Church
Ephesians 3:1-5
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/Church.html
Now we enter the church age, the “Dispensation of Grace.” What is a dispensation? It is a time period. In the Bible it is a specific period of time during which God administers His rule over the world in a certain way. And over the years God has dealt with man differently in different time periods.
“But I thought God was the same yesterday, today, and forever?” Yes, but that is not talking about the way God deals with man. It is talking about His character and nature. For instance, God is holy, righteous, and just ... He always has been and always will be. But He deals w/ man in different ways over the ages. His message has always been the same, but His methods change ... and so should ours, by the way.
A big danger in Bible interpretation is that of lifting out of scripture a verse where God does something and saying, there, that’s how God always handles that. He does not, necessarily. For instance, contrast these 2 texts:
Luke 10:2-4
2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. 3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.
Luke 22:35-36
35 And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. 36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Another example: 4 times in the book of Acts you see speaking in tongues. That’s over a 30 year period. But is that the normal Christian experience? That was a specific dispensation, and God worked in a certain way at that time. In this case, we’re in the book of Acts, which was a transitional time period...a bridge to the church age, but not the way the church age would be. It is not a basis for NT church doctrine.
But there is one thing that all dispensations have in common:
God gives man a responsibility, man fails to fulfill his responsibility, and God’s judgment comes.
1st dispensation: innocence. [Garden of Eden]
What was man’s responsibility? To abstain from the forbidden fruit. Man failed, and judgment came.
2nd dispensation: conscience.
Man was to follow God by the dictates of his God given conscience.
Man failed, and the world was filled w/ wickedness and Noah’s flood came.
3rd dispensation: human government.
Man was to establish human government according to the righteous standards of God. He was to scatter about on the earth.
Man failed, built the tower of Babel, and God judged that humanistic one world culture w/ confusion and dispersion.
4th dispensation: promise.
God said, I’m no longer going to deal with the world as a whole. I’m going to reach the world thru one nation, Israel. God made Abraham some promises. Man’s only responsibility was to stay in the Promised Land.
Man failed, famine came, they went to Goshen in Egypt and stayed there, and were eventually enslaved.
Do you see a pattern yet?
5th dispensation: Israel.
Israel was again to be the light of the world. It’s not that God had given up on the world, but that He chose to reach the world thru Israel.
Genesis 12:3
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Israel failed to be the light of the world, and that brings us to this message.
God wanted Israel to reach the Gentiles. But Israel rebelled and even adopted other gods of the world. Then they rejected Jesus as their Messiah. They should have known from all the prophecies about Him, but they were way out of tune with God. They sinned against a flood of light.
And we can know God’s will. We could know and we should know, but we are out of tune and don’t walk in the light.
When Israel fails God will move on to another plan, which is the church. [6th dispensation] Let’s see what happens...
In Acts 7 it’s Israel’s last chance in this dispensation to do what God has said to do. A guy named Stephen preaches to the Jews on this subject:
Acts 7:35
This Moses whom they refused...
Acts 7:39-43
39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, 40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? 43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Acts 7:51-52
51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Stephen holds them accountable, and then they stoned him. Now that dispensation is come to a close. Game over. Time’s up!
Ill.—God is a Trinity. And when Israel beheaded John the Baptist they were rejecting God the Father because He sent John. They rejected God the Son when they crucified Him, and they rejected God the Holy Spirit when they stoned Stephen. 3 strikes and you’re out!
Now it really gets interesting. It was prophesied that at this time God would pour out His judgment upon Israel. [Ps. 2; 110]
But now in Acts 7 we move right from Israel to the church age, and there doesn’t appear to be a judgment against Israel. Why not? Because the dispensation of Israel isn’t over, yet. Their judgment is yet to come. The tribulation isn’t a judgment of believers, but of Israel...the time of Jacob’s trouble.
“But aren’t we in the age of grace, the church age?” Yes. “Are both dispensations running at the same time, Israel and the church?” No.
God hit the pause button and will come back to Israel at a later time.
Ephesians 3:1-3
1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: 3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery...that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
The Bible calls the church age a mystery that no one knew about. God stuck in this extra dispensation in-between Israel’s failure and their coming judgment. It was like a valley in between distant mountain peaks and the OT prophets couldn’t see it. But we ARE it!
In the tribulation God will get Israel’s attention and they will turn to Him and this will lead them into the millennium. [The 7th and final dispensation]
In the meanwhile, aren’t you glad for the dispensation of grace? Would you be saved without it? Don’t we live in a great time period? Jesus could come at any time. It’s been 2,000 years already. If you are not saved you’d better get saved while God’s grace is still at work in this world. Everything is working in your favor right now, but in the tribulation of judgment everything will be working against you if you are still here and not raptured away w/ believers. Right now the Spirit of God is speaking to you, people are praying for you, the doors of heaven are open wide, but in the next time period which could start at any moment, it will cost you your life.
How did the church age begin? God whispered it into the ears of the apostle Paul. Both Jew and Gentile will be able to be saved, whosoever will may come!
Ill.—a young couple has heard the good news that they are expecting, and they don’t want to tell many people just yet as it is early. They tell just a close friend who screams, “AAAhhhhh! You’re gonna have a baby!” And everyone now knows! Good news spreads like feathers in the wind.
God whispered it to Paul, who spent the rest of his life proclaiming it from the housetops, and we should to, while time remains!
This is my main beef with secret societies. The Masons and other lodges have all these secrets...secret names and codes, and you can’t know the secrets unless you are one of them. Well if you have such a wonderful secret why would you want to keep it to yourself?
We not only should want to spread the Word, but we have a mandate and a command to do so! That’s why we support missionaries around the world. That’s why we share our materials w/ thousands of ministers everywhere. That’s why we preach and proclaim locally. That’s why we reach out as a church, and challenge you to reach out as an individual to the lost!
Pt. 2
In every age or dispensation God gives man a responsibility, man fails, and then judgment comes. So what is our responsibility in the church age? To be saved!
Ill.—after WWII a cathedral in England which had been bombed was rebuilt. They found a marble statue of Jesus in pieces...they pieced it back together. They found all the pieces but the hands. They thought about fashioning new hands but were afraid they couldn’t match the work. Then they thought about discarding the statue but didn’t. They made another choice, which was to put this inscription on the statue which remains today: “He has no hands but ours.”
The church is the body of Christ, of which Christ is the head. We are His hands, His feet, His voice. We are the mechanism He chooses to use in this dispensation.
The only Jesus people will see in this age is in you and me, the church!
What is the purpose of the church? It’s 3 fold:
• To magnify the Lord thru worship and the Word.
• To move believers to maturity and ministry.
• To make Jesus known to our neighbors and the nations.
When is the birthday of the church? The day of Pentecost. [Acts 2]
The dispensation of Israel was put on pause, and the church age began. Pentecost means 50. It happened 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead. It is named for the Jewish feast which happened 50 days after the feast of firstfruits [of their crops]. And Jesus’ resurrection was the firstfruits of our resurrection He has made possible for us. They would make 2 loaves of bread and sacrifice 10 animals.
In Acts 2 the day of Pentecost was ‘fully come.’
Let me ask, when was Israel born as a nation? When is Israel’s birthday? When were they officially recognized and established as a nation? Not Gen. 12 when God called Abraham...that’s when the Jewish race was established. But they officially became a nation at the foot of Mt. Sinai when God gave them their law.
The Jews were no nation when they were enslaved in Egypt. God raised up Moses to deliver them, and the 10 plagues were helpful tools in doing so. The final one was at Passover, when the death angel passed over and looked for the application of the blood on the wood doorposts. It was 50 days later they found themselves at the base of Mt. Sinai.
So the birthday of Israel and the birthday of the church are one in the same! Now I’m not a covenant theology guy who tries to apply everything about Israel to the church. In fact, that’s the point of dispensationalism, that God deals differently in different ages.
But notice that on Israel’s birthday 3,000 people were slain, as they worshipped the golden calf.
Exodus 32:28
... and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
But on the birthday of the church 3,000 were saved!
Acts 2:41
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
On Israel’s birthday it was announced in a mighty way.
Exodus 19:16
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
Here’s the church’s birthday, also announced similarly:
Acts 2:2-3
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
The book of Acts reveals to us the transitional time period from Israel to the church. This is very important to realize Acts is a bridge between the 2 periods. You cannot build your doctrine solely off of this book.
Many churches try to repeat the day of Pentecost. Now I’m all for power, and we should seek it. But how should we do this? Some churches actually call themselves Pentecost, making it their main focus. I’m not here to minimize Pentecost or offend anyone, but Pentecost wasn’t meant to be repeated.
Pentecost shouldn’t be repeated any more than Bethlehem, Calvary, or the resurrection is meant to be repeated. There can only be one of each of these. Now these are sincere people, but I believe misguided. Imagine going into a church that calls themselves “Bethlehemites.” They are praying for another Bethlehem, and watching out the window for a star or angels. Now that’s silly, but it makes the point that these events are not to be repeated. Remembered? Yes! Just like we remember Passover and the cross. And we should remember Pentecost and seek the power of the Spirit, but not the actual experience. Here at GBC we don’t seek the sounds, sights, and speech of that day.
Pentecost was all about God’s people finding supernatural power to carry out God’s mission. I’m all for it!
Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
The word for power there is ‘dunamis’ or dynamite. And it’s inside of you! When the church age began God moved out of the temple and into the body of you the believer, a house not made with hands! This building is not the church, you are.
At Bethelehem we had God with us, at Calvary we had God for us, and at Pentecost we had God IN us!
So why the rushing mighty wind? Because it’s a picture of the Holy Spirit.
John 3:8
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Ill.—One day a preacher wanted to preach about the wind. He asked a sea captain for his thoughts. He said, I can’t see it, and know little about it. But one thing I know, and that’s how to set my sails to catch the wind!
So why the fire above their heads? Again, it’s an emblem of the Holy Spirit, which purifies and burns out the dross, warms and fills us! A cold dead church will we warmed, illuminated, and enlightened! The Holy Spirit wrote the Bible and it takes the Holy Spirit to illuminate and bring its truth to light. Plus, the Holy Spirit energizes, like a firing engine!
So why the speaking in tongues? For a sign!
1 Corinthians 14:21-22
21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. 22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.
And I believe tongues ceased just as the Bible said they would.
On the day of Pentecost the power of God was visualized, vocalized, and all that was incidental. The big thing about that day was that the power of God was vitalized! They were all filled w/ the Holy Ghost! That God came to live in us and work thru us!
Then God spoke thru Paul to give 13 books specifically to the church, and that’s where we get doctrine for our dispensation...Romans thru Philemon. There’s plenty of good in Acts as well, don’t discard it!
How much longer will this Church age go on? We don’t know, but the signs say it cannot be much longer. Christ’s return is imminent. It may not be immediate, or maybe it will be! All the signs are in place. No prophecies remain unfulfilled.
I’m not looking for Antichrist but for Jesus Christ. I’m not looking for signs, I’m listening for sounds!
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/Church.html
