The Church Still Has It!
Matthew 16:13-20
Text: Verse 18: “…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
SOME YEARS AGO, TWO MEN grew up in the same small town and attended the same church, the same high school, and then the same college. From there one of them went into law and the other into the ministry. Time passed and their paths eventually crossed. They discussed various things from time to time. One day the lawyer said to his minister friend, “John, I’m worried; we both love the church, but it seems to me that it just hasn’t got it any more.”
Lately I’ve been dong a good deal of thinking about that statement. He didn’t spell out exactly what he meant, but I think I have some understanding. He spoke for a certain element of our society that has come to the same conclusion, albeit, incorrect. When he said that the church hasn’t got it any more, he was feeling that the church was no longer relevant, that it lost sight of its major purpose in the world—that it is spending too much time looking within itself and not enough time looking out at the world and sharing the Gospel of Christ.
Research seems to bear this out. It is estimated that right now, in the dawning of the new century, about 37% of Americans have no connection whatsoever with any church. Now that’s alarming.
“The church hasn’t got it any more.” Friends, the church will always have it when it holds fast to the fundamentals of the faith. Every believer in Jesus Christ needs the fellowship and guidance of the local church. It is a divine and unique organism that is here to stay. It is God’s change agent in the world.
In 1988, Wally Magdangal was pastoring an underground church in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was a Filipino lay pastor of Christian foreign workers wishing to gather for worship. In 1992, soon after the conclusion of the Gulf War, the house church had grown to over three hundred worshipers, the largest church in the country. The Saudi government became alarmed at the positive impact the church was having and Wally was arrested. While he was in prison, Wally was tortured, abused, and eventually falsely charged with blaspheming Muhammad and Islam. He was tried before the Saudi Arabian High Court and was sentenced to death by public hanging scheduled to take place on Christmas Day 1992. Throughout his terrible ordeal, Wally refused to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ. Outcries from several foreign governments and agencies, including President Fidel Ramos of the Philippines, Amnesty International, and members of the U.S. Congress were made on behalf of Wally to the Saudi Government. And then just a few hours before his scheduled execution, Wally Magdangal miraculously was granted a reprieve. The Saudi Government decided to deport him to the Philippines instead. Today, Wally is itinerant preacher, sharing how the Lord delivered him from persecution.
So, perhaps for some in America, the church seems to be irrelevant, but it can still strike fear into the enemies of the Gospel!
Actually, the church is indispensable to the believer. And it is critical to the world at large.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say we must have our names on a church membership roll to be saved. That doesn’t mean, however, that joining with other believers in a local church is not vital to our spiritual growth. Gathering regularly for worship and instruction encourages love for others, good works, and mutual accountability (Hebrews 10:24-25).
I read an interesting article some time ago that compared a Christian without a church to . . .
a student who won’t go to school
a soldier without an army
a citizen who won’t vote
a sailor without a ship
a child without a family
a drummer without a band
a ballplayer without a team
a honeybee without a hive
a scientist who does not share his findings with his colleagues
Once a person truly becomes a born-again follower of Jesus Christ, he/she needs the warmth and tender care of a local assembly for instruction and training. The church is a nursery for the newborn and a family for all believers. I shudder to think what the world would be like without her. For example, did you know that of the 8 million porn websites on the internet, that 80% of them are accessed?
The writer to the Hebrews put it squarely on the line when he wrote, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another---and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Every pastor hears this excuse for not attending church: “I don’t need to go to church to feel close to God.
I can worship Him while fishing on the bank of a quiet stream or teeing off on the golf course.” Now I must admit that there is some truth in that. But I’ve yet to meet a person with a tackle box in hand or a golf bag slung over his shoulder all fired up for the Lord. Nor does he come away from his “encounter with nature” enlightened in the Scriptures or fed in his soul.
No, the person who continually stays away from church, other than for sickness, soon loses interest and becomes useless to the cause of Christ.
Illus.: “Bat Infestation”
Three pastors got together for coffee one day and found all their churches had bat-infestation problems. “I got so mad,” said one, “I took a shotgun and fired at them. I missed and it made holes in the ceiling. The trustees are still upset with me.”
Another pastor said, “Well, I tried trapping them alive. Then I drove 50 miles before releasing them, but they beat me back to the church.”
The third pastor said, “I haven’t had any more problems since I took action.” “What did you do?” the others asked, amazed. “I simply baptized and confirmed them. I haven’t seen them since.”
It is my firm conviction, based on the teaching of God’s Word that the church is the most relevant instrument of our age or any age, for that matter.
How many would raise their hand today and say by so doing that you became a Christian through the ministry of the local church? I rest my case.
An evangelist was preaching a message on the love of God in a small town in Pennsylvania. After the service he spoke to a man that he had spotted as being disturbed. He could see that he was full of anger---his body language shouted it. He stood with clenched fists, and with fire in his eyes. The evangelist gave him a hug and told him that Jesus loved him and that if he would give the church a chance, he would see that they loved him as well. Some weeks later in a meeting in Pittsburgh, there was the same man. He told the evangelist that his anger was due to the untimely death of his wife. He said that he was angry at God for taking his wife. But the preacher’s witness got him to thinking. He began attending church regularly; they did love him and as a result he gave his heart to Christ.
THE CHURCH STILL HAS IT!
In my opinion, there are at least four fundamentals that the church must hold to if it is to “have it” anymore. If it continues in these, it will not only remain relevant, it will attract and inspire multitudes and shape society for God and for good.
1. A Vital Faith in the Living Christ
Hymn: The Church’s One Foundation (Samuel J. Stone)
The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is His new creation, by water and the Word:
From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy Bride;
With His own blood He bought her and for her life He died.
The world must know that Jesus is real to us and that further, He is indispensable!
The early Christians, on the whole, were not well-educated mean and women. But they had a great faith! They believed the promises of Jesus and they went forward, confident that as long as he was with them nothing could stand against them.
When you think about it, the odds against this little body of believers were unbelievable. All the power of Judaism and Rome---yet the church grew. It was built upon the foundation of a belief in the living Christ.
The source of this vital faith is the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 2:22, we read, “And in Him (Christ) you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit brings life to the church! Without Him the church is dead! Some churches today are about as appealing as unseasoned grits. They are as bland as the white of an egg. But the church in habited by the Spirit has tang! There is a magnificent aroma present; there is an electric excitement that produces vital faith and growth.
William James said, “Religion is either a dull habit or an acute fever.” I suppose the same thing could be said about the church.
A Spirit-filled church will be known for its life, its excitement. He fills our temple (we are His temple, His dwelling place) if we will let Him.
The second fundamental that the church must possess is…
2. A Strong Corporate Sense
We come from a variety of backgrounds, yet we have a great feeling of being one together when we meet to worship, work, or receive training. Galatians 3:26,27: “You are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
A band of brothers and sisters---that’s what we are—bonded together because of our common love for the Lord Jesus, and our commitment to make Him known.
Seven Ones (Nov.17, 2005)
Have you ever worked at a job where you felt a strong bond with your co-workers? Perhaps you were united by a sense of mission, or by a respect for your boss, or by the belief that a prosperous company will benefit everyone financially. The more points of agreement among members of a group, the more they will be unified, the better they will perform, and the less likely they will be to fight among themselves.
Christians have a built-in list of unifiers that can keep them working together with a oneness of spirit. In Ephesians 4:4-6, Paul listed seven uniting "ones." Think of how helpful they can be to any group of believers working together on the same project:
One body—we are a single family unified for one purpose
One Spirit—we all have the Spirit as our power source
One hope—we all look forward to the same future
One Lord—we all trust the same Person in charge
One faith—we all trust Jesus’ sacrifice for our salvation
One baptism—we all have a single identity
One God and Father—we all share the same source of our existence
What a difference it would make if we all could dwell on those seven "ones." —Dave Branon
3. A Commitment to Biblical Authority
Another fundamental that the early church held fast to was the Word of God. They had a commitment to biblical authority. They remained faithful to the teaching of Scripture.
Whenever a church or denomination departs from biblical authority, then I believe God departs from them.
If we are to remain in God’s will and be a force for change in today’s world, we must have the Bible as our center. From it we can know why we worship, Whom we worship, and what the themes of our gatherings are.
The Bible is like no other book because it deals with the basic questions of life: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?
Billy Graham: “I am convinced that people are open to the Christians message if it is seasoned with authority and proclaimed as God’s own Word.”
Many examples of biblical authority being exercised have occurred in church history. In the year A.D. 724, Boniface confronted the priests of Thor (god of thunder). He chopped down the sacred oak, which was supposedly the seat of Thor’s power. To the amazement of Thor’s priests and the people, nothing happened.
They saw that the God of the Bible had authority over the mythological god. Boniface used the wood from the oak tree to build a chapel for the Lord.
If our worship is biblical, it will be simple and clear; it will always point to Jesus as our only hope; it will always emphasize loving concern for others.
The fourth and final fundamental that the church must hold to is…
4. Evangelical Zeal
The church has been ordained of God to be the medium to communicate a message. In other words, it knows something that others do not know. Furthermore, this message is an absolutely urgent one—a matter of life and death!
I am constantly amazed at the causes that people get excited over and are willing to give their time, talents, and treasures to. There is an organization in Pennsylvania, called, NAG, “Neighbors Against Gnats.” They exist to raise enough money to spray the Susquehanna River and kill the pesky little creatures. One year they raised over a quarter of a million dollars. Would to God that we in the church would give ourselves to the cause of Christ!
Our message: God is for us! All of us! He sent Jesus to die for us so that we might be forgiven, adopted, and receive eternal life.
No one can discover this message for himself. He must hear it. He must see it.
The fastest growing churches in the world today are those that have evangelical zeal---a burden for the lost and a plan of action to reach them.
Seneca, the Roman philosopher said, “All my life, I’ve been seeking to climb out of the pit of my besetting sins. I cannot do it, and I never will unless a hand is let down to draw me up.”
Thank God a hand has been let down. We, the church, the people of God, have become the hands of God through which our Lord rescues the perishing---and God is still saying, “Come to me just as you are and let me change you forever.”
Illus.: The Soap Manufacturer
A soap manufacturer, who was not a Christian was walking down the street one day with a friend who was a minister. The soap maker said, “That so-called gospel you preach has not done much good in the world. I see lots of wickedness in our world.” Just then, they passed by a child who was making mud pies. His face and hands, and feet were filthy. The minister said, “Your soap hasn’t done much good in this world either. I see lots of dirt and many dirty people.” “That’s not fair,” said the soap maker. “Soap is useful only when its applied.” “Exactly,” replied the minister. “And so it is with the gospel.”
May God fill us with evangelical zeal to reach our world for Christ!
Conclusion
When the church exhibits these four fundamentals, then nothing can stand against it. The church still has it, because within the church is the living Christ. I have always believed that the church is the Body of Christ here on earth and that people who come in contact with it should not only brush against the hem of Christ’s garment, but feel the radiant life, strength, and comfort that comes from coming in contact with Almighty God!
Yes, thank God , the church still has it. By “it” we mean…
o The message of Calvary love
o The message of hope
o The message of eternal life
o The power of the Holy Spirit
o The deliverance and assurance we desire
