The Body of Christ – Part I
What does the Bible teach concerning the church? When the word “church” or concept of the church is presented in the Bible, what does it mean?
Many people really don’t know what the word “church” means. Just like the word family means different things to different people, so does the word, “church.”
The Bible teaches the church has two aspects: the universal aspect and the local aspect. Universally, the church is uniquely one. Locally, however, the church is expressed in many localities. So the one universal church becomes the many local churches.
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." The church here refers to the universal church which includes all the redeemed believers who have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and have been born again by the Spirit, without limit of time or space.
The other aspect of the church is found in Matthew 18:17, which says, "If he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church." The church here is limited in time and space and is local, because Jesus says in this verse that you can tell your situation to the church.
The local church is not only related spiritually to Christ but also has a physical and geographical identity. The seven churches John wrote to in Revelation 2 and 3 were local churches. He wrote to the churches at Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, and so on.
These churches, though all related to each other in a common faith, were each distinct entities. In the same way, churches today, consisting of true believers, are local churches. If one wants to know what the universal church of Jesus Christ is like, they can visit a local body of believers like GraceWay Church.
A New Testament church consists of people who meet together for worship, discipleship, evangelism, fellowship and ministry. Whenever we attend a local church made up of individuals who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we are seeing the Body of Christ.
There is no other place to go to see the church as it is presented in the New Testament. The only physical representation of the universal church is the local church.
The word “church” is only used four times in the Bible in a general universal sense (Matthew 16:18; Acts 20:28; 1 Cor 10:32; Eph 1:22). Almost every time you see the word "church" in the Bible it's used to refer to a specific group of believers like we are here today.
Once you became a believer you are automatically a part of the universal church of God -- automatically, the moment you gave your life to Christ. But you don't become a part of a local church until you make that choice.
It's like when you were born physically, you were automatically entered into the human race. You didn't have a choice. But you didn't become a part of any local family in the human race until somebody chooses to take you home from the hospital.
A woman said to her pastor once, "I don't need to be a part of any local church. I'm a part of the invisible church." He said, “That's great but when you get sick, in the hospital, who visits you? The invisible church member or pastor?”
Today in our media-driven, technology-based society, it is easy for someone who professes to be a Christian to skip out of the local church and to plug into “cable-church” or the church of the radio airwaves. Many have begun to organize “virtual” churches or “internet churches” where you can “go to church” in the privacy of your home. One website said that their virtual church was for “people who are sick and those who are sick and tired of the traditional church.”
But the Bible is letting us know that you and I need somebody in the flesh. There are over thirty commands in the Bible you cannot obey, you cannot follow, unless you're part of a local church and say, "That's going to be my church family.”
What's the difference between being a member of the universal church and being a member of a local church? The difference is the word "commitment".
• I become a member of the universal church by committing my life to Christ.
• I become a member of a local church by committing myself to other Christians. I say, "That's going to be my church home where I'm going to give and be given to, where I'm going to serve and be served, where I'll love and be loved."
Today we are going to look at a passage of Scripture that helps us to understand what the universal church is. We turn to the New Testament letter of 1st Peter.
The Apostle Peter writes to a group of believers who were dispersed from their homeland throughout Asia Minor. Many of them were being persecuted or about to experience trouble because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
1 Pet 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1 Pet 1:2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
Peter was writing these believers to encourage them in the faith.
1 Pet 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1 Pet 1:4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
1 Pet 1:5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Pet 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
1 Pet 1:7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
1 Pet 1:8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
1 Pet 1:9 receiving the end of your faith; the salvation of your souls.
Skipping over to chapter two we find our text for this message.
1 Pet 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
The word “you” in verse nine is emphatic in the Greek text and literally means, ‘but as for you.” Peter is contrasting this group to the disobedient of verses 4 and 8. The disobedient rejected the Savior who Peter describes as “precious.” These people stumbled over the Jesus the Rock as they disobeyed the Word of God.
So Peter says at the beginning of verse nine, “But you…” Here is an obvious contrast.
Peter is saying “they rejected the Savior;” “they stumbled over the Rock” “But you...”
Peter is addressing “believers,” “followers of Jesus Christ.”
He is not addressing “church attenders” or “church members.”
He is not addressing "CEO's," i.e., people who attend Christmas & Easter Only.
He is writing to those who have surrendered their lives to the Lordship of Christ.
He is writing to those who have been bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus that was shed when He died on the cross.
“But you are a chosen generation…”
Chosen –The word “chosen” is not a verb in the Greek text but a noun. Using the word chosen as a verb would be to say, “Jack was chosen as the MVP.” As a noun, chosen literally means, “a chosen-out one,” thus “elect.”
Generation –Not the word “generation” that refers to a group of people living within the span of a lifetime. This word means “a race, a body of people with a common life and path.”
Together, a “chosen generation” refers to those who have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and are chosen out of one group and placed into another.
Colossians 1:13, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love…”
These are those who because they are followers of Jesus Christ were chosen from the world and placed in an organic group known as the body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:12 says, “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.”
We who are followers of Jesus Christ are members of one another—we belong to one another. We are a “chosen generation” “a race, a body of people with a common life and path.”
At the end of 1 Peter 2:9 the Bible say Christians are, “called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Verse 10 says Christ followers “once were not a people but are now the people of God.” Christ followers at one time “had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
We are a “chosen generation.” God chose us out from among the world and placed us together in a body, the Body of Christ.
• Though we are still in the world, we are not of the world.
• Though we live in Baltimore we are but pilgrims just passing through.
• Though the census may list us as citizens of the USA, our real citizenship is in heaven.
If you are a Christian, you are a “chosen generation!”
Peter continues in verse nine and tells us that not only are Christians “a chosen generation” Christ followers are “a royal priesthood.”
Royal Priesthood– The word “royal” is the translation of the Greek word for “king.” Peter is letting believers in the church age know that they are “king-priests.” Christians are associated with King Jesus who is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, a king-priest.
In the Old Testament when God spoke to Moses at Mt. Sinai, He told him in Exodus 19:12, “I’ll speak to you but the rest of the people better not even come as close as to touch this mountain or they will die.”
When the tabernacle was built and God manifested His presence between the cherubim, the High Priest alone could go before God in the temple and had to have a blood sacrifice. A common person like you or me could not approach God.
But now, because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, our bodies have become the “temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 3:16) and we can meet with God in prayer. We no longer have to “stay back” and “stand clear”…we can “draw near!” (Hebrews 7:19; 10:22)
Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come with confidence and assurance to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We do not need a priest—because as “king-priests” we are associated with King Jesus who is our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14)!
Not only can we draw near to God in order to pray, we can enter into the very presence of God and worship Him. The way into the presence of God has been opened by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are a “Royal Priesthood!”
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation…”
Holy – Means “set apart for the service of Deity.”
Nation – Is a Greek word meaning, “a multitude of people of the same nature.”
Putting these two words together we learn that “holy nation” refers to the fact that followers of Jesus Christ have been set apart to serve God as part of a multitude of people who have a common nature.
If you are a Christian, the Bible teaches that before Christ saved you, you had a nature that was “against God.” You lived for yourself—the world revolved around you—in your own eyes, you were the “master of the universe.”
Ephesians 2 describes your B.C. (Before Christ) days saying, “You used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of (the devil) the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”
But when Christ saved you—He gave you a new nature. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
God not only gave you a new nature; He gave you a new desire. In Philippians 3:10, the Apostle Paul, who once hunted down and killed Christians had a new desire to “know Jesus and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings…”
God not only gives us a new nature and a new desire; He gives us a new purpose—not your purpose for yourself but His purpose for you. This is what “holy” means—it means “set apart for God’s purpose.”
It is like those dishes you have in your china cabinet—the ones you have “set apart” to be used only on special occasions. You don’t slap down some hotdogs and beans on fine china.
If you are a Christian, God has a new purpose for you. He has set you apart as His own personal possession. You no longer live for yourself—you live for Him.
Just like that fine china…if a mother walks in the kitchen and finds her child eating some French fries and chicken nuggets on her Lenox or Royal Albert or Waterford plate, she will go to him and say, “No son, I paid too much for that plate to be used for that purpose…”
Christian, God has set you apart for His purpose; He has paid a great price for you to be emancipated from sin. He paid too much for you to use your body for that purpose.
In 2 Corinthians 5:15 we are told that Jesus “died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again…”
You have a new purpose; the Word of God says, “You are a “Holy Nation!”
Peter continues: But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people…
The KJV uses the word “peculiar” but that word has changed in its meaning since 1611 and now the word “peculiar” denotes something that is “odd, strange.”
The Greek word used in this verse literally means, “to make around.” It means to make something and then to surround it with a circle, thus indicating ownership. It is like purchasing some land, building a house and then constructing a fence around your property and posting a sign that says, “Private Property.”
When the Bible says the Christian is a peculiar person, it is saying that you are God’s own possession. Listen to how the Bible confirms this truth:
• Acts 20:28--"The church . . . [was] purchased with [Christ's] own blood. "
• 1 Corinthians 6:20--"You have been bought with a price.” That price was the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Titus 2:14--Christ "gave Himself for us, that He might purchase us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession.”
These and other verses let us know that it was by sovereign election that God chose us and by the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ paid the price to buy us out of the slave market of sin. Therefore, we belong to Him; we are God's personal possession.
Listen to the application: You have been given a new nature with a new desire and a new purpose. Now we’ve learned that you are God’s possession. You are not your own. God bought you; you belong to Him.
So Peter writes: But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people…If you are a Christian, you are God’s prized possession because you were purchased with the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Let’s look at the next segment of this verse:
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…
Show forth/proclaim (depending on the Bible version) – Refers to a “spoken message.”
This means “to advertise” or “to publish.” It refers to something was to be told that would otherwise be unknown.
Praises/excellencies (depending on the Bible version) – Not the word that indicates praise, but one that means, “excellencies, gracious dealings, heroic deeds, glorious attributes.”
Peter is reminding his Christian audience of their responsibility to advertise or publish the heroic deeds and glorious attributes of God.
Christians are charged with letting people know the wonderful things God has done so they can be saved. If we do not tell people, they will not know.
In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus tells His disciples to “Go and make disciples.”
In Acts 1:8 Jesus tells His followers, “You shall be my witnesses.”
In Roman 10:14 Paul asks the question, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without someone to proclaim [the Good News]?”
Someone might say, “We are telling but still they do not get saved.” My answer is that it is all in the presentation. This truth is illustrated in a story told of a great English actor who was approached by a well-known preacher.
The preacher says to the actor, “I wish you would explain to me something.” “Well, what is it?” the actor says, “I don’t know if there is anything I would need to explain to a preacher.”
The preacher asks the actor, “What is the reason for the difference between your theatrical company and my church? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. We are proclaiming the essential and unchangeable truth, and are not getting any crowd at all.”
And the famous English actor’s answer was this: “This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. Our group presents my fiction as though it were truth; your church presents your truth as though it were fiction.”
Yes it is all in the presentation…
Christians say that Jesus is God Almighty and worthy to be honored and praised but they drag themselves to church to give God the praise they say he is worthy of.
Christians say that “Everybody ought to know, who Jesus is…” but they rarely open their mouths to tell people about Him.
Christians say that “Earth is to be shunned and Heaven is to be gained” yet they live like there is no future in Heaven, let alone talk about it.
The question we need to ask ourselves at GraceWay Church is, “Are we proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ and His saving grace as though it were not true? No conviction; no boldness; afraid to offend; no confidence; no commitment?”
Paul says in Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."”
Let’s continue in 1 Peter and bring this message to a conclusion.
He writes, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…”
The word “into” refers not merely to locality but to a result. It is not the word “into” that would be used in the sentence, “Cinderella got into the carriage.” It is the “into” that is used in the sentence, “The Fairy Godmother turned the pumpkin into a carriage.”
When Peter speaks of being “called out of darkness into His marvelous light” he is saying that in Christ Jesus, we are turned into “creatures of light.”
Paul expresses it like this in Ephesians 5:8, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light…” We weren’t in darkness as much as we were darkness. Peter is saying not that we are “taken out of darkness and ushered into the light;” he is saying that we are “no longer darkness; now we are light.”
Jesus says it this way in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
This is the universal church; a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
The universal church is all the redeemed believers who are born again by the Spirit, without limit of time or space. It includes hundreds of millions of believers from every nation, culture, language, or experience.
The universal church is a spiritual entity and has no physical manifestation of its own but is manifested in a local setting where believers gather together to worship God and get out His message of salvation to a lost and dying world.
Now how are we going to do this? Let me illustrate with a story:
There was once a Christian who started of his day praying, "Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today, please give me a sign to show me who it is."
One day he found himself on a bus when a big, burly man sat next to him. The bus was nearly empty but this guy sat next to our praying friend. The timid Christian anxiously waited for his stop so he could exit the bus. But before he could get any more nervous about the man sitting next to him, the big guy burst into tears and began to weep. He then cried out with a loud voice, "I need to be saved. I’m a lost sinner and I need the Lord. Won’t somebody tell me how to be saved?"
He turned to the Christian and pleaded, "Can you show me how to be saved?" The believer immediately bowed his head and prayed, "Lord, is this a sign?"
While the Lord has been known to give miraculous signs like this it is not His usual way of equipping Christians to do His will. What the Lord has done for His church is to give the Body of Christ a tool box of what are called, “spiritual gifts” to fulfill the five-fold purposes for the church of “worship, discipleship, evangelism, ministry and fellowship.”
Next time in part two of the His Church series, we are going to look at spiritual gifts.
