God’s Glorious Church
Are All Believers in “The Church”?
Ephesians 3:21
Woodlawn Baptist Church
April 3, 2005
Introduction
“Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
Today I want to resume the series of messages I have been preaching titled God’s Glorious Church. God is our Lord; Jesus Christ is our Head; and the Holy Spirit who equips and empowers us is our Guide and our Teacher. God is the One who has chosen to reach the world for Christ through the institution we call the church. Our purpose is His glory; our mission is to reach the lost and to lead them in the way of spiritual transformation. God has given pastors to lead by teaching and preaching and shepherding, and it is His desire that every member of every church be actively engaged in some place or form of ministry.
Outside of the institution of the family, there is no more important organization on the face of the earth than that of the church. There is not a business, charity, government agency, or program that has been given the authority or the power that has been given by God to His churches. The Lord’s churches hold the answers to every problem and every issue of life known to man, and never before in the history of the world has it been more important for us as God’s people to come alive with a renewed sense of why we exist so we can be busy about reaching our world for Christ!
I am excited about what God is doing here in our church. Every week I see our church growing in the Word, hungry for the Bible and for fellowship. You are inviting your friends, talking to your families, praying for and talking to those who are lost, and spending much time praising the Lord. Something great is happening here, and it is because you are allowing God to work through you.
Listen, of all people on earth we have great reason to be excited. Of all people on earth, we ought to be the happiest, most joyful, most gracious, most merciful, most generous and the most loving people on the face of this earth! We serve a great God – let’s let the world know!
You see, while you and I know a lot of things about God and the Bible and God’s glorious church, the people “out there” generally do not. There are a lot of misconceptions about who and what we are. Just turn on the television today and watch the world mourn the loss of the pope. When the multitudes think of the pope, they think of the church. In fact, I heard one reporter on TV this week ask a Bishop, “What will happen when the pope dies? He is the head of the church.”
I don’t know what that means to you, but here’s what it means to me: While all the world is talking the same church and Christian language, we still have a lot of work to do to reach the lost; maybe more than ever before. The multitudes talk about the church and have no idea what they’re talking about, and it’s not just the lost. You see, the truth of the matter is that we (the Lord’s churches) have fallen asleep concerning our importance and our purpose and our mission and our potential for leading in world change. While our job is to turn the world upside down, the fact is that our churches aren’t turning the world anywhere, and God wants us to be different, not just as individuals, but as churches also. I don’t know about you, but I am confident in speaking for the Lord in saying that He wants for our church to be different from what is found on every other street corner. Part of that difference is going to be in understanding what a church really is, because when we understand what the church really is, then we can begin to evaluate how we can best go on the offensive in our work.
The Definition of a Church
What is the church? When many people think of church, they think of brick and mortar, windows and roofs and shingles. These people “go to church.” It has become the stained glass windows, pews and carpet, pulpits and choir lofts and baptistries. There are others who think of church and think of denominations, such as the Methodists, the Baptists, the Presbyterian, Catholics, and others. Still others hear the word church and think of a universal, invisible body of all believers worldwide. All those who profess to be born again are members of this universal church. However, none of these are right when it comes to defining the church.
The word church as you find it in your Bibles comes from the Greek word ekklesia. The first time the word is used in the Bible is found in Matthew 16, when Jesus told Peter “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” The word ekklesia is a compound word, made up of the words ek, which means out of, or from, and the word kaleo, which means to call. The two words put together mean called out ones.
The word ekklesia is found 115 times in the New Testament, but what you may not know is that it was not a religious word. Even before Jesus instituted His church, the word was commonly used and was well understood. You see, while ekklesia is most commonly translated church in the New Testament, it really only means a called out assembly of people. For instance, look with me at Acts 19:32 and following. In this chapter, the apostle Paul has created quite an uproar in the city of Ephesus. The preaching of the gospel had caused so many to accept Christ that the city’s silversmiths were experiencing a financial setback. The people had quit buying their idols, so they got together, created a riot of sorts, and you can see in verse 29 that “the whole city was filled with confusion…and they rushed with one accord into the theatre” or coliseum. Now look at verse 32.
“Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.”
The word assembly is the word ekklesia, speaking of the assembly of Ephesian citizens who had rushed into the coliseum. Now look at verse 39.
“But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly (ekklesia).”
Verse 41 says that the assembly, or ekklesia was dismissed. Now, you can see that the word as it is used in Acts 19 has absolutely nothing to do with a church, because the word church simply comes from the same Greek word that means a called out assembly.
Now, turn to Acts 7:37-38, where you will see another use of the word ekklesia. Before the deacon Stephen was stoned, he preached to the Jews about Moses.
“This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:”
Was there a church in Moses’ day? No – but there was an assembly; an assembly of Israelites that Moses addressed in the wilderness – the assembly that we’ve been studying on Wednesday nights.
So there were three different kinds of ekklesias in the Bible. There were the Greek kind, referring to the Ephesian businessmen who rallied against Paul. There was the Jewish kind, referring to Moses and the Israelites, and there was the Christian kind, referring to the 112 instances of the church in the Bible, but no matter how many kinds of ekklesias there are in the Bible, it is always used to speak of some sort of assembly: a visible, organized assembly of people.
Now what does this mean for us? It means this: that any time you hear someone say that all believers are in “the church,” you should understand that they really are confused about what a church is. There is no such thing as a universal church. How could there be? How could you have a universal, invisible, visible assembly of people? The only way you can do it is to change the meaning of the words, and if we can give a word a new meaning because it sounds good or because it makes better sense to someone, then we can change the Bible to suit our fancy.
Let me give you an example of this. I was talking with someone the other day about the church, and I said that we do not believe in a universal church. I said that there was no such thing as “the church.” All churches are local, visible bodies of scripturally baptized believers. This person asked me then if I thought we were the only ones going to heaven, to which of course I told her no. All believers, regardless of denomination are in the family of God. When a person places his or her faith in Christ, they become children of God and are adopted into His family. We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
This person then said, “Well we say church, you say family of God, we both mean the same thing.” Listen folk, they don’t mean the same thing, and I want to give you some reasons why it is important that you believe me.
Because God’s Truth Is At Stake
The Bible tells us to “earnestly contend for the faith,” speaking of that system of truths and doctrines that have been passed on down to us through the years. It concerns me that some of you will argue over whether Ford or Chevrolets are better, or whether Social Security should be changed, but will sit silently when God’s truths are violated and denied.
How do you get into God’s family? When you repent of your sins and place your faith in Christ and Christ alone, you are accepted into His family as one of God’s children. That’s it. My physical birth made me a physical son, and my spiritual birth made me a spiritual son. Did that new birth make me a part of a church? Not at all! I was voted into a church, and just as easily I can be voted out, but I can never be voted out of God’s family.
Open communion is the result of universal church teaching. We believe that the Lord’s Supper is restricted to members of our church, so we call that closed communion. But those who believe in open communion will say that the Lord’s Supper is restricted to the members of the church, and since we’re all in the church, we can all partake of it together, which is wrong. It amuses me that if I were to walk in a church that believes we’re all in the same church, they would let me partake of the Lord’s Supper with them, but if I were to attend one of their business meetings and make a motion to fire the pastor, they would tell me that I have no business there!
Perhaps one of the most glaring problems in the Scriptures concerning the universal church teaching has to do with God’s command for us to be in unity. Now I can see how we can be in unity as a church body. As we labor and learn together, we are going to be in unity. However, when you think about the vast differences between Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Christian Church, Church of Christ, Nazarenes, Assemblies of God, Evangelicals, Catholics and many more, how in the world could we ever be in unity? If they are saved, we are certainly brothers and sisters, but no matter how saved they may be, and no matter how peaceably we may get along, we will never have unity because our doctrinal beliefs are fundamentally divided. Sure there are similarities: same Bibles, same days of worship, etc., but we can never have true unity with any group that teaches a person must earn favor with God, or that no matter how good God’s grace is, it can’t keep a believer out of hell.
There are other problems, but suffice it to say in this message that we have no business changing what God’s Word teaches, and even though the vast majority of Christianity has accepted the universal church teaching, we must never give up ground on the issue.
I’m not a prophet and have never claimed to be, but as more and more people accept this lie of Satan, the stage is being set for the end times. The Bible teaches that in the last days there will be a one-world government, and we can all see how that is coming to pass, but it also teaches that in the last days there will be a one-world religion. Think about it: as more and more people come to believe we are all in “the church,” don’t you see how so many will be led in that direction?
Because The Importance Of Local Church Ministry Is At Stake
If one is a member of the universal, invisible church, which is always considered the greater by those who believe in such an idea, they are often satisfied to neglect the local church. Their attendance, membership, giving, and work in it is neglected to some extent because they really don’t believe it to be too important. Loyalty to a local church ministry is unimportant, because we can be a part of “the church” anywhere.
Listen, all through the Bible the church is seen in a local context. It is our church’s job to reach our community, to reach the lost and disciple the saved. It is our church’s job to reach our world for Christ. It is our church’s job to baptize, to train, to mentor, to plant other churches, to preach and teach and labor until Christ returns.
We don’t answer to anyone but Christ; we have no organizational head; we have no central office; we have no hierarchical structure because so far as we are concerned Christ instituted this church, Christ is building this church, will lead this church, and will give us all the resources and people we need to carry out the ministries He has given to our church.
Who pastors the universal church? Who serves in the universal church? Who takes care of the widows and orphans and other needy people in the universal church? Who knocks on doors in the universal church? It is always somebody else, but when we realize the truth and recognize that the Great Commission is ours – then we can start finding the answers to those questions about local ministry.
Because God’s Glory Is At Stake
The last reason I’ll share with you today simply goes back to where we began. The Bible says “Unto Him be glory in the church…” The Lord intends to receive glory in and through His churches. That being the case, it is worth our time and energy to make sure we are in agreement with God and His Word concerning what He teaches about His churches.
Time is not going to permit us to continue with this today, so let me wrap this up by saying that I realize that for the man sitting in the pew with marriage problems, or the woman with health problems; maybe the family with financial struggles or anyone else for that matter, all of what I’ve said may seem like nothing more than an issue for preachers to argue about. “So what?” still dogs me, even as I close. Listen, if you’ve heard all I’ve said and you’re still thinking, “So what?” all I can say is that it matters. It matters what you believe. It matters why you believe it, and if you do nothing more today than just file this away for future use, then I will be satisfied that God will recall it in your minds when the time becomes necessary.
“Unto Him be glory in the church.” What a great truth! But did you also know that you too were created for God’s glory? Maybe you have never received Christ as your personal Savior. Today I want you to know that you were created for a special purpose, and you’ll find that purpose in Christ. Although God created you for His glory, you cannot glorify Him, because the Bible says you’ve sinned and you fall short of His glory. In fact, it goes on to say that the wages of your sin is death: both physical death, and after that eternal, spiritual death. However, God has provided an escape for you in Christ. He suffered God’s judgment for your sin so you wouldn’t have to.
The question then is this: do you believe it? You need to see that Christ suffered for you – took God’s judgment on Himself for you. Christ endured the hell of God’s wrath so you wouldn’t have to endure God’s wrath in hell. The good news is that God wants you to accept that payment for your sins. He wants you to repent of your sin, turn from it and trust Christ for your salvation. Would you come to Him today?
