Why the Church?                                                                                                                                                  Rev. Colin S. Marshall

7^th February 2010                                                                                                                     St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Mt. Roskill

Readings: Psalms 14 & 15, Matthew 16:5-20, 1 Cor 12:12-31, Ephesians 3:7-20

Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church”, and people have argued over what He was actually saying ever since. Indeed the church itself has been the cause of much confusion, argument, dissension and bad press through many ages.  If one looks at the horrendous things that have been done in the name of the Christian religion over the years one can be rightly horrified and even feel some sense of shame.  When I first heard of how Christian crusaders rounded up scores of Jewish people and then burned them alive in their synagogues while circling them singing hymns I have had a real sensitivity to the damage the church itself has done to the mission of the gospel.  And by the way, that persecution wasn’t in some out of the way place, it was in York in the United Kingdom.  If we look at the bloodshed, the sexual abuse, the dishonesty, the usury and the blatant manipulation and political intrigue that has and does go on one has to wonder what Jesus must think about His Church? Surely this could not be what He had in mind, or could it? What then did He mean by the church?  What crazy plan was this? Has the idea outgrown its use-by date?  It is my personal opinion that many people have avoided coming to know Christ, not because of Jesus’ teaching, but because of the institution that professes His Name.  And I have to confess, I too struggle with the institution and its history.

The first truth we have to acknowledge, and this shades everything else, is that Jesus deliberately intended to establish His church on earth.  He makes that very clear in Matthew 16 as He tells the disciples that “upon this rock I will build my church”.  But what rock and what church?

If we look into the text of Matthew 16 we find a deliberate context.  Just prior to speaking of the church Jesus had been challenged by the Sadducees and Pharisees to provide a sign from heaven that would demonstrate His power and validate His claims.  But Jesus was no-one’s entertainment and He told them so in no uncertain terms.  If they had refused to listen to God via the prophets and Scriptures then He was certainly not going to perform for them at their command.  They had refused to have faith and believe because they favored their own intellect and traditions over real faith.  Because they had no faith they would not receive the blessing of faith, they would see no miracles.

Then the text moves on and we find that the disciples were also not without fault as they tended to focus on the seemingly practical and immediate rather than what was spiritually important.  Travelling by boat they had forgotten to take any bread with them.  Jesus, in a subtle and somewhat humorous manner warned the disciples to beware the yeast of the Pharisees.  This yeast was the subtle deception and false teaching that looked good on the outside but which lead away from true faith.  But rather than reflect on and understand what Jesus was saying to them, the disciples were more concerned about the immediate and practical consideration: they had no food.  Jesus spoke to them once again.  What is the point of your rabbiting on about bread?  Didn’t you see the four thousand, the five thousand fed?  Don’t you think feeding you lot is infinitesimal by comparison?  Where is your faith?  Why are you going on about food when I want to speak to you about the danger of false teaching masked as truth?  Where is your faith in terms of practical things and in terms of spiritual awareness?  Because the disciples hadn’t yet made walking by faith the core of their daily lives, even though they were with Jesus, they missed the point.

Coming up to Caesarea Philippi Jesus posed the disciples two very important questions.  The first was: who does the world say the Son of Man is?  This question, in the context of the church Jesus intended to form, is significant.  It points us outward to the world.  Who does the world say Jesus is?  Who or what does the world say the church is?  The assumption is that we are out amongst the world to have any idea.  We cannot answer this question if we have never heard the people of the world speaking, if we have engaged with their hopes and fears, their thoughts and concerns.  Jesus expected His disciples to be out in the world even though they were His disciples.   And they had been.  They were able to tell Jesus what was being said about Him.  Have you any idea what people think about the church?  I’ve been asking people recently and it isn’t good.  I think we have our heads in the sand if we think that the world sees Christianity and the church as a wonderful place. Often it doesn’t. Generically we haven’t done ourselves any great favors and we need to be real about this.  But then Jesus recognized the reality of the problem. The world saw Him differently from who He actually was and His way of dealing with it is revealing.  So the next question becomes more specific, more personal.  And, we might add, more critically important.

Jesus turned to the disciples and asked, “And, who do you say I am?” This is the most important question on the planet.  Who do you say Jesus is?  This is the absolute centre of all that the church is, all that Christianity is about, all that we are.  Who do you say Jesus is?  In the light of this question everything else takes its perspective. Jesus looked to Simon Peter as he answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  And this is what it comes down to.  It’s simple really.  Is Jesus who He said He was – the Messiah, the promised One, the Ancient of Days come among us? Or was He some nutter who wandered around aimlessly with a bunch of equally disillusioned nutcases? What Jesus claimed for Himself and how He died means that He was either what, and who, He said He was or else He was a total lunatic. He didn’t give us much choice.  Simon Peter declared that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.  It was a statement of faith that came through the spiritual revelation Simon had received through his encounters with Jesus.  It was a faith statement and this becomes the pivotal point.  Faith is critical.  Faith is the rock – the absolute certainty that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior promised by God for the forgiveness of our sin. Faith is a gift that we receive from above when we make ourselves open to the possibility of God’s love and forgiveness. This faith gives us a new start, a new beginning, a new hope. It is faith that would be the basis of the unshakeable church.

How then does this link with the question of church?  Jesus reveals this to us when He makes a very careful distinction.  His church, HIS church, will be of those who are centered on the gift of faith that has been given from above and whose lives are focused, in obedience, in being faithful to Him.  Notice the contrast in the context.  The Sadducees and the Pharisees had the Scriptures and the promises, the training and the opportunity. But many of them had rejected true faith.  They had the form of religion but not the substance. This is still a problem today, there are many who have the form of faith but their lives to not reflect its reality.  They do not want to walk in obedience to the Lord.  Jesus said, “He who loves me will obey my commands.”  It’s a simple test really.

Now let us consider then the nature of what the church is intended to be.  We begin with something that is often overlooked and it starts with Jesus’ words we have just been considering.  When Jesus spoke of establishing His church He noted that the “gates of Hell would not prevail against it”.  It is one of the strongest absolute statements in the Scriptures.  It is something akin to the image of a strong, well founded lighthouse standing against the wildest weather. It doesn’t matter how fierce the storm or how high the waves the lighthouse stands unmoved.  This is the picture of the church facing the attacks of the devil.  The church is solidly founded on the unshakable rock of Jesus Christ.  It has the solid walls of faith, prayer and the Word of God that sustain it and repel the attacks of the evil one.  The church is a mighty fortress and a place of shelter against the devil and the wiles of the world.  God does not promise that alone we will be able to repel such attacks but as part of the church, supported, encouraged, supporting and encouraging, we are able to stand confidently together knowing that the worst of the devils schemes will be exposed and overturned.  Try to go it alone and the possibility of success is so much less.  So firstly the church is a stronghold and fortress against the devil and his schemes.

Turning now to the intrinsic nature of the church we are given a very clear image by the apostle Paul of what the church is.  Not should be but is. In Corinth Paul dealt  with a church that was fractured with various cliques fighting and arguing with one another.  Some preferred one leader, others another.  Some liked the way one person spoke and mocked the way another addressed his audience.  It was hardly an image of a successful, cohesive and effective church doing the work of God.  So Paul spoke to the people, all of them, without pointing out any individuals fault or blame but challenging them with the picture of the church.

Paul used the image of the body. Each part has its own function.  Try for a day to function without one of your arms or one of your hands or with your eyes closed.  Many of us take for granted the blessings we have of ull or near-full bodily function.  But when something goes wrong, or if we have a disability of some form, or maybe it is just the natural processes of aging or ill-health, we suddenly recognize how important every part of our body is.  Yesterday I was talking to a small boy who had burnt the very tip of his figure.  It was just the smallest spot but it consumed all his attention.  Those of us who have disabilities know just how much a blessing full function can be.  Paul depicted the church as a body that requires every part and section to function well.  Each part has a different role.  I think that all too often people in society ask: what is the church doing for me?  Or comment that the church is not doing enough for them, or they don’t get enough out of it.  But that is to miss the point as I hope most of you know.  Church is not about what we get out of it.  Church is about what we put in, it’s about how we serve the Lord in worship and practical ways.  Last year I loved it when I saw the roster lists come in and saw how many people put their names down to do things.  I see that these out going out again this month so I encourage you to make sure that you are down for at least one thing.  The more that take part the better it is; not just because it makes the work lighter for everyone but because that is the nature of who we are as church: God’s people working together.  Again we observe church is not about what we get out but what we put in. And we also give to God in our corporate worship.  Nowhere else in creation do we find animals or rocks or anything else coming together to worship.  Only people do it and God wants us to do it together.  Yes we may get great joy and spiritual nurture out in the bush or in the country or at sea and that’s is great, I know I do, but God calls us together, regularly, weekly, to be His people and to worship together.  Let’s be real.  I know we all need time out from church and each other occasionally.  But that should not and cannot be the norm.  See God wasn’t stupid.  He knew that the greatest challenge we face, apart from ourselves, is dealing with difference, with each other.  That’s why He made men and women. God wants us to embrace the width and scope of His creation.  There’s an old cliché – you can choose your friends but you can’t chose your family.  It’s true.  And church is family.  We are called and drawn together to love each other with all of our differences.  Where else in society will you on a weekly basis engage closely with such a wide range of cultures, races, socio-economic differences, ages, genders and so forth.  Nowhere.  Jesus wasn’t silly when He made the observation that it is easy to love those who love us – even the pagans do that.  We are called to love each other in Christ. In the church community we are all equal and all different.  And God calls us to get to know and love each other as if we were loving Him.  In fact, by doing so, we are loving Him.  Our second point then is that the church is a body with many parts and every part is critical.

The third function of the church is missional.  That is God has called the church together to do His work in the world.  I have heard it said that the church is God’s plan A and there is no plan B.  Actually I’m not sure that is the case.  Israel was God’s A plan and Israel failed in its mission.  The church is God’s B plan and if the church fails I’m sure that there will be a C plan.  Already around the world we have heard of some amazing stories of the Holy Spirit working directly in other religions and cultures that have not heard to gospel to get them to seek out information about Jesus Christ.  Many Hindus, Muslims and Jews have been converted by direct intervention of the Holy Spirit. The foremost task of the church is mission – to share the Good News of Jesus Christ – that God loves us and has a plan in place to restore us in relationship with Him and with each other.  No one need be left out if they will respond to God in humility and faith.  We become part of God’s workforce as we pray, as we share our faith, as we live faithful lives.  If we are available for the task the Holy Spirit will open up opportunities for us to share faith – we do not have to force the issue God will open the doors.  We reject God’s will in our lives when we do none of these things and instead follow our own wants and desires living in disobedience and broken or partial fellowship.  God wants us to be a shining light for the rest of the world – as individuals and particularly as church.  He has given us many, many gifts and we are to use them not hide them.  God wants us to focus outward to love and care for others in His name.  And if an opportunity is not apparent them come and ask what you can do and offer your gift or ability – you don’t have to wait to be asked.  God gifts us all so that we can serve others in His Name.

And fourthly, God’s last, or maybe first, purpose for the church is something of an esoteric one.  We see in the start of the book of Job and in today’s reading from Ephesians that God wants His people and the church in particular to be an object lesson to the spiritual beings of the universe.  The manifold wisdom of God is being revealed through the church.  Can you imagine what this might be?  The church, with all it faults, weaknesses, indiscretions problems is still the manner through which God’s wisdom is being revealed. How and what God is teaching is hard to fathom but this repeated lesson is observable in the scriptures.  What we do and how we act is being observed and is important in ways that we cannot imagine. 

For all its weaknesses the church has been the vessel of salvation for many and will continue to be so.  Our challenge is to make the church a glowing, shining lighthouse of hope.  Each one of us needs to prime the pump, polish the windows and strengthen the walls.  We are the church together.  Why the church?  Because God calls us together as one body with Christ as our Head to be His light to the world.