16 - XVI -- The Church
XVI. The Church
Acts 2:41-47;
The Reverend Harold Bales, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, devised a test to reveal whether someone is watching too much television. Here’s the test: You know that you are watching too much TV if: You can name all the characters on “As the World Turns” but can’t remember the names of the Twelve Disciples. (B) You can anticipate in advance the outcome of a “Touched by an Angel” episode but can’t remember how the New Testament ends. (C) You can recognize the local TV news reporter on the street but wouldn’t know your next-door neighbor if you saw her standing on the porch. (D) Your cable TV bill is more each month than your contribution to your church.
Two little brothers, Harry and James, had finished supper and were playing until bedtime. Somehow, Harry hit James with a stick, and tears and bitter words followed. Charges and accusations were still being exchanged as mother prepared them for bed. The mother instructed, “Now, James, before you go to bed you’re going to have to forgive your brother.” James was thoughtful for a few moments, and then he replied, “Well OK, I’ll forgive him tonight, but if I don’t die before I wake up, he’d better look out in the morning.”
As funny as that sounds, there’s a lot of truth to it, especially in the church. Many people come to church with a chip on their shoulder or with anger in their hearts, and yet, while they are at church they pretend to be the nicest person around – at least until they get out the door. But this is not what the church is all about and the church is what we are going to be talking about this morning. Article 16 of the Wesleyan Church’s articles of religion states:
We believe that the Christian church is the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ, who is the founder and only Head of the church. The church includes both those believers who have gone to be with the Lord and those who remain on the earth, having renounced the world, the flesh and the devil, and having dedicated themselves to the work which Christ committed unto His church until He comes. The church on earth is to preach the pure Word of God, properly administer the sacraments according to Christ’s instructions, and live in obedience to all that Christ commands. A local church is a body of believers formally organized on gospel principles, meeting regularly for the purposes of evangelism, nurture, fellowship and worship. The Wesleyan Church is a denomination consisting of those members within district conferences and local churches who, as members of the body of Christ, hold the faith set forth in these Articles of Religion and acknowledge the ecclesiastical authority of its governing bodies. (Discipline)
There is nothing else like the Christian church in the entire world! People from every nation, every tongue, every walk of life, from the rich to the poor, from the educated to the non-schooled, men, women and children all come together to form the church. Though we are Wesleyan in our denomination, we also believe that we are not the only ones going to heaven – that is different than how the rest of the world thinks also. Think about soda manufactures. Coke-cola knows that Pepsi is out there, but they do not acknowledge them – they’re the competition – but the Christian church is different. We know there are other religions out there, other Christian religions and we accept them as bothers and sisters in Christ – we may not agree with the way they worship, or some of their doctrine, but we know that they are still part of the church. That’s why we can say: We believe that the Christian church is the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ, and it is Jesus Christ, not John Wesley, not John Calvin, not Martin Luther, who is the founder and only Head of the church. Many so called Christian churches have actually taken Jesus out of their religion and only say that He was a good man and teacher, but think about this – how can they call them selves Christian when that means followers of Christ, which means anointed. There has only been one anointed by God and that was Jesus – and He is the founder of the Christian church. In Ephesians 1, Paul says,
That power is like the working of his (God’s) mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (1:19b-23)
Jesus has been appointed head of the Church by God Himself!!
Who is in the church, The church includes both those believers who have gone to be with the Lord and those who remain on the earth, The church is not limited to only those that are here this morning, but it includes, Pete Craig, Alice Rudd, Leona Ricketts and many, many more. All those that have called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, down through the ages, are part of the church. Remember what we are told in 1 Thess. 4:13-17
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. That’s the Church!!
Its not just those that go to church every Sunday or every time the doors are open, there’s more to it to being a church, article 16 continues on by saying that the church is those having renounced the world, the flesh and the devil, and having dedicated themselves to the work which Christ committed unto His church until He comes. Look at what Luke records in the book of Acts (Acts 2:36-47):
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Ac 2:36-47)
Wonderful words to live by and did you notice what happened whey they heard the word – over 3000 believed and were baptized – and their numbers grew daily – not weekly – daily!! One of the reasons that so many believed is covered in the next part of article 16, and it says: The church on earth is to preach the pure Word of God, properly administer the sacraments according to Christ’s instructions, and live in obedience to all that Christ commands. The church is to preach the PURE Word of God!!! Not the watered down version which so many preachers are preaching today – people need to hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ!! Scripture tells us, Woe be it to those that water down the gospel and don’t proclaim the true word of God. It will be worse for teachers who do not give the true gospel – and yet, that is what many are doing today.
We are to live in obedience to all that Christ commands, and what He commands is recorded in the Scriptures. Paul said in 1 Timothy something that I’m sure we can also feel that Jesus would say to us. 1 Timothy 3:15 says, “if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” We have already looked at Scriptures that tell us how we are to live, there should never be any question about how the people of God, the church, should conduct themselves.
Sometimes we talk about the local church – we’ve already seen that the universal church is all the believers throughout the world, but what is the local church? A local church is a body of believers formally organized on gospel principles, meeting regularly for the purposes of evangelism, nurture, fellowship and worship. We are a local church, we have been formally organized on gospel principles – that’s why I’ve been going through the articles of religion, so that we can fully understand what the Wesleyan Church believes – why we call ourselves Wesleyan – and we have been formally organized by the Dakota district. A true local church, meets regularly for the purpose of evangelism – that means the spreading of the gospel to those that don’t know it – we are to nurture one another – lift each other up – we are to meet together to fellowship and worship. We often forget this part. The local church is just something to do if we don’t have anything else to do – when really – the everything else should happen if there is nothing going on in the local church! If there are services – we are to meet together – not just for ourselves – but for the nurturing and fellowship with each other. Do you remember what we read in Acts? It said that “every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.”
Overseas, even though it’s nice to be among the people of another nation, there was something about being among those that are just like ourselves – we talk the same, we know some of the same things. Even though we were alien, there were others we could associate with like us. As Christians and more importantly as the Church “you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. (Eph. 2:19-20; NIV)
The Wesleyan Church is a denomination consisting of those members within district conferences and local churches who, as members of the body of Christ, hold the faith set forth in these Articles of Religion and acknowledge the ecclesiastical (or religious) authority of its governing bodies. When it comes to the authority of the governing bodies, 1 Cor. 12:28 says, And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. It is nice to have governing bodies that make sure the church is just that, the church, the family of God and not someone’s own agenda. People like David Koresh, which do not have a governing body, will find themselves working for their own good and not for the kingdom of God. We have not only the local board of administration, but we also have a district board of administration and then a general board of administration. There are checks and balances to make sure that a pastor and a church to not become worldly but that they remain a true church of God.
A church, if it obeys all that Christ gave us to do, if it follows His direction, will find that there is nothing that the world can do to destroy it. The world has been trying for generations to destroy the church, and yet it continues to grow. We must never forget that we are founded on the Rock of Jesus Christ.
Gregory Elder writes:
Growing up on the Atlantic Coast, I spent long hours working on intricate sand castles; whole cities would appear beneath my hands. One year, for several days in a row, I was accosted by bullies who smashed my creations. Finally I tried an experiment: I placed cinder blocks, rocks, and chunks of concrete in the base of my castles. Then I built the sand kingdoms on top of the rocks. When the bullies appeared (and I disappeared), their bare feet suddenly met their match. Many people see the church in grave peril from a variety of dangers: secularism, politics, or plain old sin. They forget that the church is built upon the Rock and if we join together as brothers and sisters in Christ, there is nothing that can defeat us for we will become stronger than anything that this world has to offer.
Are you helping to build the church or are you just attending the meetings?