Ekklesia – the Church (BFM #9)
Text: Ephesians 4:4
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
Well we are continuing our study of the BFM and today we are on article 6, the article on the Church (Read BFM article 6 – the church). I think that the doctrine of the church is one of the most misunderstood, and incorrectly taught doctrines in Christianity today. We have sacrificed doctrinal soundness for earthly success and we are reaping what we’ve sown. You all have heard me mention the statistics from LifeWay and the SBC, that we have 16 million plus members but only about 6 million attend worship services regularly. Last Monday we had Bob Shelton from the BGCO Cooperative Program speak to us at the association meeting. He said that giving to the CP is on a 24 year downslide. In-other-words, giving to the national CP has decreased for 24 straight years. Something is going wrong somewhere and I think it has to do first and foremost with the doctrine of the church. So today I want to focus on three things, the purpose of the Church, what makes up a Biblical church, and the ministry of the church. We will be spending some time on this article – the Church, because it’s so important, but we can only look at a couple of things today.
So… the Greek word that describes the church is the word “ekklesia,” and it means “those who have been called out,” or “the called out ones.” The term “congregation” comes from the Latin word “congregatio,” which is simply a translation of ekklesia into Latin. So when we look through the New Testament we see that the Church was a gathering of people who have been called by the Lord. But they weren’t just called to meet up with each other once a week and visit. Turn with me to Acts 2:42-47 (Read). This is what the Church did when it gathered together. They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine (or teachings), they had fellowship with one another through the breaking of bread and in prayers. The breaking of bread can either mean the Lord’s Supper or fellowship dinners, but often times those were one in the same, and we’ll talk more about that later. Acts 2 also tells us that the first church member had unity, and that they provided for one another’s needs as the needs arose.
So when we think about the Church we can think about it in two different ways; we can think about all the believers who have been called out by God and set apart by God, or we can think about it as a gathering of a local body of believers, but regardless of which way we look at it, the most important thing for us to understand is that Jesus is the Head of the Church.
The Bible teaches that the Church is the Body of Christ and He is the head. Now before we get into a whole lot of theological implications of that, I just want you to think about a body in physical terms. Your body, or mine. The head controls all the functions of the body, it is where are brains nest, and the human brain is; like I said, what controls all the functions, activities and abilities of the body. Without the head, the body can do nothing, and to be even more specific, without the head, the body is dead. And so if we, or any group of believers, are going to be a church, then we should be doing the work that Christ has called us to do.
And so people say, “What is the purpose of the Church?” Well that’s an easy question to answer: The purpose of the Church is to carry on the work of Christ. Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
In Acts 13:47 we see that the Lord said to His Church, “I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.” So the first thing any church should be is evangelistic and mission minded. The Church should be focused on the Great Commission.
Turn with me to Ephesians 3:8-11 (read). God has designed His Church to be a display of His glory and wisdom, and He structured that display in the shape of a community that illustrates for a watching world the redemption that He has given to us, and that He offers to them.
So let me try to bring these three things together before we go on. The Church is to have an upward focus in worshiping God and praising God. When the first church gathered they continued in sound doctrine, they worshiped, they praised God in unity. So they focused on God. Secondly they focused inward upon their community. Over and over again the epistles stress unity. When the new believers gathered together the consistently celebrated the Lord’s Supper, they fellowshipped with one another through the breaking of bread, they strived to maintain unity and they made sure everyone’s needs were being met. Lastly they had an outward focus, they sought to be faithful to the Great Commission, they sought to spread the Gospel, first in Jerusalem, then to Judea, then to Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.
So now that we’ve looked at the purpose of the Church, what is it that makes a Biblical Church? I mean, is a church just a gathering of a group of people? No… you might have a gathering of a group of people at a football game. You might have a gathering of a group of people and have a mob. Remember the word we use for church is ekklesia – those who have been called out. So first of all, a Biblical church is those who have been called out. Called by the Lord, remember when we discussed the doctrine of salvation? How believers are first called, then justified, then sanctified, then glorified… well a church is made up of a gathering of those people. Those who have been called. Look again at the BFM, “A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of BAPTIZED BELIEVERS, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship in the Gospel.” In the SBC we believe in believers baptism. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus told His disciples to GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES. They were to do this in two ways; they were to baptize them, and teach them to obey everything that Christ had commanded them. Now baptism is an ordinance given to those who have previously and personally trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. On your bulletins I’ve listed several Scriptures that make this clear (Acts 2:41; 8:12; 10:44-48; 16:14-15). So the church is to be made up of believers, who have made a public profession of their faith through baptism.
Now if ya’ll remember I said at the beginning of this sermon that based on what we’re seeing, something is going wrong somewhere and I think it has to do first and foremost with the doctrine of the church. Well today we have so many churches that are full of unregenerate – unsaved church members. We have people in church leadership that have never been to the foot of the cross, I would even be so bold to say that we have pastors who have never been to the foot of the cross. They are like the Pharisees in Jesus day. In
Matthew 23:15 Jesus warned them, “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourself.”
So firstly; what makes up a church is that it is a gathering of called believers who have made a public profession of their faith through baptism. It is a body of people who profess their faith though baptism and give evidence though a changed life that they have been saved by God’s grace alone, though faith alone, in Christ alone.
The New Testament Church is not a building. Christians didn’t have their own regular meeting place for almost 300 years after the first church began.
Now the 3rd point, the ministry of the church, ties in with the first two, its purpose and what makes it Biblical. There are a lot of ministries that a church can be involved in, but the Bible gives us four essential things that a true church MUST be involved in if it is to be a true church.
The first one is the Preaching of the Word of God.
Preaching the word of God means preaching the whole council of God. Preaching expository sermons that do not hide the truth of God’s Word, but reveal it in its fullness with its original meaning and then applying it to ourselves as we should. Preaching that is first and foremost Christ centered.
The preaching of God’s word is the most important ministry in the Church, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a pastor. Because if we do it as we should, we are expounding on God’s Word, not using God’s Word to expound on our own thoughts and ideas. This is important because it is God’s Word that brings faith to its hearers. It is God’s Word that God Himself has ordained to bring about salvation to the lost. It is God’s Word that God Himself has ordained to bring about sanctification, to bring about mortification of sin, to bring about holy living in His saints, to equip believers, to rebuke scoffers and false teachers.
The 2nd essential ministry of a true church is the administration of the ordinances, or sacraments. These are the only two ordinances given to the Church, baptism and communion. And again I want to go over these in more detail later, not today as we don’t have time, but we will look at them more closely.
The 3rd ministry of the church is the exercising of the gifts of its members. This is what we normally think of when we think of ministry. It includes evangelism, helping the poor, helping those in need whether it be a physical need like food or shelter, a emotional or psychological need like counseling, or a spiritual need.
And the 4th ministry of the church is proper church discipline. And again I don’t have time to go over that today, but we will look at in a couple of Sundays because Matthew 18 makes it clear that as a body of believers, a church is supposed to practice loving and redemptive discipline within our own congregation.
Now like I said, there’s way too much about the Church to cover in just one sermon, so for the next few Sunday’s we’re going to be looking at the Church, the ordinances of the Church, proper church discipline, Biblical principals for church growth, the marks of a healthy church, and whatever else the Lord lays on my heart.
Closing and Prayer
