CHAPTER 1
What Is the Church?
I am under the impression that the institutional church is standing on its last legs. Statistically, the church is facing a constant decline in membership. Politics has leaked into the church and caused many leaders to try to be politically correct as they abandon the doctrines of Christianity. The public perception of the institutional church is lower than ever. I am being completely honest regarding the merits of church as we face more problems than have ever been recorded in history. The Next Gen Church book asks, "Will the church stand?"
Instead of asking, "What is the church?" perhaps the question should be "Who is the church?' The word church comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which is defined as "an assembly" or "called-out ones." The root meaning of church is not that of a building but of people. The universal church consists of all those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The universal church of God is all those who have received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The local church is where the members of the universal church can fully apply the "body" principles of 1 Corinthians 12: encouraging, teaching, and building one another up in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is the church? The church is God's regenerated people who were full of sin but saved of their free will by His power for His purposes and will for their lives in the world.
Many of the churches in America want to be labeled "Christian churches." But many of these churches have ignored the laws of God and have failed to adhere to the guidelines of the scripture regarding what a church ought to resemble. Many churches use professional marketing techniques to grow their congregations without any regard for the overall biblical teachings of Jesus, the Christ. The congregation and the world are suffering because of the lack of strong biblical teachings in these churches.
It is imperative that the church reflect the teachings of Jesus, the Christ. We are living in the last days, and perilous times are upon us. America is destined to witness a shift in the Christian world. Phyllis Tickle, in her book titled The Great Emergence, suggests that there is a historical pattern of a shift in Christianity every five hundred years. If she is correct, America is on the brink of a massive shift. Chronologically, America is about to experience a new dimension in Christianity.
Tickle suggests that the first shift began almost five hundred years after Jesus, the Christ, was crucified on the old, rugged cross. History records that the Roman Empire fell at this time. It is known as the "Constantine Christianity." The second shift occurred five hundred years later: the Great Schism of 1054. The division of Roman Catholicism and the Orthodox Church took place. The third shift took place in 1517. This was called the Reformation, and it gave rise to the Protestant Christian era. It is now the year 2018, and we are ready to witness another shift in the church. It is my belief that, based on this historical analytical posture, we are getting ready to witness another shift. I believe that this is scriptural as well as historically predicted to take place. Mere calculations indicate that it will begin around January 2017.
The people of God will continue to be blessed as God has given them promises. God has made a covenant with His people to be their God, and His people are to obey His commands. The church is to stand on the foundation that was laid by God. The foundation of their faith must be grounded in the personhood of Jesus, the Christ. The church is to keep its priorities in line with the Word of God. God has called on the church to follow the first-century commands as guidelines for His church. The scriptures state in Matthew 24:35 (KJV), "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." His salvation is secure. "The heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail" (Isaiah 51:6). Jesus tells us to have the proper priorities. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth ... But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven" (Matthew 6:19–20). In these last days, it is imperative that the church be what God has called it to be.
What is the church? Is the church a building? Is it the place where believers gather to worship? Is the church the people who believe and follow Christ? How we understand and perceive the church is important in determining how we live out our faith.
Matthew 16:18–20 records Jesus saying,
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 shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Researchers contend that the Catholic Church interprets this verse to mean that Peter is the rock upon which the church was founded, and for this reason, Peter is considered the first pope. Protestants as well as Christians of other denominations interpret this verse differently. They believe in Romans 10:9 "that if thou confess with thy mouth Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." They teach that everyone who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord is a part of the church. They also say, "We are the church." I believe that the New Testament church is a body of believers who have been called out from the world by God to live as His people under the authority of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:22–23). This body of believers — or "the body of Christ" — began in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost through the work of the Holy Spirit and will continue to be formed until the day of the rapture of the church. They were given the great commission and will work according to the command by Jesus to "make disciples."
Therefore, the local church is defined as a local assembly of believers or a congregation that meets together physically for worship, fellowship, teaching, prayer, and encouragement in the faith (Hebrews 10:25). This is a way of life for believers. With this being the matter, they are able to live in relationship with other believers. They break bread together (communion), pray for each other, disciple, and strengthen one another. Throughout the world, all believers are members of the universal church. This universal church is made up of every single person who has exercised faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, including members of every local church body throughout the earth (1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:22–23).
The Purpose of the Church
The purpose of the church is threefold. It is to preach, teach, and evangelize. The church assembles to bring each member to spiritual maturity (Ephesians 4:13). The church reaches out to spread the love of Christ. The church is to evangelize, meaning to spread the gospel message to unbelievers in the world (Matthew 28:18–20). This is the great commission. So the primary purpose is to make disciples and to minister to believers and nonbelievers. Really, the church is universal, for it is responsible for reaching the world with the gospel. In a local sense, it is one of the main engines in which God carries out His purposes on earth. The church is God's heart, His mouth, His hands, and His feet for reaching out to an unsaved world. We are to be His mouth, His hands, and His feet reaching out to an unsaved world. Preachers are to preach the unadulterated Word of God. First Corinthians 12:27 (NIV) reminds the church, "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."
A Culture War
I feel the urgency to examine the efforts of churches to maintain their standards of biblical integrity with regard to marriage. And I examine the current conflict between American secular culture and the Christian faith as well as why Christians are losing the culture war. The term culture war is used to claim that there is a conflict between those values considered traditional or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal. It originated in the 1920s, when urban and rural American values came into clear conflict. "Culture war" is a translation from the German Kulturkampf, a term that was coined to describe the clash between cultural and religious groups in the campaign from 1871 to 1878, under Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck of the German Empire, against the influence of the Roman Catholic Church. From a strictly biblical perspective, all culture wars are between two major protagonists: God and Satan. The church cannot simultaneously embody justice and injustice. Values of what are right and wrong and good and evil are central to the culture war. The culture war will shape the moral values of American society for decades to come. I wrote a song sermon titled "Fighting a Culture War." This song captures the biblical views of the believers fighting this war for the kingdom of God.
For more than 2000 years, Christianity has been engaged in a war to convert and spread its gospel to as many followers as possible, but unless the church gets better at protecting the already saved, it is going to lose the battle and the war! Atheists are erecting monuments in favor of their non-belief and in opposition to religion. Gays/sodomites/homosexuals are becoming more prevalent in our society. Same sex marriages have been given a blessing by the Supreme Court. They have put themselves in the position to speak for God and for the American citizenry. Churches are watering down the gospel with 'feel-good' messages about self improvement and positive thinking, while failing to teach the essentials of Christ and Him crucified, along with a proper biblical worldview. Street preaching is a ministry that has become more UN-common within the past few years, is a relief at least in the current climate of moral decline. The church has retreated into the closet while the homosexuals have come out. Christians have been avoiding the culture war for so long that we now have to play catch-up.
There are many questions that must be asked if the church is to be the church that God is calling for in this 21st century. Will millions of preachers quit? Will thousands of ministries end? Will Christian media be reduced, if not eliminated? Will Christian schools go into rapid decline? I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of the so-called church as we know it will go out of business.
There are three kinds of evangelical churches today: consumer-driven mega churches, dying churches and new churches whose future is fragile. Denominations will shrink, even vanish, while fewer and fewer Christian churches will survive and thrive. Emphasis will shift from doctrine to relevance, motivation, and personal success – resulting in churches further compromised and weakened in their ability to pass on the faith. It is time for missionaries to come to America from Asia and Africa. Will they come? Will they be able to bring to our culture a more vital form of Christianity?
John Adams stated: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Many people of the past and of the future have made significant statements about the church. Over the centuries many have had a mixture of ideas of what the church ought to be. Listed are a few that give their belief of what a church ought to be.
Yes, I see the Church as the body of Christ. But oh, how we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Where God builds a church the devil builds a chapel.
Martin Luther
The True Church can never fail. For it is based upon a rock.–
T.S. Eliot
The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of. Our attention would have been on God. –
C.S. Lewis
For years I thought my assignment or the ChurchHYPERLINK "http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/maxlucado543045. html"'HYPERLINK "http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/ maxlucado543045.html's assignment was to articulate the Gospel and nothing more. Now I believe that if we donHYPERLINK "http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/maxlucado543045. html"'HYPERLINK "http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/ maxlucado543045.html"t support the verbal expression of the Gospel with physical demonstration of compassion, we are not imitating Jesus.
Max Lucado
Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church.
Thomas Aquinas
The way to preserve the peace of the church is to preserve its purity.
Matthew Henry
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
Tertullian
And another thing is that I think as a church whenever we become politically driven, we alienate at least 50 percent of the people that God called us to reach with our political orientations.
T. D. Jakes
The gospel message itself — this message of love, redemption, grace, and mercy — was and is the main reason the church was and is disliked. I believe that the gospel is at war with a fallen humanity within the United States. Every time the real church apply the gospel to their communities, they are engaging in "culture warring." This is the battle that the church is called "the battle of light against darkness." The term "culture wars" simply refers to issues like abortion, gay marriage, same sex marriages, religious liberty, human poverty, immigration reforming human trafficking, racial injustice, urban renewal, prison reform, persecution of religious minorities and economic injustice.
That the gospel stay within the four walls of the church was not the intention of Jesus. He declared that his disciples are to love their neighbors, to care about human flourishing, and to embody the ethics of the kingdom of God. God has given the church the kinetic power shape government and public policy, to choose our political leaders with Christian behavior, and to influence the kind of policies they put in place. The church may not win every battle, and ultimately we fight not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness, and this battle has already been won by our victorious King. The church can not escape the culture war; even if they try to remain behind the four walls. One of the primary principles motivating this work is found in Christ's words in Mark 12:17: "Render under Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's." Christians are called to obey the laws of the land in which they happen to live, unless those laws require a Christian to do something that stands in conflict with his or her faith.
Bibles were briefly banned from Walter Reed Medical Center. The Internal Revenue Service targeted Christian ministries engaged in pro-life activities. The government demanded to know the content of one group's prayers. A Wyoming church was ordered by government officials to turn over their membership roles. The list of attacks on the Christian church goes on and on – from students ordered to stop praying in front of the Supreme Court to chaplains being told they could no longer pray in the name of Jesus. The battleground has been expanded to pit gay rights groups against Christian-owned businesses that cater to the wedding industry. Christian bakers, florists and photographers have been sued and brought up on state discrimination charges for declining to participate in same-sex weddings. And in every single instance, lower courts have ruled that gay rights trump religious rights. "Christians have slowly given away their impact on culture by becoming more and worldlier instead of confronting the culture to conform to the biblical commands of God.
In Matthew 28:18-20, the resurrected Jesus says to His followers:" All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
