Why bother with church?

Church.  Besides ‘Jesus and politics’, this one word has the ability to conjure up more opinions in people than much else.  I knew of a friend who had a shirt made that said, “I survived organized religion,” or the bumper sticker I saw the other day that said, “God protect me from your followers.”  I am sure that is not a ringing endorsement for the mystery of the church, the body of Christ that Paul is writing about in His epistles.  Think of your experiences; some good, some bad, some encouraging, some discouraging.  Bottom line, where imperfect, sinful people are involved, even the best ideas can sometimes go astray.   

Some people are passionate for church, some are passionate against church.  Most can point to a bad experience they have had in church.  Many have stories about Sunday School, cookies and juice, vacation Bible school, baptism, communion, comin’ forward and much more.  Church is intensely personal, and getting it right all the time seems near impossible.  So what is the true purpose of the church?  Is your church following the Biblical model that was put forward by Paul?  What is your role in the church? 

One of the parts of the mystery was that believers are united with Christ through the church.  This is what Paul calls in Ephesians 5:32 a great mystery, “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” 

First, let’s learn all we can about the church from Ephesians 5:

23, “Christ also is the head of the church”

24, “the church is subject to Christ”

25, “Christ loved the church, and gave Himself up for her”

26, “sanctify her, having cleansed her”

27, “present Himself, the church in all her glory…that she should be holy and blameless”

29-30, “nourishes it, just as Christ also does the church because we are member of His body”

Colossians 1:25-26, “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the word of God, the mystery…”

Ephesians 1:22-23, “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”        

The Greek word for church as Paul uses it in the New Testament is Ekklesia.  This literally means to call out.  It can have a two-fold meaning, “all who call on Christ for their salvation…world wide” and “a local assembly of believers.”  Context provides the clues in each case.  When Paul used it in the above verses I believe he means the world wide church.  However, most of our experience with church will be local, and even if your local assembly gets things right all the time, think of how many national and international denominational rifts have risen in the last 2000+ years. 

In the following weeks I will look closely at the locally, called out assembly of believers as we try to, dive into the purpose, the composition, the product, how long it will last, and the behavior of the church.  I think if we can understand the essentials for the church, the body of Christ, we may be one step closer to understand God’s purposes and how we can be a part of them.  This is going to be quite a journey, but I know one I will learn much from.       

The seventh part of Paul's Mystery

7.  The seventh part of the mystery and possibly the most important is that the cross would bring salvation through faith alone.  Ephesians 6:19, “and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”

Ok, Paul once again takes ownership of this gospel calling himself its ambassador.  The word gospel involves the good news about our salvation.  Review I Corinthians 15: 1-4 if you are unsure what is meant by gospel.  Paul lays it out in its simplest form.  Christ came, died, was buried and rose again as the Scriptures foretold.  However, the mystery was that by putting your faith in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection all could be saved.  This was Paul’s gospel, it was so different from any salvation plan before.  Salvation previously always required one to do something external to show obedience.  For instance, one might need to, be circumcised, be baptized, keep certain customs and rituals to achieve salvation.  However, Paul is preaching a revolutionary new gospel that requires simple faith, adding nothing so that anyone who believes might be saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

If you are trying to work out your salvation through some external method (if I am good enough, attend church enough, give enough, take enough communion, or help the poor enough) you are not understanding Paul’s gospel.  If you are encouraging others to reach a prescribed level of obedience to reach salvation, please stop.  Hanging salvation over someone’s head until they reach some level of holiness is not the gospel.  This method of working out your salvation was tried under the Law and it showed how far short we, as humans, fall.  Galatians 3:22-26, "But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.  But before faith came, we were kept in custody (protection) under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.  Therefore the Law has become our tutor to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer uner a tutuor.  For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."   How blessed we are to live now when our salvation is through faith alone.

Check out I Timothy 3:19, this text is about our church leaders, “but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.”  You see, our leaders are supposed to hold to the mystery of the faith which is that faith alone achieves salvation apart from works.  Why is it we always feel, as a church, we need to put rules and regulations on people?  Will chaos ensue if people know that their salvation is by faith alone?  Will the church lose all of its morality if it understands the simple gift of salvation taught by Paul?  If you think this is the case, you are under estimating the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual who is saved by faith through grace.  You see, God has given us some amazing tools as believers.  We have the church (which I will go into more depth in future blogs), we have the Bible and we have the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit has been more successful bringing about morality in a person’s life than any set of rules ever has.  Let go of your rules, your customs, your unbiblical standards and trust the Holy Spirit to work in a believer’s life.

The seventh part of Paul's mystery is maybe the most important.  Understanding how to achieve salvation should not be mysterious.  Paul used simple words, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." (Acts 16:31)  Don't confuse people with Believe plus something, the gospel is simple by design, please don't add anything to it!