What is a Church? (Part 1)

[00:00:00] Okay, so this morning we are going to turn the page and start a brand new study. I have no idea how long this study will be. [00:00:13] So I am not the highly skilled type of pastor, teacher, preacher that can plan out his entire sermons for the year. That is not me at all, rather the opposite. So. But I do think this would be a good topic to study for us. And the reason I say that and what I'm tentatively would like to call this study is just simply our church. [00:00:43] Our church. That's kind of what's in my mind. And the reason I want to cover this topic and we'll go into a lot of different areas, both theological and practical, but is that a number of people have come to me and asked me questions about our church and they want to know why we are the way we are. [00:01:09] Not in a critical way, but just. I was talking to Brother Ben and Brother Ari yesterday before evangelism, and it's just an observation that kind of took me by surprise, to be honest with you, because having been a missionary and not a pastor in the US everybody on the mission field, I was, you know, I was interacting with them as their first experience in Christianity, right? So really, for good or for ill, I was forming the basics of their understanding of what church is, what Christianity is, the spiritual life, all of those things, right? [00:01:45] And. [00:01:46] But when I came here and started to minister here, what I realized is, and I never realized it, even though I grew up here, I never realized it from the perspective of, in a role of spiritual leadership is that most people in the U.S. most people in churches, especially around here, they come to church. [00:02:08] In other words, they come to a new church, or perhaps they've been at a church. But back of that is a whole host of assumptions and expectations and experience that they bring to our church, right? And so that what that presents is a wide array of different, you know, questions. Because our church is obviously unique. It's not going to be like any other. We're not trying to toe anybody's line. We're not reading, you know, some church, some, you know, some big, big wigs, you know, church manual and following it point by point. I mean, we're just trying to serve the Lord in simplicity and stuff. So obviously it raises questions because people have previous experiences and expectations and things they wonder about and that kind of thing. [00:02:58] And so with these questions, it started to come into my mind, hey, maybe this is a good time to address some of those especially practical things. But also you can't answer the practical. And this is the key you can't answer the practical unless you first, you have a basis in the theological, because the theological is what grounds you to be able to apply the Scripture in practical ways. If you just start with the practical and you don't have a theological basis for it. And what I mean by theological is I don't want anybody's eyes to glass over. I just mean what the Scripture teaches, that's all. That means if we have a theological basis for these questions, then we can from that come the practical answers of issues, you know, and things like that on an individual level. So today we want to start with the theological and look at some scripture verses. And I want to address this question, and maybe we'll finish it, maybe we won't. Is, what is a church? What is a church? What is a church? And so that's what we're going to look at today. [00:04:14] And probably the first passage that I would like you to look at, you can just go ahead and turn there. We won't read it. We'll pray first. But is Acts chapter 19. [00:04:25] Acts chapter 19 and hold your place there and go to actually two other places, Hebrews chapter 2 and Psalm 22. [00:04:36] So we'll actually look at Hebrews 2 and Psalm 22 and then we'll go to Acts 19. They're all similar and related. Okay, so we'll go to Hebrews chapter two to begin Hebrews two, Psalm 22 and Acts 19. All right, let's pray together, if you would. [00:05:03] Thank you Lord, for the church that you have put us in a body, Lord, that we are not little islands independent of everyone else, Lord, that you put us together to create a people for your namesake. And Lord, we want to fulfill the purpose for which you have assembled the church to glorify your name in the earth, to show the grace of God and the love of God. [00:05:37] Lord, I pray as we study this subject as we embark upon a new series that you would give just every one of us, myself and as well as those who will be in the class, just clear understanding of the Scriptures. [00:05:53] And that, Lord, they would become the basis of our own thinking that not only would we have knowledge, but we would see ourselves and our place within the Scriptures as we study the subject of this, of our church. [00:06:10] So Lord, guide us today, Lord, help me to say the things that would encourage and help your people and help them to understand the truths of scripture better and help us to receive them in Jesus name. Amen. [00:06:23] So what is a church? Let's start with Hebrews 2, number 12. We'll see the word here? Obviously, this is not the first dimension of the word in the Bible. [00:06:32] We'll look at that a little bit later. [00:06:35] Hebrews 2:12 says this verse 12 is a quotation from a passage in Psalms, Psalm 22, which is where I mentioned a minute ago. [00:06:52] So Hebrews 12, verse number 12 says this, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. All right, so let's flip back to Psalm 22, Psalm number 22, Psalm 22, verse number 22. [00:07:32] Now, this is the source of the writer of Hebrews his quotation in Hebrews 2:12. [00:07:40] So this is the original of that he is quoting. But notice the wording is a little bit different. Psalm 22, verse number 22 says this. I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. So you'll notice the little switch there. There's a couple little switches, but the one we're looking at is in Hebrews 2:12, the word in the verse is church. And in Psalm 22, verse number 22, the word is congregation in the place of where the church is. Then in verse number 25, the Bible says this, My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. [00:08:24] I will pay my vows before them that fear him. So in 22 and 25, you have the same word, the same concept, a congregation. [00:08:33] And in the New Testament, the word given is church. Now, so let's start out by clarifying a few things. Okay, the word church. [00:08:48] We have 2,000 years of church history behind us, right? 2,000 years, essentially, of church history behind us. And with that comes 2000 years of tradition and of language and, and usage of terms. And what that has done is that has made the word church a very complex word, a very, very complex word. But really, in Scripture, it wasn't. The word church actually started very simply, and it became more complex as doctrine as it got more technical. [00:09:27] But the word church is a very simple understanding of it. Back in Hebrews 2, which is equivalent to Psalm 22, it all meshes together like pieces of a puzzle. But the word from which we get the word church. And again, if we're going to understand what a church is, as it's mentioned in the New Testament, we have to understand the way it is used in the New Testament, not the way it is commonly used in our lingo. [00:09:58] In most, most of us, most circumstances in our world, the word church refers to a building period that's all it is. It's a building. It's essentially a temple, right? That's what it is. That is precisely the opposite of what a church is in the New Testament, okay? So the word from which we get the word church or that is translated into church almost every time in the Scripture. [00:10:24] In fact, every time with the exception of three places which we will look at today. The word that is translated church is the. Is the Greek word ekklesia. [00:10:35] And it is a combination of two words, right? It is a combination of the word ek, which means out of, like, exclude, ex. That's where we get our prefix ex. [00:10:51] It means out of in English, and that's what it means in Greek. [00:10:55] And then the second word is where we get the word to call in Scripture. It's translated to call. [00:11:02] Like for instance, the first instance in the New Testament of this second kind of part of this combination word is when they called his name Jesus, right? That's all it means. And so you put the two together and it simply means called out, called out of. That's all it means. Now, that might not be readily and obvious to you, but if you hang with me for a few minutes, you will see why that is our word and the way it's used in Scripture and that definition are all in alignment, okay? So if you'll look at. I don't know if you're still in Psalm 22, but in verse number 22, it says in the midst of the congregation. [00:11:45] So if I have. [00:11:51] So say you go to a football, a football game or a baseball game. So you go to a Greenville Drive. Anybody been to Greenville Drive? I've been to Greenville. It's pretty neat. Nice, nice. Nice stadium. You go to a Greenville Drive game, and what do you have there? You have a crowd, right? But in a way, in a way, at its. At its core, that group that's within the boundaries of that stadium is a church. You say, what is a church? It's not even religious at all. But again, the word church is not religious, as you'll see in a minute. Originally, it didn't have any religious connotations at all. None at all. [00:12:29] But it's a church. How is that? [00:12:32] Because when the baseball team announced its schedule and put tickets on sale, they essentially made a call, right? They made a call for anybody that wanted to go to the game to buy tickets. They bought tickets and they assembled in the stadium. And so here's the idea. So those people were called out of the broader group of green billions humanity, however you want to Term it. That's all it means. That's all it means is you have a group, an assembly of people who are called out of the broader group of humanity. [00:13:15] That's what called out of. That's all it simply means. So really, the word church can be properly applied in its basic definition, in its maybe elementary definition to any group of people. [00:13:29] And that's why we apply it to you guys here in this building right now. [00:13:34] You are a group. You are a small group of the broader group of humanity that has come here, right? And so that's the basic idea. That's why in Psalm 22, the word is translated in the Old Testament. It's the equivalent of the word congregation. Congregation. [00:13:55] So let's go to Acts, chapter 19 and look at that and get a little bit more nuance in this. [00:14:05] In this word. Acts 19. Look at verse number 30, verse number 29, Acts 19, verse number 29. And the whole city, this is at Ephesus now, this big riot. And the whole sea was filled with confusion. And having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theater. Okay? So you have all the people of Ephesus, that's the broader group. But now you have a subset of that group that is going into the theater, into the amphitheater where they would hold, you know, different events and such. So now you have a subset of the broader group. They're called out. They're there for a specific reason. Now, notice what it says here. Verse 30. [00:15:08] And when Paul would have entered into the people. In unto the people the disciples suffered him not. [00:15:17] And certain of the chief. I'm sorry, let me get my verse back. Okay. And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theater. And some therefore cried one thing and some another. For the assembly was confused, and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together. In verse number 32, the word assembly is the same word that is in other most places translated church. There is no religious aspect to this at all. In fact, this is a mob. [00:15:50] This, in this case, it's a mob. Then you keep reading. In verse number 39, you drop down in the same context the leader there says, or the official. [00:16:04] But if ye inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. Same word. [00:16:12] For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar. There being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse. And when they had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly. Assembly, same word. Now, that's the word from which we get the word church. But again, notice there's no religious ties to it in this case at all. Which shows it demonstrates that this word originally was just a regular word. It just meant an assembly, a group, a group, a subset of the larger group that is called together. You have to understand that. Here's the takeaway from this. Here's the takeaway from this. [00:16:49] The only thing that church biblically has ever meant is a group of people. [00:16:56] At no point in Scripture or otherwise is it a reference to a building or an edifice. Now, we know once you get into the theology later on in the New Testament, we know that the church is referred to as a temple, but that's referred to as an analogy. [00:17:15] The church itself is not. It is. The very word means people and nothing else. That's why you say, well, why does it matter? You know, why does it matter? We do that. Well, because what happens is when you get this, when we start to misunderstand what the church is, then you start to have downstream effects of that, and we start to. [00:17:40] We start to misunderstand what the building is for. We start to think, honestly, what happens is to be direct. What happens is the building becomes more important than the people. [00:17:56] And it's not supposed to be that way because the building is just a building. You know, there's nothing holy about the building outside of the fact that it's dedicated to the Lord. But as far as, like, scripturally speaking, there's nothing holy about the building. Just think of how. Think of how sweaty and grimy all the workers that put the bricks on and, you know, framed it up and all of that. Think of how sweaty and grimy they weren't very holy when they put the building. Here's the point. The point I'm making is that the church is not about that. The very word means people. The very word means people. We have to get that distinction clear if we're going to understand what a church is. A church is, number one. It is people. [00:18:41] Let's look at one other passage of scripture that is just an interesting passage. Go to Acts, chapter seven. [00:19:03] Acts, chapter seven. [00:19:14] Let me just run this rabbit trail a minute on the difference between the building and the people, the church being the people. [00:19:24] As you know, I've seen people get very upset. [00:19:30] I have observed, and you probably have, too. [00:19:33] People get very upset, far more upset over the way the building is treated or a rule about the building being violated or whatever, than they are upset about the people who. Is the church. Right. [00:19:56] Having sin in their lives. [00:20:00] You know what I'm saying? [00:20:02] Why does it grate on us that, you know, for instance, somebody wears a hat into the building? [00:20:08] I mean, there's no scripture that says that at all. You know, of course, when you're talking about worship together as a congregation, that's different. But I'm talking about when you enter the doors. You know, some people, like, they. You know, they lose their mind over that. But very little, you know, it's not that. Okay, well, sin among the congregation is. We don't say, well, that's not a big deal. But does it rise to the same level? Does it bother us as much? And what it demonstrates is a little bit of this cultural stuff. You know, we can't get our scriptural definitions just from the cultural Christianity that we. That surrounds us. It has to be from the scripture, because, again, whatever our belief system is will absolutely affect the way we treat spiritual things. [00:20:57] And, you know, another. Another example. I'm on a rabbit trail, so just hang with me, okay? We'll catch you in a minute. Another thing is the pomp and circumstance that have been associated with the building, right? In other words, people come in, they're dressed in their Sunday best, and they, you know, they. They put on airs, and they present themselves, you know, And I'm not saying people that dress up are doing that, of course. I mean, they might be, but, I mean, I can't see people's hearts. That's certainly not why I dress up. But. But you've seen it, you know, you've seen where people do that. And, you know, and that's. That's the thing. People do that. And nobody asks a question. Oh, they look so nice. Nobody asks a question how they are when they leave the building or. I shouldn't lie in church. [00:21:42] You are the church. [00:21:45] Should you lie when you leave the church building? [00:21:48] See, it's a basic and fundamental misunderstanding. [00:21:52] You are the church. At no point do you leave and not be the church. So therefore, whether you lie here or whether you lie there makes no difference to the Lord. [00:22:04] It doesn't make it worse because you do it here in this geographical location. Why the church's people. Right, okay. Acts 3, Acts 7, 38. This is an interesting verse, verse number 37, to pick up the context. This is that Moses. This is Stephen's sermon now, which said, unto the children of Israel, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren. Like unto me, him shall ye hear this. Is he referring to Moses that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us. [00:22:50] Isn't it interesting that in verse 38, the word church is mentioned right now? I'm not going to make a big deal about that. I mean, some people, like, they just. Oh, man, make a big deal of it. And I'll give you one way they make a big deal of it. And this is just so surprising. [00:23:06] In Reformed theology, this verse is cited to say that the church existed in the Old Testament. [00:23:19] Right? The church existed in the Old Testament. But the problem is that all the word means is congregation. You see, what they've done in that line of thinking is they've taken the religious meaning, which doesn't come to later, and they apply it retroactively, apply it to the Old Testament. [00:23:43] All this is saying is the congregation of Israel. That's all it's saying. You would not go back to Mount Sinai or the wilderness, which is what this is speaking to where the people of Israel were, and see a nice little building with a little cross on it, the top, and they get together and sing hymns. That is not what you see here. This is just a reference. It's a generic reference to the congregation. Let me show you what I mean. Go back to Exodus, chapter 12. [00:24:09] And I would even go so far as to say this is a nuance of the. Of the King James Bible, because this word was translated. You remember, in Acts 19, it was translated. Assembly here is translated church last, with that religious kind of overtone, at least the way it is now. And the people who want to see the New Testament church in the Old Testament, even though it was hidden, but that's a side issue. [00:24:37] They don't like having it. They don't generally have any particular affinity for the King James Bible itself. But yet, anyway. [00:24:46] All right, Acts. I'm sorry. Exodus, chapter 12, verse number three. Look what it says. [00:24:51] We'll just go through these really quick because I want you to see this truth. [00:24:55] Verse 3. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the 10th day of this month shall you take to them every man a lamb. Look at verse number six. [00:25:06] And you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it. Verse number 19, same chapter 7 days shall there be no leaven found in your houses. For whosoever eateth that which is leavened even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation. You know what that is? Cut off from the congregation. That is the Old Testament. [00:25:32] I want to say equivalent, but the Old Testament comparison to what we refer to as church discipline. [00:25:43] Now, the thing is, when you're cut off from the congregation, they killed you. We don't have that here, thankfully. [00:25:52] Right. [00:25:53] If you sin and you sin or I sin, we have to be put out of the congregation. We're not trying to kill you. [00:26:03] We're not Protestant. [00:26:09] That's right. [00:26:12] This is what. Y'all know what I'm talking about, right? I'm talking about John Calvin in Geneva. Right. [00:26:18] We don't. Listen, Brother David. You know, Brother David and I have had extensive conversations on the subject of political issues and how, you know, kind of overlaps with Christianity and that kind of thing. You know, even if we had our druthers. That's a good Southern word. How many of you don't know what I just said? [00:26:38] Wow. Okay, well, we need to change this subject and go to learn English again. [00:26:44] Druther comes from the word. Brother Vernon, he knows what druther means. Of course he does. He came up in Tayar. He knows what druther means. It means would have what we would rather have. Okay, it means rather, but it's would have what we would rather. Druther. Druthers. A lot easier, I think. So if we had our druthers and we could have all the laws in our country right as we wanted them, which we don't. [00:27:21] It would not from a scriptural perspective. It would not be killing unbelievers. [00:27:29] It would not be that. Okay, but there are people who absolutely believe this. They absolutely believe that. And would. I'm talking about Christian types, would indeed impose that. You know where they get it? They get it from the Old Testament. They don't get it from the New. Here's the point. [00:27:49] Okay, I lost my train of thought. [00:27:52] Go back to the verse, okay, so you have the word in Exodus 12:19, you have the word congregation. Oh, yeah. Being cut off from the congregation of Israel. In the church, we don't have any. We don't. We don't have the death penalty. That's not how it works. Now, in civil government, there is, but not in the church. What you're starting to see is there is a distinction, and maybe you could even say compartments in the Lord's dealing with people in different times and different periods and different peoples. Okay? And that's something you start to see, distinctions. The problem is theologically, because this is a theological Sunday school is when you blend it all together and just throw it in a big pot. The problem is you get some crazy stuff that comes out the other end. And so when the Lord makes distinctions, they're distinct on purpose. Okay, so let's keep on. Look at Exodus, chapter 16, verse number nine says this. [00:28:45] And Moses spake unto Aaron, say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, come near before the Lord, for he hath heard your murmurings. And it came to pass as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel that they looked toward the wilderness. Look at chapter 17, verse 1, and all the congregation of the children of Israel. You see this a lot. And I'm just. This is just a sampling all the time. You have. You have groups of people being assembled together. You have the large congregation of Israel, which is distinct from the larger group of humanity. And then even within Israel, you have a smaller. Like they would blow the trumpet and they would assemble for war. That was in a way, sort of like the same kind of congregation or assembly for that purpose. Here's the point. [00:29:38] All right, so when we talk about the New Testament, here's what. When we talk about the New Testament church, the word itself, here's what it implies. If you want to write this down, this is kind of a. This is broad brush kind of at its core. What do we mean when we're referring to church? Here's what we're talking about, Number one, is the word church implies a distinct group from the broader group from which these are called. [00:30:08] Right? Some people have a problem with the term universal church. How many of you have heard of that? Universal church? Well, it's certainly not universal. I mean, the word universal means uni, which means one. [00:30:23] So it's certainly not universal in that sense. Not everybody in the world is part of the church. So. But it is a distinct group from the broader group from which these are called. Okay? So that's the idea called out. Okay. Number two, the word church implies a limited group or a defined group. [00:30:49] My example with the baseball game, the Greenville Drive game, that's the reason this implies a limited group is for the same reason that they can count the number of attendees. [00:31:02] It's not everybody. It's a certain group that has been called out, that has assembled. Right. That's why they can say there's 25,374 people present at the game. [00:31:17] So when you say the word church, and this is why it's so important, okay, because we're going to get into the Question of church membership, local church membership, later. But it does raise. It does kind of go to that question, which is, there is a definition to it. It's not everybody. [00:31:40] They've been called out in a separate group. Okay? That's the idea. So with that comes an idea of definition. Who is in, who is out. [00:31:50] And after all, think about church discipline. Say a person was put out of the church and disciplined does not imply that they were in. It does. There's a definition to it. Okay? [00:32:01] And again, we don't want to take all of this too far, and I'll cover that much later, but it is there. All right, Number three, the word church implies that the group has been summoned or called. [00:32:16] Right? That's a blessing. [00:32:19] So you guys are part of the church of God. Right? Again, we'll define it all later. But you're part of the church of God. That means God has called you out of the mass of humanity. You're a special group. You might say the elect. [00:32:34] Right? [00:32:36] But you're called out. God is called. You're distinct in his sight. You're not like everybody else. And that's what the scriptures describe the church. The Lord views you as distinct. Right. That's why the Bible can absolutely say that Christ died for the church, and also he died for every man because he views them as distinct. Just because they're distinct doesn't mean it limits who he died for. It just means he views them distinctively. Okay? The last thing is the word church implies. [00:33:14] Well, maybe this is a negative. The word church does not necessarily mean that the group is actually together, but that they are distinct from those around them. And I don't mean distinct in the way they dress or their characteristics. I'm referring to the fact that they are part of the group. [00:33:33] So the group doesn't have to be together physically for that group to be the church. Going back to my baseball example, you know, you go into the, you know, back in the old days, I know now it's like phones and beep and you go in or whatever. But back in the old days, you would have a ticket and they would rip your ticket off and you'd have the stub. And then you go your way. Right after the game was over, you go your way, but you still had that stub. You know what that meant? You were part of that group on that game in that night. Right? You had that stub even though you weren't together anymore. You could. [00:34:10] You could get together later, but you're part of that group that called out group and that's what that's like, the church, so you don't have to be together. [00:34:20] Is this not the theological basis for this stuff where you shouldn't lie in church, shouldn't gossip in church? No, no, no, no. Whether you're a church or not, you're still the church. Right. And this is the theological basis for that truth. Okay. All right, well, we're going to have to just break off there because it's time for church and I just used it wrong. [00:34:42] It's time for the meeting to start. [00:34:45] There you go. It's time for meeting. All right, let's pray.