Confessing Our Faith In the Culture - Chapter 27

Of the Church

A. What makes a church?

1. called and commanded (¶ 5)

   1. called by Christ to Himself

      1. by his Word John 10:27-30; Rom. 1:15-17; Rom. 10:13-15

      2. by his Spirit John 3:5-8; Acts 5:31-32

         The church is indeed the company of men who are called (1Cor 1:24 but for those who are called, whether Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. and 1Cor 10:32 Put no stumbling-block in the way of Jews or Greeks or the church of God.) Because the end of calling is faith and the work of faith is a grafting into Christ, and this union brings with it communion with Christ, the church can be defined at once as a company of believers, a company of those who are in Christ, and a company of those who have communion with him. William Ames, Marrow of Theology, 1.31.7

   2. commanded by Christ to walk together

      1. by implication Matt. 18:15-20

      2. by apostolic example Acts 14:21-23
         
         It is a society of believers because the same thing makes a church visible in profession which in its inward and real nature makes it a mystical church, namely, faith. Ibid, 1.32.7

2. consent and covenant (¶ 6)

   1. willing consent Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:41-42

   2. covenanted together 1 Cor. 12:1-27
      
      Believers do not make a particular church, even though by chance many may meet and live together in the same place, unless they are joined together by a special bond among themselves. Otherwise, any one church would often be dissolved into many, and many also merged into one. This bond is a covenant, expressed or implicit, by which believers bind themselves individually to perform all those duties toward God and toward one another which relate to the purpose of the church and its edification. Ibid, 1.32.14 & 15

3. officers and members (¶

   1. officers

      1. elders Acts 20:17-28

         In Acts 14:23, Luke mentions that Paul and Barnabas traveled to certain cities in Asia Minor and “ordained them elders in every church.” Finally, Paul calls for Titus to “ordain elders in every city. . . .” Titus 1:5

      2. deacons Acts 6:1-6; Phil. 1:1

         Charged with supplementing/enhancing the “spiritual” ministry of the elders by addressing practical needs that would interfere with the proper functioning of the body.

         The first aspect of diaconal ministry is that of meeting physical needs, caring for the needs of other members of the congregation. The second aspect is that diaconal ministry must promote unity within the body; in Acts 6 physical neglect had resulted in spiritual disunity and the deacons were needed to restore unified fellowship. Their service to individuals would result in strengthening and building up the whole body. The third aspect is that diaconal ministry especially supports the elders, freeing the teachers of the Word to serve well in their own ministry. Deacons should be the front-line models in encouraging and building one another up by coordinating the effective use of resources within the body.

         No sudden coming together and exercise of holy communion [fellowship] suffices to make a church unless there is also that continuity, at least in intention, which gives the body and its members a certain spiritual polity. Ibid, 1.32.21

      3. members Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:1-4; Heb. 13:7, 17

         The church is instituted by God and by Christ (Heb 3.3-4 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.). …The gathering of an instituted church, however, is so effected by God that his command and man’s duty and labor come first. It is instituted by God and Christ alone because men have no power in themselves to institute or frame a church for Christ. …Their greatest honor is that they are servants in the house of God. (Heb 3.5 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant) Ibid, 1.32.22 & 23

B. What are the marks of a true church? (¶ 7)

1. worship (Ch. 22, ¶ 4 & 5)

   1. prayer Psa. 95:1-7

   2. ministry of the Word 1 Tim. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:2; Luk 8:18; capsulized Neh. 8:1-12

   3. singing Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19

   4. ordinances Matt. 28:18-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26

2. discipline Matt. 18:15-20; 1 Cor. 5:1-5 and 2 Cor. 2:5-11

   [D]iscipline is usually associated by the best theologians with the word and sacraments in the mark of the church. …because it effectually enforces obedience towards Christ, a great part of the kingship of Christ by which he visibly governs the church is placed, not without special reason, in this discipline by the best theologians. The true reason why the discipline of Christ is solidly constituted and exercised with doctrine in so few churches is because most of those who would seem to know Christ and to hope in him refuse to receive the whole kingship of Christ and yield themselves completely to him. As discipline is part of the kingship of Christ, so it is also part of the gospel. For it is the holy manner of promoting the gospel ordained by the gospel itself. Therefore, those who reject discipline accept neither the whole kingship of Christ nor the whole gospel. Ibid, 1.37.3, 10-12 (Ames’ dates: 1576-1633!).

   The parts of this discipline are brotherly correction and excommunication. Discipline consists not only or even chiefly in the thunderbolt of excommunication and anathema, but primarily in Christian correction. The proper end of reproof is not excommunication (although by chance that sometimes may happen) but the prevention of it, so that the sinner by timely repentance may be kept in the church. Ibid, 1.37.14-16

C. How should Christians work to “grow” their local church?

1. grow spiritually

   1. personally 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Pet. 3:17-18

   2. encourage one another Heb. 10:24-25 (also Barnabas!)

      Inasmuch as faith is in each believer individually it is the form of those that are called. But seen collectively in all, faith is the form of the company of those that are called, or the church. The same believing men, on the one hand, are individuals called by God; on the other, they are collectively the company which is the church of God. Ibid, 1.31.12 & 13
      
      The church is metaphorically called the bride and Christ the bridegroom; the church a city and Christ the king; the church a house and Christ the householder; the church the branches and Christ the vine; and finally the church a body and Christ the head. But these comparisons signify not only the union and communion between Christ and the church but also the relation showing Christ to be the beginning of all honor, life, power, and perfection in the church. Ibid, 1.31.16 & 17

2. grow numerically

   1. personal invitation John 1:43-49; John 4:1-26

   2. prayer Acts 4:23-31

D. How should we promote the church in the culture?

Emerging Church leaders, influenced by postmodern theory, rightly understand that every individual is deeply embedded in a social location. They are certainly correct in accusing much of mainstream evangelicalism from missing this point entirely–blissfully unaware of how the ambient culture has influenced our own ways of thinking. …The formative leaders of the Emerging Church Movement argue that they are trying to recover a primitive sense of Christian community that, while keenly aware of contemporary culture and deeply engaged with the culture, avoids the consumerism, entertainment-centeredness, and superficiality of mainstream evangelical churches. …Several of the movement’s leaders document their own rejection of older forms of evangelical theology and church life. Some have rejected a Dispensational eschatology, while others contrast their new understanding of the culture with a previous experience rooted in fundamentalist separationism. …Philosophically, the Emerging Church Movement represents a repudiation of what it identifies as “modernism.” While postmodernism is itself a contested category, the leaders of the Emerging Church Movement clearly understand themselves to be affected by, if not fully embracing of postmodernism. R. Albert Mohler, What Should We Think of the Emerging Church?
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20050629/6355.htm

I have to say the following — and I don’t do so with anything but sadness. The emerging movement is proud of creating a safe environment for people to think and to express their doubts. Partly because of what I do for a living (teach college students), I am sympathetic to the need for such safe environments. But, having said that, the emerging movement has also been criticized over and over for not having any boundaries. Scot McKnight in Essential Concerns Regarding the Emerging Church by Brett Kunkle http://theresurgence.com/files/pdf/brett_kunkle_2006-11_essential_concerns_regarding_the_emerging_church.pdf

Many are spiritual gipsies. They camp behind any hedge, but they abide nowhere, their theology consists of a few sticks and bits of canvas. It is easily upset, but then it is as easily set up. Well may they sing,—”We’ve no abiding city here”!. They prefer the chase after truth to truth itself; it is clear that such a chase has not much of reality in it, for the man is pleased that his prey should perpetually escape him. In olden times, the prophet was a seer; but, nowadays, a prophet is one who is too cultured to see anything. A man who protests that he has too much light to be sure that he sees anything is the favourite of certain intellectual hearers. David said, “I believed, therefore have I spoken;” but he was peculiar: our “thoughtful men” now speak because they doubt, and not because they believe. Charles Spurgeon, All-Round Ministry, Ch. 10; [delivered before the Down-Grade Controversy 1887]

1. as a place to find real answers 1 Tim. 3:15; Jude 3

2. as a place to find refuge Psa. 91:1-4; Luk. 13:34; Heb 6:17ff

3. as a place to find hope Rom. 5:1-5; Rom. 15:12-13; Heb. 6:19-20

4. as a place to find real healing from real hurts Isa. 61:1-3; Jer. 8:21-22; Matt. 11:28-30