God's Plan for the Church
by Stephen Bastin
Of
the making of churches there is no end. There
are big churches and little churches. There
are informal churches and highly ritualistic churches.
There are white churches and black churches.
There are Protestant churches and there are Catholic churches.
In stark contrast to all this stand the words of Jesus, “I will build
my church.” His church is neither
black nor white, it is neither Protestant nor Catholic, its worship is simple,
and its size is always growing as the Lord adds to their number day by day those
who are being saved.
The
word “church” is used in the Bible to describe an assembly of people who
believe in Jesus. It is never used
of the building in which they meet. Its
meaning is always “people.” We
will use the word only in that sense. The
church is the people of God, the house of God is people, not individuals, but a
group, an assembly, a congregation.
What
did God have in mind when he planned his church?
Over 700 years before Jesus was born, God sent a prophet, Isaiah, with
this message, “In the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be
established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills;
and all the nations will stream to it. And
many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us concerning his
ways, and that we may walk in his paths.’
For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. And he will judge between
the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples, and they will hammer
their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they
learn war.” (Isaiah 2:2-4)
The
church is God’s family; it is his house. The
“mountain of the house of the Lord” is simply the mountain that is the
Lord’s house, the church. In the
Old Testament, the Lord’s house is the temple.
In the New Testament, the Lord’s house is the church.
(See for example 1 Corinthians 3:9-17.)
In
the Old Testament, only a descendant of Jacob, an Israelite, could enter the
temple precincts. Only a priest
could enter the holy place itself. In
the New Testament, the church is open to people of all nations.
There is no separate priesthood, but all the may come into the holy
place, into the presence of God himself. Isaiah
says simply, “All nations will stream to it” (the church).
In
the Old Testament the law of the Lord had gone forth from Mt. Sinai.
There God had appeared to Israel and given the 10 commandments to Moses.
The two tablets of stone had been placed in the ark of the covenant and
were carried by Israel in the Promised Land.
When the temple was built at Jerusalem, the 10 commandments, still in the
ark of the covenant, were placed in the most holy place in the temple.
In
Isaiah’s prophecy, the law of the Lord will go forth, not from Sinai, but from
Zion, a hill in Jerusalem. This law
of the Lord is a reference to the new covenant made by Jesus.
Unlike the old covenant, which applied only to Israel, this new covenant
would go forth to the whole world. Unlike
the old covenant written upon tablets of stone, this covenant was to be written
upon the hearts of those who would be God’s new people, the church.
Under
the old covenant, God often sent his people to war.
The prophet Samuel instructed the king, Saul, “Now go and strike Amalek
and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both
man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
Earlier God had led his people into the land of Canaan, destroying those
nations that were there and giving their land to Israel.
Under
the new covenant, things would be different.
Jesus taught, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye,
and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I
say to you, do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on your right
cheek, turn to him the other also. And
if any one wants to sue you, and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.
And whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him two.
. . You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and
hate your enemy.’ But I say to
you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you
may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he causes his sun to rise on
the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
(Matthew 5:38-45)
The
future peace that Isaiah foretold did not relate to all nations, but only to
those who came to the mountain of the Lord, the church.
Those who accepted the word of the Lord would beat their swords into
plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
They would not learn war any more. In
the rest of the world, dominated by Satan, war would continue to rage.
Let
us go back for a moment to an earlier comment, “the Lord was adding to their
number day by day those who were being saved.”
Becoming a part of the church is not something one does after getting
saved. It is an integral part of the
salvation process. If one is saved,
the Lord has added you to His church. You
are a part of a particular congregation. If
you belong to no congregation, then you are outside the will of God for your
life.
In
Ephesians 5:22-33 the Bible speaks of the relationship of husband and wife.
In comparison it speaks of the relationship of Christ and the church.
Listen to what God says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ
also loved the church and gave himself up for her; that he might sanctify her,
having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present
to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such
thing; but that she should be holy and blameless.”
There
are three things to note from this passage concerning the church.
First of all, Christ “gave himself up for her,” that is; he died for
the church. Second, it is the church
that is sanctified, cleansed, washed. Third,
it is the church in all her glory that will be presented to the Lord at the end.
While
there is a sense in which every individual makes his own decision to follow the
lord, there is also a sense in which we are saved as a part of a group, the
church, a particular congregation. This
church is not some nebulous, invisible group of which people sometimes speak,
but a visible, vibrant, loving group of God’s people.
From
Paul’s remarks it is seen that the church is important.
Jesus said, “I will build my church.”
When Jesus sent his disciple out he told them to “make disciples,
baptizing and teaching them.” When
they followed his instructions, they established churches.
God’s
plan is for you to be a part of His church.