Foundational Truths: The Church 1

Foundational Statement of Elim:

The Church: We believe in the spiritual unity and the priesthood of all believers in Christ and that these comprise the universal Church, the Body of Christ.

Close Encounters of the Church Kind

My first encounter with a church was when I was Christened.  We were not a religious family and I think it was just the done thing. I don’t remember it.  My second encounter with a church was being taken to a Catholic Priest as a boy to have a blessing of some description because of the occultic activity at home (this is a long story for another day).  He taught me the Lord’s prayer and told me to say it every night.  

My third encounter with a church was when a chap named Sam came knocking on the door and invited my brother to a small group (he’d responded to a campaign in the town).  I went too.  Six weeks later I had become a Christian.  

I then attended a building that they called church.  Culturally it was foreign to me.  I sat at the back and left during the last song.  They were all really happy (as was I).  

They had the weirdest musical set up.  I’d never seen anything like it.  To the left of the stage there was an electric Hammond organ.  I’d never seen such a thing in my life and the organist was so exuberant that he was sweating by the end of the firs few songs.  To the right of the stage was an upright piano.  The pianist would look to the organist and grin, and he would grin back, and they both went for it!  Clearly they were enjoying themselves.  They actually payed really well. 

The first song I sang in church, which is a bit like your first car; you may not like it but you’ll always treasure it in your mind, was This Is The Day.  I didn’t understand but everyone shouted “Hey!” occasionally.  Words were displayed on an OHP, slightly out of focus, which I thought was odd as I had to squint slightly.  Everyone else knew the songs it seemed.  

The pastor stood in the middle of the platform singing.  He sang, we sang.  He stopped, we stopped.  I knew him already and I liked him, but I’d never seen him do this before, so I was trying hard not to laugh.  Just seemed so weird.  

The singing ended and then the organist got up and spoke.  I came to learn these affectionate moments are called the “notices” and every church has them, love them, and back in the day, it was the church secretary who did these.  Every service.  Every service.  I thought it was odd that a secretary was an organist too; he didn’t look like a secretary, standing there, in his suit and tie with perspiration dripping from his brow after his enthusiastic playing.  I guess some of us are misty eyed with nostalgia now!  

He went on to say how great it was to see a new young person saved.  Everyone turned and smiled at me although they had also left a space of two chairs space to my left and my right; I was dressed a bit odd for church, denim jacket & shirt, jeans, cowboy boots, bootlace tie - even I knew you had to dress well for church.  

He then went on to say it was a pity I had missed the “glory days.”  I was not sure what this was.  I did know I wasn’t late for church.  I Also knew this had been something important by the affection he spoke about the “glory days.”  I prayed, “Lord, let these “glory days,” whatever they are, come again, I don;t want to have missed it!”  I think everyone prayed that silently too.  I my mind I think I realised I couldn’t be blamed for missing something that apparently had happened forty or so years before.  

We had communion.  It seemed you had to be a banker, dressed in a suit and tie, to serve communion.  We were warned not to take the emblems if we didn’t know Jesus.  I accepted Jesus quickly again, for the fifth time that week!  It was all very sanitised, pre-cut bread, little thimbles of something red.  

We then had the sermon.  My pastor was giving it some and was preaching with great passion.  Then it was the last song and the offering.  I wasn’t sure what that was until the same people who had served communion began to bring along little blue, felt bags with wooden handles that were being rapidly passed along the rows.  I didn’t have any money!  I did think it was a bit cheeky, getting us to do all the singing, give us a morsel of food, get us to listen to the Pastor for 40 minutes and then ask us to pay for the privilege.  I was impressed that people did this cheerfully.  

Despite all these weird first impressions of an almost 13 year year old, I knew somethings:

• I was home
• I was with family
• and Jesus is alive!

When we think of the church today and the next time I preach we will be thinking of the global Church and then the local church.

We are part of something bigger.  When we look at the church we can forget that we are part of the Church.  When we read church with a lower case ‘c’ it means the local church, the community of believers who make up a church, like Life Church.  When we read Church with an upper case or capital ‘C’ it means the universal, Catholic Church.  Before you all go throwing toys out of the cot, the word Catholic refers to the Church everywhere; it means ‘whole.’ 

In this two part message on the Church we will look firstly at the Church as a whole, then the local church.

The Church, Jesus’ Idea!

When we think of the Church around the world we tend to have a local perspective on a global solution.  What I mean by that is that we are so focused on us, our community our city, that we lose sight of the big picture.  

Today, I want us to think bigger!

If we just think of the Elim Pentecostal Church there are nearly 600 fellowships in the UK and we are operating in over 63 different countries around the world.  Before you all think I’m being too ‘corporate’ we are an Elim Church and are part of a great movement.  Whilst those figures are encouraging, they are small fry compared to the whole Church, of which we are a small part.

The Church Today:

• There are 2.18 billion Christians around the world.
• 32% of the world's population is considered to be Christian.
• Of the approximate 2 billion Christians in the world today, 279 million (12.8%) identify themselves as Pentecostals, 304 million (14%) are Charismatics, and 285 million (13.1%) are Evangelicals, or Bible believing Christians.
• In the un-evangelised world, there are 20,500 full-time Christian workers and 10,200 foreign missionaries.
• In the evangelised non-Christian world, there are 1.31 million full-time Christian workers.  Does anyone else see the imbalance there?

Bible Distribution:

• Approximately 78.5 million Bibles are distributed globally per year.
• There are approximately 6 million books about Christianity in print today.

Martyrs:

• An average of 159,960 Christians worldwide are martyred for their faith per year; that’s roughly one Christian every 3 1/2 minutes are killed for their faith.  This figure may have gone up because of the Islamic persecution of Christians in the Middle East  of recent years.

[Source: http://christianity.about.com/od/denominations/p/christiantoday.htm accessed on 23/6/15].

You are part of something bigger than the local church but our resources seem to be focused on those who know Jesus, rather than those who do not.

Jesus is Keeping His Promise:

More people have become Christians in the last 100 years than the previous 1900.  The Church globally is growing, rapidly.  We may not feel this in the UK, but it is true here too, it’s slower here, but is still growing.

Let’s see what Jesus had to say about the Church:

Matthew 16:13-20: 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’  14 They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15 ‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’

16 Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ 17 Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

There is obviously a substantial amount of information about Christ's Church in the New Testament and the beliefs and practices they had, so I can only really scratch the surface today. 

There are four points I would like to make about the universal Church from this text in Matthew 16.

1. The Church is Built by Jesus 

“I will build…” 

This is in the future tense. Jesus is saying here that He would do the necessary work for His church to be built.  We need to remember that the universal Church is first and foremost His building project.  

This worldwide movement of people that have a common belief, Jesus as our Saviour.  "Only Jesus could build a bridge to Heaven with two pieces of wood and a few nails." 

This worldwide family of believers who argue, fall out, disagree, from new movements to established denominations, who forgive each other and seek to change the world is Jesus’ project.

When I have lived overseas, been on missions trips, or just been on holiday, and have had the privilege to worship with other believers I have had the same feeling each time I dod back in 1980 in my home church:

• I was home
• I was with family
• and Jesus is alive!

It is not familiarity either.  Sometimes these services can be quite ‘westernised,’ often they are not!  Culture is not Christianity; Christianity redeems cultures.

Jesus is not a cowboy builder or a rogue tradesman, we must have faith and confidence that He knows what He is doing.

This does not meant that everything that goes on in the Church is part of His design; Paul tells us this:

1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

It is not that there will not be problems and disagreements within the universal Church.  Where there are people there will alway be differing opinions.  What is so important, more important than the problems, is how we model resolving them: with love and forgiveness.

And the Church continues to be built as people are added to it. 

Peter says that we are the living stones that God uses to build His spiritual house (1 Peter 2:4-7). Jesus is the main stone, the Cornerstone, and as people are being added to the Church by God and grow in their faith and holiness, the Church becomes a more and more magnificent dwelling place for God.

2. The Church Belongs to Jesus 

“…My church” 

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6 that, as members of Christ, we “are not your own:” 

1 Corinthians 6: 19-20a: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price.  

He paid the price to buy us and to make us members of His universal Church, and so that each member of His Church would be His!

The Bible has several metaphors to describe the Church.  These cannot belong to a local church or even a denomination, although a few have called themselves some of these things.  These are the titles of the whole Church, not just one:

• The Church of Christ - 1 Corinthians 1:2 (can be used to describe a group of churches).

• The Church of God - Acts 20:28 (can be used to 

describe a group of churches in a place).

• The Body of Christ - 1 Corinthians 12:27

• The Temple of God - 1 Corinthians 3:17; 

1 Corinthians 6:19; note the purity of this verse. 

  We may think we are individually Temple of God but the real power 

        is in the corporate nature of the Temple!

• The Kingdom of God - Matthew 12:28

• The Bride of Christ - Revelation 22:17

All of these “names” were not put on signs in front of buildings.  All of these names were descriptive.  They tell us something about this special group of people. The one Church was described in all of these ways by the early Church, and in some cases, by God.

The word Church is Ekklesia = is made up of two greek words: ek, “out of,” and, klēsis, “a calling.” 

This was a term used by the greeks to describe a body of citizens who would come to an assembly to discuss matters of state.  In the Septuagint (Greek version of the Hebrew Bible) it was used to describe the gathering together of the whole nation of Israel.  It has two applications to the Church today: 

• The whole of the Church in the present era (Matt. 16: 18; Eph 1:22)
• In singular sense of a local congregation (Matt 18:17; Acts 20:28 etc)

So in one sense we are the Church, wherever we are, but we also go to the local church showing our separateness.

We are separated for holiness.

We are separated for service.

We are separated to worship.

We are separated to serve.

We are separated to intercede.

We are different because we belong to Jesus!

1 Peter 2:9:  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

3. The Church Wins! 

“…the gates of Hades will not overcome it” 

Now what is Jesus saying here?  Some quote this as “gates of Hell,” but that is a misquote.  Hell is a place where at the Final Judgement fallen angels and non-Believers are thrown into (Matthew 5: 22; 29-30; Mark 9:43-47; Matt 13:42; 2 Thess. 1:9 etc)

Jesus specifically says, Hades, not Hell in Matthew’s account.  

Hades is the NT word for the OT word Sheol but it had not been translated uniformly through the Bible.  Sometimes as hell, sometimes as the grave.  It is neither.  It is a place of the ‘region of departed spirits of the lost (which included the saints until the ascension of Christ),’ (Vines).  

Hell is not the same as Hades, for Hades is thrown into Hell (see Revelation 20:13 -15):

Sheol/hades was a realm with two divisions—a place of blessing and a place of judgment (Matthew 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27–31).  

The habitat of the saved and the lost are both generally called “hades” in the Bible.  The abode of the saved is also called “Abraham’s bosom” (KJV) or “Abraham’s side” (NIV) in Luke 16:22 and “paradise” in Luke 23:43.  

The abodes of the saved and the lost are separated by a “great chasm” (Luke 16:26). 

When Jesus died, He went to the blessed side of Sheol and, from there, took the believers with Him to heaven (Ephesians 4:8–10). 

The judgment side of sheol/hades has remained unchanged, although Jesus preached there too (1 Peter 3: 18-10). 

All unbelieving dead go there awaiting their final judgment in the future.

When Christ ascended things changed for the believer, for now we are instantly present with the Lord after death:

2 Cor 5:8: We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

2 Cro 5:8: we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (KJV)

Hades then is a place of the dead and at that moment when Jesus spoke the godly dead were in a part of it too.

When Jesus says “…the gates of Hades will not overcome it” He is proclaiming several things:

• Death and Hades will try and overcome the Church! They won't succeed.

• Whatever happens in this lifetime, even martyrdom, the Church wins!

• As the builder of the Church He was going to have to go there and prevail over death and Hades.  He does and did!

• He is going to release people into the presence of God.

• Heaven is real for God will open up eternity to those who have already dies, not just a pace of temporary blessing.

• That judgement will come for those who reject God.

• That there will always be a Church, for Hades represented death.  You will never extinguish the Church.  You may persecute the Church, attack the Church, but you will never eradicate it for death does not win over us individually nor corporately.

Even in death, we are victorious!  Our death will not affect our citizenship in the Kingdom or our membership in the universal Church. 

In contrast, death does affect our membership in the local church.  When you or I die, our names will be taken off the membership roster. But our name is still in the Lamb's book of life!

Wrapping This Up:

Since Jesus is the Head of His Church, it is only Jesus who can give us the blueprint of what we as His people need to look like. 

We are part of something much bigger than Life Church and Elim, although this is where we are fed and have our heritage.

Next time we will look at the local church and the priesthood of all believers.