Tag Archives: definition of the church

The Activity of God

19 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by in Ecclesiology, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Uncategorized

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We must get rid of this notion that the church is a national institution or any other form of human institution. She is not a club or a society where people meet together and do certain things. I never like to hear people referring to a building as a church. “I’m going down to the church,” they say. But the church does not consist of a building; it consists of people, living souls with the Lord in their midst. We must get rid of this external notion, this idea of just paying a kind of formal visit upon God and then forgetting all about Him. That is religion, the very antithesis of the Christian faith.
Any notion that Christianity is mainly the result of something that we do is always completely, fatally wrong. We must cast off any idea that the Christian church is the result of our action and that we are perpetuating some tradition. If that is our view of Christianity, it is false. That was the curse of the Jews who finally crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. They were traditional religionists, and such have always been—and are today—the greatest enemies of the true church and of the true Christian faith and message. But how much of so-called Christianity is just this!
Let me ask you a serious question: Why do you attend a place of worship? Have you thought enough about it even to ask that question? Are you going simply because it is a tradition? People, you say, have always gone to church on Sundays. But church attendance is something you do. You are simply perpetuating a tradition. Large numbers of people have gone to church out of a sense of duty, hoping each week that the service will not be too long. Each week they have felt nothing at all; the service has been absolutely lifeless, the singing miserable, the intoning of the Scriptures boring. There has been no power, no vigor. And because they have thought that is Christianity, they have turned their backs upon it. And they are perfectly right to do so. That is the logical step. God knows, I myself did that many years ago. And I would not be in a Christian pulpit now but for the fact that I saw through that false view. You cannot fit that into the book of Acts. That is traditional, formal religion, whatever form it may happen to take and in whatever denomination it may appear.
Let me be still more specific. There are some people who seem to have seen through the formality and who compensate for it by producing an exciting kind of worship and have stunts and entertainment to make services lively and bright. But that does not make the slightest difference because it is still men and women who are organizing it. True Christianity is always the activity of God. “Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind”—God. So, bright services and an entertaining and varied program is not Christianity either. It is livelier, but the life is not the life of the Spirit. Anything controlled by us, whether lifeless or lively, is not Christianity. Christianity is that which controls us, which masters us, which happens to us
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Authentic Christianity, 1st U.S. ed., vol. 1, Studies in the Book of Acts (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2000), 22.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones “What is the Church?”

16 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Acts, Ecclesiology, Joy, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Ministry, Preaching

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In his sermon, what is the church, Martyn Lloyd JonesBegins his definition with the rather obvious point,

The first thing we must say is That it is a gathering of people. Why do I make such an obvious point? I make it because as I read some of the journals and some of the books and booklets that deal with this question, I’ll most get the impression that some people seem to think of the church not in terms of people at all. You seem to think of the church is something that is written on paper, as a confession on paper. I’m not criticizing confessions. I believe in confessions. The church, after all, is not a confession of faith. (51)

But if these people gather and do not believe the confession, is it still a church?

The gathering of people is not something which begins with the people: it is something that begins with God. Lloyd-Jones looks back at the start of the church, Peter preaching:

 Here in Acts the people have become aware of the fact this message is speaking to them directly. These are not people who decided to join the church. They did not decide to take up religion. These are people of been called of God. (53)

What is the first thing they realize? They have been convicted of sin. “They are aware that God the Holy Spirit is dealing with them, and they have been brought face-to-face with themselves.” (53) This makes all the difference. Consider those first Christians:

 Now it is obvious That these people have undergone a profound change.They’re not the people they were when they left their homes and their lodgings that’s morning to go and listen to the strange man to whom this amazing thing happened. They have become different men and women. (54)

What did this change do? How did it show itself among these people?

How do these believers manifest this new life that they have received? And the answer is they do so by gathering together.

What does this mean? How should we understand this fact of gathering?

 Why did the first believers gather together like this? Why did they come together day by day? Why could you not keep them as it were apart from another? I do apologize and a sense for bringing in these negatives, but I’m beginning to think that they’re tremendously important.Let me point out that these first Christians should not come together to be entertained. Nothing to me is so pathetic about the state of the church today as the entertainment that has increasingly come into our services. There are churches that keep going by means of clubs and societies. I know Churches – so-called churches – they keep themselves going by game nights and dances and dramas and various other human activities. That is not church; that is a travesty of a church. That is the world. The world does such things, and it does them very well. But that is not what brought these people in the early church together. (55)

What is it that drove them together? The text tells us: Fellowship was driven by doctrine, by preaching & teaching:

The really significant point about the list in Acts 2:42 is the order in which the subjects are put before us. You notice at the first thing that is mentioned his doctrine, teaching– not fellowship. And I emphasize this because the whole ecumenical movement is based upon the basic argument that fellowship comes first. (55)

Now fellowship will follow, it must follow of necessity, “Because we are sharers of the same life. We belong together. We belong to the same family.” (61)

This sharing of common life shows itself in the Lord’s Table & prayers, in sharing, in joy and gladness. Unfortunately, too many Christians do not see this life as joy & gladness (that is elsewhere). Church as a duty, as an obligation – can that gathering actually be called church?

Lloyd-Jones states the real reason our message cannot be heard is that the professing Christian does not profess joy and gladness in Christ. We do not need an evangelistic campaign; we need the true operation of Spirit which will manifest in the joy and gladness among us:

 This has always been the characteristic of the true church. And when she becomes like this, she AskAs a magnet to those who are outside. When men and women CS with the spirit of joy and rejoicing, this spirit that is invincible, the spirit that knows God and is afraid of nothing, they will rush to listen to us. Joy and rejoicing! How much enjoys there to be seen among us? How formal we are! How organized we are! House set we are! Of the world’s not interested. But when it sees this joy of the Lord and us, it will come and listen to us and ask us for the secret of this amazing experience that we are enjoying. 65

And of course this Life of fellowship and prayer and joy will show itself in praising God.

He does not ask this in the sermon, that is something we must ask ourselves. If these things are not evident among us, we must ask what is the fault? First, the fault must lie in the lack of the Word of God. The fault must lie in our preaching and teaching if there is no fellowship and hope and joy and gladness. For it is the Word and the Spirit which makes the church. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to create the people of God. Thus, where the Word of God is lacking can we expect the Spirit to be present, also?

What it means to say, “The Church is the body.”

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Colossians, Ecclesiology, Thomas Manton

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Commenting on Colossians 1:18, “And he [Christ] is the head of the body, the church”, Thomas Manton writes:

[T]he church is the body. By the church is meant the church mystical, or all such as are called out of the world to be a peculiar people unto God. Now, these considered collectively or together, they are a body; but singly and separately, every believer is a member of that body: 1 Cor. 12:29, ‘Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.’ All the parts and members joined together are a spiritual body, but the several persons are members of that body. Yea, though there be many particular churches, yet they are not many bodies, but one body, so it is said, 1 Cor. 12:12, ‘As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.’ He is the head, and the many and divers members of the universal Christian church are but one body. The universal invisible church of real believers is one mystical body knit by faith to Christ, their head, and by love among themselves. And the visible universal church is one politic body, conjoined with Christ their head, and among themselves, by an external entering into covenant with God, and the serious profession of all saving truths. They have all the same king and head, the same laws—the word of God—the same sacraments of admission and nutrition, which visibly, at least, they subject themselves unto, and have a grant of the same common privileges in the gospel.

Thomas Manton collected works, volume 1, page 454, Christ’s Eternal Existence and Dignity of her Person, sermon v.

What is the Church?

09 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in Ministry

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“The Church is the community of all true believers for all time”.[1] The term “church” is also used to reference the community of true believers in distinction to Israel.[2] While the Church is comprised of a visible congregation of believers, the visible congregation is not solely comprised of true believers. Thus, the church may also be said to be invisible: “The invisible church is the church as God sees it.”[3]

The church is universal, in that it comprises all believers and local in that it comprises local congregation of believers, “the community of God’s people considered at any level can rightly be called a church.”[4]

Christ is the head, and the church is the body (Col. 2:19).

[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 853.

[2] Grudem, 859-863.

[3] Grudem, 855

[4] Grudem, 858.

The First Description of the Church

13 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Acts, Discipleship

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The First Description of the Church in Practice:

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:42–47 (ESV)

Bill Hull in The Disciple Making Church sees five priorities of this congregation:

Five priorities practiced by the Jerusalem church developed it into a mature, reproductive congregation:

1.   A commitment to Scripture (Acts 2:420

2.   A commitment to one another (Acts 2:42, 44, 46).

3.   A commitment to prayer (Acts 2:42).

4.   A commitment to praise and worship (Acts 2:43, 47).

5.   A commitment to outreach (Acts 2:45 — 47) (68).

Mission and Purpose of the Church

12 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Discipleship, Ecclesiology

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The mission of the church is to make disciples:

Having examined the texts of the NT in which Jesus commissions and sends out the apostles to begin the establishment and expansion of the church (Matt. 28:16-20; Mark 13:10 & 14:9; Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:8 & 26:16-18; and John 20:21), DeYoung and Gilbert summarize the mission of the church as follows:

The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples, declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gathering these disciples into churches, that they might worship the Lord and obey his commands now and in eternity to the glory of God the Father. (62)

Grudem on the Purposes of the Church:

1. Worship.

2. Nurture.

3. Evangelism and Mercy

Attributes of the Church

12 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Discipleship, Ecclesiology

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Visible/invisible

The church is both visible and invisible. The visible church is the public congregating of the church. The invisible church contains those who are truly converted. The invisible church is within the visible church.

Local/universal

The church universal extends through time and place. However, not all Christians can congregate at one time, therefore, the church is also gathered in various local congregations. The administration of the ordinances, instruction, etc., takes place within the local congregation.

Images of the Church

Paul Minear found 96 images used to describe the church  in the New Testament. From that, one can conclude, “The richness of descriptions of the church teaches us that no single image can comprehend all aspects of the church” (10). However, Dever notes four major “image clusters”:  (1) The church as the “people of God”; (2) the church as “the new creation”; (3) the church as a fellowship; and (4) the church as “the body of Christ”.

Mark Dever

The Church, 9-12

Definition of the Church

12 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Church History, Ecclesiology, John Calvin, Martin Luther

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How does a church differ from a group of Christians?

Definition of the Church:

At the Council of Constantinople of 381, the Fathers referred to the “one, holy, universal, apostolic church”. This is sometimes referred to as the Four Marks of the Church. Dever discusses these in The Church, chapter 2.

Lutherans define the church as follows in the Augsburg Confession, article 7:

The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.

Calvin defines the church as follows:

Hence the form of the Church appears and stands forth conspicuous to our view. Wherever we see the word of God sincerely preached and heard, wherever we see the sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, there we cannot have any doubt that the Church of God has some existence.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.1.9.

Dever sees two basic marks of the church:

These two marks are right preaching of the Word of God and the right administration of the baptism and the Lord’s Supper….The first mark is the fountain of God’s truth that gives life to his people, and the second is the lovely vessel to contain and display this glorious work. The church is generated by the right preaching of the Word. The church is distinguished and contained by the right administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (21).