The New Testament Church

11/12/23

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Sermon Transcript

Good morning. You know, a few months ago, I preached a sermon here called the Old Testament Church. And in that sermon, we looked at what the Old Testament has to tell us about the church. Well, today’s sermon is entitled the New Testament Church. And I’d like to look this morning at what the New Testament has to tell us about the church. But before we do that, let’s start with a question.

We know that Satan is constantly at work trying to hinder the work of the church. What is Satan’s most effective strategy in doing that? You know, we might think that Satan would choose to a direct attack where he would just throw all of his biggest and most powerful weapons straight at the church, a frontal assault, so to speak. And in fact, Satan tried that. He did that very thing in the first century when he used the mighty Roman Empire, the most powerful empire on earth, to attack the church and its infancy. But we know how that turned out. Daniel had told us how it was going to turn out, and we know how it did turn out. The church prevailed, and Rome failed. So if a direct attack doesn’t work, what else might Satan try?

Well, how about an indirect attack? an indirect attack. What if Satan could bury the church in a sea of confusion? What if instead of attacking the church head on, Satan could instead create so much confusion in this world about the church that the church would become very hard to find? Isn’t that what Satan has done? You know, it’s been said that the best place to hide a penny is in a jar of pennies? And hasn’t Satan tried to do that very thing when it comes to the church? If you perform a Google search today on the word church, you will get four billion results back. That’s a lot of pennies. We know that God is not the author of confusion, 1 Corinthians 14:33, and yet we see a great deal of confusion around us when it comes to the church. And we know the source of that confusion is Satan. And we know our responsibility when it comes to that confusion. Our responsibility is to proclaim the truth about the Lord’s church. If we don’t do that, who will?

But what is the truth about the Lord’s church? Let’s look at that question today by looking at three facts about the church and what each of those facts teaches us about the church. The first fact is that the New Testament church is the church of Christ. Now, before we look at that fact, let’s pause and consider what that statement is saying. What do we mean when we say the New Testament church is the church of Christ." What we mean is that the New Testament church is the church that belongs to Christ. What we mean is that the New Testament church is the church that was built by Christ. What we mean is that that the New Testament church is the church that was purchased by Christ. Those statements are all saying the same thing. They’re saying that the New Testament church is the church of Christ. It is His church. He bought it. He built it. It’s His. But when we hear that the New Testament church is the church of Christ, I think we sometimes hear something different. Why? Because based on my experience, I think we sometimes attach baggage from outside the Bible to that description of the church as the church of Christ. I think we sometimes view that phrase, the church of Christ, as our name rather than as our description. And if we all leave here today with only one truth about the church with which we can cut through that confusion, let it be this, the church of Christ is not our name, it is our description, one of many descriptions. The church is never named, nominated in the Bible. And the church is never divided up by name, denominated in the Bible. In a world full of denominations, there’s always a temptation to start seeing the church as denomination, but it is not. We don’t have a name. The Bible describes us in many different ways, but the Bible never names the church. And that simple fact is our starting point for cutting through much of the confusion that we see around us today about the church.

But why doesn’t the church have a name? Why don’t we have a name? What do you think of when I say the phrase Mar-a-Lago? Well, I think you’re thinking of Donald Trump’s giant house in Florida. You’re not thinking about his giant house in New York. You’re thinking about his giant house in Florida. Now, let me ask you a personal question. Have you named your house? If you’re like me, you have not named your house. And if you’re like me, the reason you have not named your house is the same reason I haven’t named my house. I have only one house. So then how could I refer to my house? I haven’t given it a name. What could I call it? How could I refer to it? Well, I could call it Eric’s house or I could call it the house of Eric. Isn’t that what God has done with his own house? 1 Timothy 3:15. But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou ought to behave thyself, where? In the house of God, which is what? Which is the church of the living God. I don’t need to name my house because I have only one house. It’s the house of Eric, it’s Eric’s house. I don’t have another. Jesus does not need to name his church because he has only one church. It is Christ Church or the Church of Christ. There is not another. But wait, we might hear, things are very different today. Yeah, in the first century, they only had one church, but today we’ve got Churchills in every corner. We’ve got to give ourselves a name to avoid confusion. Well, I agree there’s a great deal of confusion out there about the church, but we’re not going to fix that confusion by giving ourselves a name. The only way to fix that confusion is with the truth of God’s Word. If we name ourselves and act like we’re just another church on the block, then all we’ve done is add to that confusion. The Bible describes the church in many different ways. Romans 16:16, the Church of Christ. Acts 20:28, the Church of God. Hebrews 12:23, the Church of the Firstborn. 1 Timothy 3:15, House of God, Church of the Living God. All of those are descriptions of the church. None of them is a name of the church. So when we hear Church of Christ, let’s not hear it as anything other than how that phrase is used in the Word of God. The church of Christ is the church that belongs to Christ. So let’s go back to that first fact now, see what it teaches us about the church. The first fact is that the New Testament church is the church of Christ. And the first thing that fact tells us about the church is that it belongs to Christ. If I wanna start avoiding confusion and combating the confusion and not creating confusion in the world today the church, perhaps I can start by remembering that basic fact about the church. It is not my church. It is the Lord’s church. If you search through the Bible for the phrase “my church,” you will find it in exactly one verse, and we heard it this morning when Cliff read it. Matthew 16:18, "On this rock I will build “my church,” Jesus speaking. The church of Christ is the church that belongs to Christ. That is what we mean when we say it is the church of Christ. It is not the church of Eric. It is not the church of you. It is the church of Christ. But some might say, and rightfully so, that when I talk about my church, I’m just talking about my local congregation here. And I’m not saying that I can have my own church and you can have my own church. I’m just referring to the local group here. And that may be exactly what you’re thinking when you say the phrase, my church. But let me ask you this. Do your neighbors know what you’re thinking? Do your neighbors know that when they hear you say, my church, you’re not saying each of us can have our own church, maybe a good way to start reducing that confusion in the world is to watch my language about the church. You know, Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt.” Seasoned with salt. How can I obey that command from Colossians 4:6 when it comes to the church? I can watch my language when I talk about the church. If I act like Church of Christ is our name and then I talk to my friends about my church and your church, how do I think they’re going to understand that? But what if instead I season my speech with salt and I talk about the Lord’s church? Don’t you think that will invite some questions, don’t you think that will open some doors? If anyone in the world ever ask you if you are a member of the Church of God, you should answer, “Absolutely, I am.” Now, you should also take that as an opportunity to teach and explain what you mean, not add to any confusion, but we should never deny that we are a member of the Lord’s Church, the Church of God, the Church of the Firstborn, whatever the description, just because someone else has taken that description and used it to name their little group. We’re never gonna cut through that confusion by just joining in with the crowd. We need to stand up and stand apart. We need to teach what the Bible has to say about the Lord’s church. We’ll never be the people God wants us to be if our goal is just to blend in with the religious world around us.

The New Testament church is the church Christ and the second thing that tells us about the church is that it was built by Christ. Why does the church belong to Christ? Because he built it. An interesting study is to go through the Bible and see what it has to say about the work of human hands. Acts 17:24, God that made the world and all things therein seeing that he that he is Lord of heaven and earth dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is he worshipped with men’s hands. Daniel 2:45 talks about the stone that is cut out without hands and Daniel 2:44 tells us that stone is the eternal kingdom of Christ. The eternal kingdom is not man made. What does that fact tell us about the confusion we see in the world around us today? What it tells us is that if an organization was built by man it It may be many, many things, but it is not, it is not the church of Christ. It is not the Lord’s church. It is not the eternal kingdom cut without hands. The world today is full of man-made churches, but there is only one church built by Jesus Christ without hand.

The New Testament church is the church of Christ. And the third thing that tells us about the church that it was purchased by Christ. Why does the church of Christ belong to Christ? Because he bought it. Acts 20:28 tells us the church of God was purchased with his own blood. Jesus built the church. Matthew 16:18, Jesus bought the church, Acts 20:28. We did not do those things. Jesus did. That’s why it is called the Church of Christ. That is why it is the Lord’s Church. What does that tell us about the importance of the church that was purchased with the blood of the one and only Son of God? Could any cost have been greater? And could anything be more precious than that which was purchased with the blood of Christ? So what do we mean when we say that we are the church of Christ? We mean we are the church that belongs to Christ. We mean we are the church that was built by Christ. We mean we the church that was purchased by Christ.

The second fact is that the New Testament church is the body of Christ. And the first thing that fact tells us about the church is that there is one and only one church. Now earlier I quoted the first half of 1 Corinthians 14:33. Let me now read the whole verse. “For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” Churches, that’s plural. How can we say there’s one church? The New Testament’s talking about churches plural. We know the answer to that. The Bible, just as we do today, sometimes uses the word church to refer to what we usually call a congregation, and sometimes uses the the word church to refer to the one church, the body of Christ. We do the same thing today. You look at Revelation chapter two and three, what do you find? A letter to the seven churches of Asia Minor, the congregations in Asia Minor. Romans 16:16 speaks of the churches of Christ, the congregations of the Lord’s church. But each of those churches, congregations, is just that, a congregation of the Lord’s church. It is not the singular church, my church, that Jesus promised to build in Matthew 16 when he said, “I will build my church,” singular. And one way we know that, one way we know that is by looking at this description of the church as the body, the body of Christ. How many bodies did Jesus have? One and only one. How many churches did Jesus have? One and only one. Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 5:23, they tell us the church is the body of Christ. And Ephesians 4:4 tells us there is one body just as surely as there is one God. Not two, not a thousand, one and only one. That the church is the body of Christ tells us that there is one and only one church.

The New Testament church is the body of Christ. The second thing that fact tells us is that the church consists of those who are in Christ, in Christ. If the church is the body of Christ, then if I am in that church, I am in the body of Christ. They are one in the same. So how do I become a member of the body of Christ? How do I become a member of the church of Christ? Church and the body, same thing. Those two questions are the same question, the answer will be the same for each. So how do I become a member of the body of Christ? Let’s let the Bible answer that question. Earlier, we searched for the phrase, my church, we found it in one spot. Let’s now do a search for the phrase into Christ or into Jesus. We get two verses. Romans 6:3, "Know you not that so many of us as were baptized “into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death.” Galatians 3:27, "For as many of us has been baptized into Christ have put on Christ? That would seem to answer our question. We are added to the body of Christ when we are baptized into Christ. And what happens at that point? Are we voted into the church? Do we fill out an application form and join the church like we joined some athletic club? No, when we are baptized into Christ, God the Father adds us to the church, to the body of his son, Acts 2:47. And what does it mean? What does it mean that God adds me to the Lord’s church as soon as I’m saved? What does that mean? What it means is that no one outside the church of Christ is saved. And if that statement makes me feel uncomfortable, it can only be because I’m viewing that phrase Church of Christ as some name of some man-made group as opposed to the description of the one church built by Christ to which God adds people when they are saved. How can anyone who is saved not be in the church if God adds us to the church as soon as we are saved? And to what church does God add us? There’s only one church, the Church of Christ, the church that belongs to Christ, the church it was built by Christ, the church it was purchased by Christ. There isn’t another. If I think that someone outside the church that belongs to Christ is saved, then I must believe that God just somehow forgot to add them after they were saved, and we know that’s not the case. How else could anyone who is saved not be in the church when God adds us to the church as soon as we are saved. The body of Christ is the body of the saved. By definition, no one outside is saved and no one inside is lost. If I’m in Christ, I’m saved. If I’m out of Christ, I’m lost. And those who are in Christ are in the church of Christ, the one church that he built. Those who are not in Christ are not in that church. That’s true by definition. That’s how the church is defined in the Bible. the body of the sage. Oh, so then, I guess that means I’m saying that only members of my church will be saved. No, I’m not saying that at all. How could I possibly say that? There is no my church. I don’t own a church. I didn’t give my blood for a church. I didn’t purchase a church with anything. I didn’t build a church. I don’t have a church. I’m not saying that. So if I’m not saying that only members of my church be saved? What am I saying? I’m saying what the Bible says, and that is that only members of the Lord’s church will be saved, because that’s where God puts you when you are saved. How could it be otherwise, if the church of Christ is the body of Christ, the body of saved. So yes, only members of the Church of Christ will be saved. And again, if that statement makes you feel uncomfortable, then that means I’m not thinking about the church the way it is revealed in the New Testament. When we proclaim that truth about the church, I know we’re sometimes accused of being divisive, but the opposite is true. The opposite is truth. We are being the opposite of divisive when we proclaim the truth about the Lord’s Church, the one and only church that Jesus built and that Jesus purchased with his blood and to which God the Father adds us when we obey the gospel of Christ. There is nothing more unifying than that. And there is nothing more divisive than coming up with a thousand different man-made plans to join a thousand different man-made churches. That is not God’s plan for His church. God adds us to the church of Christ, the church built by Christ, when we obey the gospel of Christ. We need to loudly We proclaim that simple truth about the church.

The New Testament church is the body of Christ. The third thing that fact tells us is that the church is a unified, peaceful, working kingdom. Okay, now be honest. When you see me up here, you’re not thinking, “There goes a great dancer.” But I have to tell you, about five years ago, walking through the parking garage where I worked at five in the morning and coming upon an unexpected patch of wet concrete, painted concrete, I did what I’m sure could only be described as a graceful pirouette. And I shattered my wrist, my right wrist, and it took me a year to get over that. It was six months before I could use it. And that was the hardest year of my life. And that accident taught me what I know many of you have also learned the hard way. And that is, it is a great, great blessing when all the parts of my body are working together as they are intended to. The same is true of the church. I know that my own body is unhealthy if a part of my body is at war with another part of my body. And again, the same is true of the church. the body of Christ, that the church is a body. The body of Christ tells us that like a human body, the church was built to be a unified, working, peaceful church in which every member works together in peace with every other member toward a common goal. If we lack unity, if we’re at war with each other, if we’re not working as we should, that’s a sign of an unhealthy body. One of the greatest and most frequently found prophecies in the Old Testament about the church is that it would be at peace. Not at peace with this world, but at peace with each other and at peace with God. We see that great prophecy in Isaiah 2:4, they shall beat their swords into plowshares. And we see its fulfillment in Ephesians 2:14-15. He is our peace. He has made both of us one, broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Christ Jesus built a church in which Jew and Gentile would finally be at peace with one another. They are not at peace with each other in the world. They are at peace with one another in the church of the Lord. If God had wanted two churches, he would have built one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles, but that was never, never God’s plan for his church. What was God’s plan for his church? that it would be a kingdom of peace led by the Prince of Peace. And that peaceful, working, unified church is the body of Christ.

The third fact is that the New Testament church is the kingdom of Christ. The first thing that fact tells us is that the church is a monarchy. A monarchy. Now, I know that may be a difficult truth for those of us in the United States. Church is not a democracy. Church is a monarchy. Church is a kingdom. We see that both in the Old Testament prophecies about the church. We see that in the New Testament descriptions of the church. Daniel 2:44 tells us about the eternal kingdom. Colossians 1:13 tells us we’ve been translated into the kingdom of his dear son. Hebrews 12:28 tells us we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved. Church of Christ is the kingdom of Christ. What that means is that the church of Christ is not a democracy. We don’t get a vote when it comes to the truth, Romans 3:4, it is a monarchy.

The New Testament church is the kingdom of Christ. And the second thing that tells us about the church is that the king, the monarch of the church is Christ. Every kingdom has a king. Same is true of the church and that king is Jesus. And what a wonderful king we have. In an ordinary kingdom, everybody knows the king, but the king doesn’t know everybody. How could he? In the kingdom of Christ, everybody knows the king and the king knows everybody. He knows us all. Jesus is head of the church, Colossians 1:18. What does that mean? What does it mean that Jesus is head of the church? It means we do nothing without the approval of Christ. It means we do nothing except under the authority of Christ. Well, how do we know what Jesus approves of? How do we know what Jesus authorizes? We open the word of God. There is no other way for us to know. Jesus has not said one word to mankind since the last word of the Bible was penned. So if we can determine what Jesus approved and authorized in the first century church, we will know the answers to those questions in the church today.

The New Testament church is the kingdom of Christ. And the third thing that tells us about the church is that the church is powerful, powerful. How do we see the church? How do we see ourselves? Do we have an inferiority complex when it comes to the church? Do we sometimes just see ourselves as a footnote in a religious encyclopedia? Oh, there we are. If we see ourselves as just another church on the block, then effectively that is all we will ever be. To be the people that God wants us to be, we must see the church as God sees the church. How does God see the church? How does God see the church? God see the church of his son, the church of Christ. God sees the church as the most important, the most beautiful, the most powerful organization on earth that will sweep away and outlast all the kingdoms of men. That’s how God sees the church. How powerful is the church? Think again about the verse we heard in our scripture reading this morning. Matthew 16:18. "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What does that mean? You know, I think when we read that verse, we sometimes picture it as describing the poor, cowering Christians under assault by the great forces of hell. But is that what the verse says? “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Since when is a gate an offensive weapon? Gates are not offensive, gates are defensive. Gates are there to keep people out. And these are the gates of hell. I think that verse is not showing the church under assault by hell, I think that verse is showing hell under assault by the church. And they put up the gates. Jesus tells us those gates aren’t gonna do them any good. They’re not gonna prevail. Well, how does the church attack the gates of hell? I think Jude answers that question. Jude, starting in verse 20. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life, and have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. Friends, we have hell on the ropes. The church is powerful. Let’s never forget that.

The Fulcher Church of Christ is a congregation of the Church of Christ that meets here in Fulcher. All we mean by that is that we are a congregation of the one church that Jesus promised to build in Matthew 16, and that he did build in Acts chapter two. All we mean by that is that we are a congregation of the one church that is owned by Christ, that was built by Christ, that was purchased by Christ with His own blood, the Lord’s Church. We are an autonomous congregation of Christians who worship and serve God in spirit and in truth under the leadership of our elders and under the headship of Jesus Christ. We are not a part of any man-made church. We do not have any man-made creed. We are not a part of any denomination. We do not have any man-made hierarchy. And we did not join the church. We were not voted into the church. God added us to the church of Christ when we obeyed the gospel of Christ. When we obeyed His plan, we’re added to His church. Now, if you’re a new Christian, or if you’re visiting today, you may have some questions about this sermon, and we would love to sit down and discuss this with you in more detail, to look at what the Bible has to say about the church of Christ. We will never have a more important study together than that. We see a great deal of division in the world today, but the church must never see the world that way. When we look at the world today, we must not see it as divided up into a thousand different groups. That is not how God sees the world. Instead, we must see the world divided into only two groups, those in Christ and those not in Christ, those that God has added to the Church of Christ and those that God has not yet added to the church because they have not yet obeyed the gospel of Christ in Christ or out of Christ in his church or out of his church which group are you in this morning have you obeyed the gospel by being baptized into Jesus Christ the Romans 6:3 Galatians 3:27 have you obeyed God’s plan and been added to his church, Acts chapter two? Or have you instead followed some manmade plan and joined some manmade church? The only church you should ever want to be a member of is the one church that Jesus built and purchased with his blood. And God, God adds you to that church when you obey the gospel. It’s the only way to get in. And that’s not my church. That’s not your church. That is the Lord’s church, the church of Christ. If you will obey God’s plan this morning, then when you are raised from that watery grave of baptism, God will add you to that church. will deliver you from the domain of darkness and transfer you into the kingdom of his dear son Colossians 1:13. You can be a Christian and only a Christian. You can be a member not of any man-made group, but a member only of that one church to which God the Father will add you when you obey the gospel of Christ. If we can help you in any way this morning, please come while we stand.