The New Testament Church began officially on the Feast of Pentecost. Why was the “Church” created? What should we gain from meeting as a group?
Acts, chapter 2, as you know, records the first Pentecost of the New Covenant. Jesus the Messiah had ushered in the New Covenant, when He died for the sins of the world and was resurrected as spirit to return to heaven as the fulfillment of the wave sheaf offering. He was the first of the firstfruits of God's harvest of humans into His family.
And, 50 days after that ascension on the day of Pentecost, God performed some mighty miracles to prove He had sent the promise of the Holy Spirit. He had said He was going to do that and He sent mighty miracles that He had given that to His group of followers.
Acts, chapter 2, tells us there was a loud noise, like a rushing wind, that filled the whole room where they were. There were tongues of fire that split off and sat on each one of them. They were visual and audible signs that something incredible was taking place. They all began speaking in languages that they hadn't studied, so that people from all parts of the world heard them speaking in their native tongues. Naturally, this caused an incredible commotion.
What in the world is going on? What's happening here? People came running from all over the place trying to find out what was happening. Some of the more cynical ones — yes, there were cynics back then too — some of the more cynical ones said, ah, they're drunk, you know, they're just babbling and, as you know, Peter eventually stood up and refuted that charge. He said, no, we're not drunk, it's early in the day, we've not been drinking; this is not what's going on. God has poured out His spirit just as He prophesied through the Old Testament prophets and he quoted some from the book of Joel.
And from there, he launched into a speech or a sermon and I'm not going to go through that sermon, but he told them, essentially, about Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth, whom they had killed, and explained that Jesus had risen from the dead; that He was actually the prophesied Messiah of the Old Testament, the One they all were looking for, that all of Judaism was anxiously awaiting, that He had already come and that they had killed Him.
When the crowd of devoted Jews and proselytes heard that message, they were moved and they asked what they could do. Of course, they couldn't un-kill Him, but they asked what do we do now? What's our next step? And, Peter's response was that they needed to repent and be baptized and that they, too, could receive this miraculous gift that they had seen and heard, audible witness of being given to the followers of Jesus Christ.
And, at the end of chapter 2, we read that about 3,000 people were baptized that day. I sometimes wonder about that. How in the world were 3,000 — I know they were — but you wonder about the logistics of baptizing 3,000 people all in one day, to be added to the Church, to be added to the group of followers.
We're told many signs and wonders were done through the Apostles, the group met daily in the Temple for awhile. They shared meals at the houses of the members that lived in the Jerusalem area.
What I would like to do now is read the last couple of verses of Acts 2, if you'll turn there and read those with me, verses 46 and 47. It says:
Acts 2:46-47
Vs. 46 — "So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,"
Vs. 47 — "Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."
Life was simple at that time. Meet in the Temple, go home and eat, talk, fellowship, enjoy one another's company, go back to the Temple, meet, go home, eat, simple life compared to our modern, hectic world. Sounds good, sometimes, doesn't it? Oh, that we could get back to something so simple. Wonderful time, though, meeting in the Temple, being taught, sharing food, praising God, and being incredibly unified.
I want to focus on the last sentence of that verse today, the last verse, verse 47. It says, "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." They recognized that it was the Lord who was adding. They weren't growing this group. The Lord God was the One adding to the number of followers and it's interesting he uses the phrase "the church". It was God's business. He was handling it quite well, thank you, adding to the Church as He determined it should be saved.
Now, we often speak of this day, the Feast of Pentecost, as having great meaning in the New Testament. There were a lot of meanings for this day — the giving of the Holy Spirit — but we talk about it, also, as the establishing of the New Testament Church, the day the New Testament Church formally and officially began. Since this day is deeply connected with the Church, I thought it would be good for us to explore that subject a little bit today.
Why did Luke — the author of the book of Acts — why did he call it "the church" ? What's implied in that name and what's the purpose of the Church? I mean, why did they have to establish a church? In our society today, there are so many who claim to be spiritual — well, I'm a spiritual person, I just don't want to belong to any church. I don't believe in organized groups, I don't believe in churches, but I'm a spiritual person. I'm spiritual about this, spiritual about that, this is a very spiritual part of my life, that other thing is a very spiritual part of my life — people talk about their spirituality, but many people don't want to be a part of a church.
Why do we have this idea that we should meet on the Sabbath as a group? And what should that, or what do we gain from that, or what should we gain from those meetings? I would like to talk about that a little bit today. We talk about the Church and we talk about Pentecost is the founding of the Church, so let's talk about the Church today.
Now, you may not realize it, but the first time the word "church" appears in the Bible is in the book of Matthew. Jesus Christ is the first to use that word, as it's translated in the King James or New King James. Matthew, chapter 16, is the place that He first mentions it. We turn to Matthew, chapter 16 and verse 17:
Matthew 16:17-18
Vs. 17 — "Jesus answered and said to him,"— now,we're breaking into the thought — Jesus had asked who they thought He was, who did people say He was, and they said different ones, Jeremiah, Elijah, you know, John the Baptist, different people that they thought He was, and Jesus said, "But who do you say that I am?" and Simon Peter said, "You are the Messiah," you are the Promised One, "You are the Christ." Christos in Greek means the Messiah and in Hebrew they are equivalent terms. "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And Jesus' response was, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."
Vs. 18 — "And I also say to you" — he wasn't through — you're blessed because you understand that God is the One who has revealed that to you and I've got more to say — "I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades," — or the hell or the grave — "shall not prevail against it."
Now, the Catholic Church interprets this verse to mean Peter was the foundation. He was the rock upon which the Church was founded, the New Testament Church. Now, of course, we, looking at the Greek, understand their differences and the Greek words used — Petros and Petra — and we understand that Jesus Christ was not saying He was going to build the Church on Peter.
Jesus Christ was saying I am that Rock. You're a pebble. I'm this big crag. I'm this bolder. I'm the Rock and I'm going to build my Church. Other passages support that. Ephesians 2:20. Different ones talk about Jesus Christ as being the Chief Cornerstone, so we know it wasn't Peter that He was building the Church on. It was Jesus Christ.
The part I want to focus on is Christ said He would build His Church and, again, this is the first time this word "church" appears in the Bible.
As we've often noted in our study of the Bible, when you notice a first, the first time something is mentioned, it's usually good to pay attention to that. Usually, when God introduces something new, it's a good thing for you to pay attention to it, good thing to study it a little bit. That's what I would like to do, first of all, in this message this morning, is spend a little bit of time looking at this message, looking at this section of Scripture, this first appearance of this concept to see what we can draw out of His statement. What all is implied in this statement, "I'm going to build my Church" ? This was something new, to build a Church.
When we deal with something new, I think it's good to make sure we understand the term, so let's talk a little bit about terms. In Greek, the word that is translated as church, most of you are familiar with this, is the word ekklesia. Ekklesia is transliterated, as many lexicons and Greek-English dictionaries will transliterate it, those of you who have been around for awhile know that, you understand that word, and you understand that word has the meaning of "called out from." Now, that is one of the meanings of the word ekklesia in the Greek.
However, when we look at how God inspired the use of that word in the New Testament, we find that it's not exclusively a religious word. Ekklesia does not always mean church, a religious group or religious organization, or a group of individuals. Sometimes, it can just mean a group of people.
For example, in Acts, chapter 19, I won't turn there, but Demetrius was a silversmith in Ephesus and he instigated a riot because when he heard what Paul was preaching, that he was turning people away from worshipping Diana, Demetrius got scared. He thought, well, I'm making all of these gold idols of Diana, if everybody stops worshipping Diana my business is going to dry up — it's going to hit me where it hurts, in the pocketbook — and so, he instigated this riot to try to cause problems for Paul and the town clerk at Ephesus finally quieted the riot and he said, look, if Paul has broken any laws, take him to court over it. In fact, he said he needs to be taken before the ekklesia, the exact same word that Jesus Christ used.
Now, he wasn't talking about the Church. This town clerk in Ephesus had no interest in the Church. He was not talking about a Church of God or the gathering of Christians, but of the gathering of city officials. They were the called out ones. They were called out from the rest of the city and they were the ones who were given the responsibility of dealing with legal issues, settling legal disputes, and conducting other business of the city.
Expositor's Bible Commentary points out that when the Septuagint translates Hebrew words into Greek — the Septuagint is the Greek version of the Bible — when they translated Hebrew words into the Greek, they normally used the Greek word ekklesia to translate the Hebrew word that simply means an assembly, a meeting, a gathering. That's the common usage of the word. It just means a group. It means a gathering, a gathering of individuals.
And, in fact, the New Testament uses this word, the Greek uses this word, to refer back to a meeting of God's people in the Old Testament, so, you see, the concept of church, the concept of a group of people is not new to the Bible. Jesus Christ just introduces here in Matthew 16 as something that He is going to build differently in the New Covenant, in the New Testament.
In fact, turn with me to Acts, chapter 7, and we'll take a quick look at that, in Acts, chapter 7, verse 37 and we'll begin there.
Acts 7:37-38
Vs. 37 — It says, "This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel," 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.'"
Vs. 38 — "This is he who was in the congregation" — there's that Greek word ekklesia — " he was in the congregation (the assembly) in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us."
The congregation that was in the wilderness, the congregation that was around Mt. Sinai; they had been told to assemble at Mt. Sinai and God appeared to them and God spoke and God gave the codified Ten Commandments to ancient Israel.
Now, think about what using this word to refer back to the Old Testament means. It brings to us another aspect of the introduction of the concept of the Church in the New Testament and that it is that it has roots in the Old Testament. It's new in the sense that it's done differently but it's old in the sense that it has roots, very strong direct ties, to what God did in the Old Testament.
Christ's statement in Matthew 16 about building His Assembly is in perfect continuity with God's work in the Old Testament. New, little bit different meaning, perhaps, but very similar.
In the Old Testament God had His people, Israel, a nation or an assembly of individuals that He called out to be His special people. How did He call them out? Well, in a number of different ways. He called Abraham out from his family. He said I want you to leave and I want you to be a wanderer, a vagabond. Eventually, that family grew into a nation, they went into Egypt and, eventually, God drew them out of Egypt. He took them through the wilderness again to put them in the Promised Land.
In the New Testament the people of God become the people of the Messiah. Jesus said, "My church," my assembly. Now think about the implications of that also. Whether the disciples understood it or not, Jesus Christ was essentially saying I am the Messiah because these are My people. These are the people of God in the New Testament. These are the messianic people, the followers of the Messiah. You see, in the New Testament, it's not based on physical lineage. It doesn't matter who your Daddy is. It doesn't matter in the New Testament. In the New Testament God is going to call...Jesus Christ is saying the Father has to draw people, but by Him drawing people into this assembly He will establish, we will establish, this New Testament Church.
Now, God, also, of course, extends an invitation to the family, to the children, of those He calls and they are welcome to join as well; in that sense, there is still a bit of continuity with the Old Testament, isn't there? God called Abraham and Abraham's family was welcome as well. God calls individuals not necessarily from the family of Abraham in the New Testament, but that family is welcome to come as well if they choose to, if our children will accept it.
What Jesus is describing in Matthew 16, again, is a perfect complement to His work in the Old Testament, a little bit different, in that He calls individuals rather than simply through one physical lineage, but in continuity.
I'd like to take another brief look at this concept as we think about what He is introducing here in Matthew, chapter 16. You know, there are some groups that want to equate the Church with the Kingdom of God. The Church is the Kingdom of God and, over the centuries since the death of Jesus Christ, various individuals have tried to equate the two, trying to say that they are the Kingdom of God on earth, ruling through a universal church. That's been part of the claim of certain individuals through history.
The words, though, for church and kingdom come from very different semantic domains, if you study into different word meanings and roots — very, very different, extremely different — the word for church is simply a group, it's an assembly — the word for kingdom has to do with reigning and ruling — very, very different than just being a group of individuals.
Now, it doesn't mean that the two can't be together. They can be together, in fact, they will be together in the future, won't they? We understand that. They will be together when the fullness of God's Kingdom comes, when He establishes His Kingdom, but the Kingdom is not yet fully begun here on earth; that will happen at Christ's return.
Now, in a sense, you may think I am reasoning in circles here but, in a sense, there is an aspect of the Kingdom in the Church, isn't there, because in the life of us as Christians, those of us who are part of the ekklesia, the followers of Jesus Christ, the called out ones, in a sense we are already citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, aren't we?
You read some of those statements of Paul. Paul said our citizenship is in heaven, that's where our loyalty is. We're already to be living by the laws of that kingdom and giving our allegiance to that Kingdom, but the Church is not the Kingdom itself. I think that's why we've spoken for many years in the Church, being very careful to say the Church is the Kingdom in embryo. We are not the Kingdom established on this earth to set up the rule of God right now. We're simply an embryonic aspect of the Kingdom. The Church, it's the starting point, it's not going to rule the world until Jesus Christ returns, until it is established through the return of Jesus Christ, that Kingdom is not here in its fullness. But, we're only the smallest, beginning firstfruits, the little tiny corner of the Kingdom of God.
All right, enough background on Matthew 16. What's the relevance? Why give you all that background? Well, I think it's interesting to look at that first usage of church and I think it's sort of interesting to speculate and think a little bit about that and try to apply it to us today and I think it's also critical for us to get a full understanding of what Jesus Christ meant when He said I am going to establish My Church. What this day pictures. It commemorates. It's a memorial of the establishing of the Church of Jesus Christ. Our nation, it just so happens, this weekend is celebrating Memorial Day. Well, this is a memorial day to God, a memorial of the establishing of His Church in A.D. 31.
Matthew is the only Gospel writer to record those words of Christ. The other Gospel writers don't record that. If you look at the background of Matthew, He has very heavy Jewish overtones, and Matthew seems to have been concerned about showing the connection between the Old Covenant, between the Old Testament and what Jesus Christ was bringing. New, with deeper meaning, but the same basic law of God, same Commandments of God, the connection to the Old Testament is so very tight.
Jesus also mentions the called out ones, the Church, in another place. He mentions it in Matthew 16. He also mentions it in Matthew 18. Let's go to Matthew 18. There are only two places where He talked specifically about church. Matthew is the only one that records this. In Matthew 16:18, He talks about establishing, building, His Church and, obviously, He is building it on Himself, the Rock. He is that foundation and in Matthew, chapter 18, He also mentions the Church.
Now, this section of Scripture is one we're probably well familiar with. The immediate focus of this section, verses 15, 16, and 17 has to do with a means — I don't think it's the only means but, a means — of resolving differences with a brother or a sister. If it gets to the point where you have to go to the person, you must resolve it by talking with them, well, here's a step by step method to do that. One of the obvious goals, as you read through this, is to keep it on the lowest level possible. You go to that individual, first of all, privately, and talk it over; if they've done something to offend you, talk with them privately. Discuss it with them.
Let's go through the verses; verse 15 first of all.
Matthew 18:15-17
Vs. 15 — Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother."
If he listens, if he's responsive, he's — oh, I didn't realize I said...it's not what I intended and I didn't mean to say it that way, or didn't mean for it to come across that way — you've gained your brother. You've resolved it. You no longer feel bad, you no longer feel like he had malice in his heart when he said whatever he said or did whatever he did or whatever she or he did. You've resolved the issue, but verse 16.
Vs. 16 — "But if he will not hear," (it's all in the masculine, but it could be feminine, as well, it's in the masculine gender), but if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.'"
Vs. 17 — "And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector."
So, the steps are first go privately, see if you can resolve it at the lowest level possible. If that doesn't work, take another one with you, another one or two. Have them sit down with the two of you and try to resolve it and if there's still no progress then you have to involve the Church.
I know different individuals look at this in various different ways but, obviously, the group had to be interacting regularly for there to be a chance of sinning against one another. If you're never around someone, you can't sin against them very easily or can't be aware of the fact that somebody else has done something to bother you. So, there had to be some kind of interaction. Christians were to take it to their brother first and then take it to fellow Christians. They had to be around those fellow Christians to know who they were, to be able to take it to them.
And, the last step is the one that's disputed a little bit. Some interpret it to mean, well, if they think he won't listen to you and a couple of other people, then you get the whole Church together, air all of the in's and out's, let everybody in the whole Church hear all of the details of what went on, who said what, who said what when, who argues about what they said and what they didn't say. You got to get everybody in the Church involved in this; that's the way some people interpret this.
I don't believe that's, at all, what He was talking about. I believe that's in direct conflict with Scriptures that talk about love not spreading sins or mistakes. We're also told in the New Testament that Paul sent individuals here and there, that there was some structure within the Church and that there were representatives of the Church. It's the way God describes, recorded for us, a description of the Church, that it has some structure, has some representatives, has some organization. It implies an organized group with leaders and the implication here is you take it to the leaders and involve one of the leaders in trying to resolve this issue between you and a brother.
Let's recap what we have from these two passages of Jesus Christ: Matthew 16 and Matthew 18.
Number one: The New Testament ekklesia is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ Himself; that's the foundation of the Church. The word means called out. It can mean religiously called; it can also mean secular, but it means called out, an assembly, a group, that is a continuation of God's dealings in the Old Testament with individuals, because He called out a group, the family of Abraham in the Old Testament.
The Church is not the Kingdom of God in its fullness. It's only the embryonic start of the Kingdom by those called to give their allegiance to and obeying the law and rule of the Kingdom of God in their lives. So there is a relationship between the Church and the Kingdom of God, but they are not equal, they are not the same.
This group — this ekklesia — this group of individuals is organized. Later, it has apostles overseeing things, developing an administrative structure whereby they appoint others to teach and they appoint others to help — such as deacons — to help with various responsibilities and elders to help in local congregations. That is what God established on Pentecost in A.D. 31; that's what this day pictures.
Now, with that background, let's turn our attention to the other questions I mentioned at the start. Why? What's the purpose of the Church and what do we benefit, what do we gain from being a part of the Church of God? What do we gain?
I know, ultimately, there are promises to everybody that God calls and that's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about the future promises that He gives us of being in His family, reigning and ruling with Jesus Christ — those are marvelous and incredible things that we receive as a result of our calling, but what do we gain from being a part — being here — as a group meeting together when God tells us to meet together? What's the purpose for that and what do we gain?
When we ask about the purpose of the Church, three things seem to stand out as — to me — very powerfully, as purposes for the existence of this New Testament body.
Number one is the statement made at the very end of Matthew. Interestingly, at least to me it's interesting, that Matthew is the one who records Jesus Christ introducing this term of church, ekklesia — My body, My called out ones, My assembly, those who will be my followers, that I will form them, fashion them into a group — he introduces it and then he ends his book — Matthew 28, Matthew ends his book by talking about the goal, the mission of that Church — the commission we have called it. He ends his Gospel account with that commission given by Jesus Christ to His followers — the last two verses of the book, verses 19 and 20 — Jesus Christ, after telling His followers that He had " all authority" .
Matthew 28:18-20
Vs. 18 — "All authority , He said, in heaven and earth is given to me."
Vs. 19 — Therefore, because I have that power to help you, therefore, verse 19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Vs. 20 — "Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
We have a commission as a Church and we have distilled that down — there are really two parts of it, we've distilled it down in the United Church of God to a kind of a slogan, in a sense, two aspects of it, "Preaching the Gospel, Preparing a People". Two sides, two aspects, two parts of a commission that He has given to His Church, all the way to the end of the age, He said. "I am with you to the end." That's the implication, a very obvious implication — we don't stop doing this — we don't stop preaching the Gospel and we don't stop trying to prepare a people for God until Jesus Christ returns at the end of the age.
As a group, the job of spreading the Gospel, how we spread that Gospel, that first part of the commission, how we spread it is not laid out. I think that's one of the ways God deals with us. He gives us the objective, He gives us the mission and says do this, but He doesn't tell us how. He doesn't tell us whether it's supposed to be word of mouth, do we go to the synagogues, do we go to the marketplace? How do we market this? How do we get into people's lives to tell them about the Gospel message? He doesn't say that. He doesn't give us the details. Obviously, He expects us to use the Holy Spirit to make some wise choices to figure out how to do that.
It's a logical point, though, that we can do much more when we band together as a group, when we work together as a group to accomplish a job. Whatever the job may be, especially the job of preaching the Gospel. Jesus Christ established a Church because He knew that with an assembly, with a group, He could accomplish more than simply through an individual here or an individual there.
It's the law of synergy. As we band together, we're able to accomplish much more. One plus one does not equate when you put the two together; you don't just get what the two could produce individually, you get a greater number than two. You get two-plus. That's been proven with many living things — horses — in all different kinds of ways that synergy has been proven. You can accomplish much more when you band them together. Even with inanimate objects like a rope. When you wrap the rope together, the twines around them, you intertwine them, they can hold up a whole lot more than those individually could hold up.
The second part of that commission involved education — teaching. We're told in the Bible not to lean to our own understanding. That doesn't mean you don't think, though, what it means is we have to be willing to listen to others, that we have to realize I don't know it all myself; that would be nice if I did. I mean, I would like to know that, I would like to know it all, then I don't have to ask anybody anything, but the fact is, God tells me and you, don't lean to your own understanding. I've got to look to others. I've got to be willing to take instruction from others outside myself and you have to be willing to take instruction from those outside of you.
In the New Testament, we find the example in the New Testament Church, that that's done by faithful ministers. Now, there are warnings because not all ministers are faithful. You know what? That makes you think, doesn't it? You don't check your mind at the door. You have to think, but what you have to look at is, is this person a faithful minister of God or not?
Notice the interesting way Paul phrased a statement about the Church to Timothy. Turn with me, if you would, to I Timothy, chapter 3.
Some individuals want to set themselves up and, unfortunately, in our modern time in the last decade or so we've had individuals, ministers, who have tried to set themselves up as the source of truth. I know it all. I am the appointed one. I am the one you all need to follow; but, notice what Paul said to Timothy in verse 15 of I Timothy, chapter 3.
I Timothy 3:15
Vs. 15 — "If I am delayed," he was talking about coming to see him, but he says, "If I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
Paul said the Church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. Paul did not say I, the Apostle Paul, am the pillar and the ground of the truth.
Any individual who stands, in my mind, any individual who stands up as a minister and says, I'm it, I am the ground and the pillar and the ground of the truth, you'd better look at and say false teacher, because that's not what the Bible says. It doesn't say any of us individually are the pillar and the ground of the Church, of the truth, sorry, it's the Church.
In Acts 15 the elders came together to discuss a doctrinal issue. It was not just one individual. It wasn't Peter, it wasn't James, it wasn't Paul, who decided it on their own; they had to decide the question whether Gentiles had to first be circumcised and become Jewish proselytes before they could be baptized, and it was the Church that came together, as the pillar and ground of the truth to answer the question. The Church — it's an interesting way that Paul describes this, being the pillar and ground of the truth.
II Timothy, chapter 2, turn over a few pages — how was that truth expressed, how was it explained? Well, obviously, individuals have to be taught so that they can teach others. This is what Paul tells Timothy, this is the way you do it in the New Testament Church.
II Timothy 2:1-2
Vs. 1 — "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."
Vs. 2 — "And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."
You see, there is a progression. Paul said, in conjunction with the Church, here's what I have taught you. The fact that he went to Jerusalem in Acts 15 is proof that Paul wasn't saying I know it all of and by myself; I am the foundation, the pillar and the foundation of the truth; but, he said, what I have taught you, what I have come to understand from the Church and from talking with other apostles and other elders, what I have taught you, you need to commit to individuals, faithful men who will also, then, be able to pass that along.
It's like, again, in the Old Testament, you've got this parallel. In the Old Testament God said, I've taught you My law; you teach it to your children, you pass it along. I've taught you, you teach others, and He's saying the same thing in the Church in terms of the ministry in the Church of faithful teachers.
So, we have this meaning or this need, this purpose of the church, which is to fulfill the commission and fulfilling that commission involves preaching the Gospel and it involves teaching God's people.
The second purpose of the Church that stands out brightly in my mind, is the Church is here as a place of worship. It's a place of worship. Now, sometimes, our sensitivities may make us squirmish a little bit with that term. We think about the way other groups might worship and we think, well, we don't worship the same way, but worship isn't a bad word. It simply means to pay homage, to give honor to a deity. We honor God and we come here today, as we do on any of the days when God tells us to assemble, any of our assemblies of the Church, we come to worship God. We come to honor Him.
In the Old Testament the word for worship simply meant to bow down and prostrate yourself and, normally, what they would do is they would touch their forehead to the ground. This was a sign of just showing respect, showing honor to whoever it was, whether it was a king, a physical leader or ruler or whether it was to God, in the culture of the patriarchs. Now, they had to worship, of course, alone with only their family around them, since most of the time they were the only humans God was working with at that time.
Later on, though, follow this, later on through history when God began to deal with a bigger group, what did He do? He commanded group assemblies. I want you to get together. I want you to meet for worship, for sacred gatherings on the Sabbath and the Holy Days. Private worship is fine too. Honoring God privately is great, but once God began working with a group, He commanded a group meeting. That means you have to get up and go somewhere, doesn't it? You got up this morning and you went somewhere to come here. You had to go somewhere.
Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, set us a wonderful example in that. I don't know if you've thought of it from this perspective. Turn with me to Genesis, chapter 22. Abraham or his name was Abram then, talked about worship and notice the length to which he was willing to travel to worship.
I don't know how far you traveled this morning. For us, it wasn't that far. You know. Twenty minutes or so and we're here. Other mornings, we travel a little farther than that. Texarkana is, well, an hour and a half. Other days it may be even farther than that. You see Kennebecks back there — it's a long drive from Cincinnati down here, isn't it? Well, they made that the other day.
How far are you willing to travel? Look at Genesis, chapter 22, verses 4 and 5.
Genesis 22:4-5
Vs. 4 — It says, "On the third day...." Abraham traveled for three days to go worship God. "On the third Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off."
Vs. 5 — "And Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.'"
Three-day travel to go worship God. Now, I know, you're going to say wait a minute this was a special deal. I mean, God appeared to Abraham and said go sacrifice your son. Well, yeah, He did, but I think it is interesting Abraham was willing to travel three days to get to the place where God said I'm placing My name. For this particular event, I'm placing My name on that mountain way over there, that's where I want you to go worship Me, and Abraham got up and went. He spent three days in the journey.
How many of us would be willing to travel three days to worship? We get so spoiled in our wealth here in the United States. We complain if we have to travel an hour. Oh, man, such a long drive to Church! I'm not saying you — sometimes people do that.
Maybe you saw the article in the May 2007, United News , about the Church buildings in Zambia. I thought it was rather interesting — they have a picture of a lady who came to services, came to Church — she walked five miles to get to Church, and not just five miles, five miles on crutches to get to Church. I look at people in some of the other parts of the world and I think, man, what dedication and willingness to put up with inconveniences. What a testimony to her dedication to properly represent herself as one of the New Testament, called out people of God, gathering on the Sabbath to worship as a part of that assembly. It's an incredible story.
Notice David's Psalm about worship of God and the ancient assembly, the nation of Israel. This is in I Chronicles, chapter 16. I'll just give you the background. The ark had been brought to Jerusalem and in I Chronicles, chapter 16, the first part of the chapter mentions that, and tells us, that it was there, that it had been brought up. David was very excited about this. He was thrilled to have the ark in Jerusalem and, as we skip down into his Psalm, it begins at about verse 8, let's skip down to verse 28, down toward the latter part of it, verse 28 says:
I Chronicles 16:28-29
Vs. 28 — "Give to the Lord, oh families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength."
Vs. 29 — "Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!"
Give Him the glory that He is due. That's part of what we do today, we glorify God. We give Him glory via worship. We do that in Church when we assemble before God. We do in songs, we do it in prayer. We do it by our attitude when we're here. There are various ways in which we express that honor and glory to God. It's all a part of worship.
It's all a part of what we're supposed to do as a part of the New Testament Church. We do it by paying attention to His Word, by listening, by actually looking at His Word. We're showing honor to Him when we want to see it ourselves, want to prove it to ourselves; that's a way of showing Him glory and honor, it's a way of worshipping. Worship is going to continue to be a part of the reason for a gathering, an ekklesia, a calling together, and a calling of an assembly, all the way into and through the Kingdom of God.
Turn with me to Zechariah, the last chapter of Zechariah, near the end of the Old Testament. You know, this prophecy in Zechariah 14 is about the return of Jesus Christ and what happens after the return of Jesus Christ, and we find that the same law that God has been following since the Old Testament and in the New Testament, the same moral law, the same holy days, the same Sabbath, same commandments, are going to be taught in the Kingdom after Christ's return when that Kingdom is here in its fullness. We're to be living by it now but, when it's here in its fullness, people will be taught to keep the same holy days. In verse 16, we can just read this one verse, Zechariah 14, verse 16.
Zechariah 14:16
Vs. 16 — "And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King" — they go to the Feast of Tabernacles to worship, part of the reason for the Church, part of a reason for the assembling of God's people — "to worship the King, the Lord of Lords, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles."
Again, that's what we're doing today. We gather to worship as a group as God's New Testament ekklesia and, eventually, all the world will do this as well.
The third main reason or major reason, purpose of the Church, is fellowship. It's fellowship. It's actually expressed in a number of different ways, expresses some of the current benefits of the Church, obviously, again as I said, we're given marvelous promises of the future, a chance to reign with Jesus Christ in the world tomorrow, a chance to be a part of the family of God, being given eternal life, but there are also some blessings that we receive right now by being a part of an assembly, a group, the New Testament Church that God is dealing with, the here and now.
These are the things that I really want to focus on today and, in one sense, they can be expressed by this one word: fellowship. We gain a lot of benefits by fellowship, by being a part of a group. There are lots of things that come to us; various New Testament scriptures talk about fellowship in different perspectives.
John wrote about it, talked about it, that we have fellowship with one another because we have fellowship with God; that's their common link. Again, the foundation is Jesus Christ. He's the common link and is living His life in us through the power of God's Spirit. It's a big part of this day also, isn't it? The gift of the Holy Spirit, through which God the Father and Jesus Christ live in us; that's what gives us the link with one another, it's what gives us that brotherly feeling of wanting to have fellowship, spending time with one another.
I would like to draw, though, in the time I have left, I would like to draw from one particular passage that I believe gives several of the benefits of fellowship, things that we receive as a result of fellowshipping with one another.
In I Corinthians, chapter 14, and the first one sort of overlaps a little bit, or, some of these, will overlap a bit with things we've already talked about in terms of the commission and teaching, but in I Corinthians, chapter 14 and the first verses of this chapter, I believe give us some wonderful insights into God's view of what we gain and what He expects to be gained by meeting together, by being a part of an assembly, a group that gathers to worship God to fulfill His commission and to fellowship with one another.
We can begin this in verse 1, I Corinthians 14.
I Corinthians 14:1-4
Vs. 1 — He said, "Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts," this falls on the heels of chapter 13, which is the love chapter, it talks a lot about godly love, he says pursue that, "desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy," that you may speak from inspiration of God; that's what the broadest meaning of the word prophesy means.
We think of prophecy and think, well, that means that on such and such a date, at such and such a place, such and such an event is going to take place; that's not what the New Testament word prophesy means, it can include that, but it simply means inspired speaking.
Here's what he said. I wish you would rather do — focus on gifts, yes, but most of all — that you would be able to be inspired when you talk to other people, when you speak with others.
Vs. 2 — "For he who speaks in a tongue," — you know, you have this spiritual gift to be able to speak in another language, something you haven't studied, God just miraculously gives you that power to speak that language — "he that speaks in another tongue doesn't speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries."
I mean, he can speak all kinds of wondrous things and nobody understands what he is saying and so he is, essentially, just talking to God, if nobody else understands that language.
Vs. 3 — He says, "But he who prophesies," he who can speak with inspiration of God, "speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men."
Vs. 4 — "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church." So, the focus here is on the benefit that comes from an inspired speech or inspired speaking — much more so than someone who miraculously speaks another language.
And, notice, he says three things that God expects — as Paul explains it — expects it will take place when we gather as a part of the Church.
He expects, first of all, edification. Edification — we think about that, well, that's, you know, I'm edified, I'm made better as an individual. Actually, you look it up in the lexicons, look it up in a lexicon, and they'll tell you the word is a word about construction. It's the same word that the disciples used — remember when Christ was there at the Temple Mount and the disciples showed Him all the buildings. Look at all these edifices, look at all these wonderful things on the Temple Mount! Beautiful buildings! And, Christ launched into the Olivet Prophecy. It's the same word that they used to talk about all these buildings. It's a construction term. It simply means to construct or to build up.
In Ephesians 4, God talks about the Church being built up. He talks about a structure that is designed to do that. You can hold your place there in I Corinthians 14, we're going to come back to that, but let's go to Ephesians 4 — chapter 4. God talks about a structure that Jesus Christ gave in the New Testament Church that includes evangelists, pastors, teachers. We can pick it up in verse 11.
Ephesians 4:11-16
Vs. 11 — It says, "And He Himself gave some to be," — and he lists these — " apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,"
Vs. 12 — "For the equipping of the saints for the work of (service or) ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
This is, again, that word edifying, the constructing, the building, establishing this building. We have been called God's building. We've been called God's building. You are God's building, Paul said, when he wrote to the Corinthians.
Vs. 13 — And, notice the focus in verse 13 is that we "come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,"
Vs. 14 — "that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in their cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,"
Vs. 15 — "but" — here's the goal again — "speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ"
Vs. 16 — "from whom the whole body, joined and knit together" — built, constructed — "knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
What he is saying is, yes, I've given you a structure, but what is the goal of that structure? That structure is to help the body work together, so that everybody supplies what they can supply. Every part does what it can do to work toward the goal of the whole group.
Now, that's a challenge when we're individuals, aren't we, because we've all got our own ideas of how we ought to reach a particular goal. It's not bad to have wrong ideas or different ideas, wrong ideas are the wrong words to use, but it's not bad to have different ideas and that's the way some look at it. Well, mine's the right idea and yours is the wrong idea. We have different ideas sometimes. That's not a problem, but the issue is that we need to come to the point that we can work together.
The President of United, Clyde Kilough, has spoken on a number of occasions, or a number of times about the benefit of a mission-driven Church, that we don't get blinded and focus in on the little things, but we keep in mind our ultimate goal. What is our mission? What's the commission God has given us and how do we best accomplish that? And, sometimes, it means, yeah, we'll pick one idea and sometimes we'll pick another, sometimes it may be one I think is the right one, sometimes it may be one I don't think is the best idea, but it's the one we pick anyway and that's the one I'll work with. I'll work to make that one work. It's learning to work together in unity.
One of the benefits of meeting as a part of the New Testament Assembly of God is that we should gain edification. We should be built together and we should learn to work together and that takes work, unity takes work. If you look back at verse 3, he says, "endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit," it's an endeavor, it's an effort, it takes work, and sometimes we express things, maybe, in a way we shouldn't express them and we need to learn from that. I need to learn from that, we all do. Analyze what we say and what we've done and learn ways to say it better to help bring us together in unity, but it's part of what we should receive by gathering together, again, as a part of this New Testament Assembly of God.
Secondly, in I Corinthians 14, the second phrase, you can turn back there if you want, I'm just going to flip back quickly, it says — it speaks of edification and exhortation — the second word is exhortation. Now that word is somewhat similar — if you look it up in lexicons, you'll find, or an interlinear — you'll see that it's somewhat similar to the next word that is mentioned and that is comfort, but there is a distinction. They are not exactly the same. There's a distinction between the two words and lexicons make this distinction that this word, for exhortation, has more to do with admonishing and admonition or a beseeching of something, where the other one is more in terms of what we think of the word comfort. It can be translated as "encouraging do the right thing". We should get an encouragement from meeting together to do the right thing. Now, sometimes, it's done without speaking a word, isn't it?
You may remember the old story of the pastor who went to visit a man who had missed church for months, hadn't been coming, and the two greeted at the door, walked in and sat down, and the minister looked at the fire, reached over and used some tongs and took an ember and set it off by itself and sat down, and they just didn't say a word. After awhile, the ember went out and the minister got up to leave and the man said, thanks for the powerful sermon, I'll see you next weekend. Not a word spoken! Sometimes it's by the example of one another, or in talking with one another we can encourage and inspire one another to do the right thing. There can be an exhortation without words passing between us, but it's an encouragement to do the right thing.
There are a lot of scriptures that begin with the phrase, I beseech you. I implore you. Paul was famous for using those types of terms. If you're still here in Ephesians 4, back up to the first part, at the very beginning of this chapter in Ephesians 4.
Ephesians 4:1-3
Vs. 1 — "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you...." If you look in the margin, my margin says, literally, exhort, "I exhort you." I encourage you. Please. I am pleading with you. He says, "...Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,"
Vs. 2 — "with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,"
Vs. 3 — "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit...."
This is just one passage that speaks this way; that we receive this exhortation to live as a true Christian. It's a beseeching. That's another benefit for us meeting every week, as a part of God's people, we're encouraged to follow Christian examples, either by the example we see of others around us or by what we read in the Word of God and what's expounded to us. We're encouraged to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, as we heard in the sermon yesterday.
The third point that he mentions in I Corinthians 14 is simply comfort and we've had some messages recently about comfort, as well. A very important part of what we are to gain, what God expects us to gain as a part of an assembly. The New Testament people of God, who assemble when He commands us — tells us — to assemble. We should gain comfort. Comfort from one another.
Lexicons point out that this word implies a much higher degree of tenderness than the previous word. The previous word can be an exhortation and sometimes that can come across to some people as strong; you know, you're almost yelling at me to do this or do that, but it's an exhortation. Like Paul said, I'm pleading with you, please. Please live up to your calling. Live up to what God wants of you. This word is much more tender word. It implies a tenderness of heart and a tenderness toward the other individual.
We're told the specific goal of one very familiar passage about the resurrection is that the words written would give comfort; that they would touch the hearts of those who heard those words, and they would be comforted by what they heard.
Let's turn to I Thessalonians, chapter 4; probably the second most famous passage beliefs in our culture, in terms of the resurrection. We go there often when we talk about the resurrection — I Thessalonians, chapter 4. Here Paul lays out a very specific timeline of what takes place when in terms of the resurrection and the return of Christ.
I Thessalonians 4:13, 18
Vs. 13 — In verse 13 he says, "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep...." I want you educated; I want you to understand; I want you to know. "...Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope."
You see, if you don't understand what I'm about to tell you, you could sorrow, like those who have no hope. You could give up hope and say, well, I've lost this loved one and I'll never see them again. Paul said I don't want you to stay in that state. I want you to realize there is hope and he goes on to describe what's going to happen and we believe that Jesus rose from the dead and God's going to bring back everybody. He's going to bring them back to life, as well. Christ is going to return and there's going to be the sound of the trump, He'll descend from heaven, the dead in Christ will rise. We'll rise together and be caught up with them, He mentions through the intervening verses.
Look at verse 18. This is my focus. Verse 18.
Vs. 18 — "Therefore" — since you understand that you know we're all going to be reunited at the return of Jesus Christ, all of the saints, and not only will we be resurrected, we'll be resurrected like Jesus Christ was, with a spirit body, not mortal, but spirit — "Therefore " — he said — "comfort one another with these words."
Have that tenderness, that concern for one another. This truth about the saints rising to meet Christ was to be shared with fellow Christians and to give them comfort; and by meeting as a group, God expects us to be able to do that.
Now, again, as I said, we've had some messages recently about that. There's some ways we need to learn to give comfort; but it is one of the things that God wants us to gain by meeting together.
This Feast of Pentecost pictures the founding of this assembly, the Assembly of God, the New Testament Assembly, the Church, as we call it. It's a marvelous and wonderful time.
Turn with me to Hebrews, chapter 12, as we close. Look at Hebrews 12, the way this is described.
Hebrews, chapter 12, first of all, talks about what took place in the Old Testament Assembly, Congregation, the Church in the Wilderness, as some have referred to it or called it, referred to it as. In Hebrews, chapter 12, beginning in verse 18, we're told:
Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-23
Vs. 18 — "You have not come to the mountain that may be touched...." The reference here, obviously, is to Mount Sinai, you'll see as we go through this, but he's obviously referring back to the giving of the law at Mount Sinai, which, by the way, seems to probably be on the day of Pentecost; but, he said, you're not coming to that physical mountain, "You have not come to that mountain that can be touched and that burned with fire, to blackness and darkness and tempest,"
Vs. 19 — "and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them." We don't want to hear God speak, Moses, let Him speak to you and then you speak to us, because we can't handle the noise. And so, God worked it that way. It was "the sound of a trumpet, the voice of words," all of these things.
Skip down a little bit to verse 22. It's where we'll pick it up here, but, he says:
Vs. 22 — "You have come to Mount Zion," not physical Mount Sinai, you have come to Mount Zion, spiritual mountain, the people of God, "to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,"
Vs. 23 — "to the general assembly," — ekklesia, called out ones, the Church of the Firstborn; actually, general assembly is another word, Church of the Firstborn is the ekklesia, the called out ones are the firstborn this day pictures — firstborn, also — doesn't it? Firstfruits — "The general assembly," we've been called to, "and the church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect."
Now, we might think it would have been awesome to be back there in ancient Israel. To be there at Mount Sinai, to hear this — you know, see all the thundering and lightening, and hear the noise, but we're part of something greater, we're told here in the New Testament.
It is much greater to be a part of this assembly: The New Testament Assembly of God, The New Testament Church.
Thank God for His Church through which we can better preach the Gospel, through which we can learn, through which we can worship and fellowship, and it is a great blessing, sometimes we may not always recognize it, but it is a great blessing, that that same organized body of believers also provides us a place where we can gain edification, exhortation, and comfort.
