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(Matthew 16:16-19) What is the church? Where did it come from? Why is it so important? Today we begin to look at the church that Jesus started. (0961250310) —-more—-
The Church: God’s Family
When a person receives the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior, immediately they become a part of the family of God. It is the greatest family on earth. And as soon as possible, that new believer should then unite with a local body of believers, a local assembly of believers who can study the word of God together, fellowship together, encourage one another, and work together to get the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ to other people. This is the importance of the local New Testament church.
The Importance of the Local Church
Now, what does the Bible say about the church? We have recently been studying what the Bible says about salvation, and I think it’s a very natural progression now to move to the church because the Lord didn’t just save you from something. He saved you for something. He saved you for himself. He wants you to be a part of what he is doing in this world, and that is being done through the local New Testament Church.
Jesus’ Teachings on the Church
The Lord Jesus testified to his own disciples about the church and its work in Matthew chapter 16 in verse number 17. “And Jesus answered and said unto Peter, Blessed Art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood, if not revealed it unto thee, but my father, which is in heaven.” He’s referencing of course, Peter’s confession of faith, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said, that’s come by revelation. God’s revealed the truth to you. You’ve responded to that truth, by the way.
That’s how everybody gets saved. But then notice how he moves from salvation to the work of the church. He says in verse 18, “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. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loose.” In heaven. Heaven’s work is being done on earth through the local New Testament church. So when people say to me I’m a Christian, but I’m just not into church.
I always am puzzled by that. Either they’re openly disobeying what the scripture says, or they’re just ignorant of what the scripture says. And because you cannot divide Christ and his church, the Lord Jesus is the head, the church is the body. So to say you love the head but have nothing to do with the body sounds very abnormal to me.
The Lord Jesus intended that his disciples from the very beginning would be connected to what he is doing in this world, and this is powerful. He doesn’t call it your church. He calls it my church. You might say, this is my church, but in fact. The church belongs to the Lord. It is his church. It is the Church of the Living God.
God’s Three Institutions
Now, God established three basic institutions that are all represented for us in scripture. First of all he established the home that was the first institution ordained by God. You find it all the way back in the Book of Genesis. It is the basic unit of civilized society. It’s my conviction. That’s why the devil has done everything he can to try to disrupt the home, because when you break down the family, immediately society civilization begins to crumble.
So it begins with a home. Then he establishes civil government. Now why was that second? Why was that necessary? That grew out of the fall of man. Fallen men lash out at other fallen men we’re living in a fallen world cursed by sin. And so God had to establish definite laws and a government to oversee that.
Otherwise people would just kill each other. Every man doing that, which is right in his own eyes. So he establishes civil government. And I’ll remind you that though you may not always like the government. It is right for us to respect government and pray for those in authority over us. The Bible says there is no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God. But the third institution established by our God is the local New Testament church. And you find it in the New Testament. The church is not revealed in the Old Testament saints. They didn’t understand all about the New Testament church.
In fact, it’s referred to in scripture as a mystery until you come to the New Testament. It was a sacred secret that would, was revealed by God in his own time. So the church was hidden to Old Testament Saints. I’d be quick to say this too. The church is not the same as Israel. God as a definite plan and purpose in this world and in the future for the nation of Israel, we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
We should pray that our own country continues to be peaceable towards Jerusalem, because God is not through with His chosen nation, but Israel and the church are not the same thing. The church is something that is revealed first by Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter 16, listen to the verse again. Matthew 16 verse 18. “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
The Foundation of the Church
What do we learn about the church in this first mention of the church? We learned something about the foundation of the church. He said, I’m gonna build my church upon a certain rock. Some people have mistakenly thought that rock was referenced to Peter.
Let me just be quick to say that there’s not a man on earth that can be the foundation of God’s perfect work in this world. The only foundation is the Lord Jesus. Remember what Paul would later write. Other foundation can no man lay then that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus said, upon this rock, I will build my church.
The rock was not Peter. The rock was Peter’s confession of faith. If you back up two verses, listen to Peter. He says it with his own lips. Thou the Christ, the son of the living God. A friend. The church is not about you and me. The church is all about Christ. In our American Christianity modern church, a church has become so much about people getting their felt needs met or their social needs met.
But friend, if you wanna go back to the very beginning principle of the New Testament church. It is built upon the person of Jesus Christ. He’s the rock. So the foundation of the church is Jesus Christ, who’s the builder of that building, that spiritual church. The Bible says, Jesus said, I will build my church.
He didn’t say he would build your church. He didn’t say he wanted you to build his church. He said he would build his own church. So watch this. He’s the foundation. He is the builder. And he’s the head when all is said and done. He’s the capstone. He is. He is the chief cornerstone. Listen to the words again, upon this rock, I will build my church.
The church does not belong to us. The church belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have the glorious privilege of getting in on it, being a part of what God is doing in this world. Isn’t it amazing that the greatest organization in your town is not an organization at all? It is actually a living organism.
It is a living, breathing, functioning body. It’s called the local New Testament Church. And I’m gonna tell you, there’s not a civic group. There’s not a corporate group, there’s not a ball team or a club or a social society on earth that can compare to the Church of the Living God. It is wonderful because it’s connected to Christ.
The Power and Mission of the Church
Listen to the power of this church. He said The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. That presupposes that the church is advancing, that we’re going against the gates of hell to rescue sinners out of the fire to bring them to the knowledge of Christ. It’s time the church stopped playing defense and get back on the offense.
It’s time that the Church of the Living God stopped being passive and instead said, it is our business and our duty. I. To do the Lord’s work in this world and friend, when we begin to do God’s work God’s way, let me tell you what Jesus will do. No, let me, let the Lord Jesus speak for himself. Jesus said, I will build my church.
I want you just to pause today and thank God for the church. Thank the Lord for the church. He’s allowed you to be a part of. And ask the Lord to show you how you can do the work he wants done in and through your local New Testament church. It truly is the greatest work going on in this world. Repeating what other people have said about the Bible is not enough.
Outro and Resources
We must know the biblical reason behind what we believe. We hope you will visit us at etj.bible to access our Library of Bible teaching resources, including book-by-book studies of scripture. You’ll also find studies to watch, listen to, or read. We are so grateful for those who pray for us, who share the biblical content and for those who invest to help us advance this ministry worldwide. Again, thank you for listening, and we hope you’ll join us next time on enjoying the Journey.
