The Purpose and Centrality of the Local Church Part 2

Here is what I posted at the Grace and Peace blog last week. Check it out to find more gospel centered writing in several different types from my good friends.

This is part 2 of a series on the centrality of the local church in God's redemptive purpose. Click here for part 1 of the series.

The centrality of the church can be seen in that Christ died for her and adds to her number.

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 word, so 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. (Ephesians 5:25-27)

"Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28)

As evangelical Christians we like to emphasize, with good reason, the individual nature of the atonement of Christ (Colossians 2:13-14). But we must not overlook the fact that the New Testament often speaks of Christ dying on behalf of the church.

Functionally this should be one of the greatest comforts in our Christian lives. If Christ died for a particular people, namely, the universal/invisible church, we find our identity as part of this group while participating in the local/visible expression of this people.

Not only did Christ die for the church, he is also the one adding to her number. Acts 2:41-47.

First we see about three thousand souls being saved (Acts 2:41), the next thing they do is commit themselves to the church (Acts 2:42-47) and finally we read that the Lord adds more to their number daily (Acts 2:47).

There is a cycle of salvation and the church is right in the middle. In the coming weeks we will see with a little more clarity why that is the case.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen

The Purpose and Centrality of the Local Church

Here is what I posted at the Grace and Peace blog yesterday. Check it out to find more gospel centered writing in several different types from my good friends.

To me…this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. (Eph. 3:8-10)

In this world of self-help it is difficult to imagine that the Creator might have intended something greater. Though I believe that it is a great thing that so many Christians want to emphasize that Jesus is the savior of individuals, it seems that some wonderful truths have been lost in the process. Perhaps we have tried so hard to avoid the ditch of Roman Catholicism’s errors that we have swerved into the ditch on the other side, individualism.

In this series of posts I want to argue that the local church is God’s primary means of working in the world. This may sound terrible to some and strange to others but let me assure you that when you stop reading Scripture through the lens of tradition it becomes much clearer.

What is the church?

In this post I want to begin with some simple definitions. The church is not an easy biblical term to define; in fact I will need to use two definitions here.

1. The entirety of redeemed people throughout history. This is known as the universal church or the invisible church.

2. The local assembly of a specific group of believers for the purpose of worship, edification, fellowship, and ministry to the lost. This is what I am calling the local church.

One interesting thing that needs to be understood is the reason I use the word “assembly” in the second definition. This is because the word used for church in the New Testament is ekklesia which can be most simply defined as a “gathering of persons for a purpose” (Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains).

What this seems to indicate is that the word is being used mostly to talk about local congregations of believers rather than the entirety of Christian individuals. But what about statements like that of Ephesians 3:10 (see above)? I don’t think Paul is only talking about the church at Ephesus. But I do think that he expected the original audience to think of the church at Ephesus when he said, “through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known.”

God is working in the world through His people, of that I don’t think there is much question. But what we will see in coming weeks is that those people find their identity, calling, and growth within the context of the local church.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen