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The Church |
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The Church |
Lesson 2
Christ's Church Begins
God's Plans for the Church
The establishment of the church on Pentecost (Acts 2) is the result of God's
planning through the ages for the reception of the saved. The wisdom of God was
slowly unfolded through the promises, prophecies and other developments of the
Old Testament. Step by step, age by age, God prepared man for the time when the
church would become a reality. Paul wrote the Ephesians telling them that the
grace of God was given to him "And to make plain to everyone the administration
of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all
things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God
should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,
according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord"
(Ephesians 3:9-11).
According to Paul in this passage, the reception of the Gentiles (the Ephesians
were Gentiles!) into the company of the saved was always in the plan of God. In
fact, all that came to pass about the church was according to the eternal
purpose of God. Our Father had the church in mind from the beginning and the
"now" of the passage suggests that what had once "been hidden in God" has been
revealed to men. Through the church, with it's blessings extended to all men -
both Jews and Gentiles - the many-sided wisdom of God is now unfolded in the
working of the church on earth.
Through the passing centuries since man's sin in the garden, the plan of God was
gradually unfolded. An important step was the selection of Abraham. God made
wonderful promises to Abraham, including His promise to bless all nations
through Abraham's descendants. Another part of God's preparation for the church
was the forming of the nation of Israel, along with the tabernacle, temple and
various sacrifices. Then there was David and his kingship, and the prophets who
taught Israel. John the Baptist was the last of those prophets and the
forerunner of Christ.
Finally, after all the ages of planning and preparation, everything was ready!
In God's ordering of events, the appropriate time came! In the life, death and
resurrection of Christ - coupled with the events of Pentecost when the church
began - all the strands of God's preparation and planning were brought together
into one glorious climax! Jesus came, and the church arrived as planned.
Paul calls the preparation and planning for Christ and His Church a
"mystery...hidden in God" (Ephesians 3:9). Mysteries, in their New Testament
sense, are not things still kept secret, and therefore mysterious. Rather they
are subjects previously hidden, but now they are out in the open. In Ephesians,
the central "mystery" unfolded and made clear is summarized by Paul. It concerns
God's eternal purpose to "gather together in one all things in Christ...,"
especially that "the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body"
(Ephesians 1:10; 3:6).
The plan of God was to bring together all things and unite all men through Jesus
Christ. It was Christ's mission to put everything together, to reconcile and
unite. The church is a part of that breathtaking vision. It is both the agency
and result of the uniting work of God in Christ. The church is the one body of
Christ (Ephesians 4:4), and in it are brought together all people who, without
Christ, are divided and enemies. And, above all, in Christ and the church all
mankind may have complete reconciliation with God.
How, when and where did the Lord's church begin? Plainly these points are
important as we study the church. In our age, understanding the origin of the
church of Christ is vitally significant to us, since so many religious
institutions exist in our world and generation.
How did the Church Begin?
The church began with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and with
their preaching of the gospel of Christ for the very first time. According to
Paul the essential facts of the gospel are that "Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third
day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). These gospel facts
could not have been announced before Jesus died and arose from the dead. People
could not receive salvation without Christ's death and resurrection. And the
Holy Spirit could not come until Christ was in Heaven at God's right hand (Acts
2:34-36).
Please observe in Acts 2 that people were added to the saved because they gladly
received the Word preached that day (Acts 2:41). The church did not produce the
Word; rather, the Word produced the church. The acceptance of the gospel of
Christ on the part of three thousand on Pentecost resulted in their being
"added" to the church (Acts 2:47). The remaining portions of the book of Acts
tells how the church continued to grow by the preaching of the gospel of Christ.
When did the Church Begin?
Christ's church was established on the first Pentecost Day after His
resurrection from the grave. The apostle Peter confirms this fact in Acts 11:15
by speaking of what happened on that Pentecost Day as "the beginning!"
On that day, for the very first time in all the world's history, Jesus was
publicly preached as the resurrected Lord and Christ. On that day, for the very
first time, men and women who desired salvation were commanded to "Repent and be
baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
your sins" (Acts 2:38). On that great beginning day, for the first time in
history, people were "added" to the Lord's church (Acts 2:47).
Where did the Church Begin?
Jerusalem is the answer. In our first lesson it was pointed out that the
prophecies of the Old Testament, when they spoke of the kingdom and its coming,
always designated Jerusalem as the place of origin (Isaiah 2:2-3; Zechariah
12:10). Obviously, the events that are related to the beginning of the church
took place in Jerusalem (Acts 2:5).
What about Today?
How can the Lord's church be established today? This question must be answered
by going back to the New Testament to see how churches of Christ began in the
first century. The Bible says, for example, that Paul went to Corinth with this
purpose: "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus
Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). In the same epistle, Paul tells
the fundamental details of his preaching: "Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Acts 18 gives the history
of Paul's work in Corinth, and verse 5 says that Paul "testifying to the Jews
that Jesus was Christ."
Please observe. Peter preached on Pentecost in Jerusalem and the church resulted
from the preaching. Some time later, Paul preaches in Corinth. He is in a
different city, many miles away from Jerusalem and a number of years removed in
time. But Paul is establishing the same church by preaching the same Christ as
did Peter. The result of his preaching is related in these words:
"Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord;
and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized" (Acts
18:8).
These people responded exactly like those Jews did on Pentecost in that they
believed and were baptized. Paul declared that those who obeyed the Lord were
"To the church of God in Corinth" (1 Corinthians 1:2). The same gospel that
brought the Jerusalem church into existence also created the church in Corinth!
Regardless of time or place, the gospel of Christ produces the church of Christ.
Jesus declared that the word of God is the seed (Luke 8:11). The word - that
seed - is living and active, according to Hebrews 4:12. There is life in the
seed. The apostle Peter wrote that, "The word of the Lord endureth forever. And
this is the word which by the gospel is preached to you" (1 Peter 1:25).
This ever-living, life-giving gospel was the message that Paul took to Corinth
where it was planted in the hearts of men and brought into existence a church of
Christ. The foundation of the church in Corinth was laid by preaching Christ,
for Paul declared that "I have laid the foundation" (1 Corinthians 3:10) and
"other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1
Corinthians 3:11). The Lord is the foundation that can be laid in any city in
any century. Thus by preaching the original gospel of Christ - the same gospel
preached by Peter on Pentecost and Paul in Corinth - the church can be planted
in every nation and city in today's world. When that Word of the Lord is
believed and obeyed the same church will result.
Today, by preaching the same Christ, by laying the same foundation, by
proclaiming the same gospel, by planting the same seed, the church of the New
Testament can be established. The New Testament contains the original and only
pattern for the church of Christ. If that pattern is used in this twentieth
century in any locality on earth, the church of Christ will be the result.
What was the Church When it was Established?
1. It was the church that God had planned (Ephesians 3:10-11).
2. It was the church that Jesus purchased with his blood (Acts 20:28).
3. It was the church that Christ had promised to build (Matthew 16:18).
4. It was the church over which Christ was the head (Ephesians 1:22-23).
5. It was the church whose members were called "Christians" (Acts 11:26).
6. It was the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16).
7. It was the house of God (1 Timothy 3:15).
8. It was the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13).
9. It was the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23).
10. It was the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:23).
11. It was, as the body of Christ, the very fulfillment of Christ Himself
(Ephesians 1:23, Colossians 2:9-10).
To be a member of the New Testament church, believers were to repent of their
sins and be baptized (immersed) in water to have their sins forgiven (Acts
2:38). Those who gladly received this word were baptized, both men and women
(Acts 2:41; 8:12). In their obedience to the gospel, these people were added to
the church (Acts 2:41, 47). Those who obeyed the truth were taught to continue
in all things whatsoever Christ commanded (Matthew 28:20).
In their worship these Christians assembled on the first day of the week (Acts
10:7) to remember Christ in His Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-28). In these
assemblies, songs of praises were to be sung (Ephesians 5:19), prayers were
offered to God through Christ (1 Timothy 2:10-4; Colossians 3:17), contributions
were offered to support the Lord's work (1 Corinthians 16:1-2), and the doctrine
of Christ was taught (Acts 2:42; 20:7).
Churches of Christ in that first century recognized Christ as the Head of the
church. Local congregations were overseen by elders (Acts 14:23; 20:28; 1 Peter
5:1-4), assisted in their work by men known as deacons (1 Timothy 3:8-13). There
was no great super organization, with ecclesiastical offices and functions as
the world offers today. Each local congregation was governed by Christ and His
Word. There were no creeds but Christ, and no authority but His (Matthew 28:18).
How about the Lord's Church Today?
The church of Christ today should be the same as the church which began in
Jerusalem over nineteen hundred years ago. How one enters the church should be
the same today as then. The worship and the organization should be the same. And
the church of today will be the same when the church today proclaims and
practices the same gospel as is written on the pages of the New Testament.
We must commit ourselves completely to the church of the New Testament as the
way the church must be today. If we do not accept the New Testament as the model
for the church for all ages, then we are left to human opinions as the basis for
the church today. That's what has been happening - the religious world is
splintered into hundreds of groups claming to be the church because the New
Testament has lost its authority in today's world. It has been replaced by human
opinions and man's creeds. It was never the Lord's intention to have many
bodies, only one (Ephesians 4:4).
The church that can be so readily found described in the Word of God can
actually exist in the world today. There is no reason why the church of the New
Testament cannot be recreated now, If we are willing to follow the New
Testament. However, such a goal would force us to a critical decision: we would
have to abandon any and all other models which have produced the many
denominational traditions that mark Christendom today!
The church that began on Pentecost can exist today. We must add that the church
of the New Testament must be the church of today, or, otherwise, it is not
Christ's church. Join in recreating such a glorious vision of the church - His
Church! Remember, the Lord's church is in existence today only when Christ's
Word is followed. The church is produced by the preaching of the same
Christ that Peter preached on Pentecost and Paul proclaimed at Corinth. Men
become members of the church of Christ today just like they did in Jerusalem and
Corinth. The church follows the same form of organization outlined in the New
Testament. The same "apostle's doctrine" is taught in the church of Christ
today. What the church of Christ was then is what the church of Christ is today,
for the Word of the Lord has not lost its power. It, as the seed, remains the
same, always producing the same results - Christ's Church and Christians!
Scriptures for Further Study
Acts 2 should be completely covered in any serious study of this lesson.
The book of Ephesians may be read with great profit for its grand view of the
church from eternity.