The Bible teaches us that the sword of the Word of God has two edges (Revelation 1:16; Psalm 149:6; Hebrews 4:12). I want to be faithful
to preach both of them, and I named this blog accordingly—Two Edges of the Sword. The first edge is the LAW OF GOD, that tells us how we must do the job God has given us to do—rule over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). The second edge is the GRACE OF GOD, that tells us what Jesus did because we have failed at our job!
This is the “big picture,” the framework in which we fit. It is absolutely crucial that we see clearly this “forest” in which our personal, individual trees are growing: “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18)
We have seen how the first edge of the sword of God’s Word, the LAW OF GOD, is illustrated in our often-reviewed Ship of the Kingdom diagram. There we see God’s Law at work through the three institutional, ruling weapons—family, church and civil government. We have also seen that the ship only sails when the sails are full of the gale-force winds of the unlimited, unconditional GRACE OF GOD poured out on His little children!
This has been my mission over the last month or so—to be sure that the sails of each of our our ships are billowing with the wind of the grace of God! Then last week we began a brief review of the three ruling weapons God has given us, information we have discussed in some detail in the past. The family was revisited last week, today it will be the church, and next week, the civil government.
THE CHURCH – WHO IS IT?
When one looks carefully at the church in the New Testament, it is immediately apparent that it bore little resemblance to today’s church. The biblical church is small (met in homes) and was made up of those who are:
1.) Those who are becoming like “little children,” learning to always say “Yes, Daddy!,” to whatever God may bring into their lives (Matthew 18:2-5).
2.) Those who are recognizing the importance of “walking in the light” together with fellow believers (1 John 1:5-10), openly and eagerly confessing their sins to one another and praying for each other (James 5:16).
3.) Those who are participating in church meetings, not by simply being a passive observer but by being a contributing participant (1 Corinthians 14:26)!
These are, I believe, the three foundational ideas all New Testament church members understand and embrace.
THE CHURCH – WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE?
Obviously, if the above is true of the New Testament church, it does not resemble in any way today’s traditional evangelical church. Large church meetings of hundreds, even thousands, is not possible in a biblical church. Saving souls was not its purpose. Its purpose was to EQUIP THE SAINTS, all the average Joes already in the church. They will then do the ministry themselves, wherever they go, with whomever they meet, while doing their regular daily activities. Ephesians 4:11-13 is the classic biblical passage that teaches this:
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the EQUIPPING OF THE SAINTS for (to do) the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
The church’s main purpose, then, is to prepare us to go back to our families, jobs, the civil government and overflow with love, peace, joy and irrepressible interest in others. Those to whom God has given the five “ministry gifts” in the verses above will simply naturally, spontaneously and unconsciously (NSU) do what they can’t help but do. Then those who are with them in the church will “catch the virus too” and soon be involved with them in becoming our Abba Father’s little children.
THE CHURCH – HOW DOES IT FUNCTION?
So, the church will spring up wherever God’s little children are living (NSU). Let me remind you of the church in Antioch, a classic example, which I have mentioned before. The church in Jerusalem, all new Christians, were scattered in 31 A.D.due to the persecution of the church by Saul of Tarsus after the stoning of Stephen. Some of those who were scattered settled in Antioch.
These new believers were devout Jews who had come to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost when they got saved, stayed in Jerusalem, and settled into the new church there. Then came Saul’s persecution and they fled for their lives, some making it all the way to Antioch, 300 miles away, “scattering the Good News,” NSU, with whomever they met:
“Meanwhile, the believers who fled from Jerusalem during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, scattering the Good News, but only to Jews. However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene also gave their message about the Lord Jesus to some Greeks. and the Lord honored this effort so that large numbers of these Gentiles became believers” (Acts 11:19-21).
This was the beginning of the Antioch church, in 32 A.D. Eventually, Saul was converted on the road to Damascus in 34 A.D., and the church in Jerusalem was resurrected by the Apostles who had remained in Jerusalem and ridden out the persecution.
It was at this point, after 10 years in 42 A.D., the church in Jerusalem heard rumors of something big happening in Antioch. including conversions of Gentiles in a church that had sprung up there. The Apostles sent Barnabus to check it out. On the way, he picked up recently-converted Paul to go with him.
Barnabus and Paul fit beautifully in the thriving, growing church in Antioch, and after another six years of growth and maturity there, God called them to what proved to be Paul’s first missionary journey. An insignificant, unplanned church, certainly not planted by missionaries but by refugees running for their lives! Their NSU “ministry” literally changed the world!
It is my belief that the New Wine of the Gospel of the Grace of God will eventually produce the wineskin of this New Testament Church. This posting has simply been a vision of how that will happen, and how it literally already has!
I stumbled on a couple of YouTube podcasters who are on this same New Testament Church journey. The UnSunday Show and House Church Preacher are two I thoroughly appreciated.
