Back when I was a college intern here at LBF Church, we sent some college students on a short-term missions trip to London. While they did street ministry in London they stayed in an abandoned church in downtown London. You see, London is littered with abandoned churches that were once packed with people living out their devotion to Jesus Christ.
That empty church has become a symbol to me over the years of the powerful influence of secularism in our culture today. You see secularism does not seek to destroy religion, but it tries to define religion as being private, having no place in public or social life. So in a secular culture, religion and faith are treated as the private possession of the individual. In America today the vast majority of people embrace a secularized, watered down version of the Christian faith. As George Gallup shows every year, the people of America are among the most religious people in the world, as the overwhelming majority say they believe in God, believe the Bible is the word of God, and believe that Jesus is God’s son. But this watered down veneer of Christianity is a secularized version of faith, as the vast majority of people view church as a kind of optional expression of faith reserved for the few who need that sort of thing.
In a secularized society like ours is the church a dying institution, a monument like that empty church rotting on the streets of London? Although interest in spirituality is on the rise, attendance of church is on the decline in our culture. Recently a University of Wisconsin professor of history named Thomas Reeves wrote a book called The Empty Church: Does Organized Religion Matter Anymore? Reeves demonstrates that since the 1960s virtually every traditional Christian denomination has lost between one-third and one-fifth of its membership (10-11). The average Christian church in America today is composed of less than 100 total people, it’s getting older and smaller with each year and it will reach one only new person with the good news of Jesus Christ each year. Many are calling the 21st century the dawn of a post-denominational era, when most traditional Christian denominations close their doors. Reeves believes that the reason why this has happened among mainline denominational churches is because many of their highest leaders have rejected the essential points of the Christian faith.
I happened to see a new book by the Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong this week, and as he looked at the apostle’s creed--which since the 2nd century has been a summary of the essentials of the Christian faith--and the only part Spong could in good conscience still confess were the words "I believe." By the time you go to bed tonight, eight Christian churches in America will have closed their doors for good. As you drift off to sleep, more than 7,600 professing Christians in North America and Europe will have left the Christian church for good.
University of Santa Barbara sociologist Wade Roof Clark did an exhaustive study of religion among baby boomers, people born between 1946 and 1964. He called his book A Generation of Seekers and he found that this generation considers itself the most spiritual generation in recent history. But he’s quick to point out that spiritual is not the same as church going, because 80% of the baby boomers he surveyed said that it was their conviction that a person could be a devout Christian without any involvement in a local church. Church involvement, at least to the majority of baby boomers, is an optional part of the Christian faith, nice if you have time and your alarm happens to go off in time to make it, but not an essential component of the spiriutal life. As one guy told me just this last week, "Hey, I read my Bible and I pray, I try to serve God, so what would I need a church for?" The majority of professing Christians in our communities today fit into that category.
In some ways this radically individual way of viewing the Christian faith is nothing new to our culture. According to sociologists Roger Fink and Rodney Stark, in 1776 only 17% of the American adult population were church going (The Churching of America 15). Now obviously there were also many devoted Christians involved in our nation back then--90 of the framer’s of our constitution were professing Christians--but the Christian faith of America has always been largely a private, individual thing, with little need for social expression through the church.
We’ve been in a series called WHAT DO CHRISTIANS THINK? In this series we’ve been looking at the eight basic beliefs of the Christian faith and exploring them in a way that both irreligious seekers and Christians can understand and apply to their lives. Today we’re looking at what Christians think about the church.
The Bible gives us several different word pictures to describe the church. One Bible scholar has identified 80 different word pictures of the church in the Bible. Each of these word pictures tells us something about what the Christian church is supposed to be doing. Today we’re going to look briefly at four word pictures of the church and from these word pictures we’ll pick out four key concepts about what Christians believe about the church.
1. The Church as a Building
We start with the very first mention of the church in the New Testament.
Matthew 16:18-- And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (NIV).
Peter has just confessed his conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Jewish Messiah. Jesus endorses Peter’s conviction here, and He makes a pun between Peter’s name which means "rock" and the rock Jesus would build his church on. Now Peter himself isn’t the rock Jesus is talking about, contrary to what the Roman Catholic church has claimed. This is not a statement about Peter being the first pope or anything else of the sort. What Jesus is calling the rock upon which he would build his Church is Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. Upon this conviction, this belief, Jesus would build his Church.
Now the word build here is a construction word, it means to construct a building, like a tower or a temple. Jesus is picturing himself as the contractor, the one who controls the resources in a construction project. But it’s not a new mall or a custom made north upland home that Jesus is building, but it a Church. Now in our day, when we hear the word "church" we picture a physical building, but the word translated "church" here doesn’t have anything to do with literal buildings. No, the word church here means an assembly of people who’ve gathered together for some purpose. It would be 300 years after Jesus said this that the very first church building would be built. Like a building contractor constructs a building, Jesus promises to build a community of people, an assembly, a church. This church community would be so solidly built that not even the gates of hades--or hell--itself would be able to destroy it.
Now think about that picture. When was the last time you saw someone use a gate as a weapon? Has anyone every robbed a bank with a gate or assaulted someone with a gate? No, gates are used for protection not for invading, and the picture here is of this church Jesus is building storming the gates of hell itself--with the church on the offense--and the gates of hell are not able to defend against the church’s invasion.
The rest of the New Testament adds some detail to this word picture. The cornerstone of the church is Jesus Christ. Also part of the church’s foundation are the apostles and prophets, specifically through their writings that we now have as the 66 books of the Bible. 1 Peter tells us that our lives as followers of Jesus Christ are living stones--you might think of them as bricks--and God is building on the foundation of Christ and the Bible with our lives, as living bricks. These individual bricks are rescued from the fires of hell itself as the church breaks down the gates of hell and reaches the hearts of men and women with the good news of Christ’s love, thus inviting people to be part of this church Jesus Christ is building.
So this is the first word picture and from this word picture we find the first key concept. Since the Christian Church is being built by Jesus, we are part of something bigger than ourselves.
We have a tendency to get tunnel vision as modern American Christians. We forget that beyond our local church walls there are millions of other followers of Jesus Christ who may not do things exactly the same way we do, but who are part of the same church Jesus is building. We lose sight of the fact that even our community here is filled with dozens of healthy, Christ centered, Bible based congregations that are just as much a part of Jesus’ church as we are.
We also tend to lose our sense of historical continuity, that from the time Jesus said these words 2,000 years ago until now there have been a constant presence of Jesus Christ’s church in our world. We forget names like Athenasius, Anselm, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Wilberforce, Moody and so forth, but these are the men and women who’ve preceded us, who’ve been part of this church Jesus is building. In our generation we’re just one link on a chain that goes 2,000 years. So if you’ve trusted your life to Jesus Christ, to be his follower, you’re part of something much bigger than your own life, bigger than Life Bible Fellowship Church.
In the past several years God has blessed our church with growth. This isn’t because of me, or because of our other pastors, or because of our elder board or even because of our dedicated volunteer care pastors. It’s because Jesus is building his church, he’s the one who produces growth, he’s the one who rescues people from the gates of hell and uses their lives as living stones to build on the foundation he’s laid. It’s not my church, or the elders’ church, or your church, but it’s Jesus Christ’s church of which LBF is one congregation among many. So against the tunnel vision we tend to slip into, we’re reminded that we’re part of something much bigger than ourselves.
2. The Church as a Body
A second word picture the Bible gives us of the church is that of a human body.
Romans 12:4-5-- Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others (NIV).
This is perhaps the most common word picture the Bible uses to describe the church, that just as a human body is made up of several different organs, so the Christian community is made up of many different members, each diverse and unique, but each indispensable to the health of the entire body. A living body is a balance between the whole and the parts, as each part contributes to the whole but with each part also receiving its nourishment from the whole. The key word for a living system like a human body is interdependence. Each part is both dependant on the whole and independent from the whole, each part both gives and takes in proper proportion to produce life. Having a body part that only gives or that only takes is a sign of sickness, and in order for the entire system to function in a healthy way each body part has to do its part for the whole.
Colossians 2:19-- He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Here Paul continues the word picture by telling us that Jesus is the head of this body. Here we see also that the purpose of a body is to grow, and that this growth is provided by the head--Christ. The normal state of being for the church is to grow, as each individual member contributes to that growth and receives nourishment from that growth.
From this word picture we find the second key concept. Since the Christian church is a living organism, we need each other.
This idea of Christians needing other Christians contradicts the self-sufficiency of our culture. We idolize the cowboy, the pioneer, the person who doesn’t need anyone or anything, but who posseses within him or herself all the resources needed. This is why so many professing followers of Jesus make their faith a private affair, just them and Jesus with no reference at all to a local church. I have yet to meet a Christian who has successfully led a vibrant, New Testament Christian life apart from local church involvement, yet I meet many who try. Millions of Christians today are unchurched Christians, devoted to Jesus Christ yet trying to live life alone, and they’re like a kidney surgically removed from a body and placed in a jar, all alone, cut off, unable to receive nourishment or provide nourishment for the rest of the body. Nobody else can contribute to the Christian community what you have, no one else can do what God designed you to do, and when you don’t function the way you’re designed to, you suffer and the entire body suffers.
This is the biblical basis for our belief that every member of LBF Church is a minister. Since we are a body, God gives each member of the body spiritual gifts and abilities to contribute to the health of the body. This means every member is a minister, that God has a niche for each person here to serve.
As the body of Christ, the church is the visible presence of Jesus Christ in our world, as we continue doing that which Jesus started. Jesus came to give sight to the blind, to tell people the good news, to set those captive to sin free, and what’s what we’re supposed to be up to, as Jesus lives his life through his church, his body. So as a body, the church stands as a countercultural statement that in God’s economy there are no lone rangers, no cowboys, but that we need each other.
3. The Church as a Family
From the image of a body we move to the image of a family.
Galatians 6:10-- Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers (NIV).
Now when most of us think of a family we picture a mom and a dad and 2.4 kids. But you and I know that real families aren’t always like that, that families come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Back then not only did people have more children, but families also included extended family members--parents, cousins, aunts and uncles--but they also included servants, workers, associates, and so forth. So families were extremely large and much broader than we define them today.
Now you and I both know that there are good families and not so good families. Once I saw a cartoon of a huge banquet hall with the banner "Adult Children of non-Dysfunctional Families" and there was only one person in the room...and he was probably just in denial. All families demonstrate some degree of dysfunction, but some are places of deep pain. I know that, as I come from a family that was fractured by the tragedy of divorce twice, that was poisoned by drug and alcohol abuse.
The quality of any family is characterized by the quality of its relationships. This is because at its heart a family is a community of people, and a community is only as healthy as the relationships between the people of that community. Positive, healthy relationships characterized by honesty, acceptance, and communication are the ingredients of a healthy family. Family relationships characterized by dishonesty, conditional love, and unrealistic, unvoiced expectations are the ingredients of a unhealthy family. I’m fortunate that in spite of all the awful things I lived through in my family I had a mother who always loved and accepted me, and that was at least an anchor during the crazy, turbulent years.
Here’s what this third word picture of a family tells us. Since the Christian church is a community, the quality of our relationships are important.
This is exactly why Jesus told his followers that the key to their effectiveness as a community was to love each other, that as they loved each other the rest of the world would come to faith in Jesus. When groups of Christians fall victim to unhealthy relationships characterized by distrust, resentment, and anger, not only are our relationships hurt, but the testimony of Jesus to the world is damaged. This is why the Bible has so many principles about relationships, this is why the early Christians called each other brothers and sisters, because the quality of our relationships with each other reveals the degree of our devotion to Jesus. When we truly live as a community making the quality of our relationships a priority, the Church becomes a countercultural presence in our world of a healthy community.
Now the size of a local church determines how they act as a family. I’ve shared before the differences between my family and my wife’s family. I come from a small family, so when we get together we all sit around a table and talk to each other. But my wife comes from a big family, where I after 17 years of marriage I still can’t keep all her aunts, uncles and cousins straight, so when we get together were cluster in smaller groups to talk. As a local congregation LBF Church is on the larger side, there are over 1000 names in our phone directory, so we need to cluster together in small groups to live as a family and then get together once a week for worship as a kind of family reunion. This is why our care group ministry is so vitally important, so we can cluster into smaller groups to live as God’s family to each other.
But big or small, if we’re a family--a community--then the quality of our relationships with each other is important.
4. The Church as a Bride
Our final word picture is that of a bride.
Ephesians 5:25-27-- Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (NIV).
I could go into an entire section here about husband-wife relationships, but what I really want to focus in on is that word picture of the church as a bride. The image of the church as the bride of Christ is a common one in the New Testament. Back then when a guy and girl got engaged they became legally bound to each other, even though they weren’t yet married. If you wanted to break off the engagement you had to file for divorce, like Joseph was about to do when Mary got pregnant, because being engaged was legally binding. The picture in the Bible is that Jesus is engaged to the church, legally bound yet not yet fully married, and that at the end of the age there will be what the book of Revelation calls the Marriage Supper between Christ and his church.
This passage tells us that Jesus gave everything for the church, that he sacrificially loves the church and is preparing his church for that day.
What does this image of a bride tell us about the church? Since the Christian Church is precious to Jesus, it has great value.
It’s fashionable today for Christians to criticize the church. Pastors can be the worst, as we complain about the state of the church today, how weak it is, how apathetic many of the people are, and so forth. And it’s certainly true that there’s a lot in the Christian community that could be better, a lot to be concerned with. But one time about six years ago I was complaining to someone about the Christian church, when suddenly an image flashed in my mind of a bride and a groom on their wedding day. In that mental image I walked up to the groom and said to him, "Your bride sure is ugly." Now no one would ever do that because no matter how unattractive I may personally find a bride, to the groom that bride is wonderful, she’s radiant and beautiful. Then then Lord spoke to my heart and said, "Tim, every time you criticize my church you’re telling me, that my bride is ugly." I had to repent of my bad attitude, and that moment changed the way I view the church, that if I’m going to love Jesus will all my heart, I need to love his church, in spite of its imperfections and failures, in spite of its ugliness at times, because Jesus loves his church and I’m part of that church. Now I understand what the early church fathers meant when they said that no one can have God as their father unless they also have the church as their mother, that there’s no such thing as a private Christian faith with no corporate expression.
Conclusion
The church stands at the heart of what God is up to in our generation. Nations will fall, governments will fail, trends will end, buildings will crumble, political parties will lose their influence, but the gates of hell will not prevail against Jesus Christ’s church. As long as LBF Church remains a group of people devoted to Jesus Christ and submitted to the authority of the Bible, we will be a part of what God is up to for our generation. These three word pictures help us understand how central the church is to the Christian faith. A building, a body, a family and a bride. All three of these word pictures involve expansion and growth, whether its a building with new bricks being added as it storms the gates of hell, whether it’s a body with new parts transplanted as it lives as Jesus Christ’s physical presence in our world, whether its a family where we grow in our love for each other, or whether its a bride where we grow in holiness, as Jesus purifies us, removing every wrinkle and imperfection. Perhaps it’s this lack of understanding the vital importance of the church that has led our culture, despite its claim to religious belief, to be thoroughly secularized, confused, and lost.
