JUST WHAT IS THE CHURCH?

JUST WHAT IS THE CHURCH?

Most believers are aware of what the church is. However, our mindsets still dictate to us that what it is not; is still the thing we go to. We still talk about ‘going to church’ or ‘what church do you go to’ or ‘where do you fellowship’? 

This mindset reveals that we are still captive to a system of religion that is other than the truth that sets us free. Make no mistake; this is no play on words, for the words we use to describe what is true from a scriptural viewpoint of what is church and what is not, will dictate to our mindsets what is born of God and what is not. This makes all the difference.

The church has never been, nor ever will be, something we go to. It never has been four walls of brick and mortar or a denomination of people gathered around a creed or a statement of faith. Nor is it under the banner or name of that denomination. So what is the church?

It has always been a people called out of darkness and this world system, into the kingdom of Light and includes every believer in the geographical location they live in and ultimately universally, under the Lordship of Christ, free from denominational labels. 

The sooner we learn this and begin using words and terminologies that truly reflect a mindset that understands this, the sooner we can come into the truth that sets us free. Words are powerful things, they can destroy, bind, put into captivity or they can build up, emancipate and set free from the religious systems that hold us in captivity.

CHURCH BY ANY OTHER NAME.

How we love to call ourselves by names. The church is divided into so many factions and sects that have such a diversity of names that reflect our divisions. Is it any wonder that the unbeliever is left with bewilderment at this travesty? Is Christ divided and broken up into parts and fragments? 

Here are some names, The Church on the Rock, The Church of the Redeemer, Living Waters Church, Pentecostal Holiness Church, First Baptist Church, Christian Life Centre or Christian Fellowship Church. The list can go on and on and on, to our shame.

How we love to say, the scriptures are our source of authority and practice! Well, what do we find in scripture? What were the names given to the churches from the day of Pentecost? Are you ready for it? NONE, yes that’s right, NONE, they had no names, neither did they seek them. 

They had the revelation and understanding of who the church was. The believers themselves were the church, so they never went to church. They simply gathered and functioned as the church in their locality. The local church today is not what the local church would have been then. Today, the local church is an expression of our named denominations and divisions, a far cry from what was in the early church. The local church was the church in a town or city which included ALL believers. 

The letters of the new covenant were written to the church that was in a particular city or town. The church in Corinth or the church in Ephesus and so on, were not names but descriptions of the believers in that city or town. This is not hard to comprehend for it is clearly stated in the scriptures. 

The book of Acts 14:21-27 shows the apostles appointing elders in each city and town they had made disciples of. These disciples became the church in their cities and towns i.e. Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Antioch and others. They became the church in Derbe, Lystra, Iconium and Antioch and so forth.

Paul left Titus behind in Crete to set in order the things that were lacking. He was to appoint elders in each church in every city. Titus 1:5. The first chapter of Revelation has reference to the seven churches of Asia i.e. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum etc. Acts 13:1 speaks of the church in Antioch. We see in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul refers to the church of God in Corinth. These scriptures all refer to a description of ALL believers that are in a town or city. 

There were no denominational labels and barriers that separated believers from each other as we have today, much to our shame. The only separations that may have existed would have been those of a geographical nature, that is to say, the various localities believers lived in. Once again, ALL BELIEVERS in a particular town or city were a part of THE CHURCH in that place. 

Understand clearly that there were no names of churches or gatherings of believers. The church in such and such a place was not a name but merely a description of the believers in that place. Over the generations our pride and arrogance have led us to create denominations and segregations of unprecedented proportions that have caused great divides based on doctrinal disputes over what this group and that group believes. Shame on us!

STRUCTURE, HOW SHOULD IT BE?

For those in traditional go to church type mindsets, structure is everything. Without it their church would fall apart. For those in house church settings, structure is almost a swear word. Both extremes lack validity; both are works of the flesh. Just what is structure then? 

Princeton’s WordNet has this definition to offer, a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts, a particular complex anatomical part of a living thing (n).

This is virtually what the scripture means when referring to structure. Ephesians 2:19-22 has this to say, “Therefore you are no longer outsiders (exiles, migrants, and aliens, excluded from the rights of citizens), but you now share citizenship with the saints (God’s own people, consecrated and set apart for Himself); and you belong to God’s [own] household. You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone. In Him the whole structure is joined (bound, welded) together harmoniously, and it continues to rise (grow, increase) into a holy temple in the Lord [a sanctuary dedicated, consecrated, and sacred to the presence of the Lord]. In Him [and in fellowship with one another] you yourselves also are being built up [into this structure] with the rest, to form a fixed abode (dwelling place) of God in (by, through) the Spirit.

God has a structure and it is called the church, the total body of believers, throughout all time and everywhere. This structure consists of many parts, ALL interrelated, each part joined together by virtue of the blood of Christ. Each part is placed specifically by God into this structure, so that no part can say I have no need of you. Paul uses the analogy of the body to describe this structure. 1 Corinthians 12 is a well known passage for this; note in particular verses 13 and 14. This is structure and it consists of various functions, but each function complements the other. The many parts are built together into a single structure that rises and grows into a habitation of God by the Spirit. We are all baptised into one body by one Spirit.  See also Ephesians 4 v 4 - 6 .

In this structure there are leadership functions or gifts. See Ephesians 4 v 11-14.  Note also, the purpose of these gifts, His intention is the perfecting and  full equipping of the saints, that they, the saints, should do the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body, the church. See also 1 Corinthians 12 v 28. “And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.

God has divine order in His church as it pleases Him. Of this, there can be no argument. The problem arises when men seek to demonstrate these gifts in a manner that is other than God’s intention; either by assuming a function God has not placed them in or placing an undue emphasis of their gift. 

Leaders are not gurus or gods or bosses or heads of anything. They are members of this structure with a gift even as every other member is. They are servants to the rest of the church. What we see today is everything but servant hood; we have many gurus and bosses and heads of something more based upon a secular business, with managing directors, general managers, senior managers, junior managers, all the way down to the lowly sweeper. Is it any wonder amongst other things, the church is not taken seriously by the world?

While it is clear from reading the scriptures that believers were meeting from house to house, continuing steadfastly in the apostles teaching, which was Christ's own, contributing to one another’s needs, breaking bread and sharing meals with gladness of heart daily and with singleness of purpose; as time went on, there arose issues and disputes over which leader was favoured over the other.

Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth offers great insight into the divisions that arose due to individual members of the one structure favouring one leader over the other. See 1 Corinthians 1:10-13.

But I urge and entreat you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in perfect harmony and full agreement in what you say, and that there be no dissensions or factions or divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in your common understanding and in your opinions and judgements. For it has been made clear to me, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions and wrangling and factions among you. What I mean is this; that each one of you either says, I belong to Paul, or I belong to Apollos, or I belong to Cephas, or I belong to Christ. Is Christ divided into parts? Was Paul crucified on behalf of you? Or were you baptised into the name of Paul?

Also in chapter three of this same letter from verse one to nine we read, 

"However, brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual men, but as to non spiritual men of the flesh, in whom the carnal nature predominates, as to mere infants in the new life in Christ unable to talk yet!  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough to be ready for it; but even yet you are not strong enough to be ready for it,  For you are still unspiritual, having the nature of the flesh under the control of ordinary impulses. For as long as there are envying and jealousy, wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual, of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard, like mere unchanged men?  For when one says, I belong to Paul, and another, I belong to Apollos, are you not proving yourselves ordinary unchanged men?  What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Ministering servants not heads of parties through whom you believed, even as the Lord appointed to each his task:  I planted, Apollos watered, but God all the while was making it grow and He gave the increase. So neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters, but only God Who makes it grow and become greater.  He who plants and he who waters are equal one in aim, of the same importance and esteem, yet each shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour.  For we are fellow workmen, joint promoters, labourers together with and for God; you are God’s garden and vineyard and field under cultivation, you are God’s building".

Even in the letter to the Philippians, Paul had to exhort the church there to be of one mind. Philippians 2:1-4,

"So by whatever appeal to you there is in our mutual dwelling in Christ, by whatever strengthening and consoling and encouraging [our relationship] in Him [affords], by whatever persuasive incentive there is in love, by whatever participation in the [Holy] Spirit [we share], and by whatever depth of affection and compassionate sympathy,  Fill up and complete my joy by living in harmony and being of the same mind and one in purpose, having the same love, being in full accord and of one harmonious mind and intention.  Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves].  Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also each for the interests of others". 

Divisions, disunity, wrangling and strife had already begun to fester even in the early days of the life of believers together. But, in each instance it was rebuked for the sin it is. Today, division is perpetuated to no end and we love to have it so. We have erected great walls that divide the fellowship of the saints with labels and distinctions that separate us as if there is no relationship at all amongst us. Do you honestly and sincerely believe that our divisions please and glorify God? Do you? We have all heard of the saying “United we stand, divided we fall”; this is not just a saying; it is a truth to live by. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Don’t ever think it can. And furthermore, don’t ever think that our divisions and wrangling, our denominational groupings and partisan spirit is okay with God, because they are not. Our Father grieves over this condition. Yet, the irony is, God allows it, because of our hardness and stubbornness of heart. He has allowed us to go into our own captivity, because of our own self willed and wanton, rebellious ways.

Structure as it is presented in the scriptures is not what it is today. Many believers shun structure because of the abuse of proper function. In many traditional denominational church systems and even in the so called freer expression of church in so called non denominational and in home fellowships etc, you often find one man band leaders with others taking a subordinate role. When believers met in the early church, they all came together to be strengthened, encouraged, exhorted, instructed etc by each other and not merely one or two people. The result is gatherings that probably would have taken a number of hours, even the whole day and into the evening hours.

Paul, by the command of the Lord, issued instructions to the church at Corinth on how they should function when they gathered. See 1 Corinthians 14, from verse 26. This was not a Jewish thing; don’t ever think that, this was a Kingdom thing. Each member shares, a hymn, a prophecy, a tongue, an interpretation, a song, a revelation and so on. The result, all are edified and strengthened; the structure grows TOGETHER with a growth that is from the Lord and God is glorified. This practice was clearly how ALL the churches functioned in each town or city, from house to house. How do we fare today?

The grace of the Lord be with you all.