Church of Christ Altamonte Springs

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In our study of 21st Century problems for the church weve looked at the focus of the church and found that we must be focused on God. Even the great passages of our profound blessings in Jesus explicitly or implicitly recognize that the purpose is to glorify God (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14; Col. 1:3, 10-13, 27-29). Our study of church form found that scripture only authorizes the collective activity of His people in a local church: a group of christians joined together to serve God.
Now lets study the function; that action, activity or work that is proper for the local church. Since God is the focus, and gave the form, we must seek and accept His will for the assigned work of the local church. The proposition of this study is that Gods work is its only function and scripture limits that work to worship, edification and benevolence.
The first and primary function of the local church is worship; acts of reverent devotion. Acts 20:67 and 1 Cor. 16:1-2 are examples of the first day of the week as the day the local church would regularly gather together. On that day the local church would participate in the five acts of worship: the Lords Supper (1 Cor. 11:1734), prayer (1 Tim. 2:18), singing (Eph. 5:1821; Col. 3:16), laying by in store (I Cor. 16:1-2) and teaching (Acts 20:611). A genuine follower of God is pleased to worship Him according to His pattern.
The second authorized activity for the local church is edification; the preaching and teaching of the Gospel. This was either self-edification at the local church level (1 Cor. 14:1219; Eph. 4:11-16) or preaching the gospel abroad (2 Cor. 11:8-9; Phil. 4:15-16; 1 Thess. 1:8). The fact that the local church is to glorify God by teaching the gospel of God is good news to those focused on God.
The last authorized activity is benevolence; the care of needy saints. The Jerusalem church had a great need from early on (Acts 4:32-37; 6:1-6) that eventually provided an example of other churches sending to their need (Acts 11:29-30; 1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 89). The only scriptural examples are local churches independently taking up a collection for other christians, and even that had limits (1 Tim. 5:3-16). Gods people are very generous personally, but accept Gods limitations on the local church
As a side note in those actions, all authorized by command and/or example, are implied the authorization to provide the means to accomplish them: a place to assemble, communion supplies, song books, collection baskets, bank accounts, bible classes, training of preachers, bulletins, web sites, online sermons, etc.
If God is our true focus then well seek and accept His will for the form and function of His church. But if we chafe under His will for either form or function then we arent focused on Him at all and will cause problems for the 21st Century church.

John 8:13-30 results from Jesus statement, I am the light of the world (8:12). This text reflects the conflict of the light of revelation and the darkness of prejudice produced by ignorance and sin. The Pharisees challenge of Jesus was made on legal grounds (13) because no man on trial in a Jewish court was allowed to testify on his own behalf. Jesus argument is that He, as the son of the Father, was better able to bear witness concerning Himself than anyone else. In these verses Jesus pronounces a sober judgment on His enemys inability to discern His true identity; which judgment remains true today.
Jesus issues a warning concerning the consequences of their unbelief: Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. The Bible teaches there are two ways to die. You may die in the Lord (Rev. 14:13) or you may die in your sins. To die in your sins means to die with the burden of your sins upon you. The result of dying in your sins is that we must bear the burden of sin, which is spiritual death (Rom. 6:23). Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body. Spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God. To die in sin is to be forever separated from Jesus, Where I go you cannot come (21b) and this is the most sobering consequence of all.

Our Lord exposed the church at Laodicea and then counseled them when He said, Because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked I counsel you to buy from Me gold, refined in the fire, that you may be rich (Rev. 3:17-18).
To some degree just about everyone wants to be rich; the sad part is that most want to be rich in earthly treasures and care little or nothing for true riches. Rich is a relative term. This word does not tell the nature of the wealth; one may be rich in one thing and poor in another. The Bible says that real wealth comes from God and we must buy it (Prov. 23:23). This suggests that the truth is obtained by some effort on our part and at some expense to us. Whatever we have to pay for it once it is obtained do not sell it for any price.
Do you really want to be rich? I mean rich in the full sense of the word, with riches that cannot be taken from you? Jesus said, Buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich Buy cannot mean that value for value is given, because there is no price man can bring to purchase the priceless riches in Christ. This simply indicates the effort on the part of the one desiring those riches to obtain them. The statement that you may be rich sets true wealth in contrast with the riches of this world.
True riches come from God through Jesus (Phil. 4:19) by the gospel (Col. 1:25:27; 2:2-3). Paul said, Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8). This means that you can be rich concerning the unsearchable riches of Christ and understand it.
We must do something to receive these riches. What must I do to become rich? Paul wrote that both Jew and Gentile must call upon the name of the Lord to be saved (Rom. 10:13). In order to call upon Him, they must believe; and in order to believe they must hear; and in order to hear there must be a message given and a messenger to teach it. In the verse leading to this point we read, For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him (Rom. 10:12). The Lord is rich but only to those who call upon Him. This is done by obeying the truth believed. Yet many cannot be persuaded to accept the true riches that come by faith in Christ. Are you one of these people? Salvation is the greatest treasure you can ever obtain (Mt. 13:44). Wont you obey the gospel and become truly rich?

Keeping in mind that the word church is a description of a relationship provides an anchor for understanding who we are and how we fit together. It describes people who are related to one another as the ones called out from the world into fellowship with God in Jesus.
Previously, we examined those called out people in their entirety the universal church. Lets narrow our focus this time to the called out who join together in a local church.
So what is the local church? It is those called out who live near each other, join together by agreement and act as a unit. With todays automated transportation the area is larger, but in NT times it was pretty much limited by how far one was able to walk. The NT names many local churches by the city or town where each is located (1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1), and each one is made up of those local saints (Eph. 1:1; Phil. 1:1).
Besides location, a local church is also narrowed down to those who have joined together by agreement. There are many who will say You cant join the church or If youre a saint youre already in the church. That is true for the universal church, but not for the local church. In Acts 9 Paul tried to join the local church in Jerusalem, but was rejected until Barnabas explained his conversion (vs. 26-29). Since other passages teach local church discipline, including rejection of the disobedient (1 Cor. 5:1-8), and charge elders to watch over the flock (Acts 20:28-32; 1 Pet. 5:2) there must be some level of agreement.
Another key component is acting as a unit: a group regarded as a distinct entity. The local church is not just a collection of individual saints going about their lives and occasionally coming together in an assembly. It acts as one by hearing and speaking (Matt. 18:17), and having overseers (1 Thess. 5:12-13), servants (Rom. 16:1-2) and messengers (1 Cor. 16:3; 2 Cor. 8:19). It can have a treasury (Acts 2:44; 4:32-37; 1 Cor. 16:1-2) from which wages are paid (2 Cor. 11:8), benevolence is given (Acts 6:1-4; 2 Cor. 8:1-7) and support sent (Phil. 4:10-18). The local church is the only level of God-authorized collective functioning as a church.
While there is only one universal church which cannot assemble on earth, there are many local churches (Acts 15:41; Rom. 16:4) that do assemble (1 Cor. 14:23; Heb. 10:25) and function independently of each other. While Paul urged several churches to send funds to Jerusalem, the decision to give and send was autonomous to each group (1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 8-9).
Since the local church is a relationship of saints with saints a horizontal relationship joined by agreement, it can have unfaithful members (1 John 2:19). If it loses its proper focus (God) then Satan can prevail (Rev. 2:5). Stay local and stay focused on God.

It is easy enough to get confused about what people mean when they use words with just one meaning. But it is doubly so when one word is used with subtle, or sometimes vastly, different meanings. People can speak so clearly, at least in their mind, and we completely miss their meaning. Perhaps that is why the bible describes the people of God with simple illustrations - to avoid confusion. And, because it uses so many to describe His relationship to His people, more people can understand.
One such word is church. As we saw last time, it simply describes the relationship as that of those who are called out of the world into fellowship with the God who calls through His gospel (2 Thess. 2:13-14). But because there is so much confusion today, we almost have to explain what we mean every time we say the word church.
Rather than list all the wrong uses, let's look at the Biblical ones. The New Testament refers to the church (think God's people) in two primary ways. One is in the universal sense of all christians, in every place without organization (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 3:10; 5:22-32; Col. 1:24); the other is as a local organized congregation of Gods people considered as a group (1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1). There are some secondary uses such as regional (Acts 9:31) or of the actual assembly itself (1 Cor. 14:19, 28), but today let's focus on the first of the two main uses.
So, what is the church universal? In short it is all of God's saved people.
The universal church is everywhere (Eph. 3:15) and every when. It is not limited to a particular time or place because it is made up of all saints (Gal. 3:26-28); everyone who ever worships God in spirit and truth (John 4:24). People become a part of the church universal as the Lord adds them (Acts 2:47) by baptism (1 Cor. 12:13). Since it is universal, there is only one (Eph.4:4). Because it is made up of all the saved of all times and places it can only assemble figuratively (Heb. 12:23), at least until that day when we all meet in heaven (Rev. 21:1-4).
The universal flock (John 10:16) has one Shepherd - Jesus (John 10:11, 14). It contains only the saved (2 Tim. 2:19) and Satan cannot overcome it (Rom. 8:35-39). It is an individual relationship of the saints with God through Jesus Christ - a vertical relationship.
Since the church universal has no earthly head or method of organizing it is not possible for the church universal to act collectively or as a unit. In fact, the universal church only functions distributively, as each saint obeys Gods will. All attempts to organize the church universal or join local churches together for collective action is unscriptural. There simply is no biblical authority for any church organization other than at the local level. We'll look at that in our next article.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. After Manssehs sinful reign in Judah, captivity to the Babylonians was inevitable for Gods people (2 Kings 23:26-27). Judah would be carried off to a foreign land for 70 years, mocked by other nations and ridiculed by their captors (Psalms 137:1-3). Yet even before God punished His people He was planning their restoration. 'I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow and My people will be satisfied with My goodness,' declares the LORD (Jer. 31:13-14).
No matter what trials we go through in this life, we can be confident that our God loves us and wants the best for us. We may not always understand the hard things, but God says I know the plans that I have for you. When we learn to trust that God has a future and a hope for us, we can freely embrace our suffering. It was on the basis of hope that God could urge His people to not only surrender to, but to make the best of their hard time in Babylon: seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf (Jeremiah 29:7).