98% of Protestantism that believes in the future kingdom, that says the kingdom has not yet been established, if they are correct, then Jesus was a false prophet. He didn’t know what He was talking about—either that, or there are some 2,000-year-old men walking around on this earth somewhere! The Lord did establish His church! He did set up His kingdom—just…when…He…said He would. It was in the lifetime of the men whom He addressed, particularly His apostles.
In a certain sense, the church is an eternal institution; that is, its origin is IN eternity. Ephesians, chapter 3, verses 10 and 11 says that the church is “according to the eternal purpose which He (God) purposed in…Christ…Jesus…our…Lord.” Just whenever it was in the trackless time of eternity that the Godhead decided on this scheme of redemption for humankind, the church was right there CENTRAL to that decision and plan! Let no one suggest to you that “the church is a second-rate substitute, an afterthought in the mind of God when His first plan failed.” His first plan didn’t fail, my friends. The kingdom WAS established; we’re not waiting for another kingdom. The church was built just as Jesus said it would be, in the lifetime of His contemporaries. It’s always been in the plan of God.
The Church’s Past
The church is the subject of prophecy and type and shadow in the Old Testament. We can rightly call it “the church of the Bible” and do no violence to those terms at all. There are numerous prophecies relating to the church in the Old Testament. We’ll have time to look at only two.
The first of these is the most complete statement regarding the church in a concise form. In Isaiah, chapter 2, the prophet, seven hundred years before the coming of Christ, said these Words in verses 2 and 3: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”
There’s another prophecy I call you attention to. It’s the 2nd chapter of another Old Testament book, the book of Joel. In verse 28, the prophet begins much the same way Isaiah 2 and verse 2 began: “And it shall come to pass afterward, (saith the Lord), that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh….” And then, for 4 additional verses He elaborates on that one basic prophecy[“…and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My spirit. 30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. 32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.”].
Those two prophetic passages find fulfillment in the 2nd chapter of a New Testament book, the book of Acts. The book of Acts opens, chapter 1, with the Lord meeting for the last time with His eleven apostles—Judas has defected, hanged himself and died. He is with the eleven in the Mount of Olives. He tells them to wait in Jerusalem—look at verses 4 through 8 if you want to follow in the text—until they are clothed, or endued, with power from on high. And He says this power that’s coming is going to fulfill the promise that John made, that “you [the apostles] will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” And so, they did tarry in Jerusalem.
And then, we come to the 2nd chapter of Acts, and after mentioning the apostles in the last verse of the 1st chapter, chapter 2 begins by saying, “And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they [the apostles] were all together in one place.” Now, there are twelve again—Matthias has been appointed in the material given us in Acts, chapter 1. So, they’re back up to twelve, now. But they were all together in one place.
“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven [or, split, divided, parting asunder] tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” Acts 2:2-4.
These things, the succeeding verses tell us, drew a great crowd together where the apostles were. And they were extremely amazed and puzzled over what was occurring. How do we explain these things? Some of them said, “These men are Galilaeans. How hear we every man in our own language?” These were not men speaking gibberish and nonsense, like the so-called “tongue talkers” today! They were speaking languages that these men could understand! The people knew that these men, being from Galilee (that’s a New Testament word for “Arkansas”—excuse me; pardon me; that just slipped out), had not had any educational opportunities. They had not been able to go to college and learn these languages. And so, the people were indeed perplexed.
Someone finally said, “These guys are drunk. That’s how they’re doing this.” Now, that’s really a good explanation. You can’t speak one language plain when you’re drunk, much less one you never learned! And so, it was time for the apostles to explain what was happening.
Verse 14 [of Acts chapter 2] tells us that Peter stood up with the eleven; he beckoned to the crowd—got their attention by his opening words, and then he said, “…these [men] are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day (that’s 9 o’clock in the morning).” It was evidentially most rare for anyone to get drunk that early in the morning in the 1st Century. “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel….” And he begins to quote from Joel, chapter 2, we noticed a minute ago, verse 28, and he quotes the whole 5 verses having to do with that central promise of God saying that He would pour forth His Spirit.
Now, sometimes when we read an Old Testament prophecy, we search for its specific fulfillment in the New Testament, and we have to do a little inference here and there. We have to say, “Well, this seems to fit; this must have been what the prophet was talking about.” But there are certain places in the New Testament where an inspired man says, “Now, when that prophet back there said that, this is what he was talking about.” That’s exactly what Peter did on Pentecost. And we don’t have to wonder whether that is what the prophet meant, or not. Peter said, “This is that—this is what Joel was talking about,” but the phraseology that Peter uses is, “…it shall come to pass in the last days,” saith God, the very same terminology that Isaiah used in chapter 2 and verse 2, “…it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established….”
Well, Peter went ahead with quoting that prophecy, and then after that introductory statement, in verse 22, he begins his sermon in earnest. His opening salvo is to tell that vast crowd of people that they are murderers! Now, has John [Phillis, Evangelist of the Northeast church of Christ] ever started a sermon by getting up and saying, “You’re a bunch of murderers”? That’s exactly what Peter did on Pentecost. He told them, “You have taken and, by lawless hands, crucified the Lord of glory; this man who showed Himself to be from God by signs and wonders—you have crucified!” And then Peter quoted from the Psalms a passage by David in which David prophesied that there would be One Who would die alright, would be buried, but His soul would not be left in Hades and His flesh would not see corruption [Acts 2:27, 31; Psalm 16:8-11, especially verse 10]. Peter said, “David was not speaking of himself. His grave is right over here. You can go and visit his grave. You know his bones are still in there. David was speaking of this Jesus, Whom you crucified, and he was talking about His resurrection!And God has raised Him up. We are witnesses of it, and now God has exalted Him to His right hand!” And then Peter quoted from the 110th Psalm, where God said through the Psalmist, “Sit Thou at My right hand, until I many Thy enemies Thy footstool.”
And now, Peter reaches and draws a conclusion in [Acts 2,] verse 36: “Therefore …”—Brethren, when you see the term “Therefore,” in the Bible, you need to see what it’s THERE FOR! It’s drawing a conclusion from what has been said. “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, Whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Now, before we go a little further, let me put in a “parenthesis” or two here. Peter said, “…let all the house of Israel know assuredly….” We live in a world that’s dominated by a philosophy called “Agnosticism” that says you cannot KNOW anything for sure. Well, they will make one exception: The only thing you can know for certain is that you can know nothing for CERTAIN! Think about that a little bit. Poor, old Peter—he was just an inspired apostle; he didn’t know any better. He said, “This is one thing you can know, and know assuredly, that God has made this same Jesus, Whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
The crowd could take it no more. Just try to imagine the pressure, the emotional pressure that Peter had put them under by the things that he had said. He’s placed upon them the guilt of crucifying their own MESSIAH fifty days before! No wonder Luke says that they were “cut to the heart” [“pricked in their hearts”], Acts 2:37. And in the agony of their guilt, they cried out and said, “Men and brethren, what…shall…we…do?” They must have expected a negative response: “There’s nothing you can do. The crime that you’ve committed is so heinous that it is unforgivable!” That MUST have been their expected response! We can only imagine the relief of their spirits when Peter said, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Well, verse 41 tells us the result: “They then that gladly received his Word were baptized: and there were added (unto them) in that day about three thousand souls.” Let me put another “parenthesis” in right here on verse 41. When people gladly receive the Word of God, they do not argue about what the Bible says concerning baptism. And when people argue about what the Bible says concerning baptism, they have NOT gladly received the Word of God.
Verse 47tells us that to which they were added: “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” He has not stopped that process since that great Day of Pentecost. Every time a person obeys that same Gospel plan of salvation, the Lord adds him to that same church. Do you suppose that’s the church He built? Do you suppose He would add someone to somebody else’s church? Not a chance. He added them to HIS church.
There, we have the ORIGIN of the church that Jesus built described for us and its past prophecy, up until all prophecies were fulfilled. Every passage in the Bible that refers to the church, regardless of what “figure” might be used—the kingdom, or the mountain of the Lord’s house, as Isaiah uses it—always has the church in anticipation. Every passage that speaks of the church, from Acts 2:47 to the last Word of Revelation, has the church in existence with people being added to it. There cannot be the slightest doubt as to the pinpoint in time when the church of Jesus Christ was established. It was on the first Pentecost after His resurrection and ascension. Any church established at a different time and in a different place, besides Jerusalem, cannot be the church Jesus built.
The Purchase Price of the Church
This building [where we are meeting] cost something. Some of you know very well how much it cost. It hasn’t been that long since you were talking about those figures and figuring out how you could pay for it. The houses we live in cost us something. Every building that’s ever been built cost something. It cost something to build the church, too. I can’t really tell you how much it cost, because I don’t think any human being can. Our finite minds are not capable of comprehending what it cost the Father and the Son to build the church, but we do have some Scriptural indicators. One that you’re probably already think of is given us by Paul in his address to the Ephesian elders in Acts, chapter 20, and verse 28, when he warns them to be very vigilant: “Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops [overseers; elders], to feed the church of the Lord which He purchased with His Own blood.” There’s the purchase price.
Now, there’s no way to put a value upon that price, though, upon that blood. For you see, it wasn’t just the blood of a good man, though our Lord was a good man. It was not just the blood of a “martyr” for a good cause, though that’s true of our Lord in some respects. It was the blood of the ONLY…PERFECT…HUMAN…BEINGWHO EVER DID LIVE, AND EVER WILL LIVE. It was priceless, PURE and perfect blood! And how precious it was we cannot value in material terms, but that is what it cost to build the church.
Paul gives us another insight in Ephesians 5. In verse 25, he says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave…Himself…up…for…it….” Everything He had, from a physical, human standpoint—He gave it up for the church! His body, His breath, His blood—they were ALL turned over to one cause and one purpose. That was, to bring His church into being.
My friends, what does that say to us about the value of the church Jesus built—and of how WE ought to value that church; and of how WE dare not sin against that church; WE dare not abandon it; WE dare not neglect it; WE dare not trifle with it; WE dare not try to make it over after OUR wills; WE…dare…not…live in such a way as to bring shame and reproach upon her? It’s the precious body and bride of Christ, bought with His Own blood. That’s what it cost.
The Nature and Work of the Church
For the sake of the nature and the work of the church, they have to be studied together, and there’s just one word that fits both of them—and that’s the word “spiritual.” The church is a spiritual institution. It’s not a financial institution; it’s not a commercial institution; it’s not a political institution; it’s not a hundred of other kinds of institutions you might think of. It is a spiritual institution. If we had no other statement from the Lord to indicate it, the statement in Pontus Pilate’s court would be sufficient. In John 18:36, He said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from hence.” Now, you think of the implications if this statement on the future, literal, earthly, political “kingdom theories” so much abroad in our world today. How do you reconcile what Jesus said here with those who say His kingdom IS of this world, His kingdom’s going to BE on this world for a thousand literal years? You cannot reconcile them; you would have to just ignore what Jesus said, and believe He didn’t know what He was talking about, to hold a “future kingdom” theory.
But notice what Jesus does say about His kingdom. If it’s not going to be an earthly, material, political kingdom, it has to be a spiritual kingdom. He said, “It’s not of this world, meaning it’s not going to exist in a political, physical sense like the kingdom you serve, Pilate. You don’t have to worry about Me being a rival to Caesar’s throne because My kingdom’s not of that kind of world, nature or sort! And moreover, My kingdom didn’t originate on this earth; it is not from hence. It’s from some other place. It came from outside this world. It came from eternity in heaven.” It’s a spiritual kingdom!
We see this flavor of the kingdom in Paul’s statement in Romans 14:17: “…the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” You see the contrast it draws here between physical and material things on one side, and things that are spiritual on the other side. The kingdom doesn’t have to do with just the physical needs and physical wants of man, such as eating and drinking. It has to do with his deepest spiritual needs—righteousness, peace and joy—things that come from the Holy Spirit, as we learn from His Word.
It’s a spiritual entity, and its work flows directly from its nature. As is true of any organization, we get a clue as to the spiritual work of the church from the very purpose for which Jesus came in His physical body. “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,” He said in Luke 19:10. His spiritual body ought to be, by implication, about the same business—seeking and saving the lost. But by explication [to make clear; explain fully], we learn that from the Great Commission, do we not? “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned” Mark 16:15-16 and the parallel in Matthew 28:19-20 [“Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”]. There’s the work of the church, and it’s spiritual from start to finish—preaching the Gospel; getting the Message out so people who want to be saved can know how to be saved and go to heaven some day.
But someone says, “Didn’t Jesus heal a lot of sick people? Wasn’t He concerned about the physical needs of men? Didn’t He feed people by the thousands? Was He not full of compassion for the sorrows and pains of this world?” Oh, indeed, He was. None will ever exceed the compassion that He had.
But we missed it if we think that He came to this earth just…to…meet the…physical…needs…and…relieve the physical distresses of men. He could have stayed in heaven and done all of that through servants upon this earth. He did it through Old Testament prophets. He could surely have done it in New Testament times, as well, indeed as He left that power to do so when He left the earth. But He did not come just to heal the physical wounds of men. It was out of the deep compassion of His heart for all people that He did these wondrous works that brought about comfort physically.
But again, we have missed it if we think that is the primary purpose for which He did those things. There was a nobler and grander SPRIRTUAL motivation behind it. We do not have to guess about that. John states it plainly as he draws his Gospel account to a close. In John, chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, after he had recited the miracles that he recorded in his Gospel account, he then gives this summary statement: “Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written that you may BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may life in His Name.” Now, did you hear what John said? “I have not only told you why He did these works, but why I have given you a record of these works so that you can believe that He is Who He says He was, and that believing on Him you might have…LIFE in His Name. There is the deeper and nobler purpose behind all of those wondrous works of physical compassion. It’s to the saving of the soul! He didn’t come as a physical doctor; He came as the ONLY spiritual doctor.
Now, how does that relate to the church and its work? It is so easy to get the work of the church sidetracked. It is so easy for even well-meaning people to turn the church of the Lord into other areas of work, so that the spiritual work of preaching the Gospel and saving souls is almost forgotten. If the church does not preach the Gospel for the saving of the lost, who will do it? There is no one left to do it—no one willing or able to do it. And it’s not just any congregation of the Lord’s people that can do that anymore, because some have given up on it. And the message they’re preaching is not the Gospel. But if faithful congregations of the Lord’s people fail in this, their primary work, then the Gospel will not be preached. Governments are not going to do it; big business is not going to do it; higher education is not going to do it; the denominations are not going to do it. There is nobody…that…will…do it, and the Lord didn’t give it to anybody else to do, anyway! He gave it to us. We dare not make the church into merely a benevolent institution, though we need to have compassion for the physical needs of others, but it is not primarily a benevolent institution. And of course, we dare not channel its work into entertainment and recreation and things of that sort. It’s a spiritual institution. Its work is a spiritual work.
The Identity of the Church
There are some who think the identity of the church is something we should not talk about anymore. They think it is irrelevant. They think it is unnecessary to discuss. There are some, even, who have stood in pulpits and apologized that they once preached on the identifying marks of the church of Christ and have promised that they will not do that anymore. They’re ashamed that they’ve done it. But I’m not among them, and I pray that I never shall be.
Suppose when we dismiss tonight John and I go out to get in his Explorer—I assume. (I’m speaking by faith here, now, that he’s going to give me a ride back to the place I’m staying.) But his Explorer is not there. Somebody has stolen it. I suspect that he will take his phone off his belt and call 911. And the dispatcher will ask him what his problem is, and he will say, “Someone has stolen my vehicle. Would you please find it?” The dispatcher says, “Sir, would you tell me what the make and the model are, the color of the vehicle and if possible, your license plate number?” He says, “Don’t bother me with those details! You’re wasting time! Just find my vehicle!” You might want to be looking for another preacher.
Identity is important, isn’t it? How can you know whether you have found the church of the Bible, or not found it, if you don’t have any way to identify it? You might be in it, and not even know it! Or, you might stumble upon it, and didn’t know what you’d stumbled upon! Of course, it is important to have identifying marks.
There are those today who are just “anti-pattern” in their thinking. They just cannot stand the idea of the fact that the Bible sets forth patterns for various things, and God is a God Who has operated with men through patterns through the centuries. He had a pattern for worship outside the Garden of Eden, with Cain and Abel. He gave a detailed pattern for the building of the ark when He gave Noah that pattern in Genesis 6. He certainly had a pattern for worship during the Old Testament period when He gave Moses the Law. And then, there’s the tabernacle. Have you read the pattern of the tabernacle lately? I mean, it…is…detailed!
Hebrews, chapter 8, verse 5, speaks of that: “…even as Moses is warned (of God) when he is about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount.” Now brethren, is the Hebrews writer urging people of his day to build a tabernacle in the New Testament age? No. This passage is in keeping with the entire general theme of the Hebrews letter. These Hebrew Christians were on the verge of going back into Judaism, of deserting Christ for Moses. And so, the entire underlying premise of Hebrews is to show the superiority of Christ over Moses, of the Gospel over the Law, of the church over the tabernacle, and so on. And so, this statement in Hebrews 8:5, which is taken directly from Exodus 25, verse 40, where Moses was told for the first time, when he came down from the mountain with the “tabernacle blueprint,” “…for, See…that thou make all things according to the pattern….” It’s an argument from the lesser to the greater! The Hebrews writer is saying, “If God is so concerned about His pattern for the lesser institution (the tabernacle), then what follows? How much GREATER concern, if possible, He would have for the greater institution, the church!”
And so, in the very next verse, Hebrews 8, and verse 6, the writer says, “…But now hath He (Christ)obtained a ministry the more excellent (the greater), by so much also as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises.” You see his argument? Oh, yes, God is concerned about the pattern for His church, and He has a pattern for His church. His church can exist anywhere and in any age this side of the cross, where men and women hear the Gospel of Christ; they believe it; they obey it; and the Lord adds them to the church and they begin worshiping according to this book [the Bible]. That’s how a church begins anywhere.
The church worships in a certain way, according to the New Testament. We haven’t time to look at the passages. We’ll just have to summarize. But, every Lord’s day the church in the New Testament met together; they partook of the Lord’s Supper in memory of the death of Christ; they prayed unto the Father through the Son; they sang psalms, hymns and spiritual songs unto the Lord; they gave of their money; and the studied the Word of God. A church that doesn’t do those things every Lord’s day is not a church that Jesus built; if it was at one time, it has ceased to be. Those are NECESSARY identifying marks.
The church is organized in a certain way in the New Testament. It is not a hierarchical form of government, where one or a few individuals sit in a headquarters somewhere and pull all the strings of all of its member congregations, and they all have to jump at the same time, like puppets. In the Lord’s church, each congregation is autonomous, or self-governing—independent of the others, but drawn into fellowship through their common obedience to the Gospel of Christ. And when fully organized, when men can be qualified according to New Testament qualifications to serve as elders, each congregation has its own plurality of elders—two or more in each congregation. You never see in the New Testament a congregation with only one elder; you never see in the New Testament more than one congregation with only one elder over them; you never see more than one elder over more than one congregation, but always a plurality of elders over one congregation.
And when men can be found that meet the Scriptural qualifications, servants, working under the supervision of those elderships, called deacons, are appointed. And there are evangelists and teachers.
The church does not have just one exclusive name in the New Testament, but it is known by several designations. In both of his epistles to the Corinthians, Paul begins them by addressing them to “the church of God which is at Corinth….” In Hebrews 12:23, we read of “the church of the firstborn,” but don’t let “firstborn” throw you off track there; that’s not referring to Christ. If you read just a little bit further, you’ll see it’s the firstborn ONES, whose names are written in heaven. It’s talking about those who make up the church. On the basis of Matthew 16, verse 18, where Jesus said, “I will build My church,” if He built the church, which we’ve seen He did, it would be perfectly Scriptural to call it “the church of Christ.” But Paul uses that very terminology in Romans 16, verse 16, when he sends greetings from a number of congregations to his brethren in Rome and says, “The churches of Christ salute you.”
The most common identifier by name, or designation, of the church is just “the church.” That is ALL that was needed in the 1st Century. There was NO denominational setup in the 1st Century. You had three religious choices in the 1st Century: Judaism was still alive, although God had already sounded its doom, and the Law had been taken out of effect with the death of Christ. The temple was still standing, though, and so the sacrifices were still being made, though illegitimately; you had paganism, the Roman’s gods, the Greek’s gods, the Egyptian’s gods, and so forth; and you had the church, Christianity. If you asked someone, “What religion are you?” in the 1st Century, and the said, “I’m a member of the church,” they didn’t ask you “What church?” There was only ONE! They knew what you were talking about. That’s the way the Lord intended for it to always be. He said, “There is one body,” Ephesians 4:4. And He said, “That body is the church,” Ephesians 1:22-23.
We shall never see that day, I’m convinced, where there will just be that one church that Jesus built, with all competing institutions fallen away. But that does not give us an excuse for not BEING that one institution, that one church that Jesus built, regardless of the competition all about us. Oh, yes, there are identifying marks of the church. Even the time it was established and the place it was established are a part of those identifying marks.
We’re just about through—stay with me a little bit longer.
The Destiny of the Church
What is the destiny of the church? There’s just one word that fits that. The church has an eternal destiny. We noted a moment ago Hebrews 12:23, “the church of the firstborn.” In those 5 verses down the column in your Bible, when the writer refers to the church of the firstborn as the “kingdom which cannot be shaken (or, “moved”), that’s reminiscent of a prophet, Daniel 2, and verse 44. The prophet said to Nebuchadnezzar, “And in the days of these kings (referring to the Roman Caesars) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never…be…destroyed…and it shall stand for ever.” That’s the unshakable kingdom, which Hebrews 12:23 identifies as “the church”of Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians 5, and verse 23, Paul says, “For the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ also is the head of the church, (being) Himself the Saviour of the body.” Now, in what sense is He going to save the body, which is His church? Will He save it in the sense of protecting its members from physical harm and from dread diseases and from broken bones and from heartache? No…no. That’s not it. He’s going to save it eternally! He’s going to save our souls! He’s going to take those who are IN His church home to GLORY some day!! That’s the sense in which He’s the head of the church and the Savior of the body.
The destiny of the church is eternal because…. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:24, “Then (cometh) the end….” He’s just been talking about the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and then in this verse he says, “Then cometh the end, when He (Christ) shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father….” Now there’s another passage that utterly refutes the “future kingdom” theories. Christ is not coming to set up a kingdom. He’s coming to deliver up His existing kingdom and take it home! That’s what He’s going to do with His church. It’s going to be at home, at last, eternally.
You see, the church is simply the depository of…God’s…saved…people. Every time a person obeys the Gospel of Christ and is saved, a deposit is made of that person into the church. “The Lord added to the church daily such as were being saved” Acts 2:47.
Now, there are two thoughts I want to leave with you as we close tonight. The first is one that should bring great gladness and joy of heart to anyone here who is not a member of the church that we’ve been talking about tonight. You can be before you leave here tonight. You need not leave here outside of the body of Christ, which He is going to save when He returns. The very same body of people, the church that Jesus built, the church that was established on Pentecost, the church that the apostles were members of, that very same church—YOU can be a part of it.
The other thing I leave with you is this: If you want to go to heaven, you must be a part of it. That’s what the Bible teaches. Now, don’t go away saying that the preacher got up there and said that if I didn’t “join his denomination,” I was going straight to hell. You will seriously represent me if you do any such thing. But I do not apologize one bit. I can’t and be true to the Bible. To let anyone leave here tonight thinking that they can go to heaven outside of the church…that…Jesus…bought with His blood—that’s why you must be a member of it, my friends. He is not going to save those outside of the church, if the Bible is TRUE! And I believe it’s true! You must be a part of it. That may be a shock to some of you, but that’s what the Bible teaches. Haven’t we seen it over and over tonight?
Well, how does one become a member of it? The answer is right there in the birthday of the church in Acts, chapter 2. The Gospel was preached; the people cried out as they came to the conviction that Jesus was the Son of God; they implicitly confessed their faith in Him when they said, “What shall we do?”
Now, if Billy Graham had been there, if Max Lucado had been there, they would have said, “You don’t need to do anything—you’ve already done all you need to do. Just go find a church you like. You can be baptized later of you want to.”
But, bless his heart—Peter was just a poor old inspired apostle who didn’t know any better. Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you….” No exceptions! “…in the Name of Jesus Christ…” meaning “by the authority of”!—just like the sheriff says when he knocks on the door, “Open up in the name of the law”—by the authority of the law. “By the authority of Christ, I’m telling you to do this,” Peter says. “…UNTO…”—that you might receive “the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Peter wasn’t through preaching. “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all of them that afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him. And with many other Words did he testify and exhort them saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’ They then that gladly received his Word were baptized: and there were added (unto them) in that day about three thousand souls.”
Now, you can be a part of that number added…tonight. I hope and pray that you will if you’re outside the body of Christ. If you’ve never confessed your faith in Christ, turned away from you sins, and been baptized in order that you might receive the cleansing power of the blood of Christ, why don’t you do that tonight? I want you to go to heaven, and you surely want to go to heaven. I don’t want anybody saying to me when I get up to the Judgment, “You didn’t make it plain enough that night in Albuquerque.” I’ve risked hurting some feelings tonight, perhaps, by speaking plainly, but I hope your feelings are hurt enough that you’ll obey the Gospel. Why don’t you come to Christ tonight, confess you faith in Him, be baptized into Him, become a member of the Lord’s church and this body of His church here?
And now, brother or sister, if you have defamed the Lord’s precious bride by the way you’ve lived; if you’ve neglected her; if you have despised her; if you’ve mistreated her; you ought to repent in bitter tears tonight. He loved her so much that He gave all He had for her, and you’re a part of what He loved so much and gave Himself for as a member of the church. Come back to Him tonight. Let’s stand and sing.
Concluding Comments at the end of this Gospel Meeting by Brother John Phillis, Evangelist of the Northeast church of Christ
I don’t think that in all of my years that I’ve heard preaching that has been quite as plain, quite as straightforward, quite as understandable, as that which we have heard this week during this series of lessons. We are indeed indebted to this good man for coming here and sharing these wonderful sermons with us. Brother Dub, you’ve preached the Word of God powerfully, faithfully, and in a loving way, we have been exhorted; we’ve been edified; yes, we’ve been admonished. And we have been encouraged; we’ve been uplifted and we’ve been strengthened. We are better Christians today than we were a week ago, and thus, this is a better congregation. Thank you, Brother McClish.
We have heard six very powerful sermons concerning what the Bible has to say about the Lord’s Supper; what the Bible has to say concerning Worship Attendance; what the Bible has to say about Discipleship; what the Bible has to say about It’s Own Silence; and last night, that wonderful lesson about Baptism and tonight about the New Testament Church.
I want to mention once again The Gospel Journal. This is the fine publication—a monthly publication—that Brother McClish edits. [For ordering information for The Gospel Journal publication: Phone/fax: 210-566-9055. Email: tgj.1@juno.com. Mailing address: P. O. Box 219, Cibolo, Texas 78108-0219.]
If you subscribe to that Journal—well, if you don’t subscribe to it—you might want to also be aware of the publication company that used to be owned by Dub and his wife that is now owned by The Gospel Journal and is under that name. [The Gospel Journal now carries a large assortment of Bibles, many, many good books on a wide variety of subjects (e.g., apologetics, the home, elders, debates, hermeneutics, liberalism, etc.), commentaries on almost all of the books of the Bible, numerous standard Bible reference works (concordances, Bible dictionaries, word studies, church histories, Bible introductions, etc.), lectureship books and CDs from the Annual Denton Lectures, and their successors, the Schertz Lectures books. Contact information is as above.]
Well, it’s been a great week. We’re glad that you have been here.