Preparing the Church for the Twenty First Century

Introduction

I will build my church. These words of our Lord Jesus Christ are perhaps the most important words that this generation will ever have to focus upon as it thinks about the church in the beginning of the next century. And with them we begin a major study in our life together as a congregation, one that I am entitling, Preparing the Church for the Twenty First Century. What I want to do this morning is speak to the issue of why we need to study the church at this point in our congregation's history and then explain and apply our text. What I hope you will take home with you today is this one key thought, Christ is the owner of the church. And it is this truth that must drive all that we will do as a congregation as the transition between the founding or charter generation of Calvary Church and th current generation rapidly comes to a close. And now this generation must begin to teach the next one.

But before I do anything more, I want to give us a working definition of the church, one that will appear in the bulletin for a long time so we are clear as to what I mean when I use that word, church. Unless I specifically say otherwise, when I use the term church in these messages, I want you to understand that church is the universal and visible assembly of all those persons in every nation, together with their children, who make profession of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and promise submission to his commandments. If I mean to refer to the church in any other form, such as the invisible church (Christians of all times and places past, present and future) or our local manifestation of the church known as Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church, I will make that clear. But in general, when I refer to the church this is what I will be referring to, the universal and visible assembly of all those persons in every nation, together with their children, who make profession of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and promise submission to his commandments.

• Why study this subject at this point in time?
• We study this subject now because it is relevant to where we are in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ: The current generation of leadership has been in place for a substantial period of time and it is time for a new generation to be trained up to fill the shoes of the current generation. But the problem that we face, and it is not limited to Calvary Church, is that many in the generation of believers that was born in the 1950's are, to a great extent, unsure of what the church is and what the relevance of the church is to their day to day lives. Does being a part of the church mean anything to the wife and or mother who is trying to be a Christian woman in a pagan culture? Does church membership have meaning to the man who is trying to eke out a living in a job that may one day call upon him to work on Sundays? How does it help him be a better employee or even supervisor on the job? What relationship does being a part of the church have to raising the children? And what is the place of the children in the life of the church? Church history seems to me to show that these questions were never asked in the past as they are today. It appears to my understanding that past generations understood the answers to these questions, and that they did so because they understood what the church is and what church membership means. Many in our day simply do not know what the church is and what church membership means. In fact, the word church seems to be a vague term to many and too few are concerned about even that. This is not meant to insult or offend anyone! The truth is that in the Bible we are told that one generation of believers must teach the next the great things of God. And that is what I intend to do over the next months as we explore the subject of the church in these morning services. If we do it right, we will become healthier and more robust Christians and stronger witnesses to Christ in our day to day lives.
• Next: This series of studies is designed to answer a concern that your Session has that we all be thinking along the same lines as to the way the church is supposed to function. Someone has a problem with the way something is being done by someone. How do they address that problem? In the last couple of years we, as those called by Christ to oversee this congregation, have seen a variety of responses to perceived problems and in some cases the responses have been either out of proportion to the problem (i.e., people leave or they start a feud with someone) or just plain wrong (e.g., there is gossip and a refusal to work with the Session or the pastor to correct the problem). It is my contention that much of the problems we have encountered are the result of a misunderstanding of what the church is and what our individual responsibilities are as members of the church. Many, it would appear, do not even know what it means to be a member of the church. That is not necessarily the result of sin-- it may well be that not enough information has been given from the pulpit by yours truly. So this series is designed to give us all the same information, the same Biblical teaching, as to what the church is all about and what it means to be a part of it.
• Finally: It is my hope that in teaching us all about this subject we will become students who learn from Christ about his cherished bride, the church. Listen to the way Paul defines the church, in the context of teaching husbands about their responsibilities to their wives-- showing them that they are to be to their wives what Christ is to the church: Husbands, love your wives, , just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. Christ loves the church and wants her to be perfect. And in studying what he says about his bride, our goal is nothing less than this: To see what Christ says the church should look like and then do whatever is necessary as elders, deacons, trustees and members to make our congregation look like that. It is not designed to make anyone feel guilty or to put down anyone's ideas. And it is most emphatically not designed to impose MY ideas or opinions upon anyone. Rather it will be my goal in all of my study and preparation and in every message to find out what Christ says about the church and apply it to us all. But be warned: if once we discover what Christ wants and then refuse to do it, we face his discipline for sinfully disobeying his revealed will!!

• So that is what we are going to do, study the doctrine of the church and prepare us all to hit the ground running as a part of the church in the twenty first century. But let me move on to present to you the fundamental concept of the church. If we do not understand this, then we understand nothing at all as we should when it comes to who we are as a local church. For that we turn to our text in Matthew 16:18.
• To correctly understand Matthew 16:18 we need to look at its context

• We need to appreciate the circumstance in which Christ utters these well known words: (13-16)He has been ministering for some time now and has had his disciples with him at this point for some time. The multitudes have been coming to some definite opinions as to who he is and now Christ wants to know what his disciples think-- no, he wants to receive the confession of faith that Peter now gives. Who do you say that I am? You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Now that was powerful stuff! It was doing what the jewish leaders had forbidden to be done, acknowledging Jesus to be equal to God, to be God himself come in the flesh. And it is Peter who gives this confession, but he speaks for all the disciples (Jesus asked them all and Peter's words are not disputed by any of them). So our text, Jesus' words, are a response to this confession.
• Next, Jesus' words are found in the context of Jesus declaration of how Peter and the disciples knew this: (17) Peter could say what he did because the Father had revealed it to him. The secret things of God are known by God alone but the things revealed belong to us and to our children-- Peter has received revelation from God and based upon God's revelation he has confessed that he believes Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God. With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. Peter has now the faith of Abraham and we note carefully that his faith is grounded in the supernatural revelation of God. There is no other ground upon which anyone may believe in Jesus. God himself must reveal the truth in order for there to be faith. And Jesus words declaring him blessed, in verse 18, are an acknowledgment of Peter's faith and that of the rest of the disciples.
• And what does Jesus say? (18)
• First of all he calls Simon by the name he gave him when he first met him--"Peter." it means, Rock. And then he says, , and on this rock I will build my church. The rock referred to is that of the confessing disciples-- this is confirmed by Paul in Ephesians 2:20 when he calls the apostles, along with the prophets, the foundation of the church.
• Second of all he says that the gates of hades will not prevail against the church-- Hades was the name the jews gave, in greek, to the place of the dead and is not wrongfully also translated as hell. Jesus promises the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, and why not? Verse 19 gives us the answer as he gives the keys of the kingdom of heaven to the disciples, giving them heaven's authority to exercise over those who would enter the church. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church because it is supported by heaven itself, more pointedly, because it is supported by Christ.

• All of which brings us to the main thought I want you to take home with you today: Christ is the owner of the Church (Matthew 16:18)
• Look carefully at his words as he describes what he will do--I will build MY church.-- Upon the foundation of his disciples he will build, he will support with his heavenly authority, HIS church. His choice of the possessive pronoun is very deliberate. To understand its significance you need only remember how the Lord referred to Israel in the Old Testament [Isa 51:4 (my nation); 65:1 (a nation called by my name); Jer 2:11 (my people)]. At Sinai the Lord promised that Israel would be to him a holy nation and his special treasure. So when the Lord Jesus here refers to the church as HIS church, he is merely doing what he did with the nation of Israel, which in fact the church is what the church is, Israel come into its own. The church is Christ's possession, his special treasure, his holy nation-- 1 Peter 2:9,10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. The church is the people of God over whom Christ has claimed ownership.
• Now, lest we think this is merely a dispute about who owns the church, we must understand that much more is involved-- The owner of a piece of property has the right to make the rules for the use of that property, and has the right to dispose of that property as he sees fit, not to mention the right and responsibility to defend that property. And it is in that light that the words he speaks in the context make the most sense-- the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, and why? Because Christ the owner will defend her. He gives the keys of the kingdom of heaven to the church, and why? Because those keys represent his authority over the church and the church, as we will note in a future message, is only permitted to minister his authority and not act on its own. Christ the owner, Christ the defender, Christ the lawgiver, Christ is the king of the church. And in saying that Christ is owner that is just another way of saying he is the king of the church.
• And the implications of this should be clear-- The church is not a building or a denomination, it is people, and we will make this point again and again as well. The church is the people of God who, with Peter, confess Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God. And that is nothing but a profession of saving faith, faith in the owner or king of the church. Furthermore, we do not own the church, the elders do not own the church, but we are only stewards of the church. We are entrusted by Christ with the care of his people-- each of us is responsible to care for the church; every person in this building and out of it who professes faith in Christ is his property. We don't own the Sunday School. Christ does. We do not own the building we meet in, it is Christ's provision. The pews, the organ, the piano, the rooms, every stick of furniture, every bit of light, every book and bible and hymnal,. Where we meet and what we use in this place and all that we have come from the hand of the one true owner of it all, Jesus Christ. We do not have the right of ownership over anything or anybody connected with the church. Christ is the owner, Christ the king.
• Let the knowledge of Christ's kingship/ownership give you the right perspective on the way this church has been dealt with by God in the past, the present and will be in the future: Never attach yourself to this place or the people around you anymore than to see them and love them as the gift of Christ. He is the one who determines how big we will be people wise and how long we will be allowed to use these facilities. He can take anyone or anything away from us that he pleases. That does not mean we may not enjoy the building and use to the uttermost what we have. It does not mean we must not love one another and develop close bonds of affection with one another. Indeed we should. What it does mean is that we must if Christ so orders it be willing to part with anything or anybody he chooses to take from us. It is his church to do with as he pleases and it is his facility to give and take away from us if he so chooses.

It is Christ's church. He died for her and he is pledged to protect her, more than that, to sanctify and purify her so he can present her to himself as a spotless bride. As we go on to study the church, let us keep this in mind. To hold this truth before our eyes would be the cure for much dispute and much bitterness in the church in our day. To know that Christ is the owner of the church would prevent selfish grasping for power and proud holding of office. It would keep us from doing things that he would never approve of. It is Christ's church. And as we enter the twenty first century we need to keep this in mind. It is not our church. It is Christ's church.

And lest we forget it, he has told us the way to join the church is, with Peter, to confess him to be the Christ, the only Saviour of sinners. Have you trusted in his salvation, confessing him as your Saviour and Lord and forsaking every other means of being saved from your sin? Come now to the Saviour and receive full pardon of all your sin and thus join the church, the universal and visible assembly of all those persons in every nation, together with their children, who make profession of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and promise submission to his commandments.

Rev. Arthur J. Fox, Pastor
10 Spruce Street
Middletown, PA 17057
(717) 944-5835