WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:22.839 If you will please take out your copy of God's Word and turn to Ezekiel 36 and John 10. 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:23.080 ! 00:00:23.080 --> 00:00:29.519 We have over the past two weeks and now this morning, been considering what I think are the most 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:35.259 pressing questions to be answered. And I've had some other questions posited to me and 00:00:35.259 --> 00:00:41.060 they're also good questions, although I think all of them are somehow answered within the 00:00:41.060 --> 00:00:49.539 answers of these three questions as we consider all of the implications of the answers of these 00:00:49.539 --> 00:00:56.039 three questions. We've talked about what is the Bible. Two weeks ago, last week, we talked 00:00:56.039 --> 00:01:05.000 about what is the Gospel. And that brings us today to the final question, what is the 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:13.219 church? Now, the study of what the church is, is a study called Ecclesiology. And it is one 00:01:13.219 --> 00:01:21.200 of my favorite topics. I found myself a pastor giving leadership to a church. It matters a 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:28.900 lot that I know a fair amount about this, but I also just enjoy it. It's a thing that I am 00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:40.700 particularly intrigued by. It's also important in our day. It's a pressing matter in our day. 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:49.719 There are many institutions led even by Christians that claim to be churches but are not churches 00:01:49.719 --> 00:01:59.400 at all. There are also some claim to be churches but we would call them irregular churches. And that 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:06.739 would be to say they don't really abide by what the Scripture would say they ought to be as a church. 00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:13.680 So we then kind of have these three categories. We have regular churches, which we want to find 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:23.400 ourselves being. We have irregular churches. And then we have some meetings of people that aren't 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:32.500 churches at all. And we need to know this. If we want to be faithful in service to our God, we want to 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:43.560 be sure that we gather as a church as we should. And we talked two weeks ago about the Bible and one of the 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:48.979 doctrines of the doctrines of the Bible we talked about at length was the sufficiency of Scripture. 00:02:49.979 --> 00:02:57.599 That is to say that the Bible contains in it all that we need for life and godliness. It contains 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:04.740 within it, in application to the question, what is the church? Everything we need to know in order 00:03:04.740 --> 00:03:12.080 to gather properly as a church in a way that's pleasing to our Lord. Too often these days, 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:22.120 people are innovating out and beyond the text. What a dangerous thing to do. I'm very thankful, 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:30.400 having now served here as a pastor for the past 10 years, that at a very early stage, God gave me such 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:39.160 great grace to just plant deep within me a conviction about the sufficiency of Scripture as it regarded 00:03:39.159 --> 00:03:48.919 our fellowship. And he did that in a number of good books. I've read in the past couple of years more 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:56.939 living guys than I've ever read, but I used to read all the old and dead saints, and they had much to say 00:03:56.939 --> 00:04:04.439 about the sufficiency of Scripture as it concerned the church. I also received, by God's grace, 00:04:04.439 --> 00:04:11.280 much wise counsel. And I want to give you probably the most prominent example of that, which is my 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:16.939 father, who's a member of our fellowship, sitting in the third row over to my right, as he always does. 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:26.360 Growing up under his instruction and hearing his concern for the church and its departure from its 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:36.199 sufficiency was shaping for me. He worked for one of our denominations entities, and he worked in church 00:04:36.199 --> 00:04:45.680 planting. He did so for various ways, 30 plus years. And I can remember him carrying a Bible, which I have 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:50.960 with me up here. He's given it to me, which I'm going to cherish forever. I don't think he even realizes how 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:58.079 much I cherish that he gave this to me. But a Bible that he had foiled. Many of us don't do this 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:02.519 anymore, but you remember this? You could foil your name onto the Bible, so his name is on here. 00:05:03.479 --> 00:05:05.519 Off-centered, which bothers me, but it's on there. 00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:16.299 But he had foiled on here church planting manual. So as he was traveling around the country and working 00:05:16.300 --> 00:05:25.139 with people in our denomination to start new churches, he put, I think, predominantly as a 00:05:25.139 --> 00:05:32.420 reminder to himself, the sufficiency of scripture. This is a church planting manual as it concerns the 00:05:32.420 --> 00:05:39.019 starting of churches. And then at some point, I think, I believe it was a boss of his, wrote a book 00:05:39.019 --> 00:05:45.560 called The Church Planting Manual. And so in a bit brighter foil, because it was added at a later date, 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:52.019 my dad added above that the original church planting manual. 00:05:56.099 --> 00:06:06.859 So God has been gracious to me and really concreting in my heart that he has given us all we need for the 00:06:06.860 --> 00:06:15.660 task ahead of us. The scripture is sufficient for this. Mark Dever wrote in a book I'm going to cite 00:06:15.660 --> 00:06:23.020 from a fair amount today, the Bible certainly doesn't teach us everything. It doesn't teach us about 00:06:23.020 --> 00:06:29.720 quantum mechanics, as an example, but neither does it teach us nothing. It should be our desire to 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:35.720 search out everything that God has revealed about himself and then to joyfully accept it, adopt it, 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:48.280 explore it, submit ourselves to it, and enjoy God's blessing in it. We have a church, the original church 00:06:48.280 --> 00:06:58.640 manual. We have it in abundance. We should trust it to answer this question, what is the church? 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:07.399 So we're going to look in Ezekiel chapter 36 and in John chapter 10, but for a bit. Typically, we would 00:07:07.399 --> 00:07:14.019 pull all of the points of the sermon out of the particular text. I don't believe, and please correct 00:07:14.019 --> 00:07:20.919 me if I'm wrong later, that there's a single text that we can quite answer this question from, and I 00:07:20.919 --> 00:07:26.759 won't even fully answer it this morning. So we're going to look briefly at this text together. I hope what it 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:33.800 does is it ignites in you a love for the church. It helps you to lean into what's going to be said 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:41.360 concerning the church, and then we're going to go to other texts across this morning's time together. 00:07:41.860 --> 00:07:50.519 So I'm going to read from Ezekiel chapter 36, verses 22 through 28, and then 37 through 38, 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:54.579 and I'll point that out to you, and then we're going to go to John chapter 10 and read a few verses 00:07:54.579 --> 00:08:05.859 there. Beginning in verse 22, Ezekiel 36. God says through the prophet Ezekiel, 00:08:05.860 --> 00:08:14.879 Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, It is not for your sake, O house of 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:21.280 Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the 00:08:21.280 --> 00:08:26.439 nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:32.159 profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:39.000 am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 00:08:39.699 --> 00:08:45.159 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own 00:08:45.159 --> 00:08:50.740 land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncooliness, 00:08:51.139 --> 00:08:57.659 and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will 00:08:57.659 --> 00:09:03.299 put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:10.600 And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:16.959 rules. You shall dwell in the land that I give to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be 00:09:16.959 --> 00:09:26.039 your God. So this is exiled Israel that the prophet Ezekiel is writing specifically to, 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:35.059 but not all the promises of this prophecy are fulfilled in ethnic Israel. This goes much beyond to 00:09:35.059 --> 00:09:44.319 the church of God. Look now at verse 37 of Ezekiel chapter 36. Thus says the Lord God, 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:52.459 this also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them, to increase their people like a flock, 00:09:52.460 --> 00:09:58.340 like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:09.360 so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord. 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:13.200 Now turn to John chapter 10. 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:28.879 Jesus here picks up on this idea of God's people being like a flock. And if you have been in the 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:35.399 church very much, you're not unfamiliar with this idea. But in John chapter 10, beginning in verse 14, 00:10:35.399 --> 00:11:05.379 he says, 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:15.340 one shepherd. Amen to the glory of God. God is about the saving work of gathering together a people 00:11:15.340 --> 00:11:25.559 for his praise. Beloved, we should care about the church because Jesus cares about the church. 00:11:25.559 --> 00:11:37.679 He is its founder. He is its head. She is his bride. He died for the sake of the church. 00:11:39.099 --> 00:11:48.919 If you're in Christ, it is true that Jesus died for you. But do not lose sight of the fact that he died 00:11:48.919 --> 00:12:00.379 for you as one amongst many. Jesus died for you as one amongst many. Jesus died to save a people for the eternal glory of God, 00:12:00.860 --> 00:12:07.719 the Father. John Stott, who's a 20th century British theologian, once wrote, 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:22.379 the church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. It is not an accident of history. 00:12:22.379 --> 00:12:33.600 So, what is the church? There are many layers of answers that could be given to this question. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:44.860 Definitions both simple and complex. So my strategy for today is to give a simple definition from a book called 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:53.039 The Church by Mark Dever, which I mentioned previously, and then develop the idea further with five points. 00:12:54.600 --> 00:13:01.180 Much of what I will say today is found in this book, The Church. So if you're interested in that, I encourage you to pick it up 00:13:01.180 --> 00:13:07.060 and to read it at length. It's out there in the book now. I heartily recommend it to you. 00:13:07.800 --> 00:13:14.100 So what is the church? Mark Dever gives this very simple definition, which I love, 00:13:14.100 --> 00:13:19.340 as we've been talking about what the gospel is just recently, and he says, 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:27.259 the church is the gospel made visible. The church is the effect of the gospel, 00:13:27.980 --> 00:13:37.220 and it is the agency of the gospel. When people come to Saving Faith, they are brought into the church, 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:45.139 and it is the church that works by God's working to bring people to Saving Faith. 00:13:46.139 --> 00:13:56.180 This is the mission of the church, the evangelization of the world, going out in order to bring in. 00:13:56.179 --> 00:14:09.120 As God uses His church to this great end, we should be deeply concerned about how He instructs us to play our part in doing so. 00:14:10.019 --> 00:14:17.159 How is it that we are to measure any degree of success as we conduct ourselves in this mission 00:14:17.159 --> 00:14:21.759 if we're not doing things God's way? 00:14:23.299 --> 00:14:29.039 I can tell you now that I can manipulate people into buying into something. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:36.100 There have been and will be cults throughout history where people do crazy things 00:14:36.100 --> 00:14:42.399 because somebody charismatically leads them to do such crazy things. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:50.699 The largest supposed church in our nation right now is a church that doesn't preach the gospel of Jesus Christ at all. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:53.240 These are examples of what I mean. 00:14:53.319 --> 00:15:00.419 How can we know that we are seeing God's result if we're not doing things in God's way? 00:15:01.639 --> 00:15:08.240 I once heard a pastor say, probably one of the old dead pastors, something like this. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:17.360 If you want to know how to grow the church, go out into your community and interview every lost person that you can. 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:21.580 Ask them exactly what they would like to see as the church gathers together. 00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:23.480 What that would look like for them. 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:25.460 And make a very careful list. 00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:28.100 And then go back to your study and shut the door. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:28.960 Lock it. 00:15:29.060 --> 00:15:29.879 Turn off the lights. 00:15:30.500 --> 00:15:31.620 Lay on your face. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:35.139 And pray to God that you never do any of those things. 00:15:35.139 --> 00:15:35.379 Amen. 00:15:35.379 --> 00:15:35.379 00:15:35.379 --> 00:15:35.379 00:15:35.379 --> 00:15:35.379 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:41.220 We're a new society. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:46.560 We're a people set apart from the world for the praise of God. 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:49.440 Spurgeon once said, this is on the front of your bulletin, 00:15:49.480 --> 00:15:55.039 The very church which the world likes best is sure to be that which God abhors. 00:15:55.940 --> 00:16:00.259 Let that sink for a second. 00:16:00.259 --> 00:16:10.659 Now, let's consider the idea that the church is the gospel made visible further. 00:16:10.819 --> 00:16:12.779 And I have provided an outline on the back of your bulletin. 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:14.639 This may or may not be helpful to you. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:16.360 There's almost no space for notes. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:17.559 My apologies. 00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:21.480 But maybe it'll help you track where we're headed together. 00:16:22.700 --> 00:16:27.639 Number one, let's talk a bit about the nature of the church. 00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:35.220 First, I think it must be said what the church is not. 00:16:35.439 --> 00:16:38.399 And there's a lot of not that we could talk about. 00:16:39.019 --> 00:16:45.439 But I want to very quickly and pointedly say the church is not property and programs. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:47.480 The church is people. 00:16:49.059 --> 00:16:51.000 We are the church. 00:16:51.399 --> 00:16:53.860 This building is not the church. 00:16:53.860 --> 00:16:59.120 The particular set of events we put together are not the church. 00:16:59.259 --> 00:17:00.300 Gatherings of? 00:17:00.860 --> 00:17:01.340 Sure. 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:04.579 But not the church itself. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:12.860 The Greek word that we most often see in the Scripture as church is the Greek word ekklesia. 00:17:13.380 --> 00:17:16.799 And I've said already, the study of the church is the study of ecclesiology. 00:17:17.220 --> 00:17:19.259 It's the Greek word ekklesia. 00:17:19.259 --> 00:17:19.379 Ekklesia. 00:17:20.379 --> 00:17:24.759 This word is used 114 times in the New Testament. 00:17:26.259 --> 00:17:30.640 Twice to refer to groups of people gathered for a specific task. 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:36.519 Stephen references God's people as a congregation in the wilderness from the book of Exodus. 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:38.460 In Acts chapter 7 verse 38. 00:17:38.460 --> 00:17:49.340 And we can see the term congregation again in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 12 as its author cites Psalm chapter 22 and verse 22. 00:17:49.339 --> 00:17:55.199 The other 109 times when the New Testament... 00:17:55.199 --> 00:17:55.839 Oh, excuse me. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:57.819 I didn't count for three of them, did I? 00:17:59.299 --> 00:18:09.899 In the book of Acts, when there's a riot at Ephesus, in that chapter, that riot, that gathering of people coming to riot against the gospel are called an ekklesia, a gathering of people. 00:18:09.900 --> 00:18:19.640 The other 109 times when the New Testament uses the term ekklesia, it is referring to a Christian assembly. 00:18:20.460 --> 00:18:25.400 And most regularly, a local assembly of Christians. 00:18:26.320 --> 00:18:34.320 I think that the word assembly would have been a better English word to use in this place. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:42.200 But back in our long line of English translation history, something unfortunate happened. 00:18:43.179 --> 00:18:51.659 This word that we use today for church is derived from an old English version of a German word, kerk. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:54.399 I'm probably not pronouncing it correctly. 00:18:55.299 --> 00:18:58.480 And that word meant building. 00:18:59.379 --> 00:19:00.619 Church building. 00:19:00.619 --> 00:19:00.679 Church building. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:01.399 Right? 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:08.739 A better equivalent to kerk in our day might be chapel. 00:19:10.059 --> 00:19:10.579 Right? 00:19:11.219 --> 00:19:14.719 But the word church was used instead. 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:23.939 And so the way we often use the word to refer to a building as the church is very consistent with its etymology back to the German word kerk. 00:19:23.940 --> 00:19:33.860 However, because the scripture, now these translations we have use the word church to speak of God's people assembled, we shouldn't use the word that way anymore. 00:19:34.700 --> 00:19:36.559 Don't call this building the church. 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:37.400 It's not. 00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:41.160 If this building burned to the ground, will we still exist as a church? 00:19:42.039 --> 00:19:42.420 Yes. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:43.720 We absolutely would. 00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:46.360 And you better believe we would meet that Lord's Day.