Reflecting on Truth #48
Q: What is the church?
A: God chooses and preserves for himself a community elected for eternal life and united by faith, who love, follow, learn from, and worship God together. God sends out this community to proclaim the gospel and prefigure Christ’s kingdom by the quality of their life together and their love for one another.
But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2:13)
Why does this matter?
The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith describes the church with these words:
“The catholic or universal church, which (with respect to the internal work of the Spirit and truth of grace) may be called invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ, the head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of him that fills all in all… The members of these churches are saints by calling, visibly manifesting and evidencing (in and by their profession and walking) their obedience unto that call of Christ; and do willingly consent to walk together, according to the appointment of Christ; giving up themselves to the Lord, and one to another, by the will of God, in professed subjection to the ordinances of the Gospel.”
Our catechism answer summarizes the various points made in the quoted segment above. Scripture teaches us that the church is a people, a community of believers, that God chooses and preserves for himself. This is the first fundamental truth concerning the church. The church is God’s creation for his own glory.
However, God did not create the church for no apparent reason. The church of God has been “elected for eternal life and united by faith”. The church is the undeserving recipient of God’s saving grace. Believers have been made alive in Christ and are now commanded to live life together as the body of Christ. We are to “love, follow, learn from, and worship God together” as the redeemed people of God. As we walk together in Christ as the church, we get a foretaste of the life to come when Christ comes again and make all things new.
Last but not least, the Scriptures teach us that the church is not meant to live in its own bubble, or to hide the light of Christ within the walls of a church building. The church is God’s means of reaching the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. God sends his church to the ends of the earth, to proclaim the gospel and to prefigure the kingdom of Christ to the world. In John 17, Jesus asks of the Father that those who will believe in him may be one, so that the world might believe that God has indeed sent Jesus Christ into the world.
What does this mean for us?
First, we are reminded that our salvation is the work of God from beginning to end. God chose us, but he is also preserving us until the end. In our recent Galatians series, we were reminded that God does not just kickstart our salvation and then the rest is up to us. We are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Praise God that Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith!
Second, we are reminded that as the redeemed people of God, we are not meant to live our lives in solitude and isolation from the world. We are called to live in community with one another, to love and to serve one another, to imitate Christ to each other. However, we are also called to act as witnesses, messengers of the gospel, ambassadors for Christ in the world. In the sermon on Psalm 96, we were reminded that God commands the people of God to declare the glory of God among the nations. The church should not be silent or bashful when it comes to the gospel of Christ, especially in a nation where we can live out our faith with little to no risk of harm or persecution.
Read and reflect on the words of C.H. Spurgeon:
“My brethren, let me say, be ye like Christ at all times. Imitate him in public. Most of us live in some sort of publicity; many of us are called to work before our fellow-men every day. We are watched; our words are caught; our lives are examined, taken to pieces. The eagle-eyed, argus-eyed world observes everything we do, and sharp critics are upon us. Let us live the life of Christ in public. Let us take care that we exhibit our Master, and not ourselves—so that we can say, “It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me.” Take heed that you carry this into the church too… Be like Christ in the church. How many there are of you… seeking pre-eminence? How many are trying to have some dignity and power over their fellow Christians, instead of remembering that it is the fundamental rule of all our churches, that there all men are equal—alike brethren, alike to be received as such. Carry out the spirit of Christ, then, in your churches, wherever ye are; let your fellow members say of you, “He has been with Jesus.””
May we glorify God for our salvation in Christ, and may we live in a manner that is pleasing to him in obedience to his Word.