Belonging to the Church

When we are called to faith in Jesus Christ, we are called not only to come to Him but to come nearer to each other.

There's the picture of the Father and the family, or the picture of the head and the body. And so many of these pictures of what it means to be a Christian are pictures of what it means to belong to the fellowship of the church. Welcome to Renewing Your Mind.

I'm Lee Webb, and thanks for joining us as we begin a new week of study. Scripture tells us that he who began a good work in us will bring it to completion. That's the promise attached to our justification. But we realize that our sanctification, our growth in Christ, involves our cooperation, and there are disciplines that help ensure a faithful journey from conversion to our going home to be with the Lord. And we're going to look at some of those basics of the Christian life this week.

Our teacher is Dr. Sinclair Ferguson. One of the questions that keeps cropping up, and sometimes it seems to me more and more people are asking this question, if I'm a Christian, do I need to belong to the church? I think, to be honest, if you had asked a Christian in the New Testament that question, they would have wondered where you had come from because they understood that to be a Christian and to belong to the church are not two different things.

They're simply two sides of the same coin. And I want us to try and see in this session why this is so, why belonging to the church is so vital for us as we live the Christian life. And I want to look at it in two slightly different ways from two different passages in the New Testament. The first passage is a famous passage in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18 where you remember Jesus says to Simon Peter and the other apostles, Peter, you have made this confession and on this rock I am going to build my church.

Why is that statement so significant? First of all, it comes at a very decisive point in Jesus' ministry. Peter has just confessed Him to be the Christ and the Son of the living God. It also comes, interestingly, at a turning point in the gospels. We are told in Matthew's gospel, Matthew 16, 21, that from this point onwards, Jesus began to explain to them what it meant that He was the Christ and how it was that He would build the church as the one who died for our sins and rose again to be our Lord and Savior. But it's not only a decisive point and a turning point in the gospel, it's actually the central point in the gospel. Because there's a kind of manifesto atmosphere to what Jesus is saying here.

It's as though He's spelling out His program. This is what I came into the world to do, He's saying. I came into the world not just so that there would be individuals here and there who would come and trust in Me, but what I came to do was to build a church, to build an entire community of people. And so, I think we need to understand that the church lies at the very heart of Jesus' plan for His ministry. I mean, it's true that the word church, ekklesia, is used in the gospels only in this passage and a couple of chapters later on.

Only three references to ekklesia in all four gospels. And so, someone might say, well, if Jesus hardly ever mentioned it, it can't be very important, but the truth is the very reverse. Because as you read through the gospels, Jesus understands that His disciples have almost no idea what the church He is going to build looks like because they have very little idea of the kind of Messiah He is. And so, rather than constantly speaking about building the church, He gives His disciples all kinds of pictures that indicate to them that He has come into the world, yes, to save individual sinners, but chiefly in saving individual sinners to bring them together so that there will be a new community of God's people. And if you think about it, so many of the New Testament pictures that describe what it means to be a Christian are not individualistic but communal. The fact is that we are apparently to pray the Lord's Prayer in some form or another every single day.

How do we know that? Because we are encouraged to pray, give us this day our daily bread. So, that's an everyday occurrence. But do you notice the pronoun that's used? It's not, give me my daily bread. It's, give us our daily bread. We don't begin our prayers by saying, my Father in heaven, even when we're on. Even when we're on, we begin our prayers on our own by saying, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. So, even the Lord's Prayer teaches us that we never exist as isolated Christians, that we've been brought into the fellowship of Jesus Christ to belong to one another. Think about another picture Jesus uses. He is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep of His flock. I don't know if you've ever lived in a rural part of the world where there are shepherds and sheep, but if you have, you notice something happening when the shepherd appears, and as he gathers in his sheep using his sheepdog, they not only come near to the shepherd, but as they're brought near to the shepherd, they are inevitably brought nearer to one another. So that when we are called to faith in Jesus Christ, we are called not only to come to Him, but to come nearer to each other.

Or there's the picture of the Father and the family, or the picture of the head and the body. And so many of these pictures of what it means to be a Christian are pictures of what it means to belong to the fellowship of the church. You remember the picture Peter uses, we're like living stones being built into a temple. I think it was probably easier to put dead stones into a temple.

Dead stones make a noise when you chisel them, but once you've chiseled them, they are done forever. That's not true of Christians, is it? As God chisels us to fit together, He's constantly having to re-chisel us, because He wants us not just to be isolated individuals, He wants us to be a new community. Now, this is something we really need to understand in the twenty-first century, because we live in a day when families are dysfunctional, when communities are dysfunctional, when governments sometimes seem out of control, and it's within that context that the church of Jesus Christ can shine. We may be past the sell date for simply giving individual testimony to Jesus Christ, because people in our postmodern culture say, well, if that works for you, then that's fine.

It's never worked for me, and I'm not really interested. And so, you see, there is no purchase sometimes in other people's lives by the testimony that we give. But when there is a new community, men and women who watch that new community realize there is no parallel to this anywhere to be found.

There is nowhere else they can look to see this kind of community, to see things functioning the way they function. They may even hate what the Christian church stands for, but in a strange way simultaneously be marvelously attracted to the product of the gospel. And that gives the gospel purchase on their lives so that they say, what on earth is the secret of this new community? And the answer is the secret is not to be found in earth. The secret is to be found in the Savior who came from heaven. He came from heaven to restore us to a new community. And that's what He is teaching His disciples when they confess that He is the Christ.

But then we might ask another question rightly. If Jesus said that He would build His church, what did the church that Jesus built actually look like? Well, that's a question in which the wrong answer is the way I like to think about churches. And the right answer is, well, how did He actually do it?

I mean, it seems a kind of obvious answer, isn't it? That if we ask, how did Jesus build the church, then we should keep our heads down and our noses into our New Testaments and look to see how He actually did it. And it's very interesting that when you read through the Acts of the Apostles, it seems that Luke, its author, among other things, is intent on answering that question. Because every so often as you read through the Acts of the Apostles, you've probably noticed that Luke's video record of what's happening, apparently from time to time, he hit the pause button. And he says, okay, there's a still frame.

I want you to look at that. And so especially the first third or more of the Acts of the Apostles is punctuated by little still pictures of what the church was like. And if you read through the Acts of the Apostles, you really can't help noticing this.

It's one of the most obvious things. And it's very interesting that the first of these is at the end of Acts chapter 2, isn't it, in Acts chapter 2, verse 42, following. What do you find there? You find here the Spirit has been poured out. This new assembly of people has been gathered.

Three thousand people have been baptized. There are all of these new converts. And Luke says, let's press the pause button, and let's put this new community under the magnifying glass, and we'll see what the church that Jesus builds actually looks like. So Acts chapter 2, verse 42 and following are not haphazard comments. They're Luke very deliberately saying to us as readers of the Acts of the Apostles, when Jesus builds the church, this is what the church looks like. So there's a real connection between Matthew 16, 18, following, and Acts chapter 2, verses 42, following.

So what did that church filled with the Spirit look like? Well, first of all, Luke tells us it was a learning community. You remember, he says, they became addicts.

That's what he really means. They became addicted to the Apostles' teaching. They just couldn't get enough of it.

Now, why did that happen? Because you remember when Jesus prayed for the church in John chapter 17, one of the things He prayed for was that the Word of God would sanctify His people. The Word of God would transform His people. I think that's hugely important to understand because we live in an age when people want to be transformed, and they want to be transformed, and they want to know the answer to the question, what do I need to do to live this kind of Christian life? And Jesus' prayer explains the answer.

It's not something you need to do. It's something you need to have done to you and for you by the Word of God. My personal conviction is that has almost disappeared in the Christian church. We build churches in terms of, what do we need to do?

People want to know, what do I need to do? We live in a kind of self-made new community, and the one thing that is so often lacking is not what we do, but what God does to us and in us through His Word. And we've got indications, actually, of what this meant. Do you remember when there was a little division? Actually, it could have been a major division in the church.

In the mercy ministry distribution, there was a falling out between those who were native Greek speakers and those who were native Hebrew speakers, and people were complaining. Do you remember what the apostles said? Now, there were twelve of them again. At Judas' place had been filled, there were twelve of them. They said, we are so busy praying and teaching the Word that we cannot cope with this problem as well, so you need to appoint people who will do this.

Now, this is a very interesting thing. You may belong to a congregation of three thousand people. The Jewish only one or two people needed to preach the Word.

Why? Because the Word is so infrequently expounded, that's why. Why were they so busy? Because they were constantly pouring the Word of the gospel into the hearts and minds of the people day by day, as Acts chapter 2 tells us. That, my friends, is the reason for the quality of those people's Christian lives.

And us? Alas, in the twenty-first century, we assume you can live a strong and mature Christian life on the basis of a twenty-three-minute sermon, and preferably no longer. And the problem is we've never been to that other country where we've seen the product of this kind of teaching. Remember when Paul was in Ephesus, we actually are given little details of what he did. He hired the lecture hall of a professor of philosophy named Tyrannus.

I wonder if that was his nickname rather than his actual name. And he had the wisdom not to use his lecture hall during siesta time, late morning through late afternoon. And so, he could make a quick buck by hiring out his lecture room to Paul. And so, when everyone else was having their siesta, Paul was gathering the Christians every single day for a period of over two years. He was pouring the Word of God into them. Now, what evangelistic techniques did they need to use in order to spread the gospel?

Well, apparently they didn't use any. The Word simply spread because of this new community that was being created by the gospel. Now, we live in different times, different social structure, but this is what we desperately need today in the church, and we need it as individuals, to have the Word of God poured into us so that the Word of God will transform our minds and our lives will be renewed. So, first of all, they were a learning community, and then secondly, they were a sharing community. Luke uses the word koinonia, fellowship, the apostles' teaching. They were devoted to the fellowship.

What does that mean? It means that they shared their lives with each other. In fact, they not only shared their lives, they shared their possessions.

That doesn't mean they were early communists because we read later on that people had their own private property and they had the privilege and the right to do with their private property whatever they wanted to do. But what the gospel did was make these people want to share what they had, to love one another, to care for one another, to use their gifts for one another, to sense that although they were individuals, actually the more important thing about them was that they were part of a new community, and this, that although they were individual families, they needed to fold their family into the one family that will last forever. And they learned this. They were a learning community, and they were a sharing community. And thirdly, Luke tells us that they were a worshiping community. The reason they met in the temple, as you remember they do in the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, was not because they still thought of themselves as Jews, but because that was the one big space in town. And so they met in a special part of the temple. It was a public area in a way, and there they gathered for prayer and for worship. Because they understood this, that in worship and in prayer, they devoted themselves to the prayers. In worship and in prayer, we become what God has intended us to be.

You know, there's an application of that. Sometimes people say, not least in larger churches, you know, this church is very large. I want to get to know people. Where should I go to get to know people?

Do you know the best place to go to get to know people? It's the church prayer meeting. That's where you find out what the church really is, what its needs really are, that's where you hear the hearts of your fellow members. And yet, isn't it true in our churches today, you could hardly say that we are devoted to the praying?

Because after all, how would we get to know one another in that way? Well, the first thing to understand is that the church is the place where you get to know God, first of all. But paradoxically, the way you get to know the heartbeat of others, the concerns of others, the needs of the fellowship, the direction of the fellowship is when you are devoted to the worship and to the prayers. Fourthly, they were a multicultural community. They were a learning community, a sharing community, a worshiping community, and they were also a multicultural community. Now, that was true in part in ethnic terms, of course. And think of what happened on the day of Pentecost, people from all over the world becoming Christians.

But most of them at least would have been dispersed back home. So what do I mean when I say they were a multicultural community? Well, partly that God was bringing Jewish believers and Gentile believers together. But something else, God was bringing slave owners and slaves together. God was bringing parents and children together. God was bringing rich and poor together. And of course, this is why in our own day the church shines.

Because when, of course, this differs from context to context, but when God creates this new community in Jesus Christ, that new community is always going to have some kind of diversity. And it's the beauty of the way in which He brings us together in Jesus Christ in a way that nothing else in this world can that makes the church shine in the world. I ministered in a church once. I was standing at the back. I knew that there were basically no seats left in the downstairs part of the church. I watched a lady who was of very ordinary means come in, and I knew there was only one seat she could possibly occupy, and it was right beside a man who had been knighted by the queen, so he was somebody.

And I watched this lady walk down the aisle, sit herself down beside this knight of the realm, give him a hug, and plant a great big kiss on his cheek. I must say I wondered what his wife thought who was sitting on the other side, but I also sat back and I thought, this is why I love the church, because this happens nowhere else in the world that we are a community brought together like this. And when that happens, then the church is a fifth thing.

It's a growing community. And that's why this little section of Acts 2 ends by Luke saying, and by the way, do you notice that when the church is like this, the Lord added daily to the church those who were being saved. Later on, he tells us what I think is a most striking thing about this church in Jerusalem.

In consecutive verses, he says two things that seem totally contradictory. One was this, the church was so different from the world that people didn't dare join it. And the next thing he says is, people were crowding into the church. And that's a great lesson for us when people are saying to us, you know, the church needs to adopt and adapt itself to the modern world. It's when the church is like this church and people think, I'm not so sure I could possibly belong there, that God stirs up in them the desire to have what people in the church have, because when you have Jesus Christ and His church, you have everything you will ever need, both for time and for eternity. So if people say, do I need to belong to the church? I think the answer is, do you need to belong to the church? Think about what Jesus has made His church, and you'll want with all your heart to belong.

It's a matter of perspective, isn't it? If we liken church membership to a civic organization or, say, a retail club, we have the wrong idea. The church is God's plan for His people.

It's not an option. It's the place where the Holy Spirit equips us for our journey through this earthly life. We're glad you've joined us today for Renewing Your Mind. Dr. Sinclair Ferguson joins us all week to help us think through some of the basics of the Christian life. This is a great series for new believers as well as seasoned saints. We'll send the 12-part series on two DVDs to you when you give a donation of any amount to Ligonier Ministries. There are a couple of ways you can reach us to make a request.

One is by phone at 800-435-4343, or if you prefer, you can go online to renewingyourmind.org. Another resource that regularly addresses the basics of the Christian life is our daily devotional magazine, Table Talk. When you subscribe, not only will you receive the monthly printed edition, but you'll also have access to an ever-growing digital archive of past issues. You can search for articles and Bible studies by topic, Scripture reference, or author. Learn more and get a free three-month trial subscription when you go to tritabletalk.com. Again, that's tritabletalk.com. Tomorrow, Dr. Ferguson will begin exploring the means of grace God has provided for us, his children, and he's going to begin by looking at God's Word. I mean, what a thing it is for us to have a Bible and to be able to open the Bible and to say to ourselves, this is nothing less than the words that have proceeded through human authors from the very mouth of God. This is where God speaks to me. We hope you'll make plans to join us again tomorrow for Renewing Your Mind.