The Nature of the Church

Tonight we're continuing our study of ecclesiology. Ecclesiology is a study of the church. In week one we looked at the definition of the church. In week two we looked at the illustrations or the figures, the representations of the church, the symbols of the church. In week three last week we looked at the names or the descriptors, the Scripture's way of describing the church. Tonight we're looking at what we call the nature of the church or the essence of the church. Trying to describe the church, it's not easy. The church is many-faceted and just a beautiful and deep thing that the Lord has made.

Oftentimes when we describe even a loved one, we sometimes explain or describe their nature in almost contradictory terms. Think about maybe your wife or your mother or sister as a deity. You may say she's wise yet she's also simple. She's strong but yet she's soft. She's gentle, right? They seem contradictory but they're not. We're going to be looking at five such "both and" pairs tonight that help describe the church in its fullness, and hopefully you'll fall in love with the church more and more because the church is the beloved. It's the bride of Christ. Let's begin with Bible point number one.

The church is a great company of persons who Christ has saved, in whom He dwells, for whom and through whom He reveals God, and in whom He exercises spiritual dominion. So that's the definition we've been working with. I'm trying to get this drilled into your head, and hopefully by the end of these lessons you'll know that. United to Christ, the church is glorious and reflects the very splendor of Christ. That's why she's beautiful, that's why she's so lovely. It's because she reflects the character of her groom, of Christ. Scripture explains the church's many-sided character to help us understand the church's posture. Posture is the first blank — the way that the church stands in this world and relates to the world. Its mission is the second blank. And its witness, that's the third blank. So the many-sided character helps us understand the church's posture, mission, and witness.

The church's character and nature is often explained with "both and" distinctions. Understanding both sides of each of these distinctions will help us see the church as Christ does. So we want to be able to see the church in the beauty and the splendor the way that Christ beholds it. Flip over on the back.

This is from Ephesians 2:19–22. We read this in week one, just talking about the glory of the church, that it is founded by Christ and it's a triune work of both the Father and the Spirit. It says, "Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom also you are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." It's hard to fathom that God dwells in us, right? That the Spirit mediates both the presence of the Father and the Son into our hearts. And now we're not just a regular organization of people that meets together for some civic good, but we're actually the dwelling place of the Most High God. Think about the holy of holies, how special it was and how only the priest could enter it. We've entered that because of Christ, right? He lives within us. We are His temple.

Application for number one: do you have a healthy — healthy is the blank — a healthy perspective of Christ's church? Sometimes we grow cynical because maybe you've had a bad experience in a church. Maybe you've been through, I hate to say the word, but hell on earth, so to speak, in church, and that should not be the case, right? The church should be where we see the holiness of God manifested. So maybe you've come cynical towards the church: this is just another thing that's trying to suck my time and suck my dime and take from me. Have a healthy view of the church — that this is the place where God dwells in His people, whom He's revealed Himself to and through, and in whom He exercises His dominion, right?

Bible point number two, the church is both a militant and a triumphant church. The church on earth is a militant church — that's the first blank — a militant church. Think of scripture, how oftentimes it talks about the church as expressing an army or soldiers in Christ's army. The church is called to be holy. Now, this is not holy as in "holy, holy, holy," but holy as in entirely — W-H-O-L-L-Y — entirely, or wholly, engaged in holy warfare.

In other words, every breath of the church is a marching order from the Lord Jesus Christ. And she's always to be engaged in war, never setting down the sword, never setting down the shield of faith, never setting aside the helmet of salvation, never setting aside the feet shod with the gospel of peace, right? We're to always be in our armor and to always be aware.

The church is called to be wholly engaged in holy warfare. The church must constantly war against sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil. It's what we're called to do as Christians. And we get that, of course, from the book of Ephesians, right? We war against sin, we war against flesh or fleshly desires, against the world, which is in opposition to Christ, and the devil himself. If the church isn't engaged in warfare, who else is? Right? There is no one battling Satan other than the church.

The warfare, this warfare takes place against spiritual forces of darkness, wherever these reveal themselves, whether inside the church or outside of it.

We think the church to be a sanctuary, but do you know spiritual warfare happens inside the church? The devil loves to come in and divide, right? The devil loves to come in and discourage. He loves to bring in false teachers to spread heresies, right? To hurt people's faith, to cause precious little ones to stumble. So we engage in warfare, whether it's inside the church or outside the church, right? We must be on guard because the devil is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

This warfare is thus both defensive — that's the third blank — and offensive — that's the fourth blank. Sometimes we're taking the battle right into the fold of darkness. Other times darkness is trying to break its way through the church's door, right? So it's both a defensive and an offensive battle that we're in. The church is the vanguard — the vanguard is a term meaning leading the army — utilizing Christ's power to demolish strongholds and take every thought captive to His obedience. How does the church do that? How does the church demolish strongholds and bring captive every thought to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Prayer — prayer is one way that's powerful, right? What did Paul say? Pray that I may have boldness to speak the gospel, right? Besides prayer, what else?

Exactly right — proclaiming the gospel, preaching the word, right? When we declare that Christ is crucified and risen again, and that He took the handwriting of ordinances that were against us and He nailed them to the cross, and He made mockery and spectacle over the principalities, right? Making a show of them openly, that He had defeated them, and that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. When we preach that kind of a gospel, that sets people free, right? It sets people free and translates them from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light, right? It lifts oppression and it exalts Christ. Look at 2 Corinthians 10:4–5: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God through the pulling down of strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."

Now, I know many of you are firearms enthusiasts and that's great, I am too, but those are not the weapons that we use, right? It's not carnal things. It may pump you up to get a bumper sticker on your truck that says "infidel" or to get a Deus Vult tattooed on your arm or something like that. It's fine if you want to do that, but those are not the weapons of our warfare, right? The weapons of our warfare are the holy word of God. It's holding fast to faith. It is praying. It is encouraging the saints. It is the church acting as one, right, for the gospel. Flip over on the back.

Look at 2 Timothy 2:1–4.

"You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you've heard from me among many witnesses commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier." Paul here talks about the importance of being a soldier. Then he talks about the discipline of an athlete. Then he talks about the hardworking farmer — all to illustrate the church's commitment to this warfare, right? But I find it very fascinating: before he even brings up the concept of a soldier, what does he tell Timothy? He says, verse two, "And the things which you have heard from me among many witnesses commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."

Do you want to do damage against Satan in his kingdom of darkness? Do you want to take back ground for the Lord Jesus Christ? Do what Paul told Timothy. Make disciples.

Make disciples in your family first and foremost — teaching your children the things of the Lord, right? Teaching them to be holy to the Lord, teaching them to worship God, teaching them to praise God, teaching them to depend on God, right? With every child that you disciple, you're making a new soldier in the army of our Lord Jesus Christ. Don't stop there. Extend beyond your family — your neighbors, your coworkers, whoever God has put within your sphere — make disciples. And in making disciples, you are fighting the good fight of faith, right?

He tells Timothy, "No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier." We need to be wholly engaged, entirely engaged in this warfare, right? The devil's playing for keeps, right? With every soul that he can deceive, they are eternally separated from the Lord Jesus Christ. So the stakes are the most high.

But back over on the front, the application for number two. How do the affairs of this life entangle us? Entangle is a blank, quoting 2 Timothy 2:4, that we just read. How do the affairs of this life entangle us and take us away from this holy warfare?

Distract us. Distract us, yeah. Even good things can distract us, right? You may enjoy working in your garden. Your garden may actually produce fruit and vegetables for your home, right? That's a good thing, right? But if that's taken up all your time and you say "I can't come to church because I had to work in the garden," right? Then you need to lose the garden, right? We have to be single-mindedly focused on the spiritual warfare that we fight.

Bible point number three, while the church on earth is militant, the church in heaven is a triumphant church. Triumphant is the first blank. So she's both militant and triumphant, because remember the church is not just a church on earth, but it's also the church in heaven — the saints who've gone on before us. The church in heaven are those who have fought the good fight, kept the faith, and received the crown of righteousness. As the church militant shares in the humiliation — humiliation is the second blank — the humiliation of Christ, Christ in His humiliation took on flesh, right? And He lived a flesh and blood existence. And in doing so, He had struggles in this world, right? He was belittled. He was mocked, right? He was physically scourged. He bore our sins in His body, right? Well, the church on earth, the church militant, shares in His humiliation, right? It's not easy to fight the battle. It's not easy to take a lick and keep on ticking, right? But the church in heaven, the church triumphant, shares in the exaltation — that's the third blank — the exaltation of Christ. They are seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places right now.

Their strife is over, and they reign — reign is the fourth blank — reign with Christ forever and ever. The church triumphant forms the rear guard of Christ's army, surrounding us as a great cloud of witnesses. Think of those godly saints who've gone on before us, right?

I can think of John Thompson. You could hear John Thompson — what would he be saying right now? Preach the word. Preach the word, right? That's what he'd be saying.

Our C was here. He'd probably say, "What's the matter with you people?"

If John MacArthur was here, he may say, "Go home."

It's not that we can communicate with those who are in heaven, but their legacy, their heritage, has gone on before us and that inspires us, right? We want to be like John Thompson, say, "Preach the word," right? We want to be faithful as you can look in the hall of faith at these godly men who were not even counted worthy of this world, so to speak. Some of them were ripped and sundered. Some of them faced the lions, right? And they did this for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and now they are the church triumphant. They have entered into that rest. They have ceased from their labors and they rule and reign with our Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12:1–2 says,

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." He has led the way, right? And one day we too will enter into that triumph, right? We too will enter into glory.

Flip over on the back.

Hebrews 12:3–4, this continues: "For consider Him," speaking of Christ, "who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin." Christ strove against sin. He was resisted by sinners, right? And He gave His very life, poured out His blood for us. So consider that lest we grow weary, right? And know that His sitting on the throne is in fact going to be our sitting on the throne, right? Even now we're spiritually united in Him who sits on the throne, but one day in actuality, we too will be there as well.

Application for number three: how does Christ's exaltation — exaltation is a blank — encourage you? How does Christ's exaltation encourage you? Does Christ lack anything on the throne of God? Is there anything He does not have dominion over? Does He have all power, all glory? Does He not share that with His church? He was exalted to the right hand of God for the benefit of the church — that's what the scriptures tell us, right?

Bible point number four, the church is both visible and invisible. The visible — that's the first point — visible church is seen on earth with our eyes. Can man look upon the heart? No, we look on the outside, right? We see the externals, we see people's works, but we can't look upon the heart, right? The visible church is what we see with our own human eyes. It is a mix of both true and false professors of Christ.

When you go to any church, there's always going to be, of course, faithful believers who are truly converted, but then you may have some who you hope are converted, right? And maybe they don't show so much fruit in their life. And then you'll know that there are some — flat out, you can see it in their life — they're not converted, right? Their name may be on the church roll at some churches. Maybe those churches have done a bad job in vetting whether that person should be a member, right? But there are many people who will say, "Oh, yes, I'm an open homosexual and I'm a member at First Church, whatever city," right? And they'll use that as a way of saying, "I'm part of the church," right? Because their name is on a roll somewhere. Well, that's the visible church, right?

There are many who claim to follow Christ — I'm sorry, it is a mix of both true and false professors. Professors is the second blank, of Christ. There are many who claim to follow Christ but have never — never is the third blank — been united to Him through faith by His Spirit. If you are not united to Christ through faith, His Spirit does not dwell within you, and you are not a member of the church. It doesn't matter what that roll may say, doesn't matter if your name is on the pew, doesn't matter if your father and grandfather and great-grandfather were in the church and someone even built the church who was related to you — it doesn't matter. Your heritage doesn't save you, right? Matthew 7:21, our Lord Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."

Are you obeying the Lord? The only way you can obey the Lord is if you are one with Him and His Spirit has changed your heart and has empowered you to keep His will, right? To obey Him. Flip that one over on the back.

Let's continue to read here in Matthew 7. "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" Sin is lawlessness — that's the defining characteristic of someone who is not under the law of Christ, is lawlessness. "Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on the house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock, it was founded on Christ. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall." And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

I also look at 2 Timothy 2:19. Paul writes, "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are His,' and, 'Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.'" God knows who are His, and His people will be a holy people. Right?

The application for number four: how should we think of false, false professors? If you live long enough, you'll be in a church where there is someone who you did life with, you saw them every Sunday, and then they seem to apostatize. They fall away, they deny the Lord. They deconstruct — that may be the popular term for the day, but it still means to apostatize. How are we to think of them? Did they lose their salvation?

Amen. In fact, let's look here. I have 1 John 2:19, I want to read this to you.

John writes, "They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, they would have continued in my word." That's our memory verse that we hold dear to here at Beulah. "But they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us." Right?

Very prudent.

Exactly.

Exactly.

And we always have to note too, we have young ones coming up in the church; they're at all different stages. Some of them have accepted Christ but haven't been baptized yet. Some of them haven't accepted Christ, right? And that's why a faithful minister of the gospel will continue to preach the gospel to his congregation, right? He never assumes that everybody within hearing is a Christian. Even if he's preaching on Christian maturity or sanctification, he will always set forth Christ crucified, right? Because that is not only an encouragement to us, but it's being an evangelist, right? Declaring the gospel of Christ to whoever will hear.

But point number five, the church invisible — invisible is the first blank — is the whole number of the elect. Elect is the second blank, in the past, present, and future. While the visible church consists of members based on their own profession, the invisible church consists of all people in all ages who are — are is the third blank, A-R-E — united to Christ. They are in a faith union with the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the true invisible church.

Ephesians 1:4 says, "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world." In Him — that's union language. We're in Christ. And we're in Christ because we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Flip it over on the back and let's read the rest of this passage from Ephesians.

"Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." That's in Christ. "In Him," in Christ, "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory." He saved us by His own good grace, His own will, His own good purposes, that we should be to the praise of His glory.

The application for number five: live to the praise of His glory. Your life should be marked as the church, as a church that is grateful for what the Lord Jesus has done. It's a church that's devoted to the One who has chosen us. And therefore, though we could be said to be the invisible church in the sense that all true believers are the invisible church, we manifest the invisible church, right? By our fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ, right? We manifest the invisible church by His love, right? How will they know that we're His disciples? By your love, right?

Bible point number six, the church is both local and universal. The church is local — that's the first blank — in that it finds its tangible. Tangible is the second blank. Tangible means something you can touch with your hands, you can see with your eyes.

If I say, "I have a great gift for you, here it is, it's imaginary," you'd get it, you know — well, thank you. But if I give you a gift that's tangible, maybe it's a Rubik's Cube, or maybe it's a toy car, something you can hold in your hand, that's significant, right? Well, the visible church is tangible. It's a tangible expression in specific locations, okay? In other words, there are multiple local churches. There's one universal church, but there are multiple local churches. These local communities of believers are microcosms. Microcosms is the third blank. Microcosms means something in miniature. When my daughter was born and she was just a few weeks old, God love her, all of our friends at seminary — they said, "She's little David." She looked a lot like me. Thank God she grew up to look like her mother, right? But we talked about memes, right? Well, the church — the local church, Beulah Baptist Church — is everything that the church universal is, but in miniature, right? In locality.

Local communities of believers are microcosms of the church universal. Each local body consists of those who Christ has saved, in whom He dwells, to whom and through whom He reveals God, and in whom He exercises spiritual dominion. Every definition that's true of the church universal is true of the church local.

They are local manifestations of Christ. Christ is the blank, and His kingdom, right? We reflect the glory of Christ as His bride. Therefore, locally in this area, we should be His image, His image bearers, wherever we are as a church.

Acts 20:28 is where Paul is at the end of his third missionary journey, and he's swinging back by Ephesus, where he had labored so long, and he wants to warn them that wolves are coming. And he wants to meet with the elders. So he calls for the elders to come outside the city, and he says, "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood." He's saying this local church is the flock of God. You are overseers, not of the church universal, but of this local church. And this local church is blood bought by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Everything that's true of the church universal is true of the church local. Flip over on the back.

I love 1 Corinthians 1:2. This really brings the point home. As he's writing this introduction to the church at Corinth, it says: "To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints — hagioi, holy ones — together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours." You see what he's telling the church at Corinth? He's saying, "You are the called-out ones. You are the holy ones, and you are just as much a part of the church as every other church that I, Paul, have founded or ministered to." We're all part of the church universal, but you specifically are a tangible expression of the very image of Christ in your local community.

Application for number six: how is the local church significant — significant is a blank — to God? I mean, there are a lot of churches, right? I don't know how many churches are in Winter Garden. Anyone ever counted them? There are hundreds, I'm sure, right? Some you drive by and you don't even know they're there. They're in a storefront, you know, a little shopping mall kind of a thing. There are house churches, right? That don't even have a sign out front, but people meet there faithfully in those house churches.

So is Beulah really all that significant to God? I mean, just one little church.

It only takes one, right? And did not Christ spill His blood for that church? Somebody told the church of Corinth, right? So you're precious to Him. You're His people. He dwells within you, right? It doesn't matter if you're two or three or four in number, it's not 10,000 in number like some churches are. You're important to Christ. You're His bride. You're His people. You are His temple, right?

Bible point number seven, the church universal — universal is the first blank — is the entire church on earth and in heaven. It consists of many local expressions, but it has one Lord. Lord is the second blank. One faith — faith is the third blank. And one baptism — baptism is the fourth blank. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the church, right? Everywhere He's the Lord of the church. And there's only one church, there's only one faith. It is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ that brings you into union with Him, right? There's only one baptism, that's being baptized into Christ, right? That is what we call the regeneration, where the Holy Spirit comes and dwells within us for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is one flock with one Shepherd on earth. It is antithetical to claim membership in the church universal while rejecting membership in the church local.

You can't say, "Well, I'm part of the greater church at large, but I don't need to be a part of any local church," right? You need to always be manifesting the image of God in community with believers. That's what the local church is, right? Where Christ exercises His dominion, whom He indwells, whom He reveals Himself to and through. No man is an island, right?

That also means that we must hold other churches in good regard if they are true churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's easy to let spiritual pride well up and say, "Well, we've got it going on here. We've got elders. We've got a good statement of faith. We have great Sunday school teachers, right? We have a great pastor. We have such a wonderful body, wonderful, sweet fellowship, people serving together, people being the hands and feet of Christ. No other church is like us." We look down our noses. There are so many faithful churches, you can't even count, right? There are faithful churches that you're not even aware of, right? We ought to hold them in high regard, right? Because they are the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's one church, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

Ephesians 4:3–5 says, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called — one Lord, one faith, and one baptism." Flip over on the back.

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 continues: "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — we have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member, but many."

This means that the same Spirit who indwells us indwells the gospel-centered church in India, right? So we pray for churches that we partner with, for missions that we partner with, right? Because we are very much brothers and sisters in Christ, right? They are to be prayed for, they are to be cared for, they are to be supported whenever we can, right? It's okay to have sister churches, right? Pastor has gone and preached at — what's the church in Washington?

Faith Community. They invited Pastor there about a year ago. He went and taught them principles of discipleship, basically next steps. And Michael Duncan had come here for our last Bible conference that we had a couple of years ago. And so we have this dual enrichment going on. It's great to have that, right? There's one church.

The application for number seven: can you truly be in the church universal but not the church local? Local is the blank. Not really. I mean, you can come up with exceptions. You can think of, well, the thief on the cross — he was part of the church universal, but he didn't have time to join a local church, right? But if you are a true follower of Christ, you're going to be a disciple. And being a disciple of Christ means you never stop growing. You may think, "Well, Casey's been a pastor for a long time. Is he a disciple of Christ?" Yes. He's constantly learning. He studies the scripture, he's going to be able to preach to us on Sunday, right? He goes to conferences when he can, right? To be encouraged. Every single one of us needs that accountability. We need that instruction. And that's why we come to church, right? So no man or woman should ever be apart from the church. Now there may be times in our life where health will not permit. And that's a different story, right? You know, if you're a shut-in and you can't come to church, that's why we have deacons. Church comes to you, right? We'll bring the Lord's Supper to you, right? We'll pray and bring Bible study to you if you can't make it to church. But if at all possible, you need to be part of a local church.

Bible point number eight, the church is both an organism and an organization.

When we say that the church is organic — organic, think of organic vegetables or something like that — when we say the church is organic, that's the first blank, we mean that it is characterized as one whole composed of individual parts that function reciprocally. We talked about this when we talked about union with Christ, that our union with Christ is an organic union. Well, the church is an organism.

Good example: think about a dog, right? A dog is an organism. It's got lots of parts. It has a tail that wags, it's got little paws, it's got little whiskers, a nose and eyes — but all those parts make up one whole, right? But the dog uses all those parts to function, right? When you open up a package of chicken in your house, its ears perk up, right? Its nose starts to smell, then its feet skid right over to you, right? Then it stands up on its hind legs and it looks at you with those puppy dog eyes because it wants some of that meat, right? So it has many parts. Those parts function reciprocally, right? Because it's one organism. Same with the church.

All who are united to Christ are connected members of His body. And we are connected to each other as fellow believers. We need each other, right? Apart from each other, we wouldn't be able to move triumphantly in this world. We wouldn't be able to engage in battle. Some of us may be a toe, some of us may be a finger, right? We're all different parts, but we all make up the body of Christ.

We live for Christ and long to exalt Him in both our works — that is the second blank — and our relations — that's the third blank. We long to exalt Him in both our works and our relations. Every work that we do should be to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the church does, right? And not only that, but every relation that we have should be to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why do we minister to those who are sick in our church? Right? We sent Ms. Sarah some cards this Sunday, right? How sweet that was — to have our sister bring her some cards and people took the time to write her little greeting cards, let her know that they're praying for her. Why do we minister to Sarah? Because we need her, right? And she needs us. And together, by serving one another, who are we ultimately serving? The Lord Jesus Christ, because we make up His body and He is the head of the body.

We live for Christ and long to exalt Him in both our works and our relations. This means that we're united together and living for each other because we are Christ's body, and are ultimately living together — together is the fourth blank — for Him. We cooperate together as a church. We love one another because ultimately that brings glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Romans 12:4–5: "For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function." Thank God, right? If we were all servants, or if we all had the gift of discernment, or if we all had the gift of mercy, or if we were all teachers, we would be a lopsided group, would we not?

"For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function. So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another."

We are tied together. There's no shaking us, right? And that is a great thing. The church sticks together through thickness, through thinness, through sickness, right? Through prosperity, through hard times — no matter what, the church comes together.

Flip over on the back.

1 Corinthians 12:15–20: "If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body?" In other words, it says, "I'm lowly, I'm not as important as the hand, I'm just a lowly foot." "And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased." Later on as we go through ecclesiology, we're going to talk about the gifts of the church. It's important to know that God has gifted each of you just as He pleased and gave us just the gifts that we need for our individual church, right? "But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body."

Application for number eight: how do you serve and honor Christ by serving — that's the blank for number eight — serving His church? How do you honor Christ by serving His church?

Do you know that those who come in and empty out the trash cans, who sweep the classrooms — they are honoring the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you know those who water the plants outside and bring them in when it's cold, like it is in the foyer right now? They think that's a little thing, but that is honoring the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that those who come in and count the money after the offering, and make the bank deposits, and sign paperwork on behalf of our church as trustees — that may seem mundane, but do you know that that is honoring the Lord Jesus Christ? Everything that we do in the church is for His glory.

Bible point number nine, while the church is a spiritual organism, it is also a tangible organization.

As an institution, the church will have officers. Officers is the first blank. By officers, we know that the New Testament says there are two offices in the church — that of elder and that of deacon, right? These are formal offices that are necessary for the organization of the church, right? Now the church will also have ordinances.

The church will be talking about the ordinances that the Lord gave us, but there are two ordinances that the church is to protect and to administer — the ordinance of baptism and that of the Lord's Table, right? And if you're not doing that, you're not a church, right? Now, you're not a church if you're not administering those two ordinances. Also, the church will have not only officers and ordinances, but it will have orthodoxy. Orthodoxy means right belief. It'll be important that the church has a doctrinal standard that they uphold, right? That the Lord Jesus Christ died, that He rose again, that He reigns forevermore, that He's coming again, right? That we teach what the apostles taught, that doctrine — His death, His burial, and His resurrection. These are necessary for faithful oversight, obedience, and good order. Order is the fourth blank.

The church as an organization may have budgets, buildings, property, et cetera. However, these must always be subservient to the church's operation as an organism. As an organism, the church exists to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, right? We have an organization of the church to facilitate that, to help that, but the organization is never the end in itself, right? It's a means to an end. It's a method of providing good order — to have offices in the church, to have ordinances, to have what we call sound orthodoxy. So we have discipline, good discipline, and just good order in our church so we can carry out our mission to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. But we must never get that out of whack, right? Where the building becomes our mission, the programs become our mission, the staff becomes our mission — never, right?

Look at number nine — Titus 1:5, the reference here.

"For this reason I left you in Crete," this is Paul talking to Titus, "that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders" — this is a plurality of elders — "in every city, as I commanded you."

Paul looked at the church in Crete. The gospel had gone there, seeds had been planted, but it's not enough to just evangelize. We're called to make not just converts, but disciples, right? So Paul was heartbroken that Crete was in disarray. And so he sent Titus to go and set things in order, to appoint elders in every church, right? To provide oversight, to provide good order, to make sure that orthodoxy is taught, to make sure that the ordinances are practiced. Flip over on the back.

1 Corinthians 14:40: "Let all things be done decently and in order." Paul was talking about the excesses that were going on in the church of Corinth, and to be able to carry out its mission to glorify God it has to be done in a way that's orderly, right? That's the idea behind the organization of the church.

Application for number nine: can we mistake the church's institutions with the church itself? Can we make that mistake? Yes. There are some people — we've seen this happen — where they exalt the organization of the church above the church's mission as being Christ on earth, as being a tangible manifestation of the very presence of Christ. Let us never do that. Because when the organization becomes our point of focus, we're glorifying man. We're glorifying our abilities, we're glorifying our programs, our plans. We're not glorifying Christ, right? We're putting the cart in front of the horse, not the other way around.

Number ten, the church is both gathered and scattered.

In their regular times of worship, the church is gathered. Gathered is the first blank. This gathering together is vital for exalting — that's the second blank — exalting Christ, edifying — that's the third blank — edifying the body, and equipping — that's the fourth blank — equipping the saints. It is vital. What happens here on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights is vital. Christ is exalted. We are edified, we are encouraged. And what happens also is that we are equipping one another to go out and be the church wherever we are, right? Not just behind the walls. So we encourage one another, right? We exhort one another. Sometimes we admonish one another, right? We do what's necessary to bring us into conformity to Christ. Acts 2:42 says, this is the early church, "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers."

It's what we call the common means of grace. How do you grow? You grow through the preaching of the word — hearing the word. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God, right? How also do we hear the word of God? We sing the word of God, right? We pray the word of God. Pastor's been modeling prayer from the scriptures, right? In our men's PTI class, we're looking at the scriptures and taking scriptures and using them as a pattern for prayer, right? We also see the word of God symbolized in baptism, as we saw three beautiful baptisms just a couple of Sundays ago, and in the Lord's Supper. And we also see the word of God being fellowshiped over, right? Are we talking about God's word? Are we talking about God's promises? Aren't we encouraging one another? That's what we call the common means of grace. And that's what the church gathered does.

There are some people who diminish the church gathered and they'll say, "Hey, what really matters is what happens out there in the streets, what happens in the family." Both are important, right? If you're not at the church gathered, you're not going to be equipped to evangelize the lost. You're not going to be edified to persevere and to encourage when doors are slammed in your face, right? When people speak evil against you. If you're not at the church gathered, your heart isn't going to be stirred and uplifted to praise and worship God. Something special happens at the church when we worship God corporately, right? That can't be replicated at home. It can't be replicated watching a YouTube video.

Flip over on the back.

Hebrews 10:24–25: "Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching." We need that encouragement, we need that fellowship. I get a kick in the pants every Sunday morning and Wednesday night. I love being here. You don't have to drag me to church because I'm with my people, right? I'm with my brothers and sisters in Christ and I'm encouraged, and we mutually encourage one another, do we not?

Application for number ten: what are the common means of grace? Is it being sprinkled with holy water by the priest as he walks down the center aisle? No. Is the common means of grace being blessed by a priest or a pastor? No. Is it when they take a relic and hold it up in prayer, or prayer to a saint? Is that the common means of grace? Is that going to impart grace to you? It's the word of God, right? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. This tells us of Christ, and Christ is the fount of all grace, right? As we said, it's the word of God preached, the word of God prayed, the word of God sung, the word of God fellowshiped over, and the word of God celebrated in the ordinances of the church.

Bible point number eleven, the church continues its existence as the church scattered. Scattered is the first blank. As believers minister — minister is the second blank — in their homes — homes is the third blank — work, schools, and communities. Communities is the fourth blank. Let me reread that. The church continues its existence as the church — in other words, the church isn't just taking place behind these four walls, right? Church takes place out there as well, because we are the church. The church continues its existence as the church scattered, as believers minister in their homes, work, schools, and communities.

In Acts chapter 8, it talks about Paul having orders to imprison the church, to separate families, and the church scatters because Paul is a fierce persecutor of the church. Look in Acts 8:4 here: "Therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere" doing what?

Preaching the word. They were being the church. Part of the church is those in whom Christ dwells, whom He reveals Himself to and through, right? They are preaching the word. They are being the church wherever they went, right? Sometimes God uses persecution to do that, right? Not always, though. In fact, it's the very nature of the church to always be going. That's what Jesus actually says in Matthew 28:19, the Great Commission: "Go therefore." Now we often think of that meaning "get up and leave," like Abraham — leave your family and go to a land I'm going to show you. But really in the Greek, it's best translated as "you are going."

In other words, God knows you're going to be sent out. He's purposely pushed you out into this world. You're not of the world, but you're in the world, right? And each of you have spheres of influence at work, in your family, in schools, in your neighborhood, where you can be the church, right? You can be the church's witness. You can be the image of Christ. You can be a microcosm of the church wherever you're at.

Go therefore, make disciples of all nations. Flip over on the back.

Acts 8:1, the very beginning says, "Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death," speaking, of course, of Stephen. "And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." I'm going to bring that up because isn't it interesting? Remember what Jesus said? He says, "You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth." We see that being fulfilled in the book of Acts. We see that right there. It says that "against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." God uses the church to be scattered, right? To bring the gospel wherever it goes.

Matthew 28:18–20: "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'" Wherever you go, Christ is residing in you because you are united to Him. So the church is those in whom He dwells, whom He saved, whom He's revealed Himself to and through, and in whom He exercises His dominion, right? So the church is not only the church gathered, but we're the church when we are scattered.

The application: do worship and ministry only happen in a church building? Building is a blank. No, we've been blessed to have a great building here. I've been blessed to have a great campus, to have a future building that, Lord willing, I'd love to see one day filled with people. But if the Lord should ever take it away, if there were a hurricane that would come, if we had some kind of a financial loss as a church — this building is nothing. What matters is being the church in whom Christ has saved, in whom He dwells, whom He's revealed Himself to and through, and in whom He exercises His dominion.