SERMON BY JOHN GAINES
LEONARD STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST
DECEMBER 14, 2003
The Importance of the Church
1. People are asking why the church is important. Some would answer the question in the negative. They think that the church is not important in their lives.
a. Emphasis is being placed on Christ, not the church.
(1) The common denominational view is that salvation is not directly related to church membership. It is believed that one can be saved and go to heaven without ever being a member of any church. If this is true, then the church is not eternally important. If one can be saved outside the church, then the church has nothing to do with whether that person will be in heaven or hell for eternity.
(2) "Change Agents" in the church are moving in the same direction. They speak of the "core gospel" and focus on the teachings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They make a great deal of the fact that little is said about the church in those books. Of course, that is to be expected since the church was not established until the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Acts-Revelation speaks of the church as an existing institution and teaches us how we ought to live as members of the church.
b. Understand, however, that emphasis should be placed on Christ.
(1) We should preach Christ
(a) Acts 8:5 (NKJV) Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.
(b) Acts 8:35 (NKJV) Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.
(c) 1 Corinthians 1:23 (NKJV) but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
(2) It would be wrong to speak only of church matters and neglect teaching about Christ, the Lord and Savior. Some may have been guilty of teaching too little about Christ.
c. It is not an either/or situation. Christ and His church are not in competition for our time and attention. It must be both Christ and the church.
(1) Claude Welch wrote, "To be in the church is to be in Christ, and to be in Christ is to be in the church." That's a biblical viewpoint.
(2) Jesus is the head and the church is the body [Colossians 1:18 (NKJV) And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.] A head cannot function without a body and a body cannot live without a head. Christ cannot be separated from His church (body).
2. Christ left heaven to come to earth to become the savior of the body.
a. Luke 19:10 (NKJV) "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
b. Ephesians 5:23-25 (NKJV) For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
c. Therefore, the church is clearly very important to God.
(1) Premillennialism views the church as a "church age" substitute for the establishment of an earthly kingdom ruled by Christ. This misses the point about the church completely.
(2) As we are about to see, the church has always been an important part of God's plan for humankind.
I. THE CHURCH IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE GOD PLANNED IT.
A. Ephesians 3:9-11 (NKJV) and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
B. God "chose us in him before the foundation of the world" [Ephesians 1:4, ESV]. The sacrifice of the precious blood of Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world [1 Peter 1:19-20]. These verses teach several things:
1. God knew that His human creation would need redemption before He created the world.
2. The means of that redemption -- the death of Christ -- was foreknown by God before creation.
3. Certain ones were chosen in Christ for redemption before creation. Calvinists would say that certain individuals were predestined for salvation. But the Bible teaches that whoever desires may take the water of life freely [Revelation 22:17]. God does not take away our free will. Rather, He predetermined that those who choose to be saved by following the teaching of the gospel will have the opportunity to do so. The elect are those who hear and obey the word.
4. The church has a central role in God's plan to make salvation available to the whole world. It is the eternal purpose of God that His manifold wisdom be demonstrated by the church to "the principalities and powers in heavenly places." Those principalities and powers are either (1) human rulers, (2) heavenly angels, or (3) the devil and his angels. The third alternative seems more likely to me because Paul spoke of wrestling against principalities and powers [Ephesians 6:12] and disarming principalities and powers and making a public spectacle of them [Colossians 2:15]. If that's so, then Paul is saying that the church demonstrates God's wisdom to the devil and his angels showing that God has ensured the final victory of His faithful people by providing a place for the redeemed while they live out their time on earth. This victory is accomplished by God in the world through the preaching of the gospel and the faithful obedience to it by those who hear the message of redemption. As the church carries out its task of world evangelism, it demonstrates God's wisdom in making salvation possible. Every soul who hears and obeys the gospel is one more snatched from the grasp of Satan. That function has ALWAYS been God's plan for the church.
II. THE CHURCH IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE THE HOLY SPIRIT PROPHESIED IT.
A. Old Testament prophets spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit [2 Peter 1:20-21 (KJV) Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.]
B. The church was prophesied hundreds of years before it came into existence.
1. Isaiah, who lived 700 years before Christ, prophesied in Isaiah 2:1-3 (NKJV), "The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord's house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. 3 Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem."
a. Established on the top of the mountains and exalted above the hills -- The Lord's house has superiority over all other religions and governments.
b. Established in the latter days -- in the last period of Bible history. We are living in the "last days" which will continue until the end of the world. The church began on Pentecost . . . which was also the beginning of the "last days."
c. Established in Zion (Jerusalem) [Acts 2:5]
d. All nations shall flow to it . . . The church is universal in scope . . . intended for all nations and peoples [Mark 16:15-16].
2. John the Baptist was a New Testament prophet declared that the kingdom was "at hand" [Matthew 3:1-2 (NKJV) In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"] The kingdom of heaven John referred to was not a physical kingdom, but the spiritual kingdom of Christ, the church. Jesus said, "the kingdom of God is within you." [Luke 17:21 (NKJV)].
III. THE CHURCH IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE CHRIST PURCHASED IT.
A. We assign value to things based on how much they cost. By that standard, the church is the most important thing in the world because it cost more than money could buy. It was purchased by the blood of Christ [Acts 20:28 (NKJV) "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.]
B. Understand that we aren't talking about the cost of church buildings. Pioneers worshiped in tents and brush arbors while we may spend millions of dollars on elaborate buildings. Having a nice building is helpful in many ways, but it does not make us any closer to God than people meeting under the stars. The church Christ died for is people, not buildings.
C. Christ died to redeem (buy back) the souls of those who had been captured by sin. Through His blood, forgiveness is obtained and we are saved from condemnation [Colossians 1:14 (NKJV) in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins].
D. Those saved people are added to a body of forgiven people by the Lord [Acts 2:47]. That body is the church [Paul wrote to "the church of God at Corinth" in 1 Corinthians 6:11 (NKJV), But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.]
IV. THE CHURCH IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE THE BIBLE GOVERNS IT.
A. Human organizations have human governments. We elect city councils, county commissions, state legislatures, and other governing bodies to give us laws to govern human institutions.
B. The church is a God-given body so it must be governed by God-given law. The inspired Scriptures provide us with the guidance we need for how God wants things to be done in His church.
1. The church must teach what the Bible teaches [1 Peter 4:11 (NIV), "If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God."] Churches which speak differently from the Bible cannot be the church of the Bible.
2. The church must worship as the Bible teaches [John 4:24 (NKJV) "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."] The New Testament gives directions about the worship of the New Testament church and we must be willing to follow those directions.
3. The church must be organized and governed as the Bible teaches. [Acts 14:23 (NKJV) So when they had appointed elders in every church . . . .]
4. The church must live as the Bible teaches [Titus 2:12 (NKJV) teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,]
CONCLUSION