The Church (Part I)

Grace Fellowship Church

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Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this evening. Lord, we thank you for your word.

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We thank you for your church. I ask that you would help us to open your word and to behold the wonderful, wonderful truths about your bride, about your body, and to leave here edified and encouraged and ready to serve you and to glorify you with new understandings of this wonderful topic.

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And Lord, bless me as I speak. Lord, speak through me with power by your

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Holy Spirit. Give us ears to hear, eyes to see, and minds and hearts to obey.

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We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I was looking at our schedule and I think it's,

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I was excited to see that we'd reached an important milestone with this study and that's that we've officially passed the halfway mark in our statement of faith.

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So I don't know about you guys, that gets me excited because it it reminds me that we are inching nearer and nearer to the time when we'll begin meeting as as an independent local church and meeting on the

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Lord's day and preaching systematically through the word and partaking in the ordinances, practicing the ordinances.

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And so I was excited to see that and I thought it was fitting that that as we inch closer and closer to that date, we're turning our attention, at least for the next three weeks, to the study of ecclesiology.

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And ecclesiology, if you don't know, is the study of the church. And as church planners, the importance of this study to our task can't be overstated.

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There's probably no doctrine, at least when I think about it, no doctrine under the sun except the gospel that is more important for us to have a firm understanding of than the doctrine of the church as we begin planting.

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And I'll give you an example of this this week as I was thinking about my own personal journey in church planting while the

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Lord was preparing me years and years ago. It was in 2017 that I, for the first time, made public my desire to plant a church, that I shared that I really had a strong sense that this is what the

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Lord was calling me to, what he was leading me to. And since that time,

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I'd like to think that I've developed a pretty good grasp of the church planting scene. I've read the books.

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I've listened to the podcasts. Nicole and I have visited churches, church plants in different cities.

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I've traveled across Canada a few times on church planting conferences. And one of the things that I've noticed, it's a peculiar contrast in my travels and as I become familiar with the church planting movement, if I can call it that.

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And it's this. On one hand, I've recognized that scattered across the globe, there are faithful, solid, godly men, usually with a faithful wife at their side, not always, but sometimes.

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And they are diligently working to plant churches. And these are individuals that have shepherd's hearts, and they know their

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Bibles, and they understand the nature and the marks of the church.

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And they're working, they're laboring diligently to plant biblical churches. And at the same time, on the other hand,

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I've seen a growing movement of men and women that are putting their hand to the plow, that are working hard to plant churches.

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And amazingly, those churches look nothing like the churches you find in the Bible. They've been heavily influenced by business practices, and leadership gurus, and pop culture, and even unbiblical

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Marxist ideologies, kind of like what I was talking about before we started. Celebrity pastors, prosperity preachers, they have a zeal for church planting, but not according to knowledge.

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And what I think this all boils down to, in many cases, it's possible that they're unbelievers.

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In many cases, it's possible that they are believers. And like I said, a zeal, possessing a zeal for church planting, and not according to knowledge.

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But one thing's for certain, it's all accompanied by bad ecclesiology. It's a bad understanding of the doctrine of the church.

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And brethren, I want us to avoid this error. I want those in this semicircle to avoid this error.

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I want the brethren, the brothers and sisters that aren't here, to avoid this error. I want us to be found faithful.

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I want us to pour out ourselves. I want us to be poured out in our service for Christ as we plant healthy, biblical, spiritually vibrant churches.

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And when the going gets tough, I want to have the assurance that our labor is not in vain.

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So as I think about that, the question arises, how do we do this? How do we plant solid biblical churches?

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How do we know that our labor is not in vain? How do we serve the Lord with all of our might? And one of the answers, there are many right answers to that question, right?

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To have an understanding of the gospel, the doctrine of God, the doctrine of scripture. But there's one undeniable ingredient, and that is good ecclesiology, a right understanding of the church.

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And so I want to start this evening with a sense of the gravitas of this study, that the study of the church is not just for pastors, elders, church planters, seminary presidents, you know, fill in the blank.

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But the study of ecclesiology is important for the whole church. It's important for the entire body, for the mission of the church.

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If we're going to succeed in planting a church that honors God, that pleases Him, lest I would go so far as to say, if we're going to plant a church that is even a church, we need to understand, to have a clear understanding, and we need to faithfully embrace the biblical nature of the church, and her mission, and her purpose in the world as it's recorded in scripture.

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So tonight we're going to begin with the basics. I was looking at the whole statement that we have on the church, and I was a little bit disappointed that I don't get to talk more on it.

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But tonight what we're going to look at is the identity of the church.

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So we'll ask the question, what is the church? Or perhaps even better, who is the church?

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So we'll turn to our statement of faith. I don't know if you guys have it in the booklet. If not, I'll read what we're going to look at tonight.

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It's two sentences. The church is the body and the bride of Christ, and is comprised of all believers in every age.

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This new covenant community is God's primary instrument through which

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He is fulfilling His redemptive purposes on the earth.

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So that's what we're going to look at tonight. Glorious truth. More truth than I can speak on and do it justice, but we're going to do our best here.

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For the sake of simplicity, what I've done is I've broken it down essentially into two parts. So we're just going to isolate each sentence, unpack those together, and then we'll make our way through.

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So we'll look at that first sentence. The church is the body and the bride of Christ, and is comprised of all believers in every age.

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So to begin, we're going to hone in on those first two words in the sentence. The church.

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Now, does anyone know where that term church first appears in the Bible? At least, sorry,

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I'll say the New Testament. What's that?

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Not quite, but Matthew. Matthew 16. No, that's fine.

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Matthew 16, and it's a famous passage. We'll look there together.

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We're going to anchor ourselves a little bit in this one. So Matthew 16 and verse 13.

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You know what? I thought you might know because we had, when we did our study on ecclesiology way back. Yeah, and as soon as you see it, you'll go, oh yeah.

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But Matthew 16 verse 13. Now when

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Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the son of man is?

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And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

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He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the

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Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Bar -Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven.

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And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.

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There it is, the first mention. I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

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So here Christ introduces us for the first time to the formal concept of the church.

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And the Greek word that's used in our Bibles for church is the word ecclesia.

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And ecclesia, if you know much about it, is actually a compound word. And so it combines the

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Greek word ek and the Greek word kaleo. Ek meaning out of, and kaleo meaning called.

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And so it'd be fair to say that the church consists of those who have been called out of, the called out ones, those men and women who have been called out of the world by Christ.

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That is the church, that is the ecclesia. And in the biblical and cultural usage of the term, it would mean those who have been called out to assemble.

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So if you're interested in ancient Greek history, for instance, in ancient

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Greece, an ecclesia consisted of an assembly of Greek citizens.

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You had to be a Greek citizen and you had to be male to participate in the ecclesia.

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A bona fide Greek citizen and a male to gather, to assemble, and it was for political purposes.

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So it was to make decisions regarding the direction of the country, to develop military strategy.

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It was a political assembly. And no doubt, in using this term in the scriptures, this is meant to paint a picture of the nature and the identity of the church.

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Right away, we see that the ecclesia, the church, is not a physical building, right?

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Oftentimes, people think that a church is a white building with pillars and a steeple or a sanctuary where the people of God meet.

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That's not the case. The church is not a political or a religious organization, even.

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It's not a movement. It's, if I can give it a full definition, the church is the people of God, the bona fide citizens of Christ's kingdom who have been called out to assemble for his purposes.

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That is the church. A drive -by definition might be that the church consists of God's assembled people.

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It is the assembly of Christ's called -out ones. And so when

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God's people come together, where two or three are gathered, there you find the church, or at least members of the church.

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Now some people are nervous. Is anyone here nervous or sensitive to the term church itself?

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I know some are sensitive to it and prefer the term assembly as a more accurate description.

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We're in Capilano Christian assembly, and for some they have that conviction, and it's a good conviction.

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It's accurate to call the church and assembly to say that we're meeting with the assembly today rather than the church.

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For me, I don't have an issue with the term church, and I'll tell you why.

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It's because of the origins of the term itself. So I know there's some funny connotation. There is some historical baggage with the term church, but the term church comes from the

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Greek word kouriaké. And kouriaké is something that belongs to the kourios.

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Does anyone know what the kourios is? What kourios means in Greek? Lord. That's right.

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And so the kouriaké belongs to the Lord. It is something that belongs to the

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Lord. And so in Matthew 16, 18, what does Christ say?

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Does he say, I will build a church? Does he say, I will build the church?

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No, he says, I will build my church. The church belongs to him.

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And so as Christians, as churchmen, as church women, as church planters, we must recognize that the church is not ours.

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It does not belong to us. And perhaps that is one of the first errors that some of that camp that I described in my introduction have gone, is that they believe that the church is theirs to do with as they fancy.

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But it is not. It is Christ's very own possession. The church is

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Christ's blood -bought community. The church is the gathering of those whom

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Christ has called out of the world and into his service. And therefore the church is for him to define and for him to regulate and no one else.

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The church is the kouriaké, that which belongs to the Lord. Now, you'll see that we have a few metaphors in our faith.

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We see that the church is the body of Christ, the body and the bride of Christ.

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And there are many metaphors for the church in Scripture. We're going to look at a few that we have in our statement and then a few that we don't.

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So first we see that the church is Christ's body. We get that idea from Scripture.

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One of the passages we find it in is 1 Corinthians chapter 12. In 1

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Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 27, Paul summarizes this idea, the whole concept. He says now, you are, he's referring to the

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Corinthian church, you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

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So the church in its existence on the earth, in its ministry, in its physical presence, acts as Christ's bodily agent in the world.

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As one theologian has put it, the church is a living organism. And even more astounding, the church is a living organism that is indwelt by the

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Spirit of Christ. And so just like a physical body, there are many diverse parts, each with their own role and function, and yet it is one.

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And kids, you guys will remember, we've been learning about anatomy, right? Body parts and hinge joints and ball joint and socket joints.

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There are many parts to the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12 to 20,

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Paul makes this argument. So bear with me, I'll read it out. He says, for just as the body is one, it has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

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For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Jews are

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Greeks, slaves are free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

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We see this one body. There is one church. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.

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If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body.

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And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less part of the body.

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If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

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But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each of them, as he chose.

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It belongs to him, he chooses the parts. If all were a single member, where would the body be?

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As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. So Christ's true, invisible,

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Spirit -filled church is one. It is one body. And yet just as there are many organs and various parts that keep us alive and healthy and useful, there are many roles for each individual member to fulfill in Christ's church.

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Now kids, I'm going to ask you guys a question specifically. If you had to give up one body part,

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I'm not going to ask for too much, just one body part, what body part would you do away with?

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Would it be your eyes? Maybe your hands? Or your mouth?

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Or your lungs? Your appendix. Well, I think mom has just ruined my illustration.

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What's that, Noah? Your pinky?

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It's pretty hard. Your nose, you get rid of your nose. It's a hard question because it's a ridiculous question, right?

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We'll talk about an appendix after. But it's a ridiculous question, and it's just as ridiculous to think that there are disposable members in Christ's body.

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Even the appendix has a function. We'll talk about that after.

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So in Christ's church, there are no disposable members. Are all missionaries?

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No. Are all evangelists? No. Are all pastors and teachers? No. Are all administrators or helpers or uniquely gifted with faith or discernment?

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The answer is no. But is every saint, is every member of the body an indispensable, important, necessary member of Christ's body?

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The answer is absolutely yes. So what this means when the church assembles is that we each have something to offer.

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We are each uniquely valuable to Christ and to the body of Christ, to one another.

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I know our group's small tonight, but I hope some of our group listens online.

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I want them to know that they all have a role.

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Just because it might not be the most prominent role does not make it more or less important.

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Ephesians 4 tells us the very purpose for this every member ministry of the church.

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Ephesians 4 in verse 11 says, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the

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Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

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And then if I fast forward a bit into verse 15, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ from whom the body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

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So as each member of the body of Christ carries out his or her ministry in the church, the body grows in unity, in knowledge, in maturity, and ultimately in conformity to the

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Lord Jesus Christ, who is the head of the body. Just as our brains are in our heads and direct the movement of the body, so Christ is the head of his church and directs the movement of each member.

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We see in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22 and 23, and he, that's the Father, put all things under his feet, that's

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Christ's feet, and gave him as head over all things to the church, the ecclesia, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

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So now that Christ has accomplished redemption, we've talked about his resurrection, we've talked about his ascension, and now he dwells fully, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

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He's both seated at the right hand of the Father and he dwells fully in his body, the church, who exists to carry out his will in the world.

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So we have the church, we have the body. We'll look next to this other metaphor, a surprising metaphor maybe to some.

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The church is the beloved bride of Christ, the bride of Christ.

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Throughout the Gospels, Christ refers to himself as the bridegroom. You might remember

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John the Baptist, when he was talking about the bridegroom, he said, he must increase and I must decrease.

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And woven through the meta -narrative of the Bible, we see, especially the New Testament, we see this bridegroom who has loved his bride,

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Christ who loved his bride unto death. And yet, even after his death, after his departure, he remains betrothed to her.

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And at the consummation of his kingdom, he will return to the world that he created to sweep his bride, his beloved bride, his radiant bride, off her feet and to bring her into the presence, into his presence, for the great marriage feast.

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And this theological dimension is spelled out more clearly for us by Paul.

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You'll see we're in Ephesians a lot. This is in Ephesians 5. He says this, and I love this passage as a husband.

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It's also a very difficult passage as a husband. And we'll see why. Husbands, love your wives.

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What's the standard? Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the words, that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

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In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

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For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

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Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

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I could stop there, but that wouldn't direct us to the key here of this passage.

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This mystery is profound. I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

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So here in Ephesians 5, Paul is giving application, just like he normally does in his letters.

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He starts with theology, and in the end he works out application, in this case, application in a domestic setting, the domestic life of believers, the husband and wife relationship in the home.

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And he uncovers the purpose, the ultimate purpose of marriage, that all purposes, all marriages, excuse me, are meant to display the sacrificial, the covenant -keeping love relationship between Christ and his bride.

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I remember as a new believer, as a newer believer, for the first time, really, the

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Lord opening my eyes up to this concept as a husband, and I thought, what a glorious and difficult calling marriage is to essentially rehearse the relationship, the love relationship between Christ and the church in our marriages.

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I remember saying to Nicole, the entire covenant of marriage exists to point to Christ.

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Marriage isn't even about marriage. Marriage is about Christ. It's about Christ and the church.

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I'm not sure if she looked at me funny or if she agreed, but I remember being excited in that particular moment.

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And what I want us to see, and what I think the Lord wants us to see in this metaphor is the great love, the great love with which

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Christ loves us. We are his body, yes.

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We are here to do his will, to carry out his will in the world, yes. And we're also here to receive the love of the bridegroom, to receive the love of Christ.

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We think about this, husbands, how much do we love our wives? What is the standard?

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What is the goal? As much as Christ loves his bride, the perfect standard of love.

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Not only did he feel love for her. Sometimes as husbands, it's easy to feel love for our wives.

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Not only did he feel love for her, but he laid down his life for her.

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He was afflicted for her. He was pierced for her. He was crushed under the weight of God's righteous wrath for sin.

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And that is the way that he loves us, not just her, but us, his bride, for those of us that are in Christ.

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He loved us that he might ransom us, that he might ransom really what was an adulterous and wayward people, an adulterous and wayward woman, to reconcile her to himself, to reconcile us to himself, to sanctify us, that we would no longer look like Jezebel, but that we would be splendid, that we would be presented with splendor without spot, without wrinkle, without the slightest blemish, a beloved bride prepared for her groom.

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If only, I know it's hard with just the distractions of work and the world and bad news, and I'm, if I could only get this into my head, and I wish we could all get it into our heads, if we could only fathom, as Paul puts it, the breadth, the length, the height, the depth of Christ's love for us as his bride, that we are not just, the church is not just an appliance, doesn't just, not just here as a utility device to serve a purpose, but that we are actually the objects of Christ's perfect love.

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What an amazing thought. How much I remember, I didn't plan to say this, but hopefully it comes out clear.

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I remember back in the day, thinking, feeling uncomfortable as an early, as a young Christian, feeling uncomfortable about singing about God's love for us.

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I remember thinking, I'm so unworthy of that love,

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I shouldn't even be singing about it. And I think as I get older and hopefully more mature in the

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Lord, I realize that if it comes down to me singing a song about Christ's love for me, or me singing a song about my love for Christ, I'll sing the song about Christ's love for me, because I can sing that perfectly honestly.

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He loves us with a perfect love. Our love always falls short, and his love always, always exceeds our ability to comprehend it.

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Oh, how he loves us, how he loves his bride. Paul says this, feeling some of this love, some of these emotions.

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He uses these emotive words. 2 Corinthians 11 .2, he says, for I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

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So as a bride, we are betrothed, we are awaiting the marriage. Revelation, I won't read 18 to 22, but it's filled with this imagery.

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But Revelation 19, verse 7, it says, let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory for the marriage of the lamb has come.

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The marriage is coming, brethren, and his bride has made herself ready.

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It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

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And the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb, no worries, who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb.

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And he said to me, these are the true words of God. The church is the apple of our

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Lord's eye. Of all that Christ has made, the church is his greatest love.

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Of all that Christ has made, the church is his greatest love. John Owen.

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I know, Steve, you're reading John Owen right now. This is a quote that's fairly understandable.

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He says, there is not the meanest, the weakest, the poorest believer on the earth, but Christ prizes him more than all the world.

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All the world. And then scripture uses a variety of other metaphors.

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I'll just speed through them. We can't look at all of them in detail, but we are the temple.

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The church is referred to as the temple of God. 1 Corinthians 3 .9, we are the building.

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1 Peter 2 .5, we are the living stones. We are being built together.

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We are the dwelling place for God. I have a whole list of passages, if you want them after.

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I've joked with brothers, some of our brothers, from dispensational persuasions that are anticipating the construction of the third temple.

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And I've said, I'm sorry, but you've already missed the third temple. It's already built.

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You might be waiting for the fourth temple, and they kind of look puzzled, and they say, it's because the church is that temple.

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We are the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. The assembly of believers is where God dwells.

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The Bible refers to the church in familial terms. We are the family of God.

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We are to relate to one another as brothers and sisters and mothers. In 1

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Timothy, we see instructions about how to approach each other. We are not strangers, scripture says, but we are members of the household of the faith.

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Scripture says that we're used as structural terms. We're in a building with open framework, an open structure.

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We're referred to in 1 Timothy 3 .15 as the pillar and buttress of the truth.

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Hey kids, this vertical steel frame, that is like a pillar, and a pillar is meant to support something, to lift something up, to bear the weight of a buttress.

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Well, that's exactly what it is. A buttress. I don't see one in this building.

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Perhaps something like that. A buttress is a supportive wall.

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It helps to reinforce a wall, to make it stronger, sturdier, to defend the integrity of the structure.

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And so as a church, our role is to lift up, to hold up the truth, to be a pillar of the truth, and to be a buttress, to be defenders of the truth, to offer an apologia, to make a defense for the faith.

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The Bible uses agricultural metaphors. We are God's field.

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We have been grafted into God's olive tree. In terms of livestock, we are

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Christ's flock. And most beautifully, He is the shepherd, and He lays

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His life down for the sheep. Not for the whole world, but for His sheep.

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And we who are in Christ are the sheep. Scripture uses priesthood terms.

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You might be surprised. No one in this room, I think, is surprised, but some might be surprised that Grace Fellowship Church believes in the function of priests in our worship.

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The difference between us and Roman Catholics, of course, is that we believe that all are priests, that the priesthood of all believers.

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Pictures in Scripture from Revelation 5 and 1 Peter 2 that we are a royal priesthood, that we are a kingdom of priests, that the

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Lord is just as there are many members, there are many gifts, there are many functions for every priest to serve.

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And so there isn't just the elder, there isn't just the deacon, there isn't just the person at the front, but we are all a kingdom and priests to our

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God, and we shall reign on the earth. And from the text, so looking at our statement, it says that the church is comprised of all believers.

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I'm going to scroll there because I'm going to misquote it. All believers in every age.

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And so we see here the picture of the universal church. There is a universal church and there is a local church,

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Grace Fellowship Church. We are planning a local church. And together with our brothers and sisters in Christ in churches across the city, brothers and sisters that are perhaps persecuted and unable to participate in church for some reason, we are together members of the universal church.

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So in Scripture, and this is a biblical idea, I know of a man that denies the existence of the universal church, and that is just unbiblical.

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It suits, in this case, his theology, but not the scriptures. So we see the local church.

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We read about the church in Antioch, the church in Syncria, the church in Corinth, the church that met in the house of Nympha, or the church that met in the house of Philemon.

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We read regularly about Paul's mention of all the churches. I think he mentions that expression as he used to.

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It's at least a handful of times. And then at the same time, while there are many individual local churches, there's this great universal church comprised of all believers in every age, in every place.

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So regardless of your race, or your geographical location, or your gender, or even your generation, the local church spans all of that.

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And I was thinking about something that illustrates that, and at least the best thing that I could think of, maybe you guys have something better you can share with me after, is the image of a family.

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There's a Cortez family in Alberta, and I think a part of the Cortez family just moved to BC.

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And then there's the Cortez family in El Salvador and Guatemala.

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Individual families, yet all part of the Cortez family. And that is the same way that Christ's church works.

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Individually, local assemblies, local ecclesias, and yet a universal ecclesia, a universal assembly of God's church.

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The 1689 Baptist Confession, I thought I would visit that confession.

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It has a good, concise statement. It reads, the universal church, which may be called invisible, consists of the entire number of the elect, all those who have been, who are, and who shall be gathered into one under Christ, who is the head.

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And biblically, there's a number of biblical examples. Biblically, we see Christ praying for this universal church in his high priestly prayer in John 17, verses 18 to 21.

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He says, he prays, and you sent me into the world so that I have sent them into the world, and for their sake

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I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth.

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He's not just referring to the church in Jerusalem. He's not just referring to the 12 disciples.

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Who are they? Verse 20 tells us, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

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So, into the future, future generations, future locations, that they may all be one, just as you,

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Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me.

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So, we have the local church, the universal church, and it might surprise you, and some would disagree, but the universal church also encompasses every believing

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Israelite in the Old Testament. That's a controversial statement for some, but there's several instances in the

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Old Testament where we see that God thought of his people as a church, as the church.

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Deuteronomy 4, verse 10 is an example. The Lord said to Moses, and Moses is quoting him, he said, gather the people to me that I may let them hear my words, gather.

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That is the Hebrew word, kahal. And if you're familiar with the

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Septuagint, the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The translators of the

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Septuagint translated kahal, ecclesia. And we see this throughout the scriptures, the use of this ecclesia.

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Now, some might say you can't quote the translators of the

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Septuagint, who perhaps are not inspired to build your basis for this.

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So, we'll use an inspired orator as well. So, if we look in Acts chapter 7, if you remember

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Stephen's speech, Stephen is making his speech in verse 37.

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So, he's talking about Moses. So, just like Moses was referring in chapter 4 and verse 10 to gathering the people, in Acts chapter 7, verse 37, he says, this is the

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Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.

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Verse 38, this is the one who was in the congregation, in the ecclesia, in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers.

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So, we have Stephen looking back at the assembled people of God, the ecclesia, the assembly.

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He was familiar with Christ's teaching. He was familiar with the church's doctrine, and he uses the word ecclesia, perhaps if that's not convincing enough.

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Ephesians chapter 2, verse 14, Paul develops this very clearly.

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He says, for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility and he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who are near for through him we both have access in one spirit to the father so then you are no longer strangers and aliens consider these words no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints there were saints before the new testament fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God that familial relationship built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets

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Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple here we see multiple metaphors for the church in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit so there has not and there has never been two distinct peoples of God there have been two different peoples those who were near to God and those who were aliens and those who were estranged but there have never ever been and there is not two distinct peoples of God only one people and I would suggest from scripture only one people and that is the true ecclesia of God the true church of God Romans 12 verse 10

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Paul says for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same

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Lord is Lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him because this is controversial

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I'd like to talk about it more but I won't right now but there are other passages Ephesians 3

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Galatians 3 is another good example for the sake of time I won't go into it further but Wayne Grudem says this so it's not just me that believes this this is orthodox understanding even though he says even though there are certainly new privileges and new blessings that are given to the people of God in the

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New Testament both the usage of the term church in scripture and the fact that God has always called his people to assemble to worship himself indicates that it is appropriate to think of the church as constituting all the people of God for all time both

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Old Testament believers and New Testament believers and that's the operative word believers those who have been there has never been anyone in the

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Old Testament in the Old Covenant or in the New Covenant that has not been justified by faith it is those who have faith who are the children of Abraham the

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Puritan Nehemiah Rogers he says for as a kingdom divided into many shires and more towns and villages is called one because it has one in the same king one in the same law so the church is one because it lives by one and the same spirit and is ruled by one and the same

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Lord so I think I've dwelled on that first sentence long enough the next sentence it's going to be a bit briefer because we're going to flesh that out in the weeks to come specifically next week so second sentence is this the

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New Covenant community is God's primary instrument through which he is fulfilling his redemptive purposes on the earth it is

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God's primary instrument so here we recognize that it is the church before any other people or institution and I would venture to say it is almost entirely the church the

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Lord in his providence uses governments and he uses unbelievers but in terms of accomplishing his redemptive purposes the church is

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God's chosen instrument to accomplish those purposes that will that plan to revisit

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Matthew 16 you don't have to turn there but I'll quote from it again there Christ said on this rock

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I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it it is the church not parachurch ministries as good as they are not missions boards as important as they are not non -profit organizations not governments there's nothing wrong with these things but they are no substitute for the church if God's divine redemptive purposes are to be accomplished they will be accomplished by his body his bride his church

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I don't know about you guys I've met many men and women who are zealous who are earnest who want to storm the gates of hell and and I'm surprised how often

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I encounter these people that are filled with zeal filled with zeal they love the

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Bible I trust they love the Lord and yet they're lone rangers they they have no church they fit in to no church they sometimes have no interest belonging in a church and yet they're rushing the gates of hell alone or at least desiring that and my thought is they have no hope no hope of success it is

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Christ's church it is Christ's church made of its many members that alone is equipped for that task now what is the church's purpose and how does she accomplish it says that God's primary instrument that is this the church through the church he is fulfilling his redemptive purposes in the world so what is the purpose of the church

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I think what we have used as part of our our articulated mission answers that question 1st

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Peter 2 so in 1st Peter 2 starting in chapter 4 it flushes this out

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Peter writes to the the church that has been dispersed he says they've been rejected rejected by their kinsmen he says as you come to him verse 4 as you come to him a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house see the metaphor of the church to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ for it stands in scripture behold

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I am laying in Zion a stone a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him we will not be put to shame so the honor is for you who believe but for those who do not believe the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and the stone of stumbling and a rock of offense they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do this is where I really want to focus here verse 9 but you so you've been rejected

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Christ was rejected even though he is precious he is the cornerstone verse 9 but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation this is actually borrowing from language in exodus that was spoken of regarding Israel so we see that connection the one people of God you are chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation of people for his own possession for what purpose that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light we ought not to be surprised when we're rejected by the world we ought not to be discouraged when we are small in number when we are rejected by the world and why is that because we have been chosen by him who matters most chosen by God we have been if I can use some

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Greek English we have been ecclesiast we have been called out of the world rejected by men called out of the world for what purpose to live as ministers as a royal priesthood as a holy nation that is a a nation a distinct people set set apart by God for God whose citizenship is in heaven we do not live for partisan politics we do not live for politicians we do not live for or against our political leaders we're to be a peculiar people who do not belong to ourselves what does it say a people for his own possession who belong to God and to this end to this for this purpose this is the purpose of the church

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I think really clearly summarized to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light that's where so many go wrong in the church planning movement our job is not to build an empire it's not to build a business it's not to accumulate wealth or assets it's not even to grow a big church it's not to look cool it's not to alleviate poverty even it is to lift up the name of Christ as the pillar and the buttress of the truth to lift up and to defend the faith it is to lift up the name of Christ and to magnify our triune

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God if I could summarize the purpose of the whole church in one word it would not be too simple for me to say glory it is for the glory of God it is for the glory of Christ it's like John Piper says why does missions exist mission exists because worship doesn't it is to take the marvelous light of the gospel into a dark and dying world it is to call sinners to repentance and faith in Christ pleading with men be reconciled to God it is to make disciples of all nations disciples of who disciples of Christ those whom are following Christ it is to make worshipers of God as we worship him as we proclaim his excellencies in worship it is to extol

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Christ through good works I love the language that Paul uses in Ephesians 3 it is to make known the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places it is to be consumed with one great objective and that is the glory of God and no other in every aspect of our existence to be consumed with that pursuit until the words in Habakkuk 2 14 are true until the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea that is the thing that the church is to be about and if we don't understand that then

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Grace Fellowship Church is not going to be a church it's going to be a club it's going to be a meeting it's going to be a group it's going to be a cause but it's not going to be a church all of our members all of our activities they do not exist for Grace Fellowship Church they exist for the

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God of Grace Fellowship Church this sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton Alberta Canada to access other sermons or to learn more about us please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca