What Is the Church?

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What Is the Church?
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A Baptist Church Doctrinal Statement

• The Church Which Is His Body
• We believe that the Church which is His Body is
  the entire company of saints from Pentecost to
  the Rapture, who are united together with Christ
  by the baptism with the Holy Spirit (I Cor.
  1213 Acts 15 24 1115).

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A Baptist Church Doctrinal Statement

• The Local Church
• We believe that the local N. T. church is
  visible manifestation of the Body of Christ in a
  specific place, organized into an as-sembly of
  immersed believers, who are associated by
  covenant in the faith and fellowship of the
  Gospel, to observe the ordinances, study the
  Word, fulfill the Great Commission, participate
  in the min-istry of prayer, and share in the
  blessings of Christian fellowship (Acts 241, 42).

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The Spiritual Body and the Local Church

• 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.
  --Mt 1618
• The Lord Jesus conceived of His church as both an
  organism and an organization!
• THE SPIRITUAL BODY OF CHRIST
• THE LOCAL NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH

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The Spiritual Body and the Local Church

• THE LOCAL NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH
• Acts 21 And when the day of Pentecost was fully
  come, they were all with one accord in one place.

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The Spiritual Body and the Local Church

• THE SPIRITUAL BODY OF CHRIST
• Acts 24 And they were all filled with the
  Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other
  tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
• Acts 1115, 16 15 And as I began to speak, the
  Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the
  begin-ning.16 Then remembered I the word of the
  Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with
  water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy
  Ghost.

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The Use of the Word Church in the N.T.
ekklhsia (ekklesia) ek - out of kaleo -
call A group called out from a larger group
(Acts 1514). Simeon hath declared how God at
the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of
them a people for his name.
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The Use of the Word Church in the N.T.

• This word ekklesia is used 115 times in the New
  Testament
• THREE times it is translated "assembly" (Acts
  1932, 39, 41), where it refers to the body at
  Ephesus known as the "town meeting."

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The Use of the Word Church in the N.T.

• TWO times ekklesia refers to Israel (Acts 738
  Hebrew 212), where it is used in its primary
  meaning as an assembly or congregation of ones
  who are "called out."
• This is he, that was in the church in the
  wilder-ness with the angel which spake to him in
  the mount Sina, and with our fathers who
  received the lively oracles to give unto us
  (Acts 738).

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The Use of the Word Church in the N.T.

• FOURTEEN times ekklesia refers to the church
  which is His body.
• And he is the head of the body, the church who
  is the beginning, the first born from the dead
  that in all things he might have the preeminence
  (Col 118).

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The Use of the Word Church in the N.T.

• The terms "Universal Church" or "Invisible
  Church" are NOT found in Scripture.
• The Lord Jesus never intended for His church to
  encompass all that is called "Christendom" or
  that it would be invisible.
• On the contrary, it is to be highly visible by
  the presence of true local New Testament
  churches.

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The Use of the Word Church in the N.T.

• NINETY TWO times ekklesia refers to the visible
  manifestation of the church which is His body,
  the local N.T. church.
• And he went through Syria and Cilicia,
  con-firming the churches (Ac 1541).

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The Roman Catholic View of the Church

• The Roman Catholic church believes in a mystical
  body of Christ, and a visible body on earth,
  which are coextensive with each other.
• One cannot be in the mystical body
  without being in the visible
  body.

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The Roman Catholic View of the Church

• The Roman Catholic church teaches that it is the
  only true, visible body of Christ.
• Therefore, it concludes that
  there is no salvation outside the
  Roman Catholic Church.

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The Roman Catholic View of the Church

• "Rock" is the Greek word petra.
• It appears in the N.T. eleven times meaning "a
  ledge of rock".
• Five times it used meta- phorically of
  Christ (Mt. 1618
  Rom. 933 I Cor. 104
  (twice) I Pet. 28).
• In I Cor. 104, it is expressly stated that
  Christ is the "Rock".

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The Roman Catholic View of the Church

• In contrast the word for Peter is petros meaning
  "a little rock" in comparison to a ledge of rock.
  Certainly Christ, and not Peter is the foundation
  for the church (Eph. 220-22).
• And are built upon the foundation of the apostles
  and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
  chief corner stone --Eph 220

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The Liberal Theologians View of the Church

• Liberalism teaches that the church is the visible
  spiritual community of all who profess to be
  Christians, in contrast to the fractured
  denominational organizations.
• This community is often referred to by liberals
  as the koinonia, the spiritual
  fellowship of all those who have
  committed them- selves to the reign
  of God.

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The Interdenominationalists View of the Church

• Interdenominationalists make a false distinction
  between the true church and the local church.
• In so doing they intimate that the local church
  is something LESS than the visible manifestation
  of the spiritual body of Christ in a specific
  place.

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The Interdenominationalists View of the Church

• Membership in a local church is not important as
  long as one is part of the spiritual body of
  Christ.

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The Interdenominationalists View of the Church

• Parachurch organizations have taken away from the
  local church both man-power and resources needed
  to fulfill the commission Christ gave to His
  churches.

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The Interdenominationalists View of the Church

• Interdenominationalism has also given rise to the
  phenomenon known as "the church tramp".

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The Interdenominationalists View of the Church

• Church tramps are like hitchhikers who say,
  You furnish the gas, car, attend to the repairs
  and upkeep, supply the insurance, and I'll ride
  with you.

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The Interdenominationalists View of the Church

• You go to the meetings, you serve on the boards
  and committees, you do the paperwork, you study
  the issues and take
  care of the things
  that need doing, and I'll
  just go along for the
  ride.
• If things dont suit my fancy, I will com-plain,
  criticize, and probably get out and
  hitchhike to another group."

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A Scriptural View of the Local Church

• The local N.T. church is a visible mani-festation
  of the Body of Christ in a specific place,
• organized into an assembly of immersed
  believers,
• who are associated by covenant in the faith and
  fellowship of the Gospel,
• to observe the ordinances, study the Word,
  fulfill the Great Commission, participate in the
  ministry of prayer, and share in the blessings of
  Christian fellowship. (Acts 241-47)

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The Local Church is a Covenant Community
Acts 21 And when the day of Pentecost was fully
come, they were all with one accord in one place.

• Having received the Lord Jesus Christ as our
  Saviour, and having been baptized in the Name of
  the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
  Spirit, we do now in the presence of God and this
  assembly, most solemnly enter into covenant with
  one another as one body in Christ.

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The Local Church is a Covenant Community

• The first disciples had the concept of
  membership even before the birth of the church
  at Pentecost.
• Acts 115 And in those days
  Peter stood up in the midst of
  the disciples, and said, (the
  number of names together
  were about an hundred and
  twenty,)

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The Local Church is a Covenant Community

• Those who received the Word of God and were
  scripturally baptized were
• ADDED to the original 120 names.
• Acts 241 Then they that gladly
  received his word were baptized
  and the same day there were
  added unto them about
  three
  thousand souls.
• They became church members!

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The Church Members Were Faithful

• Acts 242 And they continued stedfastly in the
  apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in
  breaking of bread, and in prayers.
• Continued stedfastly is proskartereo
• It appears 10 times in the Greek NT. Its various
  meanings include
• 1) to be devoted to one
• 2) to give unremitting care to a thing
• 3) to persevere and not to faint.

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The Church Members Were Faithful to the Services
and Activities of the Church

• Acts 242 And they continued stedfastly in the
  apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in
  breaking of bread, and in prayers.
• Preaching and teaching services
• Fellowship times
• The ordinances
• Prayer meeting

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The Church Members Showed Christian Love One to
Another

• Acts 244-45 44 And all that believed were
  together, and had all things common 45 And sold
  their possessions and goods, and parted them to
  all men, as every man had need.
• This was not Christian communism
• No one was entitled to a free ride (2 Thess
  310)
• Scriptural qualifications were set down to
  determine genuine need (1 Tim. 5).

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The Church Members Maintained a Good Testimony in
the Community

• Acts 246-47 46 And they, continuing daily with
  one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from
  house to house, did eat their meat with gladness
  and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and
  having favour with all the people. And the Lord
  added to the church daily such as should be
  saved.
• favour is charis, i.e. grace
• When the church members maintain a good
  testimony, people will be saved!

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The Importance of the Church Covenant

• In signing the Church Covenant and becoming a
  church member one promises to
• Be faithful to the church
• Care for one another in the church family
• Seek to maintain a good personal testimony that
  others may be won to Christ

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Not Every One is Ready to Be a Member

• A church member must
• Be saved
• Be scripturally
  baptized
• Be in one accord (agreement) with
  the church
• Have a good testimony
• The Lord is looking for a few good men and women!