The Purpose of the Church

As I continue to think of getting our church plant off to a solid start, I have wrestled with the Scriptural teachings on the church, the theological heritage, and traditions of the Reformed and Baptist history, and my own experience.

Our Authority

Scripture must be our final authority, and it regulates all that we do. We have no Pope, or magisterium, to explain the meaning of the Scriptural message. As evangelicals, as reformed Christians, we share no one structure or hierarchy. We simply share a hermeneutic, based on an understanding that Scripture is 1) perspicuous (sufficiently plain in its meaning), 2) inerrant (will not lead us into error), 3) infallible (trustworthy and without errors in the original manuscripts).

As a result, we interpret Scripture by studying its historical context and following the rules of grammar, the historical grammatical method. That is, we don't really interpret it all. We just read it, recognizing the figures of speech as common figures of speech, the symbols as symbols, narratives as narratives, instructions as instructions, etc.

The Gospel is Central

From this hermeneutical basis, I approach my study of the church, adding the insights of those who have gone before me and find that the Gospel, or good news of Jesus Christ, is central to everything we should hope to do at Ekklesia Baptist Fellowship.

The Church is the followers of Christ

Why is the Gospel central to everything we do? The answer is, that this is the central mandate for the God's people. Christians, as the name suggests are the followers of Christ. The Church is not a human organization or building, but an organism, composed of these individual Christians and known as the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:27), which exists to be a display of His glory (Ephesians 3:21). It meets in local assemblies (Philemon 2) and has regular meetings (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2).

The Lord Jesus Christ gave his followers a clear and simple mission, to gather the Church from every nation of the world, disciple and teach them the Truth Jesus revealed:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20).

The Church Gathered

We need to have a certainty about the Purpose of this gathered Church, based on Scripture. Why does the church gathered exist?

I) The church exists to worship and glorify God (John 4:23-24).

1 Cor. 10:31—“Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Heb. 13:15—“Through Him, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise.”

II) The church exists to be a repository of divine truth (Jude 3).

1 Tim. 3:15—“I write so you may know how to conduct yourselves in the church, which is the pillar and support of the truth.”

2 Tim. 1:13--"Hold to the standard of sound words that you heard from me and do so with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus".

III) The church exists to provide a context of loving fellowship with one another for the purpose of mutual edification (Ephesians 4:7, 16).

Heb 10:24,25 --"Stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together."
Acts 2:42 --"They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

IV) The church exists as a training center whereby people can grow through the application of
teaching and the utilization of their spiritual gifts (Romans 12:3-8).

Eph 4:12-16—“for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, to the
building up of the body of Christ”
1 Pet 4:10—“As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another”

V) The church exists to be a light in this dark world, for the evangelization of the lost (Titus 2:11–15).

Matt 28:19-20—"Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them…and teaching them to obey all things whatsoever I have commanded you"
Matt. 5:13–16—"Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Building this Church

Building Christ's Church is not our job! Jesus said; "I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it" (Matthew 16:18). As his undershepherds, the church's leaders are more like waiters, serving what he has prepared, then managers scheming and organization.

From this central understanding, the organism of the church can be structured for effectiveness, as gathered in a local assembly. But in everything the Church does, this gospel purpose and this leadership of Christ must be kept central.

Evangelism and Missions exist, because Worship doesn't. Therefore, all our gospel efforts, should be aimed at facilitating the Father's mission, He "seeks [people] to be his worshipers" (John 4:23).

The Church which exists, as a gathered body, must be trained to pursue the Fathers purpose theologically and practically (Matthew 28:20). Therefore the regular teaching of the whole council of God is necessary.

The Church must mutually encourage one another and represent Christ to one another to keep up morale and support the members: "From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love" (Ephesians 4:16). Therefore assembling together for corporate meetings is necessary.

The Church must hold fast the truth (2 Timothy 1:13), and "earnestly content for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). We should aim therefore to speak publicly against falsehood and equip people with the truth so that they can detect forgeries.

Finally the Church must be trained to understand that each member exists, to worship and glorify God, understanding that "true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth" (John 4:22), that is with a right attitude and correct belief, "whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God" (I Corinthians 10:31). We must learn that worship is a verb, that we must act for the glory of God, in the corporate service and redeeming our careers and families for His glory.

Irrational Rationality

Why is it that the skeptics demand reason, while objecting a priori to any arguement they don't like? When the Christian refuses to scream and throw things, they seem to be at a loss.

We have been treated to an outstanding discussion concerning the existence of God, under the post Creation Explains the Origin of the Universe. It becomes obvious as we progress through the discussion that to deny God, through the use of strict rationalism (the demand for empirical demonstration), is ultimately irrationalism at its highest.

This is true because it demands rationalism, in a universe of chance and possibility. Anything is possible, and everything is the result of chance, they argue. But at the same time, evidence is demanded on the basis of faith in the ephemeral laws of logic –an absolute irrational and baseless faith, in a universe of chance and unlimited possibility.

One great illustration of irrationality and an example of the common assumption of the atheist is to try and "trap" the believer with a condemnation of "blind faith". They assume that the theist holds to the same principles of an irrational universe as they do, and consequently assume that faith is "baseless".

Selective Evidence

A related ploy, is the use of hyper-selective evidence. Usually relating to science and logic, the best illustration was a recent exchange between Armchair Theologian and the anonymous blogger --Hairless Chimp.
Hairless Chimp wrote:

Dictionary.com's definition of faith:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faith. It appears you don't know what faith is. However, its possible that your church/religion (your particular flavor) has taught you this new definition. IF that is the case, then it is a trait very similar to cults - Creation of new definitions for existing words, whereby doing so helps to isolate the individule from the outside world...Faith is the context of relgion, is belief in the absence of proof.

Hairless Chimp demonstrates the commonly assumed arrogance of the skeptic, who assumes Christians don't have the ability to check their sources. In this particular instance, Chimp dishonestly demanded that Lyndon accept his selective definition of faith as THE definitive word. However, the article he referenced, gave 9 definitions, as follows:

--noun

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.

2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.

5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

6. the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.

7. the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc.: He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.

8. Christian Theology. the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

—Idiom

9. in faith, in truth; indeed: In faith, he is a fine lad."

Armchair Theologian rightly called him to task replying:

You select the 2nd meaning and apply it to my use of the word, which is actually the 8th meaning. You cannot select a meaning, of multiple various meanings, and apply it wherever you desire.

Armchair, and myself would be closest to either number 3, or 8 above, especuially with the definition of 8 credited with being the definition of Christian theology: "8. Christian Theology. the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved". This kind of arguement can only be describes as duplicitous.

Sloppy scholarship, and demands that the Christian accept misunderstood and misquoted authority is common. Very often it is assumed that "science" authorities have "proved" facts concerning evolution. This is not true, but a random quote from the scoffer usually surfaces, demanding submission.

Arrogance

Armchair Theologian also points out the assumption of superiority, the third major issue that surfaces. Skeptics often come across with the sort of confidence one might expect in someone that holds a Biblical studies PhD's and throw out some pseudo-intellectual second hand argument concerning supposed Biblical contradictions or irrationalities. As Armchair writes:

Just because you cannot figure out some portions of the bible doesn't mean it doesn't make sense...

It is encouraging to see people react so violently against a God they profess to deny. As Shakespeare wrote, "Methinks thou dost protest too much". As Paul wrote, "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom 1:18). That is, they work hard to deny evidence and hold down under the surface of the water of irrationality, the balloon of evidence that is everywhere present.

In the end, the text proclaims, "Professing to be wise, they become fools". The irrationality of the rationalist destroys all his or her attempts to maintain the façade of denial.
Ultimately, this is a purely moral problem, as the skeptic, has no epistemological difficulty in discerning God. There is only a heart issue. And only God can change the heart.