Why The Church?
Steve W. Reeves
stevesermons.blogspopt.com
INTRODUCTION:
A. A
“loaded” word is one that provokes various responses – some good and some bad – to different people in different situations. Having said that, I believe the word
“church” can easily be called a “loaded” word.
1. For some of you the word “church” stirs up precious thoughts.
2. For others it is stale, boring and irrelevant.
3. The very mention of “church” produces suspicion, mistrust and anger among some
while it brings hope and peace to others.
4. In a 2017 article written by Dudley Hall he observes, “So many caricatures of the
church have polluted the minds of the casual observer, that many are now
concluding that it is so irrelevant as to be dispensable.”
B. Whether sanctioned or scorned, the church plays a critical role in God’s plan for our
lives.
1. With all of its imperfections the church continues to have an essential purpose.
2. Our challenge is to understand God’s purpose for the church. This requires us to
peel back years of tradition and human theology to understand what the Word of
God teaches about the church.
3. Thus, with Bibles in hand, let’s ask the question, “Why the Church?”
I. IT IS A PERSONAL PROMISE
A. Jesus promised to build the church upon the truth that He was the Messiah.
1. His promise was fulfilled following His death, burial and resurrection on the
day of Pentecost pictured in Acts 2 when Peter and the apostles preached and
three thousand were baptized (Acts 2:41).
2. Peter referred to this foundation in 1 Peter 2:5-9.
3. The word “church” means “assembly.” We are the assembly of those called out.
B. Jesus claimed it as His own it. It is His church.
1. It does not belong to any of us. It belongs to Christ.
2. Not only did Jesus promise to build it. He purchased it by paying the price with
His own blood.
a. In Matthew 26:28 Jesus said, “For this is My blood of the covenant, which is
poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”
b. When Paul left the city of Ephesus he instructed the elders of that church to,
“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased
with His own blood.”
d. We are not in the church because we are perfect. We are in the church
because we are saved.
II. IT IS A PRIZED POSSESSION
A. If I love you and you have a precious possession it is going to be relevant to me.
1. For many years my wife and I had an old sofa that had belonged to her
grandmother. It had been in her grandmother’s living room from Tami’s earliest
childhood memories. It was precious to her because of its association with her
family. We moved it around with us for years until it fell apart.
B. The church’s importance is seen in what it means to Jesus.
1. It is His body.
a. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 – “For even as the body is one and yet has many
members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one
body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to
drink of one Spirit.”
b. Ephesians 1:22-23 – “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and
gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the
fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
2. It is His bride.
a. John 3:29 – “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the
bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the
bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.”
b. Revelation 19:7 – “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the
marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”
c. In Ephesians 5:22ff, Paul says that the marriage relationship between a
husband and wife is patterned after the relationship between Christ and His
church.
III. IT IS A PREVAILING POWER
A. After Jesus said He would build His church He said, “the gates of Hades will not
overpower it.”
1. It may surprise you to know that Jesus only used the word “church” two times
according to the Gospels. Matthew 16:18 and in Matthew 18:17.
2. On this occasion He describes it as being invincible.
3. The gates of death and destruction cannot withstand the strength of the church.
B. God’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
1. Daniel 2:44 – “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another
people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure
forever.”
2. Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” The church does not know
geographic boundaries. It transcends time and culture.
3. This is why the church is always a relevant force. It is empowered by God,
Himself.
IV. IT PROMOTES A POWERFUL PROCLAMATION
A. The church proclaims a message that transcends the boundaries of time, culture,
geography, race and ethnicity.
1. The message we proclaim is not a message that changes from one generation
to the next as shifting sands of the desert.
2. The message we proclaim is not based on what is popular or politically correct.
3. It is a message that comes from God Himself. Notice Paul’s words in 1
Corinthians 2:12-13, “10For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the
Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11For who among men
knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even
so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have
received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we
may know the things freely given to us by God, 13which things we also speak,
not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit,
combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”
B. In the article quoted previously, Hall goes on to note, “Culture without the
influence of the transcendent message of the church is always moving toward the
exaltation of mankind. When any part of creation takes precedence over the
Creator, deception and destruction is just a matter of time.”
C. The church’s validity cannot be measured by numbers, prestige, prominence or
popularity. Its importance cannot be dismissed because of our failures but by
God’s eternal purpose. The relevance of the church comes from God’s redemptive
work in us.
CONCLUSION:
A. In his book, Living Beyond the Daily Grind, Chuck Swindoll makes a powerful
statement about the religious activity of our society. “Much of our religious activity
today is nothing more than a cheap anesthetic to deaden the pain of an empty life.”
B. Do not be discouraged when the church seems to be imperfect. It is comprised of
imperfect people. May we never allow our imperfections to lower God’s standards
and our desire to follow them.
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