What is a Church? (Part 2)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: We're going to be continuing our study on what is a church and looking at various aspects under the series our church, where we're going to be looking at not only doctrinal and theological truths about the church, but also looking at some practical questions and practical issues regarding church and church membership and, you know, those kinds of things, especially as it relates to our church. But we got to build some groundwork before we get there, and so that's what we're going to be doing. So last week we looked at the word church and we defined it and we saw how that the word church just basically comes from a word that means to call out. And we used the illustration of, you know, a baseball game where you have a group of people that have been, that have purchased a ticket and thereby have been called out from the broader population to be a crowd, to be a spectator at the baseball game. And that's kind of the idea, the core non religious, kind of generic meaning of the word church. We did see also if you, I don't know if you wrote down the notes or not, but In Acts chapter 19, three times the word assembly is used, and that first for the same word that's also placed as church in Scripture. And then we also saw. But in Acts 19, I'm just reviewing a little bit. In Acts 19 we saw that in those three places where the word assembly is used, it is not referring to a religious assembly, but to an assembly for another purpose. But again, same word. And then Hebrews 2, verse number 12, compared with Psalm 22, verse 22 and verse 24, 5, we see that in Hebrews it says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And I saw, I explained that many times as a result, or sometimes as a result of the mention of the word church in our Bible, the English Bible, in Hebrews 2:12, people have assumed that the church as we understand it existed back in the Old Testament, because this is a quote from Psalm 22. But when we go back to Psalm number 22, verse 22 and 25, we see that the word under there for church is translated congregation, which matches exactly the definition that we saw for church. And then we looked at Acts chapter seven, and there is one mention of the word church, church in the wilderness in Acts 7, verse number 38. And that is a reference to the assembly of Israel in the wilderness. And again, that is a generic use of the word. Again, it just means a group or an assembly, a congregation. And we looked at several Examples of the congregation of the Children of Israel in Acts 12, Acts 12, I'm sorry, Exodus 12, Exodus 16, and Exodus 17. And so we kind of boiled down our study to these truths and summarize them like this. The word church implies, number one, a distinct group from the broader group from which these are called. All right, that's one thing. It's distinct from those around them, not necessarily in qualities, although that's true, but by virtue of their callings. Number two, it is a limited group. The word church implies a limited group. It is not undefined. In other words, the people within it are defined and the people without it are defined. So I can say, and we'll see this some today, we'll see at the very end of our lesson today that if you are not part of the church of God, you're not going to heaven. But it's a spiritual truth. It is an actual biblical truth. Why? Because it's a limited and defined group. And I'll explain what I mean in just a minute. I'm not referring to Choice Hills Baptist Church, but it is a defined group. In other words, those who are in it and those who are outside of it is clear, clearly defined. The word church also implies that the group has been summoned or called. In other words, for us, in the church of God, we have been called by the Lord out of the greater humanity. And what that means is the Lord sees us and categorizes us and therefore treats us differently than the world at large. And this is why the scripture, you know, we're called God's people. We're called saints, many other way, the family of God. There's many other ways that. And analogies that are used to describe the relationship of God with his people. But the core truth is we have been called out of the broader humanity. Okay, lastly, number four, the word church implies. The word church does not necessarily mean that the group is actually physically together. And this is easy to illustrate, right? We have people that can't be in our services on. On Sunday, like, for instance, Brother Muxlo. And today Sister Judy's not. Well, they're still a part of our church, right? Our local church, even though they're not physically present. So you don't have to be physically present necessarily to be a part of the church. Because, again, it's not so much the physical presence as it is the being called out, being part of the group, the club, if you will want to put it like that. But even though people might not be physically present, yet they are still distinct from those around them by virtue of the fact that they have been called out. So that's what makes them distinct. So that's what those are the kind of the core and basic and foundational ideas behind the word church. Okay, now, so as I said last Sunday, we can use the word church in reference to something generic, right? In this way, just a group. And we don't ever use it like that because the word has so many attachments and connotations and religious, you know, things like that. And so we don't do that. If we're going to talk about a group, we say group or assembly or crowd or something like that. But in cases. But what you find in the New Testament is the Lord takes what we see in the Gospels, what, what we see In Acts, Acts 19 in particular, he takes a word that was not originally religious and he assimilates it, if you will, into his doctrine, right? And so he starts using this word, but he's not using it anymore in a basic and a simple way like that. He's using it in a specific way. In other words, when he's referring to this group, it is a specific group. We use the term the church. So this is not just any assembly. This is the special assembly that is defined by the Lord in Scripture. Does that make sense? Does that make sense? So you could talk about, as an example, if you could talk about the various. I don't really like to use this word, but talk about a club as an example. There are many clubs. You say a club. Is this a. A club is that has membership, you know, whatever, whatever. You say a club. But if you're part of a club, you can refer to the club just as the club. And everybody knows what you're talking about because you're referring to a specific club. And that's kind of the way the church is. So starting In Matthew, chapter 16, the Lord begins to use the word church in a specific way, referring to a specific group, a theological way. No longer in this kind of basic way, but it's in a theological way. And here's the trick is he doesn't only use it in a in one kind of theological way, he actually use it in at least two theological ways, and it becomes highly specific. Now, why does this matter? Why am I going on and on about this? The reason it matters is because we have to understand what we're talking about when we say church, right? In other words, you have to understand what it is, what defines it, and what makes it, gives it its identity. Because from that foundation upon that foundation, we build the truths that directly affect how we operate and how we live and how we interact with one another and with the Lord. And I mean, it goes into, you know, things like church discipline, it goes into things like how we operate ministries and all that goes along with that. And there's these are things I hope to discuss especially, you know, especially when we go into the mission conference and things we'll touch on as we approach that. Okay, so let's, let's pray. And then I want to look at a few verses in the New Testament, several verses actually, and we'll continue our study. Father, thank you for Lord, we do thank you for the church that you have built and are building, Lord, I thank you for the people that are here today and those that are listening in, though they cannot be with us physically. Please strengthen us by your word. Help me, Lord, to say what your people need to hear. And they would grow in instruction and knowledge and wisdom and the grace of God. And I pray that you would just stir us up. And I especially pray that these truths, these theological truths, really scriptural truths, would not remain just theological truths, but they would be extended to application and that each and every one of us, each and every person in our church, would see the great value in being 100% dedicated and devoted to serving you with one another in our church, Lord, because that's the goal. We want your name to be glorified through us as a body. And so, Lord, we ask you to do what man cannot do, to work in people's hearts to make people see that your eye and your focus is on the church of God. And so, Lord, help these truths come out plainly today. Would you do that for us? We ask in Jesus name. Amen. All right. So as we saw the use of the term from which we get the word church existed prior to the it existed prior to the New Testament scriptures. You know, you could talk about going back to the Greek language. It was, it was a word in existence prior, right? It wasn't like coined by Jesus in Matthew 16, where it first occurs. But as I said, what the Lord did is he took a word and he chose that word to describe his people in this age. And that word, and it's very interesting because although there are other ways to describe the people of God, like I said, family of God, saints and on and on, this is a very specific word he uses to describe his people now as compared to how he described his people under the Old Covenant. There's a distinction right now and of course we understand that even under Israel we know that there were congregations of people and all that, but that was just descriptive of their activity, not of their identity. But that's not the case in the New. The New Testament is different. There is a distinction made in the Old Testament. The primary way the Lord referred to his people, especially when you get into the kingdom era, that it is as a kingdom where a king and before that it was kind of like a theocracy where there were civil laws and those kinds of things. But that's not true of the New Testament. New Testament has no civil laws because it is. We are a spiritual people. That's why the terminology changes. There's that distinction. Be careful. Be careful of theology that doesn't recognize that and tries to blend it all and mash it all together into one, into one mush. Because it creates a lot of theological problems that especially in the Old Testament, but also in the New, that you have to just. You have to kind of fudge it to make it, to iron it out. And it doesn't always turn out very good. And so now, as I said, there is some similarity to the people of God in the Old Testament. As I said, people were assembled at various times. And so let's go to Matthew, chapter number 16. The key point I'm trying to drive home to you and help you to understand, and I trust you'll see it with your own eyes in this Scripture, is that when we get to Matthew 16, which is the very first occurrence of the word church in the New Testament, when we see it, this is a new thing the Lord is introducing. Now, he doesn't say. The Lord doesn't say. Now listen up, disciples, I'm about to tell you something new. He doesn't preface it like that. He just says it, right? He just says it. But if you pay attention to it, you can see that the Lord not only for the facts of it, you know, and the truths regarding what the church is, but you can see that he is introducing a new concept, right? Not only the first use of it, but he's introducing a new kind of entity, something that didn't exist prior. I'll show you in a minute. Okay, Matthew 16. And we are going to go to verse number 13. When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am. How many times. I'll even mention it today in the service. How many times have we seen in Matthew as we studied Matthew, it seems like every story revolves around the question of who Jesus is. Here it is again. It's like all throughout Matthew. Is he Christ or not? Is he the Son of God or not? That's the key central question in Matthew, it seems. Here it is, who do men say that I, the Son of man, am? And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist. Some say Elias, and others Jeremias or one of the prophets. And he saith unto them, but who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee. But my Father, which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter. And upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now reading verse number 18. Not reading into it. I want to ask you a question. At the moment Jesus says, this is the church in existence. Now, I'm not asking about theology. I don't care about theology. Forget theology a minute. Theology is what confuses the text of Scripture. Okay? When you have this theological thing you want to prove, and then you look at it and you see, of course, you see whatever your theology is in the text, but based upon the grammar, does it appear that the church is in existence? It says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. Two times he uses future. Two times he uses future. Right? And remember, he's talking about Peter. He's using a play on words with Peter's name, which means a stone. Right? So he's using a play on words. So he's talking about the foundation of it. Okay, you with me? I'm not going off the rails here. It's just looking at the grammar. So if he's talking about something that is future, why is he talking about it? Well, it's simple. It's preparatory. He doesn't say, now listen, this is new. I'm about to tell you something that's, you know. No, he just says, I'm going to do something, Peter. And of course, we know the church of God is founded upon what the apostles and the prophets. So it makes perfect sense that he says this and I'm borrowing New Testament truth, right? To kind of shine light on what we're reading. Verse 18. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give unto thee the keys. Notice it's still future. Now, Peter doesn't have the keys. Okay, you see, it he doesn't have the keys yet of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ from. Now, notice, I'll just say this kind of as a potshot notice 21. Jesus, he says, okay, I'm going to build the church. And they probably like the church. What is he talking about? The church? Okay. I mean, you imagine if you're Peter, okay? Just put yourself for a minute. Just kind of close your eyes and put yourself in Peter's place. Based upon what you know of Peter, of what Peter knows at this moment, what does Peter likely think Jesus is talking about? The kingdom? I don't have an answer. I'm just brainstorming. What is Peter thinking? This assembly, this group. Jesus says, I will build my group. I'm just. I'm trying my best to separate the theological idea from our mind because it's so stuck in our mind, right? So let's just. Let's do that. I will build my group. I will build my congregation. What does he talk. What does Peter likely think? I think Peter probably doesn't even know what he's talking about, right? It's not clear. This is the first time he said it, right? And then right after, he brings up another new thing, which is what's going to happen with the cross. And Peter tries to say, it shall not be. And Jesus says, get thee behind me, Satan. So here Jesus is talking about, you're the foundation of the church. And here the devil's already in the church. Church hadn't even started yet. The devil's already in the church. Let's just, you know. So we see that the Lord is bringing into existence. He's describing in preparatory language what he is going to do. Now go over to Matthew, chapter number 18, Matthew 18, verse. Let's go down to verse number 15. Now, we're two chapters over, and I want you to notice something, right? Remember what we said in 16. Not our verse, not 16, 18, which is I will build my church. But right after that, when he was talking about, I'll give you the keys. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. That part, because he's about to repeat it, okay? Matthew 18, verse number 15. Moreover, if thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. You don't get bitter. Don't hold it in. If it rises to the level that you can't get over it and forget about it. You've got to go talk to him. If you don't, you are showing that you do not want to be right with one another. That's what it says. Go to thy brother, right? If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more. That in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. So in 15 and 16, has the word church even come up? Nope. This is the second time in the New Testament that Jesus is going to use the word church. Verse 17. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. Again, Peter's like, lord, he's thinking in his mind, Lord, what are you talking. Who is this? What is this group? Who is this congregation you're talking about here? Because you're telling me, all right, if I've got a problem with one of my fellow disciples, I need to go to him. And if that doesn't work, I got two or three more. And if they don't receive, then I'm supposed to go to this entity, this group that I don't need. What are you talking about? Because the Lord has not defined it. We assume it. This is the problem. This is why new wine must be in new bottles and old wine in old bottles. Because the Lord is introducing new information. So we have to look at it in the context in which it is found. So let me. Let's continue. Verse 17. Tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Now notice. Did anybody notice the slight language change? Because remember, this was. This is what Jesus said in Matthew 16. Was anybody paying attention in Matthew 18? Now, in the part about binding on earth and binding in heaven, there's a slight change. Anybody notice it? What does that mean? So what's the change? No, but I mean, who's he talking to then? In Matthew 16, Jesus was speaking only to Peter. He said the. Now he's speaking to the church. So he's developing this truth, you understand? He's developing it. The whole conversation, Matthew 16 was just with one guy, with Peter. Now the conversation is with the whole group, right? And it's helping us understand this is the basis for church discipline that we practice as a church, as a local New Testament church, right? This is the basis. But again, the church hasn't even happened. But the Lord is speaking because it is going to happen. Because he said, I will build my church. I don't think Peter knew. Let me just brainstorm with me. What group does Peter think that Jesus might be referring to? The synagogue? Obviously not. It's my church. So obviously that implies that those people in that assembly believe in Christ, Right? So it's not referring to the synagogue. It's not referring to the Temple, because Jesus is just a Jew. He doesn't control the Temple. That's where the Scribes and the Sadducees and the priests and all that are. So that's what I'm saying. Everything in this implies the Lord's doing something different and new and he's laying the foundation for what will. How many times am I going to say will for what will come? Okay, and verse 8. And the truth of that is found in verse 18. Because he says, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And then he says verse 19. Again, I say unto you. Now this has given us a little more information about this congregation. Notice what he says. Again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them. Of my Father, which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Now think about it. Jesus is not. He's not saying. He's using this in a figurative sense. How do you know? Because what if he's in Galilee and two or three are gathering together in Judea? How is he present? I am in the midst of them. Well, obviously he's referring to something bigger, broader, and he explains it later in the Book of John, because he's referring to the Spirit of God in the presence of the believers when we gather together. So here's that truth. This is the truth. Please catch it. Put it in your mind and in your heart. It says, where two or three are gathered together. That means that you being a Christian by yourself alone is not the same as you being a Christian with other people gathered together. It matters that you and I gather. That's what that verse is telling us, right? Listen, it's not about. It is not about having our name on a roll. It's about gathering together. There's no prophet. Listen, there are so many crazy ideas that float around Southern churches. People think that somehow they have brownie points with God because their name is on some church list. There is not one word of scripture that says that at all. Not one word. It doesn't help you get to heaven for sure or else Christ is dead in vain. It doesn't like make you somehow like give you curry favor with God because your name's on some list on some computer or some Rolodex. Show me a Bible verse that indicates that it's not there. It doesn't exist. So why does it matter? We're going to talk about that very thing. That's why why I wanted to study this subject. But it's going to take some time. But here's the thing. What I want you to see from the text. If we don't get any further, I want you to see this. Where two or three are gathered together. We are a group that is supposed to meet. We're not a club that we just carry our ID card with us in our wallet. We're supposed to be a group. Like how many of you have a Costco or a Sam's membership? Okay, we do too. Sister Karen, have you ever had the idea that. Have you ever had the thought cross your mind, why do I have this dumb membership if I don't go there? I've had it. That's 120 or whatever. I mean, I don't know how much it is, whatever it is every year, but you have it in your wallet. You're a faithful Costco member. Well, good for you. Whoopty doo. But if you're not there, the membership means zilch. Except you. Cost you money. Well, is that not true? Is that not true of the church? So you're a card carrying member of Choice Hills Baptist Church or whatever, you know, whatever local Baptist church and you aren't there. The prophet is in being there, is congregating, gathering together, assembling. Because Jesus says not when you're by yourself. We know truths related to that, right? Every believer has the spirit of God, even when he's alone. We know that, but in a different sense. The Lord says, where two or three are gathered, there am I in the midst in a way that is not true of an individual. This is why we have to come together now. Everyone, always, maybe one or two of you have this, well, what about people that can't come? God has grace for those situations. And you know what? Those people who can't come want to come, right? They want to be here among God's people. The problem is when we don't want to. That's the problem when we're not Interested in assembling with God's people when it's a burden. If Jesus says this for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst. What are we saying? Listen, what are we saying when we say, I don't really want to go? It's not that big of a deal. I got other things to do. I'm going to say something pointed right now. What we're saying is based upon that verse, we're not interested in being around Jesus because he said, there I am in the midst. You know, I don't need to meet with Jesus today. Now that might grate on some of us, but that's true. Based upon the verse when we're just not interested. This is the importance of gathering together. Gathering together. Now a lot of questions come up and we'll discuss these later. I was actually planning on discussing it today, but I don't think we're going to get to it. A lot of questions come up with this question of the local church versus the universal church, right? There's this big debate over that, right? Some of you may know about it, some of you may not, but we'll discuss it later. But what we're talking about here, gathering together, what is that talking about? Without question, it's talking about a local congregation in one place, people coming together, the church of God. That's what Jesus is talking about. So this idea, well, and this is the way it goes, this is always how it goes, right? This is always how it goes. Well, you know, I'm part of the church of God and I worship God. And you know, I worship God in the woods when I go on my hike on Sunday. Are we Bible Christians or not? Can I get an amen? What does the verse say? Verse 20. It's plain. It's plain. Preachers, preachers, whatever our faults might be, preachers did not pull this idea of being assembled with the people of God out of thin air. It's written in scripture, right? There is something different about meeting with God's people. That's just a fact. That's a scriptural fact. Our Lord said it even before the church was instituted in fullness. Now you might have a question because some of you might have heard this, might have heard it, proposed that the church began in Matthew 16. Alright? Some of you have probably heard that before. I don't hold to that view for the reasons I just gave. But there was another reason. There's other reasons, theological reasons. I don't hold that view that the church did not Begin. I believe it began in Acts Chapter two. And I think there's evidence in Scripture to support that. But the truths of it, really, it's a moot point because you and I, whether church began in Matthew 16 or whether it began in Acts chapter two, whether we are past all of that, we are here now in 2025. It's here. So we argue about it for naught. It's dumb, right? So we're here. So the question is, on a practical level, what are we going to do regarding this church? How are we going to take these, what I believe are taught as preparatory truths and apply them to our present when they actually refer to us? Does that make sense? I mean, I don't usually do this, but does anybody have a question about what we've studied? Yeah. [00:32:48] Speaker B: I think I have an idea about what that means. Having access to God, being able to have that connection with God. As far as hearing the. [00:33:00] Speaker A: Well, there is one thing that's a tough question, right? How about Brother York? How about you, Brother Jim? Here's. Oh, yeah, but it's not Peter. See the trick? It's not Peter. Matthew 18 makes that clear. It can't be Peter, because it's applied. And what they do is they say, well, it was started with Peter and now it applies to the church. Here's what this is the general thing. Notice the context. The context is the idea of church discipline, right? Where a church is making a decision to excommunicate someone from its congregation. Why does that matter? Because when the church does that, that person is no longer allowed to, what, gather together with. Which is the whole point of verse 20. There am I in the midst. If the church says, you are not allowed to take part in our gathering any longer because of your unrepentant sin, they are saying that you are not allowed to participate in the meeting where Jesus is. He says he would be present. Now, that doesn't mean they lose their salvation because as I said, every believer has the spirit of God whether they are at church or not. But that aspect is lost. That special meeting with the people of God is lost. And really, the church discipline part is supposed to extend outside of the church services. It's supposed to be a matter First Corinthians talks about that, but that's beside the point. All right, let me just finish this one thing. So the second, the question is, what does Jesus mean when he refers to binding on earth and binding in heaven? So I think that is primarily referring to the church discipline thing, but I think the principle applies to another thing, which is that the congregation of the people of God, the church that's being described here, does indeed have as a body power in some measure over its own affairs and over spiritual matters. And you see this exercised in. When decision making is done, when you see exercise in the book of Acts, when the church in Jerusalem makes decisions regarding the law and the Gentiles role with the law, they actually. They actually apply this truth and make decisions that then become not binding necessarily, but become the standard truth that is disseminated throughout the local churches. So you have that aspect. I think those are the two primary things. Now I admit though, and I acknowledge that outside of that there's a. I don't feel like I fully answered it and buttoned up every button in that. So you have a follow up, Sam? [00:35:56] Speaker B: Yes. Immorality in the church says that. He says, Paul says, for barely I was absent in body, but in spirit have judged already as though I were present. Concern concerning him that has done so done deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you are gathered together in my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such. [00:36:21] Speaker A: Notice he says, gather together. [00:36:23] Speaker B: Deliver such an.1 on the Satan from destruction. So it's like that might be what he's talking about with the keys. [00:36:33] Speaker A: Notice the same words are used. You can come in, gather together and what is being done? A corporate decision regarding a sinning saint. So it's actually the very same context as what we're reading here in every way. Even the same terminology is used. So the context is the same. So that's a good companion scripture. Did you have something you want to add? Okay, you're good? Okay. I thought you had your hand all right? Yes, ma'am. I don't believe so. No, I mean that's. Yeah, yeah. It's a play on words. Thou art Peter is to say, you're a rock. Your name means stone. And then he says, but upon this rock, I think, if I understand right, I think the word that from which the name Peter comes and the word rock that Jesus used, I think are two different words. Yeah. So, yeah, I think one is referring to a smaller rock and one is referring to like a gigantic rock. In Cambodia there was a rock, a really a larger rock than you've ever seen in your life that we pass by frequently in Cambodia. And I always use that as an illustration. Maybe I can get a picture of it, show it to you. But anyway, any other question? But again, in the way you know, that's true, I will build this out. Because later in the New Testament, you see, the apostles and the prophets are the foundation, not just Peter. Then it becomes plural in Matthew 18, not just Peter. So the uniqueness of Peter's relationship, although we acknowledge that, especially at the beginning, is kind of superseded by the rest of the apostles. And, in fact, when you go to the Book of Acts, you don't see Peter in charge. You know who you see in charge? James, the Lord's brother, who's not even one of the 12, who didn't even believe until after. He's the one that everyone's looking at. He's a pillar in the church. So you have all of those facts as well. Anybody else? All right. All right. Well, we'll have to pick up next time on our study. Let's pray.