My Church--It's Meaning
My Church--It's Meaning
The Lord Jesus Christ said, "Upon this rock, I will build My
church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew
16:18). My friends, Jesus did just what He promised -- He build a
church He could call His very own. It cannot belong to anyone but
Christ, if it is the one He built. Today on our broadcast we will begin
a series of studies from the Bible to help us learn more about His
church. I hope you will stay tuned through the entire series.
But first, the West End Church of Christ presents these fifteen
minute sermons each Sunday. We have only one reason for doing it -- we
want to preach the truth of God's word without being restricted by human
doctrines, creeds, and wisdom. That is why we repeatedly ask anyone who
listens to communicate with us if you do not agree with what we teach on
this program. This is not done out of a spirit of dare, or challenge,
but in sincerity and in the interest of being absolutely right about the
most important issue of this life and of eternity.
We invite you to attend our services. Bible study begins at 9
a.m. Sunday morning followed at 10 a.m. with congregational worship
Sunday evening we assemble for worship at 6 p.m. and mid-week Bible
study is each Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Our meeting house is located at
the corner of Parkside Drive and Old Morgantown Road, just across from
Lampkin Park and Tapp’s Drive-in. Please be our guest today.
All of the saved make up the church (ekklesia) of Christ. There
is no salvation for anyone outside of this ekklesia. Jesus said, "Upon
this rock, I will build My church" (Matthew 16:18). The term ekklesia
is defined in both secular and sacred terms. The Greeks used the term
to denote any assembly of persons called out, or called together, for
any specific purpose. Notice Luke's narrative in Acts 19. The setting
tells of the uproar which resulted from Paul's expelling of a demon from
a young lady. The chaotic condition made it dangerous for Paul. His
brethren knew the danger of the lynch minded unbelievers. Some of the
"officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him pleading that he
would not venture into the theater" (verse 31). The next verse uses the
term ekklesia. "Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for
the assembly (ekklesia) was confused, and most of them did not know why
they had come together" (verse 32). It is used again in verses 39 and
41. In this case it is obviously a simple meeting of people who have
some specific purpose for congregating.
It is used in a sacred way to define those who are saved from
their sins. The Lord called it His church (ekklesia). The purpose for
which those who constitute His ekklesia congregate centers on one common
bond, salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. On the first Pentecost
festival after Jesus was raised from the dead, a group of Jews came
together to hear the words of Peter. For a while, they were an
(ekklesia) in the secular sense. They were together in a public meeting
to learn what the great noise was all about.
They heard words none had ever heard before. Peter preached Jesus
Christ, the resurrected Son of God for the very first time in history.
He told the audience of their guilt, incurred in the unjust slaying of
Jesus. They asked what they must do to be saved and Peter responded,
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). At the conclusion of this meeting the records
tells us that those who answered the call in the obedience of their
faith were "praising God and having favor with all the people. And the
Lord added to the church (ekklesia) daily those who were being saved"
(Verse 47). The sacred use of this term indicates the nature of the
congregating of those who make up the church Jesus said belongs to Him.
The same process by which one is saved is that which makes one a member
of His church.
Our English word church is derived from a combination of German
and Scottish. The German word kirche and the Scottish word kirk evolved
from a Greek term, kuriakos. Kuriakos, in turn came from the Greek word
kurios, which means "Lord." It came to mean a house in which the Lord
would dwell. At an early date it was used almost exclusively of a
religious organization meeting in some sort of building and engaging in
joint activities such as worship. Whereas ekklesia refers to the people
who were congregated, the word church began to be applied to both the
people and the meeting house. Therefore, the English word church is
still applied to a building in which a church regularly meets. One
would never use the term ekklesia of the building.
In the New Testament, as the word church is used, it broadens into
three basic and separate meanings. First, it refers to a particular
congregation, assembling regularly at a given place for worship and
fellowship. Such passages as Romans 16:5; Colossians 4:15; Philemon 2;
I Corinthians 1:2 and others specify individual units of the people of
God. These individual companies of believers often met in the residence
of one of the members. At other times they used public buildings for
their meetings.
A second usage embraces a group of local assemblies in a given
area. Sometimes the expression "churches of ..." is used, and at other
times simply "the church" is used to include all of those assemblies
within a limited area. Acts 9:31, in the American Standard Version,
reads: "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had
peace, being edified; and, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the
comfort of the Holy Spirit, was multiplied." Other versions adopt a
plural use of the term. The textual evidence favors the use of the
singular term ekklesia. Bruce Metzger, a well known and established
textual critic wrote, "The range and age of the witnesses which read the
singular number are superior to those that read the plural. The
singular can hardly be a scribal modification in the interest of
expressing the idea of the unity of the church, for in that case we
should have expected similar modifications in 15:42 and 16:5, where
there is no doubt that the plural number ekklesia is the original text.
More probably the singular number here has been altered to the plural in
order to conform to the two latter passages." A Textual Commentary on
the Greek New Testament, UBS, 1975.
The third meaning encompasses the collective body of all who are
saved. All who have united their hearts and lives in Christ are one
body in Christ. It is in this sense that Paul says Christ is the head
of the church, or that the church is His bride (Ephesians 1:23; 5:25).
There are those who refer to this as the "invisible church." No such
language is found in the Bible, anywhere. The distinction between a
visible and an invisible church is denominational in origin. One astute
denominational writer once admitted, "The distinction between a visible
profession of such faith, and its actual exercise as manifested in a
truly Christian life, between the church actual and the church ideal, is
expressed by the theological rather than biblical terms, visible and
invisible." (Edward D. Morris, Ecclesiology, Charles Scribner's Sons,
1885, page 15.)
The church Jesus owns is described under various metaphors. The
church is called "the house of God." Paul wrote, "But if I am delayed,
I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the
house of God, which is the church of the Living God, the pillar and
ground of the truth" (I Timothy 3:15). As His house, those who are
members of the church are His children. All of God's children are part
of His family. He has no illegitimate children. Becoming a child of
God is the same as being saved from sin. The penitent believers who
were baptized on the day of Pentecost, became the church. The church is
God's family. Paul wrote, "For you are all sons of God through faith in
Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put
on Christ" (Galatians 3:26-27). Baptism is the water of the new birth
(John 3:5) that admits one into God's family. As His house, the church
is also God's dwelling place. Please read Ephesians 2:19-22; II
Corinthians 6:16-18.
The church is the body of Christ. That body is the "fullness of
Him that filleth all in all" (Ephesians 1:23). That in which the church
embodies itself is the fullness of God's glory. Paul wrote, "To Him be
glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without
end. Amen" (Ephesians 3:21). The expression body suggests that there
is function, organization, association, relation, and vitality among
those who make up the church. In one sense, the body of Christ is found
in every place where there are saved people who meet together for
worship and fellowship in Christ. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that
they were the body of Christ, "and members individually" (I Corinthians
12:27). In this same chapter Paul had discussed the integral and vital
relationship that must exist between the members of the same body. And,
he flatly declared there is only one body (I Corinthians 12:13,14,20;
Ephesians 4:4). This is the one church Jesus called, "My church."
The church is the kingdom of Christ on earth. Jesus affirmed to
Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36a). He did not say
it was not in the world, or to be established on earth; He said it was
not of the world. The kingdom of Christ came into being in harmony with
many prophetic declarations. Daniel was called before the Babylonian
king, Nebuchadnezzar, to reveal and interpret the king's dream. The
dream was divinely revealed. A giant statue with a head of fine gold, a
chest and arms of silver, the mid-section and thighs of bronze, legs of
iron, and the feet of part iron and part clay. (Read Daniel 2:26-34).
Daniel told the old king that each metal represented successive world
dynasties. The first was Babylon; the second Medo-Persia; the third
Greece; and the last was the Empire of Rome. Now read verse 44. In
direct reference to the Roman Empire, Daniel prophesied, "And in the
days of these kings (of Rome) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
which shall never be destroyed..." (Verse 44).
A later event in Daniel's life also bears on the establishment of
the kingdom of Christ. Daniel 7:13-14 reads, "I was watching in the
night visions, and behold one like the Son of Man, coming with the
clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him
near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a
kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His
dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, and His
kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed." This accords with Jesus'
promise to build His church, against which He said,"the gates of Hades
shall not prevail." It is well to note that the kingdom is unlimited
and invulnerable. Any theory limiting Christ's kingdom to any time
period goes contrary to the very nature of the kingdom.
The kingdom has been set up. During the days of Roman occupation
of the Palestine, Jesus Christ came to be king over His people. It was
not a kingdom in competition with Rome. It was a spiritual government
He exercised over willing subjects. Paul wrote to the Colossians, "He
has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the
kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom; we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13-14). The "us" of this
verse is the church. Those who are in the church are in the kingdom of
Christ. In that kingdom there is forgiveness of sins through His blood.
Any view of the kingdom that puts it into the future is erroneous and
void of any of the benefits of the blood Jesus shed for the forgiveness
of sins.
The church is then, a spiritual body, ruled over by a spiritual
head, governed by a spiritual law, and functions in spiritual matters
such as worship, fellowship, and the work Christ has given the church to
do. In subsequent lessons we will study what He says that worship,
fellowship, and work is.
If you have any question at all about this topic, or if you would
like extra study materials on it, contact us. You can write us at
West End Church of Christ, 1609 Parkside Dr., Bowling Green, KY. 42101.
Until the next time we have this opportunity to be with you by radio,
may God richly bless you and yours. Good bye.
Radio Sermon No. 57
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Children's NT Studies
