What is the Church
Christianity 101 Series
CCCAG October 27th, 2019
The video that we just watch is going to frame our lesson for this morning in our Christianity 101 series - what is the church?
Since the church is God’s idea and should be done in God’s will and HIS purpose, let’s start off by asking for HIS help in prayer
Scripture (back of bulletin)- Matt 19:29, Ephesians 1:22-23, 1 Cor 12:27-31, Ephesians 4:11-12
Intro:
When you read through the gospels and you think about the words of Jesus you start to realize that Jesus’ spiritual gift really was not sales.
It seems whenever Jesus spoke, He said and did the exact opposite of what most church growth experts would tell a pastor to do to grow the church.
In promoting his new religious movement Jesus promised his followers pain, suffering, social isolation, and persecution. Not only that, Jesus said he came to turn son against father and daughter against mother and even rip apart the family you were born into.
With a show of hand, how many people when you decided to become a Christian looked at all of that and said yes that's what I want?
Not seeing too many hands up.
How many of you have experienced some of those negative consequences since you have become a Christian?
Virtually everybody. And if you haven't just wait it's coming.
The life of Jesus is usually thought about as God coming down a restoring that which was lost in the garden of Eden and that is very true. He gave us forgiveness of sins, He restored fellowship with God, and even infused us and baptized us with the Holy Spirit.
Those are all spiritual benefits.
But he also took care of us as we continue to live on this earth in giving us the church.
There are many misconceptions about what the church is supposed to be as we saw in that video. Most people think the church is just the building which is why in the Middle Ages they built gigantic structures of stone meant to last for over 1000 years that would take decades to build.
But that's not what Jesus had in mind.
Even today in modern America most pastors have a dream of building a church building worth millions of dollars in order to promote their vision of what ministry is supposed to be and how they serve their community.
But that's not what Jesus had in mind.
The world looks at a church as a bunch of deluded simpletons who can't get through life without some type of crutch who somehow managed to get themselves a tax-exempt status.
That of course is not what Jesus had in mind.
So what did Jesus have in mind when he spoke about the church?
Throughout this series I've repeatedly said that your eternal life began when you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and your savior.
This isn't my idea or my awesome thought, this is what Jesus taught us. We are to be living here on earth as we would in heaven.
Let me ask you how will we be living in heaven?
For those of us who are introverted, we think of heaven as a 1000-acre ranch where we never rub elbows with each other.
That might be an introvert's dream , but that's not the Kingdom of God.
In several places in the Bible, whenever God pulls back the veil and let's us see into heaven it's always groups of people being together. In fact, The Apostle John says that there is a multitude that no one can number standing before the throne of God worshiping him and crying out to him.
God is a Father who loves to be surrounded by His family in heaven. Since we are living in eternal life right now, we are supposed to reflect that here on earth, and live in a community called the church.
In the bible, the Greek word for church is “Ecclesia” which means “called out ones”. It’s referring to the people who were once stumbling around in the darkness and have been rescued and brought into God’s wonderous light.
That’s a great way to look at the church.
It’s where we are going to start this morning.
Backing up a little- A few moments ago, I mentioned a few of the negative consequences of following Jesus.
Now let’s look at what Jesus promised those who follow Him in Matt 19:29
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
What Jesus is telling us- that which we may have lost in life, HE supplies an even better example of what we lost, and that is the church. That means that the church is-
I. Your New Family
The apostle Paul said this about Jesus and His church-
Ephesians 1:22-23 New International Version (NIV)
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
In the Middle Ages there was a King who had a very vast Kingdom. One day, during a meeting of his Royal Court, one of his advisors informed him that one of the outlying areas was beginning to form a rebellion against his rule. The advisers had sent out emissaries to try to bring them back into the fold, but they were unsuccessful and were treated very poorly. The advisors told the King that he needed to raise an army to march into that area an bring the King's justice to bear and kill the ringleaders of the rebellion.
The King said that he would think about this overnight and give them and answer in the morning.
In the morning the council chamber was filled with the Royal Court and the heads of the richer families waiting to hear what the King would do. Suddenly the sound of trumpets and the King walked into the council. He sat down and said that yes indeed he wanted to raise an army but not to go to the village and bring justice but to bring that entire village back to his Castle.
His advisers immediately began to protest and he raised his hand and said, “just follow my command”
Three weeks later 150 very frightened villagers were marched into the Castle and they were brought to the banquet Hall. They were surprised to see tables filled with food and glasses is filled with drink. They heard the doors closed behind them as the soldiers backed out of the room and left them there. Suddenly the sound of trumpets and the King walked into the room completely alone other than the servants who were serving the food and drink.
He stood before his throne and said, “Please sit. Eat and drink. After you have had your fill, let’s talk about why you want to rebel against me. I am you king, and I love you, and will now share my blessing with you. But I want you to know this- You are not just my subjects, but part of my family, and I want to honor you as such.”
Some people might think this king is dumb. In human thinking-Rebellion should be squashed immediately and forcefully so no one will ever think about doing it again.
But this king is God, and we are the rebellious subjects, and he as brought us into a feast of love and made us members of His family.
The church is the earthly fulfillment of that promise that Jesus gave us to receive a thousand times that which we lost through following HIM.
Does that put the church in a different perspective for you this morning? Does that give us something to live up to?
Before I became a Christian, the only people I had in my life that were spiritual in any way were my grandparents who were pretty serious about church attendance and working at the Lutheran church in Hayward whenever something came up.
Because I had a very tumultuous upbringing with a lot of drama the only glimpse I had of family was when I was with my grandparents. My parents separated when I was 5 years old and had very rocky relationships to put it mildly so I was tossed back and forth in the family. I never had a stable home life and became a loner and extreme introvert.
When I got saved, I started attending church every time the doors were opened. I started to see what family was supposed to be like. People wanted me around. They listened to my questions, even if initially they seemed really silly to them. They still loved and accepted me and were patient with me but were still firm on sticking to what they believed.
In the beginning of a new converts eternal life, this is what the church needs to be. When I came here 5 years ago, I often said that you cannot be angry with an infant because they messed their diaper. That's what babies do.
The same thing goes with the new Christian.
Kanye West/Brian “Head” Welch/Justin Beaver
They will ask seemingly silly and dumb questions.
They will make a mess of things.
They will talk out of turn
They will call you at very inconvenient times to get them out of very awkward circumstances. I got woken up at 1am to pick up a newer Christian from the men’s group I belonged to who was extremely drunk from a bar and drive him home and he threw up in my car.
Why did he call me? He was there with his “friends”
Because he looked at me as his family.
That’s a win church!
Not his drunkenness, but the fact that even in his drunkenness he thought of his spiritual family first instead of getting into the car and either driving drunk or letting other people drive drunk to bring him home.
A few days later he apologized profusely at men’s group. He received love and forgiveness with stern counsel (especially about tossing cookies in my car) and learned from that and never drank again.
Those are spiritual wins. Yes- he did something dumb. Yes- he made a mess. Yes- He remembered the people who would love him no matter what. YES! Win!
That’s what the church is supposed to be- a hospital for the sick, not a mausoleum of stiff, dead people comparing how good their tombstones look to the people sitting around them. The living Church of Jesus Christ is supposed to be a safe place from the evil world where God has placed you into a family where you can learn, grow, and serve others.
Amen?
Just like your earthly family has some structure built into it, God’s family also has structure in defining rolls within the family.
In natural families you have Father’s and mothers, older brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, Godparents, ect. Ideally, all of these will provide structure and support to raise up children to be physically, emotionally, and spiritually mature.
The church is the same. We have a structure. Let’s look at that.
Turn over to 1 Cor 12:27-31
II. Let’s look at the Structure. I’m going to read an extended portion just for clarity, but really focus on verse 27 and the first part of 28
Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts.
A quick explanation here of this part of the bible-
1 Cor 12 is the structure of the church and how it flows with in and through the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 13 is the core principle of the church- Agape Love.
Chapter 14 gives some guidelines of how a church worship meeting should be conducted.
Chapter 12 shows us that the foundation of the church is built on three core spiritual positions- apostles, prophets, teachers. And in the church God has appointed first The Greek word for first there means first in number, not position. It would be like saying, first you take an egg out of a carton, then you break it into a bowl to make an omelet. It means first in sequence, not priority.
I’m being specific about this because a lot of people get this wrong and run around calling themselves apostles because they think that’s the highest spiritual position they can attain.
The apostle is the founder of a church. Paul is the most famous apostle in that he founded more church’s than anyone else in the first century. He would move into a community for a few years, preach the word, train the converts, pick a couple of elders to continue his work, and then leave to form another church somewhere else. That’s the brief definition of an apostles work, the modern version of that is called missionary.
The second position is that of prophet. Prophets were raised up to give direction to the church as it grew so people would know the will of God for their church. They were in leadership and would encourage spiritual development within the church by modeling and exhorting people into deep prayer lives.
The third position is that of teacher. The teacher is concerned about sound doctrine and instilling that within the new covert. They are the glue that holds the church family together and keeps it from flying off into heresy and false beliefs.
Those are 3 positions that existed early in the 1st century church to establish the foundations.
Think about church leadership today- What position isn’t talked about in this verse
Pastors.
About 10 years or so after Paul wrote 1st Corinthians, he wrote to the church in Ephesus some similar instructions.
Let’s read those-
Eph 4:11-13
11 It was (Jesus) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
This is known as the 5-fold ministry. I bring up these verses to just show you the one place in the Bible were the word pastor comes up in regards to ministry.
Except for this one verse, the Greek word Poi-mein always refers to shepherds of sheep except here in Ephesians.
Saying that- it’s a great representation of what a modern Pastor’s job is.
(Use paintings)
Modern pastors protect the flock
Lead the flock
Tend the flock to ensure it’s health.
The unfortunate thing of 21st century church is that we have taken the entire 5-fold ministry and crammed it into the one term- pastor. Even worse, we have called people a pastor who have no interactions with people at all.
I look at larger church websites and see “Pastors of administration. Pastors of technology. Pastors of finance”
Those aren’t rolls that need a pastor. A pastor tends sheep, not a computer.
It’s a pet peeve of mine but it does bear mention this morning. Our human nature sometimes strives for a title but doesn’t want the responsibility that goes with the title. The title of pastor means you deal with people, and all the messiness that goes with dealing with people.
Whatever title you give them, the church leaders roll is well defined -
12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
One of the biggest mistake’s churches make is believing that all ministry belongs to the pastor.
According to what we just read in Ephesians that's actually the reverse of what is supposed to happen and is one of the biggest lies the enemy has put upon the church to hinder its growth and influence in the culture and community the local church occupies.
Let me frame this a little differently.
If you are all just sheep and an enemy want to destroy the flock, who does it take out?
The shepherd. One person and the flock disintegrates.
That’s the reason why Jesus structured his church differently from most worldly organizations.
Jesus set up a New Testament church filled with people growing in faith and exercising their gifts. Now you have dozens to target and if one falls- it stings a little but not like putting all your eggs in one basket and expecting the pastor to do it all.
Pastors, as well as the rest of the positions in God’s family are support personnel meant to minister inside the family while you are out there bringing in people to join the family.
Does that make sense?
Let’s close today in looking at the mission of the church.
III. It’s Mission
Within the Assemblies of God, we recognize that we have four directives from God that we as His church are supposed to be doing.
These are called our 4 reasons for being-
1. To be an agency of God for evangelizing the world.
Acts 1:8
2. To be a corporate body in which we can worship God
1 Cor 12:13
3. To be an entity that matures God’s people into the image of Jesus
Ephesians 4:11
The fourth reason for being was added a few years ago
4. To be a people who demonstrate God’s love and compassion to the world
I think it’s a noble and biblical idea that the church should do good works and benevolence. Saying that- it should be seen as an outflow of the other 3 and not a reason in of itself.
It might be straining at gnats, but that’s what teachers do, and I’m a teacher first and foremost in my gifting.
I would summarize this last part of the message and teaching this morning by saying that the mission of the church is to show the world the transforming power and love of Jesus Christ as seen in the people who call themselves his disciples.
Amen?
Q&A
Conclusion- membership applications!
Prayer/Altar Call
