The Church


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2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church Good evening. Let's start out with a word of prayer. Lord God, Thank you so much for letting us talk about things that are amazing; the things that in times past were even a mystery and now we get to be participants in this amazing thing called the Church. And so we pray that tonight You would give us clarity of thought and accuracy to rightly divide Your Word and that the thoughts that we have tonight would be ones that would be more than just knowledge input, but that would inform the way we live in this Church that You have given us. So we thank you for this opportunity and pray that You will bless our time together. In Jesus' Name. Amen. I have here in the middle—Jeff, if you'll raise your hand—he has a mike. If you have a question you can go to Jeff tonight. We were spending a lot of time trying to get to you, so just sort of loop around and go to Jeff. Over on this side [points to his right] we have George, he has a mike, and you can go to George and you can ask your questions, so that's where we're at. So if you have your notes, we're going to get started and talking about the beginning of the Church. We're going to begin tonight to talk a lot about what the Church is because a lot of people when they picture the Church they picture this building or a building and picture certain things that come along, the baggage that comes along with the Church. We want to look at the Church tonight and see how Jesus sees the Church. Now you'll remember when Jesus walked the earth that His disciples were used to Him daily turning and talking to them, sharing His thoughts with them., and they could ask questions whenever they wanted to. Jesus before He ascended said here's the deal, when I ascend I don't want you to just go out there and start doing it alone. I want you to go and I want you to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon you because it's when the Holy Spirit comes upon you that you will have the power to go do amazing things. Many of you are familiar with the words of Acts chapter 2 when the Day of Pentecost arrives. 1

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. — verse 6 — 6

And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Later on we see the words in verse 14: 14

But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: — ACTS 2:1-4, 14-16

And it goes on to say that—verse 22:

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2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church 22

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. — ACTS 2:22-24

And so it goes on and what you have here is the beginning of the Church and it immediately begins with preaching of the Word of God and the sharing of the message through the power of the Spirit of God, and God giving the enablement that all could hear that message and that message would be powerfully shared. Now John chapter 7, verse 39, says this: 39

Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. — JOHN 7:39

So the Spirit of God did not come upon them until Jesus was glorified; so Jesus ascended into Heaven. In the disciples trying to figure all this out before this thing, this great mystery of the Church came upon them in Acts 1:7-8, he said to them: 7

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” — ACTS 1:7-8

And so you have this expectation where they've been explained this to and then Jesus tells them wait, but it's not until it actually happens that this thing starts to unravel in front of them and they begin to get a feel for what it is. You can imagine, we've studied it, we get a little bit of an understanding of it—they didn't have a clue. Matthew 16:18 says this: 18

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. — MATTHEW 16:18

Now in Matthew 16, verse 18, Jesus talks about this thing called the Church, so we find out that didn't exist prior to that. Jesus says, "I will build my church," [emphasis mine] so this is a new thing; this is a thing yet to come. He says I will build my church; this is going to be Christ's church. I'm going to talk to you a little bit later and remind us over and over that Jesus is the center of the Church. Jesus is the shepherd of our Church. Jesus is the pastor of our Church. He says this is my Church. And then He says, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it," reminding us that the Church is permanent; that God has brought it here and it's not going to just go away on one of these days. Now I want to read you another verse because Paul talks about the Church and he describes it in terms of a mystery, because you remember, you can imagine being the Old Testament—it's easier for us to think about that right now because we're talking through the Old Testament on our Sundays when we're together, we're reading it together right now—can you imagine going through the times of the Old

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2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church Testament, you couldn't even picture this thing yet to come. In Ephesians chapter 3, verses 7-10, Paul says: 7

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone — now listen to this — what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. — EPHESIANS 3:7-10

There is so much to unpack in those verses, but the Church was a mystery, something not known before it comes into being. So just speaking of a time factor of, you know, it was a mystery of time past but it was also a mystery in the idea of the equality of Jew and Gentile and how that change would take place as a result of the Church. These words here, the idea that "through the Church the manifold wisdom of God could be made known"—now we're going to define the Church a lot more here in the moments ahead, but just grab how big that is; that through the Church the manifold wisdom of God is somehow going to be made known. And then it goes even further and says, "to the rulers and authorities in the Heavenly places." You'll remember when we were talking about angels we talked about how they stand on their tiptoes looking over to see what this thing is for salvation, and we're talking here about those spiritual forces in heavenly places. Look at this thing and it says through us the wisdom of God is made known. Wow. Through the Church. So also the establishment of the Church would also be part of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Acts chapter 20, verse 28, says this: 28

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, — now listen — which he obtained with his own blood. — ACTS 20:28

So this thing called the Church only exists because of the shedding of blood for Jesus Christ. And that shedding of blood brought about what? Our what of sins? What did the shedding of blood do for us? It brought us? Forgiveness. So forgiveness of our sins and so we as a group of redeemed, you saw that there, redeemed people who are forgiven we are part of this thing called the Church, and because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that exists. Now I just need to say this upfront what the Church is not. Some say it's Israel or that somehow Israel becomes the Church. We'll get to some places in Jeremiah chapter 3 where Israel is pictured as the adulteress wife. Second Corinthians chapter 11, verse 2, will tell us that the Church is pictured as a chaste virgin.1 The Scripture has incredibly beautiful pictures of the Church as being a bride made ready for her husband; purified and washed. Because we're so wonderful? No, because of the very thing we talk about all the time—because of the blood of Jesus that we just talked about being brought upon us and what we talked about last week, the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ being on us so that God 1

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. – 1 CORINTHIANS 11:2

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2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church sees us as holy and righteous because of the blood of Jesus. And so we are referred to in Scripture now not as a mess that some people would probably like to call the Church and we'll talk about that a little bit here tonight; maybe even to stop and think about what we say about the Church. I'm not talking about this church, this building or this local body, I'm talking about the Church as a whole. We have a tendency to say some pretty harsh things against her. When God speaks of His Church, He speaks to us about the Church as being the Bride of Christ. We have to know that when we're talking about the Church it's not Israel. Israel had a temple. The Church is something different than that. We are the temple of the living God, Ephesians chapter 2, verse 212; and for Israel, 1st Corinthians 13 says that Christ was a stumbling stone to Israel. When we get to Ephesians chapter 2 it tells us now actually Jesus is the cornerstone of the Church and we'll talk about that. We need to understand the Church is not a building. This is going to be one of our most primary things that we've got to get out of our head early on. How many of you when you're running over here for something say, "I'm going to run over to the church"? All right? I do. That's not what the Bible defines as Church. The bricks and mortar do not make this place the Church. We'd do better referring to this as 95 West Devon. This is just a physical building on a corner of a road. That's why it's so incredibly hard for people to understand certain aspects of how we do Church because they see this building as something special or that it should be something. Listen to what 1st Peter chapter 2, verses 4-5 say: 4

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones — so he's describing us as living stones — are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. — 1 PETER 2:4-5

Over and over we as a group of individuals in this are referred to as stones being built together to build this thing called the Church—not this building. The Church is never referred to in the New Testament as a denomination or an organization. So what do I say? What is it then? What is the Church? I'm going to say today that the Church is a local assembly of believers as well as the invisible body of Christ composed of all true believers from Pentecost to the Rapture. Now we've got to understand we live in a very special time. So it starts there at Pentecost, that time that I was explaining to you from Acts 2 earlier, and it goes all the way up through the Rapture; it's referred to as the Church Age. Next week when we talk about Eschatology and we try to share just like the whole picture of all time and show how it's going to wrap up and what's going to happen next, I'm going to refer numerous times to the Church Age; I'm talking about the Church from Pentecost to the Rapture. God works differently in different times. He always works with and through a people, and in our time He so happens to be working with and through the local body of believers—this thing called the Church, and that's the way He's working out His plan of redemption right now. I want to read these verses to you from Ephesians 5, verses 25-32. These are the verses that I think make it so clear how God sees the Bride of Christ, the Church. He sees her in such a way that He 2 3

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. – EPHESIANS 2:20-21 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, – 1 CORINTHIANS 1:23

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2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church actually compares it to what the marriage relationship should look like, so He's talking to husbands. He says: 25

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

— that unconditional love, self-sacrificing love — 26

that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 27

So He just keeps on drawing this parallel back and forth and using the picture we're familiar with and explaining how we're to treat each other based on how Christ has treated the Church. Verse 30: 30

because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, So how is it that Anne and I come together and we are one, how is it that we're one flesh? Explain that. He says that mystery is profound. This mystery he says: and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. — EPHESIANS 5:25-32

The idea that we are Bride of Christ he says this is a profound mystery. Sometimes we get to throw out that thing, "Well, this is a mystery. I'm not sure how to figure it out." This is how the Scripture describes this one; that somehow we can be the Bride of Christ and that He can present us spotless, flawless, without blemish before the Father. When we realize that that's how Christ sees the Church, I believe we need to think carefully about how we see each other as a result of it, how we treat each other. We talked just a couple weeks ago about our sinfulness and how absolutely devoid of righteousness we were in and of ourselves, but then last week how Christ has placed that righteousness on us and that's how He sees every last person that's part of His body, the Church. So let's talk about a definition of the Church. If we were to use the big word for what we're talking about today we'd say it's Ecclesiology, the study of the Church. The definition of this word ecclesia, it's a Greek word ekklesia; ek meaning "out of" in the Greek language, and kaleo basically means "to call." So ek, out of, to call; to call out of. The word ekklesia speaks of the called out ones, so now we become known as a local body of believers. Listen to 1st Thessalonians 1:1: To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: — 1 THESSALONIANS 1:1

So as Paul moves along, as we move from Acts 2 and as the Church begins to develop now he refers to them "to the church of the Thessalonians." That's why we get called the Church in Downingtown or the Church at Calvary in Downingtown. Now it's become very localized that we are part of a larger body of Christ, but that we are also a local body of Christ. So this overwhelms this idea that some would say I don't need to be part of a local body of believers, or I am going to disassociate myself from a local body of believers. All that is to do is to take ourselves out of fellowship and take ourselves out of

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2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church accountability which will lead us quickly into sin, so it is important to be part of that local body of believers. Listen to these words—I think I put them in your notes here today; in fact, I know I did—by Craig Groeschel. He says this—I thought it was well said: To many people, church is just a place. It’s a building, bricks and mortar, a destination. We go to church. The problem with thinking “we go to church” is that it gives us a consumer mindset: I’m looking for a church that meets my needs. I need a good church that will help me. The church is actually God’s chosen vehicle to meet – through other human beings – people’s true needs (including our own).4 William Temple said, "The Church is the only organization in the world that exists for the sole benefit of its non-members." The called out ones. So we're called out to go beyond here, to go out from here to take this message beyond the walls of this place. We are—we are—the Church called out to take this message, this profound message to other people. And for the person that sees this as somehow their little country club, that is a message they don't want to hear and they'll come up with all sorts of lines to keep that from ever being the case because that's to be uncomfortable. That's to, as we continue to mention in Luke chapter 9, to deny ourselves daily and to take up our cross and follow Him, which is the message of Jesus. It is the message that Jesus preached over and over: Come and die. Let's talk for a minute about the structure of the Church. One of the things that I've said a lot of times as being a pastor is that God doesn't tell us a lot about how to do Church. If you listen to people who have been Christians for a while who are consumers of goods and services in a church, you would think that God has told us a lot on how to do Church and you would think that they have gotten some personal revelation along this line. What they're doing is they're sharing with you how church was when they last had a major encounter with God and they wish so bad that they could have that experience again, but God's doing something new today. God's doing something fresh and He wants to invade your life today. With that said, one of the things that I say all the time is since God didn't give us a whole lot of specifics, you know, what should the chairs looks like, should we meet in a room like this, should there be lights—the Bible doesn't say a lot about that but rather it gives us some very specifics about structure and I believe when He does give us specifics we should follow those as closely as at all possible. He's not going to tell us how a youth ministry; He hasn't. Might give us some principles in the Scripture of what you might want to expect when you see one, but He doesn't say whether we should have a youth ministry at night, whether it should be divided up in junior high and senior high, whether they ought to do small groups, whether they have music or not. He doesn't tell us how our children's ministry ought to be set up. He doesn't tell us whether we ought to have men's and women's groups or whether we ought to have a choir, whether we ought to have a band, whether we ought to play guitars or whether there ought to be an organ—but He does tell us that we're to have a certain specific structure. So He speaks of bishops, speaking of the office. He speaks of an elder which speaks of spiritual qualification; an elder leads a Church. And He speaks of a pastor which emphasizes the care of the flock, the care over the flock. And so that's a little bit of what we're going to talk about here tonight. When He speaks of an elder it's the word you read in your Bible, presbyteros, and that's where we get Presbyterian from, and all that means is "elder." It's just very simple there. And the Scripture teaches that the leadership of the Church should exist as a plurality of elders. Now understand if you've been 4

Groeschel, C. (2010). The Christian atheist. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

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2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church around for a while there's a lot of churches that structure themselves in different ways and the piece that I believe is important is that when the Scripture gives us real specifics like you're to have elders, you know, Paul says to Timothy appoint elders in every town. Okay, I guess we probably ought to do that. So that's one of those specifics that He's clear of. And the qualifications for elders are very much character driven and the only skill mentioned is that they need to be able to teach the Word of God. We're going to have the opportunity to bring into our church some new elders this summer in July, and at our Reveal meeting at the end of May we'll be able to affirm them. We also do that for deacons. I mention that because I think it's important that we as a Church know what the qualification for an elder is and we know what the qualification for a deacon is; that we'll ask you to affirm it. Oftentimes we'll get a no vote and I'll think, "What's that all about?" And so I asked around, "Why'd you vote no on this person?" And they'll say, "Well, I just didn't know him." Oh, okay, that makes sense. What we're hoping is that you'll realize that godly people have worked very carefully to interview and vet these people, and so you're affirming that they have gone through that process and that you accept that. But what we've taken to doing, it's way more important to not have a yes or no thing but to have a line on that thing because here's the bigger thing: What if they don't meet those characteristics? What if there's something going on that they're not qualified to lead the Church of God? And at that point we need to know about that and it becomes a very important moment. In fact, in my ministry I've had that happen where something comes to light. "Yeah, I live next door to these folks. The police are there every night." You're kidding me. "I work with this guy. Let me tell you what he says at work. What he says at church and what he does at work are two different things." We need to know that. First Timothy chapter 3, verses 1-7: 1

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer,

— so that's what we referred to earlier when we said bishop, it's this office — he desires a noble task. — so here are the qualifications — 2

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach,

— nothing can be brought against him — the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, — Why? Read on — or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. — 1 TIMOTHY 3:1-6

I've made this mistake before and the gentleman, I just loved him. I had to work incredibly hard because he really fell away from the Lord in the midst of the process and I didn't think he was going to come back to the Lord. I had to chase after him and I'm thankful that he didn't fall away from the Lord, but I learned this lesson the hard way and it's a hard question. You go okay, what's a new convert? I mean, is

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2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church that a year? Is that two years? Five years? But there's something about a believer, a brother growing to a place where there is that maturity and you see that maturity. 7

Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. — 1 TIMOTHY 3:7

So that's the first text and that's 1st Timothy 3:1-7, and I'd just encourage you to be aware of that text as one who is part of this local body of believers that it is structured and gathered together and led by elders. When we ask you to affirm an elder, if you see something that is against that, it doesn't fit that, you write that on the little card when you have that opportunity because it just really helps us. Titus 1, verses 5-9, is another passage along this line: 5

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order,

— and here's what he said, remember what I said a moment ago — and appoint elders in every town as I directed you — How do you lead a Church? And he says I want you to appoint elders — 6

if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. — TITUS 1:5-9

That last one sort of refines a little bit of this idea of what it would look like to be able to teach because some people are like, "I could never do what you do, Pastor, so I don't know if I can be an elder." But what he clarifies here is able to give instruction in sound doctrine. So in other words, this is someone who has learned, who has sat in this room, who has gone through these lectures, who has thought through the major areas of doctrine, and who can interact on those and can talk about those things and can hold forth the truth to someone who's asking, or as this says here, rebuke those who contradict it and not go yeah, it's cool, whatever, because they don't know. But that they actually are refining that so they know truth because one of the things that these shepherds and these elders are required by God is to protect the flock. And you'll find in the pastoral epistles there's an ongoing talk about wolves will come in among the sheep and try to steal them away and you're going to have false teachers. And there are people who slide into our Church, local body here, who try to pull people away through teaching things that aren't true, through gossip, through spreading dissension and lies, and our elders are very alert to that and confront that. I remember at my previous church there was someone that all of a sudden we realized they were going from person to person to person in working their dissension. I watched one of my elders for two weeks basically stand at a distance and followed this person around and realized what was going on. He pulled him into the back room with another elder and said, "Listen, you're out of line." You've got to protect the body of Christ. You come here on a weekend to hear the truth. You come here on a weekend to encourage one another. You know in Hebrews it says not to give up the meeting of the saints but to –8–

2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church encourage one5 another as long as it is today, and there are those who will come in to try to separate the sheep, to try to pull them away, and it's the elders' job to bring that back together. So just several things there to just be keeping an open eye on. I've got keep on moving here. There's another office that is mentioned and that is that of deacon and it comes from the word diakonos which means "to serve." You've probably heard the conversation if you've been here around Calvary for a while, this is a little bit different; the position of elder is restricted to that of a man. You don't have to be too brilliant in reading to read this, "If anyone aspires the office of overseer, he desires a noble task." He needs to be a husband of one wife—you know, you don't have to have a Bible degree to figure that one out. For the position of deacon, it is a bit different because it begins to talk about in verse 11: 11

Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, — 1 TIMOTHY 3:11

And we believe that word "wives" is probably not the best translation in that text. Basically, there it probably should say "Likewise, the women," so if you're going to be a woman deacon. And then you have to say okay, did I just make work? And you begin to look at Romans chapter 16, verse 1—and by the way, this is a bigger study than me just throwing out a couple little things here—but Romans 16:1 says: 1

I commend to you our sister Phoebe,

— and your Bible in Romans 16:1 says — a servant It's the word diakonos which, by the way, defines the role of a deacon—"that of one who serves"—so I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a woman, a diakonos of the church; so she's a servant and that is what a deacon does, they serve. And even here at Calvary one of the things that we talk a lot about is our deacons really work hard to serve the body here and serve our community by caring for the needs of others. I believe your giving of about, I'm close, $120,000 last year? $120,000 disbursed to help the needs of people that were given by, monies given by you to help the needs of those out there. And our deacons, they refer to themselves as the Helps Ministry. They work insanely hard. It's an incredible task. Can you imagine the wisdom that it takes, the mercy and the grace and the love? Sometimes it means to—someone needs to be given a tank of gas, someone sometimes needs to be given food, and sometimes they need to be told to go get a job. That's a hard thing to do when you love someone, and so they work incredibly hard. I just want to read again the qualifications in 1st Timothy chapter 3, verses 8-13; it was just right before that that you saw the qualifications for elders. 8

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, — that's where we believe that may be better worded — — 1 TIMOTHY 3:8-13

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And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. – Hebrews 10:24-25

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2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. — 1 TIMOTHY 3:8-13

I oftentimes get asked this question because I get the privilege of talking to the people that get invited to be deacons and get invited to be elders, at least most of them I get to talk to, and oftentimes they'll put their head down and go, "Wow, this is heavy-duty stuff. I would like to think that I am qualified, but hoo!" I have to be truthful with you, I mean, at that moment I say, "Well, seriously, you have to search your heart on this. I really want you to take this real seriously. I want you to pray through these things." This is such a high standard there's a little feeling like is this perfection? Is this, I mean, are we expecting something that's impossible? And one of the things that I explain in that moment is we obviously realize that we're all sinners, but we're talking about a pattern of life in these things that they're talking about here. Not a one-time thing where, you know, we all have our moments, we all do our things, but when that's your pattern there has to be a moment where you go wow, I don't know that that's what you're qualified for. I'll talk about for a moment the ordinances of the Church. That word ordinance is sort of probably a road block for most of us. What's an ordinance? An ordinance is a reminder of some historical event of great spiritual significance. I like to use this picture: If the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection were to happen today, we would strap one of those cameras onto Jesus' head to film the whole thing, right? So you'd have little hidden cameras inside the tomb, and you'd have them along the path to record what had happened. We don't have that. When Jesus sat down with His disciples at the table for the Last Supper it would have been so cool to have reporters there with video cameras and several camera angles and just some real close-up shots of the different disciples and maybe even some interviews with them afterwards so that we could talk about it. What I think is really awesome is that, you know, obviously that didn't exist, that wasn't possible, so what God does is He allows us to do some things as a Church to re-enact over and over and over—it says until I come again—re-enact these events so that we can remember them and we can celebrate them and that we can re-live them together and keep it in front of us. Now again, we've talked about this a lot as we've been going through the Old Testament. Many times over as we're going through the Old Testament they'll stop and they'll pile up a thing of stones and they'll say in this place this is here to remind us of ___ and that is to be a reminder of ___ for all generations to come. There's something powerful about that and we talk about that often; about those monuments in our lives that have been placed there. As believers there's two of those that we believe in: One being baptism, one being the Lord's Supper. I want to remind us these ordinances are something we do as a result of grace and mercy; they don't give us grace and mercy. Some would say they're not salvific—you don't get saved by taking of the communion, you don't get saved by being placed under the water. They're a result of what God has already done in you that you respond in that kind of way. So the Lord's Supper, 1st Corinthians 11:17; I almost wasn't going to read this because we read it oftentimes in our services, but I thought we have to. 17

But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. – 10 –

2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church 21

For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. — 1 CORINTHIANS 11:17-22

Evidently the Church at Corinth had gotten off what this was all about, and so Paul is constantly in this thing and this is what happens in the Church all the time. Again, this is why God has placed elders over the Church to lead it, to bring them back onto the path. So Paul brings them back onto the path. He says: 23

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. — 1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-26

So we proclaim His death until He comes. It's just the repeating over and over and over what He did and just being blown away by it. I was talking to someone recently—talking about watching the crucifixion scene on one of these movies—and how it had just moved their heart. That's what this idea of taking communion together is to do. For us to stop and just recognize how Jesus died for me. He shed His blood for the forgiveness of my sins; without that I am just totally lost. That's a powerful moment of confession, of preparation, that should overwhelm us. The word Eucharist, you oftentimes hear it referred to as eucharis, comes from the word "to give thanks." Oftentimes we'll refer to, "We're having communion this morning." Where do you get that word? 1st Corinthians 10:16 says this: 16

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?

— so this idea of communion — The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? — 1 CORINTHIANS 10:16

Now I don't believe it becomes the blood of Christ. Hebrews is extremely clear, you can read it later, Hebrews chapter 7, verses 24-276, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 127, that this what took place on the cross is an event that happened once and for all time; once and for all not to be repeated again. We can't just keep on going through that again. But there is something very special that's happening when you partake of communion. It's not taking some God pill. It's not some sort of thing that somehow you're getting a little bit of God in you, but somehow we're participating in this. Somehow we are recognizing what that blood was shed for and in that moment we're pausing together with the rest of these stones that being built up. These called out ones. Participating together in this pivotal event of all time that Jesus says do this until I come again. 6 7

but he [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. – HEBREWS 7:24-27 he [Jesus] entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. – HEBREWS 9:12

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2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church The second one that I think is important is that of a believer's baptism, and you may remember the picture of baptism that Pastor Jake gave a number of weeks ago when we talked about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It's the same picture, that being placed into, that being immersed—what'd you say, Jake? Soaked? Soaked in and he put that pickle into that vinegar. It is still that same picture here and so that's why when we take the word baptism and it means "to dip, to immerse, to submerge." It also is used to speak to the idea of identification, so I'm identifying with Christ. The question is what exactly am I identifying with? I believe Romans 6:4 is probably the best picture of what I am identifying with. Let me read Romans 6:4 to you: 4

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death,

So when we're placed under that water we're placed into the water, we go under the water, and we are being identified with His death. When I do baptisms, when I place them under, I say, "Buried in the likeness of His death; raised in the likeness of His resurrection." You're becoming identified with His death, His burial, and His resurrection. 4

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. — ROMANS 6:4

That's why when we do baptism Sundays here at Calvary you'll see everything around that will say— this is this weekend—you'll see the words "I Am New" everywhere. We give them shirts that say, "I Am New" and everything is I am new because it's these words here that "we too might walk in newness of life." Now I'm identified with His death, His burial, His resurrection; I am now identified with resurrection power and now I go out from here and I live differently than I ever lived before. Newness of life; I am a changed person. This not does save you. This is merely you stating to everyone out there, to the world out there, what God has done in your heart. In New Testament times when people would do this they very oftentimes would be shunned from their families thereafter. Deny yourself daily, take up your cross and follow me. That's what Jesus says if you want to follow me. That commitment is the message that Jesus constantly proclaims, and so when we identify with Him, it's part of that commitment to say I'll deny myself. It's uncomfortable, it's awkward, and when people hear about that they're going to know I'm a Christ follower and those who don't like that they may very well say I don't want to be around you. What I love in our time today, we post these up on the Internet and people repost them to their Facebook pages, we'll see Sunday afternoon we're going to see pictures all over the Internet of people who have gotten baptized. We're going to give people an opportunity to just stand up in this room and go over here to this green room and get baptized. It's not one of those things where oh, I gotta wait until I sign a document and go through three classes and make sure the family's here and have a luncheon ready afterwards. That's not what it's about. This is about identifying with Jesus. It's not just some thing that we put on as a show before people. But what has been so cool is to see people posting this to their Facebook pages and see the comments coming back, because what they're saying is I identify with Him. And ultimately to the world watching on some will reject, and you see this with Jesus all the time, and some will say, "I thought something different. I want some of that." It's a powerful moment. It's a demarcation line where you draw a line in the sand and you say I am in, and it talks about I want to walk in obedience for the rest of my life. Again, when I do baptisms I will ask them if they've put their faith and trust in Jesus and then I'll ask them if they want to follow Jesus Christ in obedience for the rest of their life, walking in newness of life. – 12 –

2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church It's a choice we make. And so when I identify with Christ I come out of that water, I come out in newness of life and I move forward and it's just totally exciting. You've got to be here this weekend for this. You're absolutely going to be blown away by what God has done. Our time is almost up and I'm a little hesitant to get started in this next thing, but I'll just show it to you briefly. What you have in front of you here with all these little circles on it is my trying to put a bunch of stuff on a piece of paper that may be helpful and may not be. There are a number of pictures in the Scripture, basically word pictures, of how God describes this relationship that He has with the Church and most of the verses are listed here on this sheet so that you can really look at those later and read those and study those. There's a verse in Colossians chapter 1, verses 17 & 18, speaking of Jesus: 17

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you — here you are again — holy and blameless and above reproach before him, — COLOSSIANS 1:17-22

I read that and just that whole piece that everything, this thing called the Church, and all these stones being built together to build this thing called the Church, all people all over the world that have put their faith and trust in Jesus alone being built together to be the Church, we being this local body of the Church, we are held together by the One who is at the center who is preeminent—that's Jesus. As I mentioned earlier, He is the Good Shepherd. He is our senior pastor. He is the one that holds us together and brings us together. And so He brings us together, you'll see there on your paper, for service. He brings us together in position, how He sees us in the midst of this. We talk about this Bride and the Bridegroom; it's just a powerful metaphor that we've already been over today. In unity He talks about us being the vine and the branches. Christ is the source of all of our life, so you picture a vine with branches and the vine is the source of life. Jesus is that source of life bringing it altogether. And the branch abides in the vine, it bears fruit for the vine, it bears much fruit for the vine, and it even willingly allows itself to be pruned. So John 15:1 it says: 1

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. — JOHN 15:1-5

And so I love reading those kinds of pictures and having them in front of us. Up there at the top you'll see how He is our high priest, so thinking about this is the Church is the body who would offer sacrifices to the One who bought them with His own blood, so we give our body—remember that in Romans 12, a – 13 –

2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable; our praise, 1st Peter 2:5-9; our good works, Hebrews 13:6 [see Endnotes 1 2 3]—not to save us but it's part of this body. Listen to Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19-21: 19

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, — HEBREWS 10:19-21

Powerful, powerful message. It just says we have a high priest that goes before us. Again, as read around this circle on this page here and these different circles around the outside of this, is everything comes back to Jesus. If our attention is on anything else in the Church, we are out of round. Think about that the next time you come here, the next time you're in a meeting here, the next time you're involved in a bout of conversation here. The Scripture says in all things that He might be preeminent. He's made us the Bride of Christ. He's made us this local group of believers that make up that Bride, and He wants us together to just put all of our attention focused in on Him. That is not just theoretical; it has to be in our practice every day. My hope tonight—I'm going to stop—my hope tonight is that you would leave here maybe with a little stronger sense of what the Church is about. That you would leave here more excited about the fact that God has brought brothers and sisters together as called out ones; ekklesia, ek-kaleo. That He's called us out and that we're centered in Him and we're to go out from here. And as a Church we don't stop being the Church the moment we walk out of this building but we continue being the Church and Church continues to happen as we leave here tonight. To really look at this profound mystery that is just for a very short period of time in the history of mankind and just go, Wow, I get to be a part of this. I personally am blown away that we live in this time called the Church Age. So I hope that gives you a little bit different view of the Church. I hope that it causes you to want to come to Reveal if you're a member at the end of the month and be a part of the process of affirming our elders and deacons, and being a part of what God is doing here. To understand that what God's pulling together a group of people to do and using their gifts and serve together and go out from here is not just some organizational duty or something that we just sort of rotely go through, but something rather that it becomes passionately exciting for each one of us. So open up the Word of God at home tonight and maybe even as you look at some of these pictures might light a fire for you in that area. Lord God, Thank you so much for letting us come into this room tonight. Thank you for each of these folks that have just made it a priority to come on Wednesday nights, others who have made it a priority just to listen to this every week. I pray that each person will get what You have for them to get out of it and they'll be encouraged by it. I pray that we'll be a people who won't stop here tonight with this information but that we'll take this massive download and begin to continue to train on your truth so that we'll know it. And Lord God, I just pray that You would refine your Church here at Calvary Downingtown and that You would be pleased with what You see as you wash her and clean her and prepare her to present her to yourself someday. We ask in Jesus' Name. Amen. God bless you. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Next week Eschatology. I'm going to next week basically walk you through the events that are coming up between now and the end, and I'm just going to show you basically in pictorial form how this is going to look. It's exciting. I can't teach you

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2015-0429. Doctrine | Week 14 | The Church all the book of Revelation in one week, but I can take you through what I believe the history of mankind—how it's going to wrap up. God wins at the end, by the way. [laughter] Thanks for coming tonight.

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/126501586 SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS ARE FROM THE HOLY BIBLE, ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION (ESV). COPYRIGHT © 2001 BY CROSSWAY BIBLES, A DIVISION OF GOOD NEWS PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT © 2015 – LEE WIGGINS – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

ENDNOTES 1

ROMANS 12:1 — I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

2

1 PETER 2:5-9 — 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

3

HEBREWS 13:6 — 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

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