God's Pattern for the Church

Lesson 3 God’s Pattern for the Church

Introduction:?

Pastor Clarence Sexton defines the church (Greek ekklesia: a called-out assembly) as a group of baptized believers who have voluntarily joined themselves together to carry out the great commission. In view of this definition, the church began with Jesus and his disciples. The church is people, not buildings! The church is built on believers, not on a political state or a denomination.??Jesus referred to His church which He would build in Matthew 16:13-18, and further described the church and church discipline in Matthew 18.15-17 prior to Pentecost. Beginning with Christ and his disciples, the church grew. After Jesus sent out His 12 disciples to preach, later He sent out 70 to preach. After Jesus rose from the dead, He commanded His followers to wait for the empowering of the Holy Spirit. About 120 gathered in the upper room, all of whom were filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit fills only saved individuals; thus, they were saved.

????????????When we accept this definition of the church and its initiation, we see that the two commands of Jesus, that of baptism and the Lord’s supper, were given to the church and not just to the disciples. The Lord’s supper was begun with the disciples, but Jesus commanded them to continue to do so until He returns, which He has not yet done; thus, this is a command to the church. Likewise, one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to baptize believers into the body of Christ. In Acts 2:41, three thousand believers were baptized following their acceptance of Peter’s salvation message and added to the church, which therefore must have already existed. The Great Commission was given on five occasions, including one where 500 persons saw the risen Christ, so that this command was also given to the church.

????????????In summary, we see that the church consisted of baptized believers, and that the two ordinances of Christ, that of baptism and the Lord’s supper, were given to the church. In the following section, we shall see other characteristics of the New Testament church.

Another characteristic of the church, as we saw in a previous lesson, is that there is really only one head of the church, which is Christ Jesus. He is ultimately in control of the church. Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body (I Corinthians 12 describes the church as the body of Christ), who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. However, we do not see a monolithic organization controlling churches, but each church is independent. In Acts 13:1-4, the church in Antioch obeys the Holy Spirit in commissioning and sending Paul and Barnabas as missionaries. They did not request clearance from the church in Jerusalem or any other organization. If the churches are independent, then they are directly responsible to the head, who is Jesus Christ. Since He is God, He can be the head of many local churches at the same time.?

Each local church is under leadership of an elder, or pastor, or bishop (three different names for the same position, each emphasizing a difference in function).?I Peter 5:1-4 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ; and a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: [2] Feed the flock of God which I among you, taking oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; [3] Neither being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock, [4] And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Finally I would remind us that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. We will explore this important task in further lessons.

Dr. Robert Patton Crown College www.teachingmissions.com