| Andrew Lim
3 August 2008 - Eph 5:22-33
I wonder if you have ever thought of it this way before
that about the only tangible thing
Jesus left behind on earth / is the church
He may have taught the people great teachings
told them stimulating parables / performed amazing miracles
Jesus never wrote down a single word
About the only writing He did is the illegible scribbling on the sand
when the adulterous woman stood before Him
He left behind no manuscripts / no memos / no letters / no etchings
But He leaves behind one thing tangible / the church
The only physical evidence left behind
that Jesus ever walked the face of this earth is / the church
And that / was a deliberate strategy on His part
It is Jesus’ plan to ignite the earth and set it ablaze
through the teaching and preaching of the church
It is Jesus’ plan to transform the lives of men women and children
through the church
The Creed affirms that we do believe / in the holy catholic church
The Church is “holy”
Christ’s passion for the church is that she be “holy”
* Isaiah the prophet said / “And they shall call them the holy people
redeemed by the Lord” / Isa. 62:12
* Jesus prayed for his disciples to grow in holiness
“Sanctify them in the truth”
* Jesus died to reconcile us to God
so that we might be presented holy before God / Col 1:22
* We were chosen in Christ to be holy before God / Eph 1:4
* The Word of God exhorts us to be holy / Col. 3:12
* We are told to pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord
Heb. 12:14
* Christians are to exhorted to cleanse themselves from defilement
and to make “holiness perfect in the fear of God” / 2 Cor 7:1
* We were chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy
1 Thess. 4:7
* Christ gave himself up for the church
“in order to make her holy” so that she may be
without a spot or wrinkle / holy and without blemish” / Eph. 5:26-27
* As a church / Christians are to be a holy priesthood / 1 Pet. 2:5
They are “a chosen race / a royal priesthood
a holy nation / God’s own people” / 1 Pet 2:9
* Christians are “built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God”
a “holy temple in the Lord” / Eph. 2:21
There’s no running away from that / Christ want the church holy
But is the church “holy”?
When some people say this line of the creed
they have a hard time not giggling
I mean / the church / holy? / Surely she’s far from holy
Other people say it with their fingers crossed / they say to themselves
“Well I don’t really mean this but it’s there / so I guess I’d better say it”
People know the church isn’t holy / the church has all her failures and sins
Sometimes it looks like a huge flea-market
She is anything but holy
In fact in the history of the church there have been many debates
as to who may be considered to be a member of the church
In the time of Saint Augustine / the Donatists believed
sinners should not be accepted as members of the church
But Augustine was quick to point out
that when Jesus told the parable of the weeds sown among wheat
both were to be allowed to grow together / until the day of harvest
Augustine rightly insisted
that the church comprises both saints and sinners
and the separation of the two will only take only on judgment day
John Calvin made a brilliant and clear distinction
between the visible church and an invisible church
The visible church is the church as we see it with our eyes
it is this church we worship in / it is the church down the street
it is the church comprises true believers who strive for holiness
as wells as sinners / hypocrites / / doubter / seekers
who do not have the Spirit in their hearts
It contains both wheat and tares / and only in the day of judgment
will Christ separate the two
The invisible church / comprises true believers
known only to the eye of God
I want to say this carefully / lovingly and sensitively
that we do not identify the local church with the invisible Church
Now you and I know who the members of the visible church are
We can look up the church directory
But there is no way we can know
who the members of the invisible church actually are!
- only God knows His own
Ideally the visible church is also the true invisible church
But unfortunately / there have been local churches
that do not stand for the Name of Christ nor preach His gospel
The tragic reality is that you can be a member of a local church on earth
and not be a member of the True Church
whose true membership / God alone knows
The invisible Church / is the society of the chosen
The visible Church / by contrast / is the society of the professing
So for Calvin / the holiness of the church
is a holiness that makes daily progress / It is not yet perfect
He believes that eschatologically / the Church will be holy
“Then shall Jerusalem be holy
and there shall no strangers pass through her any more”
Joel 3:17
“It shall be called / The way of holiness
the unclean shall not pass over it” / Isa 35:8
So for Calvin / the holiness of the Church
does not mean that members of the Church are not sinners
they are sinners / but sinners who truly aspire after holiness
Bishop Westcott said / that the mark of a saint and of the Church
is not moral perfection but genuine dedication
to God and his service
And precisely because the church is not in its perfect state
her life is continually under threat
and there are a few elements / that endanger the life of any church
One / Persecution
the Church of Smyrna went through that/ Rev. 2:9,10
Two / False Teaching
it threatened the church at Ephesus and Pergamos
Rev 2:2,6; 2:13-15
Three / Worldliness
the church at Thyatira was threatened by the influence of Jezebel
Rev. 2:20-23
Four / Indifference
this was what devastated the church at Ephesus
Christ told them / You have lost your “first love” - Re 2:4
Looking at it this way / the church is such a paradox really
On the one hand / there is the church that God has created
- the bride of Christ / spotless / pure / and holy / the Church Universal
On the other hand there is the local church
- its a church that's not so pure / and not so holy
- it comprises sinful people / called by God to live together
in a potentially explosive mix
- people fail us / we fail one another
- people spend much time / fighting each other
bickering against each other / or ignoring each other
And sometimes the church looks so much like a gigantic flea market
But be that as it may / through all that / the church is “holy”
And the creed goes to describe the church as “catholic”
Many people are puzzled why we should say God’s church is catholic
- we think that it smacks of the Roman Catholic Church
But / No / When we say “I believe in the holy catholic church
we’re not affirming our belief in the Roman Catholic Church
we’re in no way referring to the “Roman Catholic” church
The word “catholic” in English simply means “universal”
If you read books about fishes / and what they eat
you’ll find that the catfish is described as having a catholic taste
It means its taste is universal / it eats anything
The church is catholic / in that it is universal / world-wide
This word was originated by St. Ignatius early in the second century
If you’re a Christian / you belong to a church
that far far bigger than your local you attend weekly
You belong to what is called the Communio Sanctorum
the spiritual union of all Christians / living and dead
in one body / with Christ as its head
The Church is universal / in that no matter where you are
the Church worldwide is passionate with the same vision
it speaks with the same voice / speaks of the same purpose
Christians all over the world together believe
that the essence of the gospel message should never be changed
to suit the sensitivity and felt needs
of any particular culture in any particular era in history
There is only one gospel for all time / an unchanging gospel
Christians all over the world / believe with one another
that there can be only Lord / one faith / one baptism
No matter where they are / or in what era they live in
all Christians affirm the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed
We may differ in minute aspects of doctrine or practice of the faith
but most Christians understand that what they have in common
is far more precious and vital than what appears to divide them
And to say that the Church is “catholic”
is to affirm that the gospel is universally valid and relevant
to every age / in every situation / for all time
Further / the word “catholic” is also used to describe the church
as she stands apart from all the other cults
Here the word “catholic” / is taken to mean “orthodox”
When heresies arose in the early Church
it became necessary to distinguish what the essence of the gospel is
and that distillation / is the catholicity of the church
We have explored the meaning of the church as / holy / as catholic
Let’s backtrack now and ask the basic question / “But what is the church?”
Just what is this body called the “church” / that we say we believe in?
What is the Church?
The church is what is called the “ekklesia” / the “gathering” or “assembly”
The church is the gathering of the believers who come together
to worship God / hear from His Word / grow in spiritual maturity
and be equipped with the spiritual gifts to serve Him
The church is the people / not the place / the building / or the denomination
If you say there are no differences between the two
you’re promoting “churchianity” / not Christianity
I am happy that fewer and fewer people today
say “I’m a Baptist / Anglican / Lutheran / Presbyterian / Methodist”
You may still get one or two dinosaurs like that
but largely / denominational tribalism is on its way out
Most Christians are happy to identify themselves just as Christians
Charles Colson has said that
“the church is not an organization / it is an organism
it is not a monument / it is a movement
it is not a part of the community / it is a whole new community”
The church was founded by Jesus
He is the head of the Church / Col. 1:18 Eph. 5:23
He intended to build a Church / we see it in His words & his actions
First / He explicitly said that He would / Matt. 16: 18
Second / carefully hand-picked a group of disciples
empowered them with supernatural gifts
entrusted them with the message
commissioned them with a mission
He encourage them to persevere / and endure / until He returned
He guided them with rules of discipline
He gave then the authority to enforce those rules
He told them that through them He will build His Church
and the gates of hell will not stand in the way
Not only that
Scripture tells me that Christ loves the ch. (Eph 5:25)
He gave Himself for the church
He bought her with His own blood
He washed the church with His own blood
He prays for her / He daily hold up the Church
He longs for the day / when He will return to gather her to Himself
You look at it this way and you will not quite understand
how any Christian could casually write-off the church
And yet so many do today
You often hear people say
I am a Christian but I don’t need the church to be a Christian
I don’t have to go to church / to be a Christian
I can worship on Sunday mornings
in the privacy of my own tranquil garden
This idea / at the least is hypocritical /at the worst sacrilegious
it is hypocritical because that person imagines
that he / has never failed anyone in church
it is sacrilegious because he treats with contempt
that which Christ loves so very much
Quite often people say: “My relationship with God is private”
Now / if ever there is a clear theological blind spot / this is it
It cuts so sharply against the teaching of the Bible
Our relationship with God may be personal
but it can never be private
it was never ever meant to be private
Our salvation is intensely personal
but God never planned for our salvation to be private
The day you came to Christ / you not only made God your Father
you made every other believer your brother or sister
Blackerby rightly says / “God has no orphans!
Just as God designed for a baby to be born into a family
to receive love and care
in the same way God designed / for those who are “born again”
to enter a spiritual family / that will love and care for them
You can’t claim to love God
and not be intimately connected to the people of God
Rom 8:17 / together we are “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ”
Whether we like it or not / through Christ
we are all “blood relatives” / God planned it this way
Belonging to a local church is fundamental to being a Christian
Listen to what these frightening words
about people who have little regards for Christ’s Church
Now these are harsh words
and I don’t want anyone of us here to take it out of their context
Augustine said: “He cannot have God for his father
who does not have the church as his mother”
Martin Luther said that apart from church salvation is impossible
John Calvin wrote these words:
“So highly does the Lord esteem the church
that he considers everyone a traitor and apostate from religion
who perversely withdraws himself from every Christian society
which preserves the true ministry of the Word and Sacrament”
Please don’t get them wrong
Augustine and Luther and Calvin / weren’t saying
that it is fundamentally the Church that saves you
They would insist that Jesus alone saves
But what they are saying / is this / that apart from the church
one / we are quite incapable of fully fulfilling the purposes of God
two / we may not receive the help we need to persevere to the end
Part of why God gives us the church
is that through her / we have receive support / guidance
prayers counsel / protection / and everything that goes
to help to preserve us to the end of our time on earth
In this sense / church membership becomes
the indispensable mark of salvation
Further people who think little of the church do not know
that they are actually working against the will of God
For if anyone refuses to meet regularly
with God’s people in a local congregation
she is defying the clear warning of Heb 10:25
that says we’re not to abandon our meeting together
Of course the church is imperfect / even ugly and wicked at times
And there are many people who have been soured by the church
they felt somehow that the church has failed God / and failed the people
But all that said / we still do not have the warrant
to walk away from her and let her die
Get hold of a concordance / look it up and you’ll find
that the word “saint” in scripture is always in the plural
60 out of the 61 times
God plans for us to come together / that we may be strong
strong within ourselves / and strong before the world
I love the church of Jesus Christ
I began attending church since I was 13 and I have never been out of it
Sometimes I find her beautiful / Sometimes I find her utterly repulsive
Sometimes I am proud of her
Quite often I've been so embarrassed by her
I don't know where to hide my face
But whether she's ugly or beautiful / I remain committed to her
Jesus loves the church / warts and all / He died for her
I have no other options open
Luther said the face of the church / is the face of a sinner
Thomas Arnold said:
“The church as it now stands / no human power can save
When I think of the church / I could sit down and pine and die”
It is simply the case that you will never find a perfect church
It is simply a fact that no matter where you go people will fail you
But if we understand what Christ would have us do
we will stay put / dig our heels in and run with her
It is amusing / to say the least / why people should be shocked
to find that there are sinners in the church
It is as amusing as it would be
when people discover that there are find sick people in the hospital
Did Jesus not say / in Mark 2:17
Those who are healthy / have no need for a physician
but those who are sick
I came not to call the righteous / but sinners to repentance”
If anything / we need sinners coming into church / not fewer
But there is one insidious threat facing the church today
that I want to bring to our attention
The church is in danger today of adopting
a consumer mentality that we find to be so pervasive in our culture
Our consumer-oriented society
encourages us to choose and buy only what takes our fancy
In a subtle way / when it comes to the church
many people have insidiously adopted the same outlook
This dreadful virus of consumerism / has infected the church
- people go to church / primarily to have their own needs met
- they look for stuff in church which will make them feel good
- they ask “Will I be comfortable / Will my needs be met here”
It used to be that people go to church clearly to worship
Today people go to church for some kind of a payoff
What’s the pay-off here for me?
Why would I keep going if I’m not getting some kind of a pay-off
It is tragic but true that most Christians today
are NOT really interested in what the church stands for
- they are more interested in what goods the church can deliver
People today are looking / more for emotional support
than they look for spiritual transformation
- this is reflective of our culture of narcissism
Chuck Colson has observed so perceptively
that just as we have the McDonald we have “McChurch”
Today its McDonald's for the Big Mac
Tomorrow it's KFC / the next day its Georgie Pie
It’s a consumer’s market
You go where you believe the product is satisfying for you
When it comes to church / many have adopted the same consumer mentality
and the church becomes just another “retail outlet”
and faith / has become just another “consumer commodity”
And so people change churches
as readily as they change banks or supermarkets
And the church ends up becoming just another consumer product
You don’t like one brand / change to the next
And people change churches as readily
as they change banks or supermarkets
And there is a frightening prediction
that this consumer demand will intensify
and that this demand will actually shape the church of the future
Why? Simply because it is always going to be the consumer needs
that pressurizes retail outlet to respond accordingly
If people are looking at religion as a product / then the church feels
that it has to provide a competitive product
The chips will fall this way
one / the church becomes just another retail outlet
two / faith ends up becoming just another commodity
And we end up paying a high price
- we end up diluting the message of the gospel
- we throw away the word sin out of our preaching
- we substitute therapy for spiritual discernment
- Jesus becomes a friend who helps /no longer a God who judges
And we change the very character of the church
- we turn a worshipping community into a support movement
And we strip the church of her authority
- she forfeits her authority to proclaim truth
- she loses her ability to call its members
to account for their public shame
But the Scripture is abundantly clear about her mission
The reason God gave us the church
is so that Christ’s kingdom on earth may expand
The great commission of Matthew 28 is the reason for our existence
God does not want a church that is doctrinally impeccably sound
but one which is preoccupied with itself
- or a euphoric ch. which is self-absorbed with its emotional high
- or a consumerist ch where people come to get what they can get
God desires the church to be a force
that will impact their culture and transform it for Christ
And Scripture gives us two powerful metaphors
for that mission / salt and light
Salt and light should not describe what we do
- really they should describe who we are / we are salt / we are light
Both salt and light have one thing in common / they penetrate
You so much as have a little crack in the roof / and light penetrates
Salt too has that incredible property of penetration
In olden days with no refrigeration
salt was rubbed into meat / to preserve it
To “be” church / we need to be salt and light out there
and there are literally thousands of ways we can penetrate our society
There are a number of committed Christians / who are
- salting the halls of parliament
- salting the government agencies
there are bright young men and women
influencing lawmakers / through their staff positions
Of course it you will have to carefully discern your gifting
and it will demand your creativity / your innovation / your courage
Not all of you
are speech-writers / or lawmakers / or politicians or songwriters
but each one of us is a minister of the Gospel
A school teacher can influence young people no one else can
In my seven years as a school teacher
I had the privilege of planting a church
and bringing leading many students to Christ
If you are a nurse
you have a special influence that few of us will ever have
Instead / together we are church
We don’t simply attend church
We attend Church to be strengthened and equipped
to touch lives / in unique places God has placed us
Jesus Christ says the Church will never die
But our Lord was talking about the Church Universal
He wasn’t talking about the local congregation
The local church can die / and many have died
And perhaps some are in the process of dying
The church at Sardis / for example
was described as a “dead” church / Rev 3:1
The church is an organism / not an organization
And because it is an organism / its got life
And because its got life / it is under constant threat of death
There are at least two ways a church may die
One: It may simply cease to exist / and close its doors
Go on Trade Me and you’ll find
a rather constant stream of churches / up for sale
I logged into it yesterday / and this is what I find
One in Turua near Thames / church and section - $232,000
Another one in Ruakaka
advertised as Unique Retreat-Max. Exposure / $330,000
Another / in Waiuku / $449,000
Yet another in Granity / Buller / $150,000
In many old European countries churches have been turned
in workshops / studios and theatres
How very sad / that a local church may die but nevertheless true
Two: A church may die inwardly / even while it appears to live on outwardly
John Stott says in so many churches / the building remains intact
the people continue to congregate / the minister continues to minister
but the lamp-stand has been removed from their midst
and the spirit of God no longer lives there
This very prospect ought to terrify us all
The very prospect of worshiping in a lifeless shell / a dead cocoon
But God does not build his house on shifting sand
- the winds of change / the storms of life / the taint of sin
the assaults of the Evil One / the treachery of enemies
can never bring the Church down
The Church of Jesus Christ will never die
There is a biblical guarantee from the lips of Christ
that the fury of hell will never kill the church
It will triumph over against all odds
because it stands upon Jesus Christ
The Church has Christ as her cornerstone
Without Him / the Church is a house of cards
and it takes very little to bring her down
But today / Jesus remains the Head of the church
And today / the Church goes on defying the powers of hell
And the powers of hell cannot defeat the church
And every time the church takes a stand
Satan is losing his grip
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