The Church: What Is It All About? - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, August 19th. With so many churches to choose from, how do you know which one's right for you? Today's podcast gives a three-point evaluation tool you can apply to any gathering or denomination. to a church don't know much about it either. They just know that somebody told them they ought to join the church, or some people join a church because it's good business, or it gives them a little status, or it makes them feel good. It solves their conscience. They don't get involved.

They don't give. They don't pray. They don't read their Bible. They're not living a godly life. But somehow, if they can just go to church on Sunday, somehow that makes them feel better. Now, the question is, what is this thing we call a church to begin with? Well, let's think about it this way.

There's a Greek word, ekklesia, ekk out of klesia, called. The church is composed of those people who have trusted Jesus Christ as their savior, and as he says, called, the called ones, called out of the world system in order to unite together to live a godly life as a godly community. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a godly community of people who have chosen to receive Jesus Christ as their savior and live unlike the world system, but live unto God, a godly life.

That was and is his intention. So, when we think about what the church is, it is that body of people who have been called out of the world system, saved with the grace of God, and placed into that body. Now, for example, what's the methods of the church? Well, when I look at the scripture and see what Paul said about different things and how the church worked, for example, first, one of the methods, the primary method is prayer. Listen, God's church moves in proportion to God's people praying. Because what does prayer do? Prayer says that I'm acknowledging my need of God. And so we get on our knees to seek direction and guidance for the church, guidance for our lives, guidance for individuals, guidance for things that go, guidance for decisions we have to make. It is in prayer we seek his mind about decisions. It's in prayer that we get his message. It's in prayer that we are able to minister to people. It's in prayer, listen, when there's no prayer, there's not going to be any anointing of the Spirit on anybody.

I don't care who they are. You have all kind of gyrations on a platform, but I'm here to tell you, if it isn't bathed in prayer, it's not going to work. Churches must be praying churches, individual private prayer, praying together, corporate prayer.

Why? Because that is the source of the power of God because it is an acknowledgement that we need him. So what's the method of the church? First of all, we move by prayer.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit. What did he say? You know this passage by heart, I think. Luke chapter twenty-four, that forty-ninth verse. Remember what he told them? He said, Now, you sit down in the city of Jerusalem. You just stay here. He says, until you be endued with power from on high, clothed with power from on high.

Why? Because they weren't ready until the Holy Spirit came upon them. You recall also in Acts chapter one, he says, Ye shall receive power. That is God's divine energy and strength and loyalty. Ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth. Listen, God's methods.

Watch this. God's methods are prayer. And listen, and depending upon the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to make things work in the church.

That's the way God intended for it to be. The church moves by prayer. The church moves by the Holy Spirit. And thirdly, the church moves, listen, by the individual involvement of the saints.

Watch this. Go to First Peter. Second Peter, First Peter, look at First Peter. Look, if you will, in the fourth chapter. Chapter four, verse ten. He says, Be hospitable to one another without complaint, as each one of the saints has received a special gift, employed in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

How does the church move? Well, we move by prayer, by dependence upon the Holy Spirit, but by personal involvement. Listen, utilizing the spiritual gifts that God has given us. He's given to every single one of us a spiritual gift. God does not give them so we can say, I have the gift of exhortation. I have the gift of mercy. I have the gift of giving administration.

No. He gives it in order that we may employ it, put it to work in serving one another. So in the body of Christ, we are to serve one another. There are positions, there are places of service. For example, let's say that the people who work in our parking areas and direct traffic out there, you say, well, that's not a spiritual gift.

Yes, it is. For example, if a person has the gift of service, they love serving other people. They can stay out there when it's hot, when it's cold, when it's raining, when it's snowing.

Sleeting, hailing doesn't make any difference. You know what? Because they are serving the Lord out of their gift of service. If a person has the gift of giving, you know what? They're very cautious and very careful about what they give, but they're generous in what they do.

A person with the gift of mercy can pick up on somebody else's hurt and pain and suffering, whereas somebody else may not be able to. A person with the gift of administration can't stand confusion. So what happens? They want to organize things. Sometimes they want to tell you what to do also, but they want to organize things and they want to make things work.

But you know what? The truth is we need all of that. We need teaching. We need exhortation. We need administration and giving and mercy.

We need all of these gifts. That's the real way the church of God moves. And so when somebody says, well, what's the method of the church? The method of the church, the methods may change, but those three things better not change. Now people can use different methods of worship.

I absolutely understand that. They can have drama. They can have choruses. They can only sing old hymns if they want to.

It doesn't make any difference. A church has to do what they're comfortable doing, but never to compromise the message and never to be ashamed. Listen, never to be ashamed of the cross.

That's totally, absolutely unscriptural. That, listen, that's what it's all about. The cross of Jesus Christ is a central theme of the Word of God. It was what Jesus was all about when He came into this world. So some methods may change, but these methods must not change. We go on prayer on our knees.

We move in the power of the Holy Spirit and we move individually, exercising our gifts as God has given us those gifts. Now, so it's not entertainment. Some people say to me once in a while, you don't tell any jokes.

You know what? When I stand up here, this is not a joking matter. This is not a joking matter. Now some things may come out humorous because I make mistakes. I do understand that. But this is not a joking matter. We're talking about people's eternal destiny. We're talking about people where people are going to spend either heaven or hell.

This is serious business when you go to church. Happy? Yes. Delighted? Yes. Contented? Yes. Excited? Yes. Worshipful? Yes.

Loving each other? Yes. Absolute joy in our heart, but it's serious business. And so when we ask about what is the method of the church, very simple what the method is. What's the message of the church? Here's the message of the church.

Simply this. The sinful, lost, helpless condition of mankind without Christ. Message number one.

He needs a Savior. Message number two. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The love of God.

Message number three. Man is accountable to God for his life. So let me give you some scriptures so you can jot them down.

So we said, first of all, that message is threefold. The sinful condition of man, Romans 3 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says our sins have separated us from God. He says, many will say to me that day, he says, Lord, Lord, but he said, I will say to them, I never knew you. Depart from me.

Ye didn't work at iniquity. The sinful, hopeless, helpless condition of mankind. Message number one. Second message, the love of God. For by grace you say through faith that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

The love of God. That is a part of the message. Turn, if you will, to Romans. And look, if you will, in this fourteenth chapter.

This is the third part of the message. And that is man's accountability to God. Verse 10 says, But you, why do you judge your brother?

Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? We all, listen, for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For as it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall give praise to God.

So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God. What's the message of the church? Listen, it is not social reform. It is not politics.

It is not the environment. All of those things are important. The message of the church is the lost condition of mankind. The message of the church is the redemption that is, listen, provided through the cross of Jesus Christ. When men get saved, they will make a difference in every aspect of life. The message of the church is the accountability, the personal accountability of every single one of us to God. That's the message of the church. So, when churches become issue oriented, and all they do is talk about this issue and that issue and the other issue, you know what suffers?

The propagation of the gospel. When people are instructed in the ways of God, and they begin to live a holy life, they will make a difference. They will make an impact. They will be like salt and like light in their community.

They will make a difference. But the message must never change, and it must never sway to something other than, listen, the sinful condition of man, love of Almighty God for sinful man, and His provision at the cross, and the accountability of man. Those three things must never, never be set apart and set aside and substituted by anything else. That's the message of the church. Now, there are many aspects of those messages, but in essence, that's the message of the church. Now, one last thing, and this is the most important.

Somebody says, all right, I've heard every bit of that. Can you give me some kind of test that says, I want to join a church. I want to join the right kind of church. How am I going to know what kind of church to join?

All right, get ready. Because there's a threefold test, I believe, that will help you join the right kind of church, because every single person ought to belong to a local body of believers. That's where we exercise our gift. That's where we become involved in evangelism and missions. That's where we worship God together.

Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, which is the manner of some. But God brings us together to do what? He brings us together, listen, to worship Him. We are encouraged by seeing so many other people week after week. We're encouraged by seeing people coming from every part of the world. We're encouraged by being together, loving each other, and sensing the presence and power of God.

We love that. What is the, there's a threefold test. Now you need to get these down. And if you're not a member of a church, I would encourage you to write these down, ask yourself the question, is this the kind of church I want to belong to? So first of all, there is a doctrinal test. Jot it down, a doctrinal test. Test number one. That is the most important test. In other words, if they don't believe right, then you don't want to be a part of it, because they're going to indoctrinate you in some fashion or another, and certainly going to get to your kids. All right, doctrinal test.

Jot these down. Number one, the Bible. Do they believe that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible word of God?

That is, it is without mixture of error. Believing that the Bible is the infallible and inerrant word of God. Second doctrinal test, the deity of Christ. That Jesus Christ is not only the Son of God, He is God. If a church does not believe that Jesus Christ is God, then my friend, you don't want to belong to it.

Why? Because if He's not God, we have no hope of salvation. If He's not God, He's a man. And if He was a man, He was a sinner. And if He's a sinner, He can't die for my sins.

That means that leaves only me to die for my sin, in my sin, and to be lost and separated from God forever. The deity of Christ, and there are folks out there who do not believe that He's God. Deity of Christ, absolute essential. Number three, that Jesus Christ was virgin born.

Well, you know, I can't handle that part. The Bible says He was. And you see, what you have to ask is, am I going to believe this book or am I not? To believe that Jesus Christ was virgin born.

The Bible says the Holy Spirit conceived Him in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Either the Bible is true or it's not true. If it's not true there, maybe it's not true over here. If it's not true over here, maybe it's not true over there.

Probably not true over here. And so what do you say to your children growing up and you say, well, here's the Bible. This is, part of this is God's Word and part of it's not.

What would your son or your daughter say to you? Well, why am I supposed to believe something part of it's, which part's right, what's not right? What part's true, what's not true?

And so there's no answers to that. So we believe, first of all, that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God. Jesus Christ is deity. He's born of a virgin and that He, listen, He bodily resurrected. There wasn't some spirit out there floating around somewhere that Jesus' body disappeared because Jesus resurrected body as well as spirit. The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not only that, that church ought to believe that not only was He bodily resurrected, but He is going to return. Jesus Christ is coming again.

The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether you want to call it the second coming or His return, whatever you call it, but that you believe that Jesus Christ is coming again. Not only that, but you believe that there is going to be a judgment.

There is a judgment. There's going to be a time when man stands before Almighty God and gives an account for his life. And if somebody says, well, you know, I believe in the love of God and I believe those things, but Jesus Christ is coming again.

There's going to be a judgment. Not only that, that they believe that there's a heaven and a hell. That doctrinal statement ought to say that there's a heaven and a hell.

Now, I've left the last thing to last, not because it is last, but because it's the most important one of all. Listen, they must believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, went to the cross and died a sacrificial atoning death, which means that His death was not just the death of another man, but He died a death in which God the Father placed all of our sin upon Him, punished Him for our sin, and made it possible now that by faith we can accept Him as our personal Savior and be saved and eternally secure. That is the atoning, listen, the sacrificial atoning death of Jesus Christ must be a part of that doctrinal statement. Now, you go to a church and they don't believe those things, then my friend, for God's sake and for your sake and the sake of your family, depart. Because if it's not grounded upon the Word of God, then what is it?

You owe it to your children. You owe it to your children to raise them in a church where somebody believes this book because they're going to, listen, they're going to face a world of sensuality, idolatry, all kinds of sexual sins, and they're going to want to know, what do I do next? If they have a Bible that's partly true and not true, you know what they're going to do? They're going to do what comes natural. They're going to choose the part they believe that doesn't bother them and choose the part that they don't believe which bothers them and that's the way they're going to live.

And that's just as natural as it can be. You say, well, I don't think all that makes that much difference. Yes, it makes a difference. Listen, it makes a difference what you believe.

You know why it makes a difference? Because number one, it's going to determine where you spend eternity and number two, it's going to determine your lifestyle. What you believe determines your lifestyle. It determines how you're going to live. No hell, no heaven, no judgment, how are you going to live?

Because you will not live a godly life if you do not believe those things. It does make a difference what you believe. So the first test is the doctrinal test. Very important that you and I follow that doctrinal test.

Second test is this. Is that church building your faith? Is that church strengthening your relationship to God? Is that church enabling you to understand the Scripture? Is that church teaching you the principles of Scripture? Are they encouraging you to live a holy life? Are they giving you guidance, whether it's in the worship service or the Sunday school or whatever they're doing? Are they teaching your children the Word of God? Are they teaching you that God is in absolute control and that you can trust Him in every circumstance?

That we're not victims of our life, we are the sons and daughters of God living in an evil world and our God is sufficient to care for us. Third test, does that church have a ministry to the world? Is that church concerned about not only poor people and poverty-stricken people around them, but are they concerned about people around the world who have never heard the gospel? Are there missionary emphases? Are there evangelism emphases? Are you encouraged to share your faith? Are you taught how to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in your life? You take those three tests and, my friend, it will guide you to a biblical church, one where you will grow, one where you can worship God, one where you can fellowship with godly people, one where you'll be loved and where you can love in return and where you can rejoice. Listen, it is a great delight and an awesome pleasure to be a part of a local group of people who are doctrinally grounded in the Word of God, who love to be edified in the Word of God, and who are concerned about a world who does not know their God. Should a person belong to a local church? Absolutely. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, indeed.

Why? Because it was founded by Jesus and he didn't found something that he just left it up to us to decide how we felt about it. Listen, this is his church and we have his mission and his power to fulfill it.

And all the rewards the Bible talks about is just what comes back as a result of our being obedient to him. I challenge you, find a church that matches what we just described, join it, get involved, and let your life count around the world. Thank you for listening to Part 2 of The Church, What Is It All About? If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.