What Is the Church?

What Is the Church?

I am sorry it has taken so long to post here. I have completely neglected Habakkuk and it has been awhile since I got any notes up here. We have been studying Beatitudes on Tuesday nights and to me that is all about walking around and taking apart what it is to be a Christian. What does God want of me as one person. These notes are from the beginning of a series on what the church is. I think it is key to look at this. For me personally I have been critical of "church" and the biggest thing for me in this study is to know that my attitude is offensive to God. This fits though with the Beatitudes look at the individual - To be poor in spirit - realizing my complete spiritual poverty, mourning my own sin, and turning to God's holiness, seeking His righteousness. The Holy Spirit does not need me to judge any individual or even more important any group of believers. This will be hard but I believe that I prayerfully need to be moving in this direction so here I humbly submit:

Bible Study notes 07/20/08

If you ask most people what is the church they might respond - the building. A white building with a steeple and double doors is a picture that most of us might identify with.
Some would say it is a social place where relationships are built.
Some would say that it is like a government relief agency spending every dime to help every person in need who comes through the door and then, when a disaster happens spend the rest of their money flying to where they are needed.

While church should have aspects of all those things if you look to the bible for what church is supposed to be you will find three main pictures.

1. Biblically the church is the Body. Ephesians 4:11-16 tells us:

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all 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; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and 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.

Everyone in the body has a different purpose but they are ALL in ministry. The ministry is not just the pastor or worship team but God wanting to use the life of each and everyone of us right where we are at - in our family, our job, our school, wherever we may be. The pastor can't be everywhere we are so we are to be like 007 secret agent Christians. Pastors take the Word and pour into us to equip us to minister to a lost and dying world. If the congregation has the mentality that only the pastor, staff, worship team are in ministry then many times those churches die. In those situations the congregation becomes the watchers or audience.

So the first purpose of the church is to equip the body for ministry - "In Reach".

2. Believers - the Church is a group of believers.

Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

This is known as the Great Commission but in many churches it is treated as the great Omission. As the church we are commanded by Jesus to do this corporately as the church. We are to come along side and put a "spiritual arm" around others and pour into them.

To do this we again, need to be equipped.

In 2 Timothy 2:2 Paul tells Timothy:
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.

The second purpose is Out Reach - when we are given the opportunity we should always be asking the Lord how we can meet that particular need. We are to be equipped by the church to go out and come along side, pour into, and minister to a lost and dying world.

3. The Bride
John 3:29
He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled (John the Baptist is speaking of Christ)

As the Bride of Christ the church has a special relationship with the Lord. Does the Lord like it when people are critical of the bride? The Lord is into church. He is there in the midst, the bible tells us.

Whatever opinions we have about different churches Matthew 18 tells us :
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
It doesn't say anything about the building, the style of worship, how everyone including the pastor dresses, or any of the other petty things we say and think abut each other.

In Revelations 1 we are told that Jesus walks among the churches
And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man,"dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

To each of the seven churches He writes a letter that gives them a little picture of Him. Notice that no one church has the whole picture. The whole Body gives a more complete picture.

God wants to be worshipped

John 4 says

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus is the seeker - he is seeking believers

1 Corinthians 6:19

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

Psalm 73

28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;

Worship means to turn and kiss

There are different kinds of kisses - there is blowing a kiss - casual and keeping your distance

There is the grandpa kiss - get in and get out quick

Then there is the kiss that lingers - the bride

What kind of worship?

The third purpose of the church is Up Reach!

2 Kings 3 “Sing and Sweat”

2 Kings 3

Up til now Elisha had done great things but his ministry was mainly local. In 2nd Kings 3 he bursts onto the national scene. Jehoram is now the king – he is the son of Ahab and Jezebel (which means literally dung heap?)

In the past the land of Moab has had to pay a huge tribute of lambs and rams to the king of Israel and when Jehoram takes over the Moabite king says enough is enough – we are not paying any more.

Jehoram calls on Jehoshaphat, king of Judah to gang up with him to defeat the Moabites. They decide to attack through Edom, which is hot dry dead sea area - desert.

Jehoshaphat is a Godly man but he has a history of making alliances with evil people. He had made an alliance with Ahab that didn’t go so well for him. Back in the time of Ahab he allowed himself to be persuaded to go to battle with Ahab, disguised as the leader in Ahab’s place because it had been prophesied that Ahab would be killed. When the Syrians realized that he was not Ahab he ran away and they killed Ahab anyway. Alliances with evil cause pain, trial, and embarrassment every time and evidently Jehoshaphat doesn’t learn.

Do we learn?

Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.

For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

We are to be in the world but not let the world be in us.

My personal observation

It is easy sometimes to see that we are walking in the wrong direction, hanging on to wrong relationships. At those times it would be clear and we could extricate ourselves. I think it is often not so clear and maybe it happens a little at a time.

Back to Jehoshaphat – they attack through Edom. After seven days they ran out of water for themselves and their animals.

We run out of water – our time with God in the Word is dry and especially when we are in wrong alliances.

Jehoshaphat tells them that they need to go to the Lord and they ask Elisha what to do. Elisha tells them to do 2 things. Sing and sweat. He tells them to bring him a musician. While the harpist was playing he tells them that the Lord says to dig ditches. This area is near the Dead Sea which is the lowest point on earth. When it rains in Jerusalem the water pours down the mountains onto the plain. God wants them to dig ditches to use this water. They will have plenty to drink. This water and the sun created an optical illusion that made the Moabites think it was blood so, thinking that the kings had fought and killed each other they came down and were defeated.

I Sing - Worship

* There is victory is worship in 2 Chronicles God won the battle without a single sword being drawn

2 Chronicles 20

So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:

“Praise the LORD,
For His mercy endures forever.”^[c]
22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon

God won the victory but it began with praise.

James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

* Hard to maintain a bad attitude when you are singing

You come to worship and you are angry – you start singing and your heart starts to soften

* The Lord does some of His best work to background music

Job 38:4-7

4 “ Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.

5 Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?

6 To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,

7 When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Acts 13

1In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

- After they worshipped the Holy Spirit spoke

The bible tells us to wait upon the Lord. Not wait as in sit on the couch eating potato chips – wait as in how a waiter ministers to diners. What does the Lord want from us. Does He want us to worship? To fall on our knees and pray? Be in the Word?

II Sweat - Dig ditches

2 Kings 3: 20 The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was—water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water.

We have hindsight – we know that the optical illusion would win the battle but all Jehoshaphat knew was that he was tired and thirsty and God said – dig ditches! Begin with the morning sacrifice and keep digging.

When our time in the Word is dry we have to keep digging ditches – not physical, but spiritual ditches. Keep reading and praying and worshipping. Keep digging ditches and you will see that as the sacrifice of praise is made – God will send water and fill those ditches with His presence in accordance with the depth of the ditches.

Think about: God was obeyed and the ditches were dug and the enemy ran into the trap set by the Lord. If the Moabites had gotten closer they would have seen that it was water.

Some folks don’t read the bible because they say it is nothing but a book about blood and killing, or whatever reason they may give, if they got closer and deeper they would fall deeper and deeper in love with the Word of God.

Depth of ditch – depth of relationship