Work of the Church

The Lord's church is His spiritual body (Ephesians 1:22–23). It would seem to be unarguable that Jesus wants His spiritual body to engage in the same work He came to do in His physical body. Most would not argue otherwise verbally, but many strongly so argue practically.

Some years ago a few “promoter-type” brethren began spreading a spiritual “virus” in the church that has infected many congregations. Its practical effect is to “provide all things for all men” (not to be confused with our personally “becoming all things to all men” in optional matters [I Corinthians 9:22]). Some call this approach “ministering to the whole man” or “meeting felt needs.” It spawned a troupe of church growth “experts” who began compassing sea and land with their weekend How to Grow a Church “seminars.”

My first preaching work out of college (1959) was as one of the preachers with a large church in Wichita Falls, Texas. A Methodist Church building a few blocks away had a gymnasium in its basement. You could have tortured our elders and they would not have built such a building. They knew there was no authority for such use of the Lord's money. Twenty years later, with a new set of elders, that congregation had its own gymnasium. Oh, they call it their “Family Life Center” (but when I see an expansive room with basketball goals, net poles for volleyball and lines on the floor for boundaries, pardon me for calling it a “gymnasium”).

When one starts down the minister-to-the-whole-man road it is difficult to find a stopping place. Accordingly, another symptom of this viral disease is the pleasure jaunts of senior citizen and teenage groups in the church (pity the “middle-aged” folk—almost always left out). I enjoy travel, fellowship, and pretty scenery as much as the next person. However, I have never figured out why the Lord's church should pay for it or employ someone who spends much of his time planning such activities and excursions, often on a bus or van owned, operated, and fueled out of the church’s bank account.

Can you imagine apostolic consent for a three-day sightseeing trip to Tyre and Sidon for the Jerusalem church’s “39ers” or the “Autumn Leaves” group? Try to picture Timothy's planning a ski retreat on Mt. Olympus for the “keen teens” of Ephesus. I somehow doubt that Paul ever considered taking a contribution from the Gentile churches to build a “Family Life Center” for the church in Jerusalem.

Such suggestions are ludicrous, bordering on blasphemy. But only liberals among us have jumped on this meeting-the-felt-needs bandwagon, right? The September 2013 “Polishing the Pulpit” extravaganza, planned, overseen by, and participated in by brethren who consider themselves (as we once considered them) to be “men of the Book, included classes in conflict management, weight loss, the risk of dating, sibling rivalry, budget shopping for clothes, nutrition, preparing for SAT, and such like. Somehow they overlooked small engine repair and basic auto maintenance.

Such activities and emphases are no more the work of the blood-bought church of Christ in the twenty-first century than they were in the first. The kingdom is a spiritual entity by definition (John 18:36). Its work and mission are tied innately to its nature. Its work, as was that of its Builder/Head, is spiritual—to bring the saving Gospel to lost humanity (Matthew 28:19–20; Mark 16:15–16; Romans 1:16). All else we do as His church is peripheral to this one grand task.

Faithful saints desire congregational growth as much as any of the “church growth experts” do, but that end will never justify the sacrifice of Scripturally authorized means. “We must work the works of him that sent me…” (John 9:4a).

Dub McClish

What is the Kingdom of God?

That the same is meant by “kingdom of God,” “kingdom of heaven,” “his kingdom,” and the “kingdom of his dear Son,” as a general rule, there can be little doubt, whether the same is meant in every instance or not. That which is called “his kingdom” (Matthew 16:28) is called “the kingdom of God” (Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27). The same kingdom mentioned in the phrase, “the Son of man coming in his kingdom,” is also mentioned in the phrase “the kingdom of God,” for these are two reports of the same speech. The two expressions are simply two designations of the same kingdom. The same, precisely, that is called “the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:23) is called “the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25).In Matthew the record is: “That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of God.” The “kingdom of heaven” is at hand, as recorded (Matthew 3:2), is undoubted the same as “the kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14), for these are two records of the same thing. The same kingdom is meant (Matthew 13:11) in the words, “Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” that is meant (Mark 4:11) in “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” “He that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11:11), and “He that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28), are simply two records of the same thing, and the same kingdom is meant in both records.

In the following language the phrases “my church” and “the kingdom of heaven” are two designations for the same. That which is called “my church” is called “kingdom of heaven.” “I say also to you,that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it; and I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (See Matthew 16:18-19). When we think and speak of what the Lord calls “my church,” we should keep in mind that He calls the same thing, in the same connection, “the kingdom of heaven,” and that He calls the same “my kingdom” (John 18:36). Paul’s “general assembly and the church of the firstborn,” to which he said “we are come”(Hebrews 12:23), is the same as his “kingdom that cannot be moved”(verse 28 of the same chapter). It is the same as His “one body”(Ephesians 4:4; I Corinthians 12:13). All who enter the “one body” at all are immersed into it, or all who enter the kingdom at all, which is the same as entering the “one body,” enter it by being born of water and of the Spirit. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see [or enjoy] the kingdom of God.” (See John 3:3.) “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (See John 3:5.) The same community is styled “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth” (I Timothy 3:15). “In Christ” is in the body, church, or kingdom. To know what the church is, the body of Christ, the house of God, the temple of God, the building of God, is to know what the kingdom of God is. This view will assist much in ascertaining what the kingdom of God is, and several other things to be investigated in this article.

When we are thinking of the Lord’s community as a body, we think of the head and the individual members, the life and support of the body. When we think of the same community as a house, or family, we immediately think of the head of the family, the members, the discipline and ruling of a family, the care and oversight of a family, the support and dependence of a family, the accession by birth or adoption, whichever figure may be used, and the losses by death, or those who have abandoned the family. When we think of the same community as a temple, or building, we think of the proprietor, foundation, the lively stones built together in it, and the builders. When we think of it as a kingdom, we think of a king, constitution, laws, territory, subjects. When we think of it literally, as the church, congregation or community founded by Christ, the only divinely founded religious community on earth, we think of God, who authorized it; of the prophets, who predicted its founding, with many of its stupendous and momentous surroundings—the Lord Messiah, who founded it; the great truth on which it is built; the authorized apostles and evangelists who first preached the Gospel, called people together, under their new head, in the new community, or the church, making “one new man.” It has Christ for its head; the Gospel—the power of God—to turn the world to God; the teaching of Christ and His apostles for its edification and instruction.Christ is its supreme authority for everything. His authority is set forth in His own teaching and that of His divinely authorized and inspired apostles.

The church, community of living God, is composed of members, and has a head, Gospel, teaching or territory. Bishops or overseers, and deacons, in their work, are limited to the congregation in their own vicinity, having no jurisdiction in other congregations. The church of the living God, the body of Christ, or kingdom of God, embraces all the local congregations, with the members, in all the world—all who are truly the people of God. As a whole, it is not an organized body, and has no method of acting in conventional form, in making decrees, laws or decisions. Its head has made, signed, sealed and delivered to it His laws and decrees, and demands of the church, or kingdom, implicit obedience. It is not the business of the church to make laws or decrees, but implicitly to obey and submit to the laws and decrees made by the head of the church.

This community, church or kingdom, of which Christ is the head or King, and all that pertains to it, was embraced in “the eternal purpose of God,” but had no existence, in the form of a community, church or kingdom, only in the purpose of God, for ages. The same that was embodied in the eternal purpose—“a secret,” “hid in God”—was subsequently embodied in the promise to Abraham. It was still a secret, a mystery, in the promise of a blessing for all families of the earth, without any revelation explaining what that blessing was. That promise embraced the Messiah, the Gospel, the church, and all the attendant blessings for the human race. Still, the church, or kingdom, did not exist in fact, and the blessings were spoken of as “good things to come,” and not good things already come. The same precisely, embodied first in the purpose, and then in the promise of God, subsequently filled a large space in prophecy, but still as “good things to come.” Peter has the following comment touching the prophets: “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come to you: searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to us, they did minister these things, which are now reported to you by them who have preached the gospel to you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; into which things the angels desire to look.” (See I Peter 1:10-12.) The kingdom of God is found, first, in the eternal purpose of God, then in the promise of God to Abraham, then in the prophecy, and then in the preaching of John the Immerser. In the preaching of John it is in different form, and a new item comes into the preaching. It is now “the kingdom of God is at hand,” “the kingdom of God approaches.” 

Benjamin Franklin

1812-1878

Taken from New Testament Christianity, Vol. I (1923), pages 198-204.

God’s Picture of the Church

The Bible vividly portrays the nature of the church in the various descriptive terms which are applied: 

1. As a pearl, the church is costly. It is to be bought even at the expense of selling all that one has. 
2. As a kingdom, it is obedient. We are to obey every wich of our King, the Lord. 
3. As a house, it is orderly. Every stone is fitly joined together and everything is decent and in order. 
4. As a rock, it is dependent. It must be fed the pure milk and meat of the Word. It must look to the great Shepherd. 
5. As a bride, it is vitally joined to Him. It wears His name and is subject to Him in all things. 
6. As a family, it bears His image. It resembles the Father and Elder Brother. 
7. As a body, it is united. All members are needed and work together in harmony. 
8. As a candlestick, it is exalted. It is the light of the world, reflecting Christ so that all can see Him.

Author Unknown

The Basis of Christian Unity

Simply believing as others believe will not bring about unity if such beliefs are not based on the Bible’s teachings. Unity in the body of Christ, the church of our Lord, is a goal for which every sincere and faithful follower of Christ diligently seeks and fervently prays. Why those who profess His name and adhere to His standard should all be one is a matter clearly taught in the Scriptures and therefore, unquestioned by those who respect His will and who confess allegiance to His cause (I Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:1-6). However, its realization has in large measure eluded us. Why? The reasons are many, chief among them being the view that unity must be reached on the basis of agreement in certain prescribed areas, one’s soundness being determined by one’s mental assent to the views common to the faction to which one belongs.
This concept, characteristic of all parties among us, is basically and fundamentally unsound because unity in the body of Christ does not necessarily result from agreement among those who constitute any faction or all of them together.

It should be obvious to all that men may, and often do, agree fully on all matters they regard as essential yet are far, very far, from being one in Christ. Unity—conformity to views—may exist out of Christ as well as in Him, but this is very far from being the unity for which the Savior prayed in Gethsemane.

Unity in commitment to a cause is not a necessary consequent of faithful discipleship; agreement on certain creedal matters as a condition of acceptance in fellowship is to resort to a human, not a divine, standard of soundness.

Paul perceived that there were those who would seek to establish their loyalty to party in this manner, and wrote:

For we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with certain of them that commend themselves: but they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding (II Corinthians 10:12).

Christ is the source of our lives as He is also the sphere of our total religious faith and spiritual activity. As the branch withers and dies when separated from the True Vine (John 16:1-6), so the members of His body—the church—subsist and are one in Him only as they partake of His spirit, accept fully His teaching, and conform wholly to His will (Luke 6:46). This done, unity with Him prevails and, in consequence, with all others in His body with like motivation.

The truth is the faith that saves is vastly more than simple intellectual assent to a body of teaching; unless it is characterized by love, deep devotion, and commitment without reservation to Him; unless the heart, the mind, and the soul are wholly His; unless one’s thoughts, purposes, and plans all converge in Him is there unity with the Head and consequential unity with all other members of His body (I Corinthians 12:12). Where the one is wanting, the other is impossible.

To seek unity on the ground of common belief in party tenets alone promotes sectarianism and produces more division in the body of Christ. James wrote, “the demons also believe, and shudder” (James 2:19). These demons were of common faith and thus united in their convictions, but the unity resulting was far from that which God intended for His people. One’s views may harmonize fully with those of the party yet be far short of that unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, which Paul approved.

Each factious group among us today began, is maintained, and persist solely on the basis of agreement in a narrow and restricted area of allegiance to a hobby and sectarian view acceptable only to the group which holds it, but which effectively operates as a barrier to fellowship with others of like precious faith in all other areas of teaching and practice! How unutterably sad must this situation be to Him who earnestly prayed that His followers might all be one.

Guy N. Woods