What is the Church? (Mat 16:13-19; 28:18-20)

Sermon for Milledgeville and Whitestown UMC

What is the Church? (Mat 16:13-19; 28:18-20)

 

This is the Church
This is the steeple
Open the doors
and see all the people

The early 20^th century journalist, cultural critic and author, H.L. Mencken, was an atheist and an elitist. He was known for believing most people were morons and that democracy was a sad form of government, where the inferior mob rules over superior men. He became prominent through his coverage of the Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton, Tennessee in the summer of 1925. Mencken once offered a definition of the Church.

 

“A church is a place in which gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there.” 

 

The guy clearly didn’t have a clue what the church is really about. Which begs the question, “What is the Church?” How do we understand the Church, its purpose, and mission?

 

So let’s try and answer the question, “What is the Church?”

 

The very first time the word, Church, appears in the New Testament is in Matthew’s gospel when the apostle Peter first acknowledges Jesus to be the Christ.

 

After hearing what the crowds were saying about Jesus, The Lord asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter confessed, “You are the Christ the Son of the Living God.” (Mat 16:15-16) Jesus said that he’d build his church on this belief.

 

This is the first answer to the question, “What is the Church?”

The Church is founded on faith that Jesus is the son of God.

 

Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, descendant of King David, is God’s promised messiah, and God’s only begotten.

 

The book of Hebrews says of Jesus, “…He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being... (Heb 1:3)

 

The letter to the Colossians says,

 

He is the image of the invisible God, … in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. (Col 1:15, 19)

 

The Church declares that Jesus is God, not some lesser divine being. For only God can fulfill the promise of an everlasting kingdom of peace on earth.

 

John’s gospel calls Jesus the word of God made flesh.

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us… (John 1:1-3, 14)

 

The church is founded on faith that Jesus is the Son of the living God.

 

Why does Peter say living God? It is to distinguish the God of Israel from pagan gods like Pan or Hades, Zeus or Apollo. For all the pagan gods idolized in wood and stone are false. The God revealed through Israel is the only God, the living God who responds to our worship and prayers. The image of God is not a painting or statue. The image of God is Jesus.

 

The Church believes that Jesus is the Christ, which connects our faith to Jewish hopes in the messiah, a deliverer, priestly king who will save Israel from her enemies and establish an everlasting kingdom of peace and plenty. The messiah will lead us in righteousness.

 

What is the Church? The Church is founded on faith that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Jesus established the Kingdom of God. The Church is an expression of the everlasting Kingdom.

 

The Church lives according to the way of Jesus, love, mercy, forgiveness, humble service, social justice, worship and prayer. We carry on the ministry of Jesus. We teach hope, pray for the sick, and free troubled souls.

 

Jesus told His disciples, “On this rock (on this faith that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not stand against it. In Greek mythology, Hades is the name of the god of the netherworld and the holding place of the dead. Jesus is saying something about the nature of His Church. Not even Death can stand against the Church and its mission.

 

Jesus shares His authority with His Church. The Great Commission is to go and make disciples. Notice that Jesus bookends our mission to go and make disciples with the gift of His authority.

 

The Great Commision begins with “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore… And ends with the promise, “I am with you always, to the very end!”

 

The Greek word translated as therefore means “these things being so” or “consequently.” Since Jesus has all authority, the Church is to go in His authority to make disciples. How much authority? ALL authority. Authority that knocks down the gates of Hell and frees those held captive by the power of death.

 

We acknowledge the authority of the police, judges, prosecutors, congressmen, and the presidency. As the Church of Jesus Christ, our citizenship is in heaven. We may be citizens of the United States, but as members of the Church we acknowledge who has true authority.

Jesus is our king; and our king shares His authority with His Church.

 

Jesus promised that praying in his name has authority.

 

“I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (Jn 14:13)

 

You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. (Jn 15:16)

 

What is the Church? The Church executes the mission of Jesus Christ in the power and authority of His name.

 

Jesus gives His Church the keys to the kingdom. With His authority, whatever we loosen on earth will be loosed in heaven and whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven. John’s gospel helps me interpret what Jesus is saying.

 

The risen Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:21-23)

 

Jesus shares His authority with the Church to forgive sins and set souls free, to heal the sick, to drive out demons, and restore lost souls to a lifesaving relationship with God.

 

Jesus promises to be with His Church in this mission to go and make disciples. We go in His authority. We go with Jesus always.

 

What is the Church? The Church follows Jesus into ministry.

 

The Greek word for Church is ekklesia. It means gathering or assembly, but it also carries the idea of being called out. Remember Jesus called his first disciples, Peter and Andrew, from tending their fishing nets. “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men,” He told them. They became His disciples. They became His students who lived with Him, learned from Him, and served with Him in ministry to others.

 

The Church is the assembly of the called out. Peter was called out of fishing and family life to become a full-time student of Jesus. His journey led him to become a prominent leader for the Church. We know Peter as the apostle to the Jews. Later, Paul became known as the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul was a Pharisee who persecuted Christians. Jesus appeared to him in a blinding light as Paul was on his way to arrest Christians in Damascus. Jesus called Paul out of Jewish religious leadership and the persecution of the Church to serve as an apostle of Jesus Christ to bring the gospel to the Greco-Roman world.

 

Remember the story of Zacchaeus? He was a tax collector. His neighbors hated him. He cheated them. Zacchaeus heard that Jesus had come to Jericho. He couldn’t see Jesus because of the crowd, so he climbed a tree. Jesus saw Zacchaeus and offered to have dinner with the hated tax collector at his home. Imagine the scandal! Jesus, the miracle working man of God, was going to dine at the home of a cheating tax collector! Zacchaeus was so moved by Jesus that he promised to give half of his riches to the poor and pay back anyone he had cheated four times over. Jesus called Zacchaeus out of cheating his neighbors, to serving his neighbors in generosity. He, too, joined the Church.

 

The Church is the gathering of the called out. We are called out of earthly concerns to serve heaven’s mission. Every Christian must discern how Jesus is calling them out. What is getting in the way of you becoming a student of Jesus? You don’t have time to serve with Jesus in ministry to others? How might you reprioritize your life to make Christian service the priority? What needs to go? You say you don’t have time to study the scriptures. How might you reorganize your calendar so that you schedule time daily with the Lord and His word?

 

Jesus called Zacchaeus out of the crowd. The crowd follows Jesus around. The crowd is an obstacle to discipleship. They follow Jesus around hoping to hear something inspirational, hoping to see a miracle; a gaggle of sightseers. Disciples step out of the crowd and follow Jesus into ministry.

 

Jesus told His Church, “You didn’t choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit that lasts, fruit that will bring glory to God.” “Let your good deeds be seen by others that they may give God all the glory.”

 

What is the Church? The Church is called out of the crowd and into ministry. We go in His authority. We go in faith that even Hell cannot stand in the way of Christ’s mission to make disciples. We go trusting that Jesus is with us always.