A Vision of Christ’s Church, A Vision to Build Christ’s Church

It’s crazy, but it’s true: I have more in common with a 12^th century Greek who was a Christian than with the neighbor on my cul-de-sac who speaks my language, lives in a similar house, is the same age as I am, has the same salary, and who shops at the same stores as I do—but who worships a different God than I do.

In fact, I’m actually connected to that 12^th century Greek I haven’t yet met. We are brothers who will be united for all eternity because of our mutual connection to our Savior Jesus Christ. We are linked forever by being part of the same family, the family of God. We are members of the same body, the body of Christ. The Spirit has brought us into Christ’s church.

Something else I have in common with my 12^th century brother in Christ is that both of us are part of the most important group of people in all human history. Empires rise and fall, dictators come and go, brilliant minds in science and literature last for a moment, but he and I share a connection with the only people to whom the living God and creator of all things has promised, “I will be your God and you will be my people” (Gen 17:7–8; Exod 6:7; Jer 30:22; ).[1] The rich and powerful might see this band of brothers as a mere footnote at times, but it’s the most significant human organization in the world. We’re not used to thinking of the church in such terms, but that is precisely what it is.

The church is that people chosen “before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4) who will also live forever with God: “He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Rev 21:3). It was actually God’s “eternal purpose” to reveal his “wisdom” to “the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” through “the church” (Eph 3:10–11).

Further, as opposed as the church is by devils, enemies without and enemies within, and by our own sinfulness, still “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18).

Well, with all that said, still the church can seem like something more deserving of ridicule and the harshest denunciations than esteem or something worthy of any and all sacrifices. This is often because I forget this historic, spiritual community of God’s people who is “awesome as an army with banners” (Song 6:4) as I look at a specific local church I might encounter that can feel so very…unimpressive.

This Sunday we begin our series on the church. Our goal with this series has a practical side to it: we hope to come away with some clearer ideas about church membership and become more faithful churchmen and churchwomen. But along the way, we hope to be inspired and refreshed and informed as we consider some aspects of Christ’s church we don’t often think about.

Here are the seven sermons in the series and what we hope gets communicated through them:

1. The Keys of the Kingdom

We’ll open the series with a look at Jesus’s words to Peter in Matthew 16:17–19. After Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ, Jesus says to Peter that on him, “I will build my church.” But then he says something curious, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt 16:19). We’re not used to thinking of our actions being so connected to what’s going on in heaven. But Jesus says that “the keys of the kingdom” have been given to us in the church, and there is this profound connection. These “keys” relate to opening and shutting the door to the people of God.

2. The Visible and Invisible Church

For week 2 of the series, we’ll look at 1 Corinthians 1:1–2. Paul in those concise words points to a concept vital to grasp to really get God’s church. It’s the idea of the church having a kind of duality. On one side it’s visible, on the other it’s invisible. On one side local, on the other global and universal. On one side it’s singular (there’s only one), but on the other it’s plural (there are myriad churches).

3. The Sacraments: Visible Signs of an Invisible Grace

For week 3 we’ll consider the sacraments, these God-given mysteries that are meant to be “visible signs of an invisible grace.” Through the simple means of baptism in water and the Lord’s Supper, God intends for us both to receive grace and to signify grace we’ve already received (Rom 4:11). Yet, these ordinances are markers as well, public identifiers of who is in Christ’s church and who is not (Matt 28:18–20; 1 Cor 11:17–34).

4. Members of the Body of Christ

For week 4, we’ll revisit a theme we’ve certainly discussed before, what it means to be a member in Christ’s body: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor 12:27). It isn’t only the church which speaks in terms of being a body with members, but we do mean this in a more profound way than other bodies like a political society or social club. Here we’ll consider the fact that membership is not a practical thing first and foremost. It is that, but before the practical comes the awesome reality of being spiritual members of the spiritual body of Christ.

5. The Reality and Limits of Spiritual Authority: The Role of Elders

The fifth sermon will cover the nature of the spiritual authority delegated by Christ to elders (Heb 13:17; 1 Tim 5:17). This God-given stewardship has limits, as all human authority does. But what are they? We’ll cover that. In a day where it seems all authority is labelled “toxic authority,” it’s important to be clear about what we mean and don’t mean by spiritual authority.

6. Connectionalism—“Say what?”

Then for the sixth sermon, Lord willing, we’ll look at Acts 15 and what it teaches us about connectionalism. That long word speaks to the idea that churches are to be connected to other churches and not persist as Lone Rangers, attempting to live out Christian faithfulness as an island. As Ian McConnell has said, “pastors need pastors, and churches and need churches to flourish.” Our denomination is built out of that conviction.

7. The Church Age is the Age of the Spirit

We’ll end our series on Pentecost Sunday, once again looking back to that great Pentecost Sunday after Christ’s resurrection when the church was born in its formal Spirit-empowered state. The age from Pentecost to the return of Christ can be called “the age of the Spirit,” but it can also be called “the church age.” This isn’t to disconnect the saints after the resurrection from those before it, but it is to underscore that what happened at Pentecost brought in a new epoch of salvation history. That’s why Jesus could say to Peter that “on this rock I will build my church” (Matt 16:18). It’s an indication Jesus was building something new with Peter and his confession.[2]

Worthy of Our Sacrifice

I’ll close with a quote from John Stott that rightly captures what a new understanding of Christ’s church should produce in us. I first heard this quote years ago and it continues to inspire me:

If the church is central to God’s purpose, as seen in both history and the gospel, it must surely also be central to our lives. How can we take lightly what God takes so seriously? How dare we push to the circumference what God has placed at the center? No, we shall seek to become responsible church members, active in some local manifestation of the universal church. We shall not be able to acquiesce in low standards which fall far short of the New Testament ideals for God’s new society….If instead we keep before us the vision of God’s new society as his family, his dwelling place and his instrument in the world, then we shall constantly be seeking to make our church’s worship more authentic, its fellowship more caring and its outreach more compassionate. In other words, we shall be ready to pray, to work and if necessary to suffer in order to turn the vision into a reality.
John R. W. Stott, The Message of Ephesians[3]

May you love what God loves and love his church. May you sacrifice for what Christ has sacrificed for and give yourself for the church. It is the one institution that shall endure seamlessly into the age to come.

Daniel

[1] See John Stott’s, The Message of Ephesians, BST (IVP), 128.

[2] On this see Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love (Crossway), 185.

[3] Stott, The Message of Ephesians, BST (IVP Academic, 2021), 129–30.