“This Is My Church” ｢這是我的教會｣ 2009-11-08
[INTRODUCTION]
What is a church? We are sitting in a church. We use and hear the term very often. Let’s do a quick exercise together and see if you can understand what the word “church” means in the following contexts:
· Our church is located near the intersection of 141 and Olive. (address)
· The special music program will take place in our church on certain time and date. (building)
· Our church will send a mission team to the Winter Retreat. (organization)
· Our church decided to reinforce the rule about no running in the hallways. (administrative body)
· The church faces criticism from the media on its stand against same-sex marriage. (faith community)
You see, when one uses the term “church” it can mean different things. In my conversation with brothers and sisters in the church it is not unusual to receive different opinions toward the church. Very often these personal views will affect people’s commitment 投入to the church. Therefore, it is important for us to go back to the Bible and examine how God sees the church. I hope that with that foundation of truth in mind God will help us to fully enjoy a church life that pleases Him.
[EXPLANATION]
1. Definition of the church 教會的定義
A. Name for the Church 教會的名稱
The first question we need to ask is: what is the definition of the church in the Bible? First let us consider the name for the church. The Greek word for “church” is ekklesia. A direct translation for the word would be “the called out ones.” 蒙召的群體Paul addresses the believers in Corinth in 1 Cor. 1:2 this way: “To the church (ekklesia) of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours.” Paul tells us that it is God who calls people together and set them apart to form a church. The church is more than a human organization. SLCCC started as a small Bible study group in 1973. But in fact it was God who called people into His Kingdom and put them together to form this church.
B. Nature of the Church 教會的本質
Besides the name we can also define the church from its nature. There is the so called local church本地教會 which is situated in a particular geographical area. If you look at the New Testament book titles there are churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, etc. By our name, SLCCC is a local church set up in the city of St. Louis and our primary targets is the Chinese community.
However, on a wider scope there is also the universal church 普世教會, which is collective term for all the Christians throughout human history. Colossians 1:18 says: “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” Here church is in singular form. Paul is referring to the sum total of all the believers in the universal church. Also, in Galatians 3:28-29: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” All who believe in the same Jesus Christ are joined together in the same universal church. We all received the promise God gave to the forefather of the Jews, Abraham, several thousand years ago.
Do you honestly feel blessed to be in God’s church? We don’t become a believer because of our own choice but God’s choice. God calls you from among other people to become a child of the Heavenly Father. When you reflect on that does it bring about any sense of humility in you, and thankfulness to God?
God doesn’t just care about you He cares about this local church too. We will talk more about that later on. In addition, He cares about the universal church of which you are a part. If you are not being too naïve you would agree that what happens in one part of the world would more than likely affects other parts of the world too. May the Lord help us to see the current affairs from a universal perspective. Does it cause your heart too weep when you hear that another church is suffering from persecution? What about when a church official is caught up in a scandal? Praise the Lord it isn’t my church! Surely we shouldn’t condone sin. But we can react in prayer so that will bring about repentance in the sinner and healing to those who are hurting.
2. Descriptions of the church 教會的形容
From the definition of the church we know what institution the church is. Next we will look at two Biblical descriptions about the church in order to understand how the church should function in God’s sight.
A. Body of Christ 基督的身體
First the Bible describes the church as the body of Christ. We have read 1 Cor. 12:12-26 earlier. In verse 27 of the same passage Paul says “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” A parallel passage, also written by Paul is in Romans 12. Let us examine these two passages together. When the Bible describes the church as the body of Christ it is referring to some of its characteristics that are common to a human body.
(i) Unity 合一
First it is the concept of unity – the body of Christ is a united body. Rom. 12:4-5 reads “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Individual believers are like different body parts. Any organ cannot functions by itself but has to be put together to form one body. Paul illustrates further in 1 Cor. 12:13 that “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” In essence Paul is saying that there is only one type of Christian. No matter what skin color we have, what mother tongue we speak and what social background we have as long as we believe in the same Jesus Christ we are in the body of Christ.
(ii) Diversity 多元
We are united together as one body of Christ but at the same time we enjoy the benefit of our diversity. Let us go back to Rom 12:4: “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function.” As believers in Christ we are the same before God. But God assigns each of us different functions based on the unique spiritual gifts He gives us. By spiritual gift it refers to the special ability才能God gives to each believer for the purpose of serving Him in the church. 1 Cor. 12:4-6 says “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.” Please pay special attention to the word “same” in these verses. These gifts are from the same Holy Spirit, and the same God works in each of us for the service of the same Lord. Then Paul goes on and talks about some of the gifts from verse 8 to 10. I am not going to explain what these gifts are but it would be a good home exercise for you.
(iii) Functionality 功用
The reason why God puts us together as one united body and gives us a diversity of gifts is for us to exercise 發揮our functionality in His church. Rom 12:6-8 reads “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.” Notice the repetition of “let him” seven times. The idea is that whatever gift God has given you, use it! Again I would go into detail and explain what each gift is. I will leave the homework to you.
It is human nature for us to compare our own gifts with others’. Then we ask God why does He give this gift to this person and not me? Suffice to say, this kind of comparison is simply unhealthy. It will only lead to jealous and pride. Paul illustrates in 1 Cor. 12:15: “If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.” Then skip to verse 17: “If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?” No one is indispensible and each of us needs other believers to complete what we are lacking.
If it is not because of Christ unity in the church is impossible. Many of you have high education and are very capable in your own expertise. Very often when we bring our human wisdom and professional expertise to the table as we serve together conflict can arise easily. Just take a simple example. Say we are changing the carpet for the sanctuary and we ask each of you to give us your suggestion we are looking for headache. Some may suggest blue others suggest red. Even if we agree to pick red we still have to settle which kind of red. See my point there? It is a difficult but important lesson for us to live out unity in the church. God puts us together in the same church because we need each other. No one can replace you or me. That brings out another key issue. Since God puts you in this church to complete His body your responsibility is to find out what your specific role is. Sometimes I hear people say: I have been around long enough why not let the young people serve? You know what: the concept of retirement doesn’t come from the Bible. A former CEO of JC Penny Department Store said that the first day he stepped into the office he was very aware that he had to train his successor. I wonder if we have ever thought of applying that concept in church ministries. One day you may leave this church or switch to a different ministry position. Can the ministry go on without any delay or gap?
B. Bride of Christ 基督的新婦
Besides the body of Christ the Bible also describes the church as the bride of Christ. Marriage is the most intimate relationship among all human relationships God has set up. That is why from the Old Testament to the New God uses marriage to describe His relationship with His people. Let me just quote a few examples. In Jeremiah 2:1-2 the prophet says: “The word of the LORD came to me: ‘Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.’” Then in 3:8-9 of the same book God convicts Israel and Judah of their sins: “I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. Because Israel's immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.” God is using adultery as an analogy for the sin of idolatry.
A very familiar passage we often refer to in a Christian wedding is Ephesians 5:22-33. My understanding is, Paul is using marriage as an analogy for the relationship between Christ and the church. Today we will focus on what Christ’s heart is toward the church as Paul explains it in this passage.
(i) Lead 帶領
First, we can see that Jesus Christ has a passion to lead the church. Eph. 5:23 says: “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.” Christ as the head of the church will lead us in the direction He desires. As a church our responsibility is spelled out in the next verse, verse 24: “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” The church has to submit to the headship of Christ.
(ii) Love 愛護
Not only that does Christ lead the church He will also continue to love the church. How? Look with me in verse 25: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Christ loves the church so much that He died on the cross for His people to redeem them from eternal condemnation.
(iii) Link 連結
Jesus Christ leads and loves the church for an ultimate purpose – He will link up with the church. Paul tells us in verses 31 to 32 that: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”
From the wedding custom of the people in the Middle East we can understand the rich spiritual meaning of why Jesus Christ sees the church as His bride. In the Middle East the parents of a young man will select a bride for him. Once the parents identify a potential bride they will send a representative to the girl’s family. They need to come up with a dowry聘禮 to secure the wedding. It can be in the form of gold, silver, jewelry or even livestock. This dowry is to compensate the girl’s family for the loss of a worker after the wedding. Part of the dowry will also become the bride’s possession so that in case the marriage ends in a divorce she still has a means to support her life. When all that is settled there will be an engagement ceremony where the groom will give the bride a token of value as a promise that he will marry her. The engagement is considered a serious step and will not be overturned. The actual wedding will not take place at least a year after the engagement. During this period of time the groom will make all the necessary preparations for the wedding feast and for the future home where he and the bride will stay together. Meanwhile the bride will prepare herself in an elaborate manner as far as she can afford it. Her clothing, hair, ornaments and perfume – everything has to be perfect.
In our relationship with God, Christ was sent to die on the cross as the dowry for the church to pay the price of the sin debt of all its believers. When we received Christ as our personal Savior the Holy Spirit lives in us as a token to guarantee our future redemption. Christ rose from the death and ascended to the heaven to prepare an eternal home for His believers. One day Christ will come back and take the church to be with Him forever in heaven.
The question is: how should the church prepare for that glorious day while we are yet still on earth? The Bible says we have to stay pure by walking closely with Christ. Christ has washed away our sins – past, present and future – as we accepted Him as Savior. We have to keep coming back to Him for strength and wisdom in order to obey Him in whatever decision we make. We have to let the Word of God dwell in our hearts so that we can discern God’s will for our lives. For our church as a whole we need to stay alert for any unbiblical teaching and be ready to defend our faith. Any new ideas coming out from the media or some so called experts and scholars have to be scrutinized in light of the Scripture.
Since Christ is the head of the church do we submit to His leadership? Do we submit to the leadership Christ gives to our church leaders? I am not saying they are perfect. But do we recognize the fact that ultimately their authority come from God. Of course we as pastors and elders are part of the leadership team, and so are your fellowship chairpersons, head of every church ministry and Sunday school teachers, etc. Your submission to these leaders is an indication of your submission to Christ.
[CONCLUSION]
As we have studied on the teaching about the church in the Bible we understand that God’s interest is not only on this local church called SLCCC but also the universal church since the beginning of human history. But then God puts you and me here and now in this church for a special reason. He desires to work through us to build up His local body in here. God will continue to purify us with His Word to make us ready for His return.
While any believer can point to a particular local church and says” This is my church,” this is where I worship and have fellowship. What matter most is that our Lord Jesus Christ points to every church established by His name and says to us: “This is my church.”