But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9
Pastor Will B. Dunn, leading character in the comic strip Kudzu, was reading from the pulpit Bible during the worship service one Sunday. He began quoting Jesus’s words, “Ye are the light of the world.” Then he interrupted the Scripture reading. In a burst of uncontrolled honesty, he added off the cuff that in the case of his own congregation, “we’re definitely talking dim-bulbs.”
Unfortunately the pastor’s seemingly humorous remark is all too often true. But why? Why does the church appear to be made up of nothing but “dim-bulbs”? Why are we not radiant lights who shine forth in a dark world? And more importantly, what can we do to reform the church so that we become the vibrant fellowship of believers that our Lord intends?
If we would become the community our Lord desires us to be, we must gain a clear understanding of what the church is. Only as we remind ourselves what we can be by the grace of God will we begin to draw upon the great Power within our fellowship—the Holy Spirit whom Christ has given to his people.
With this goal in view, we now look at the biblical view of the church. Specifically, we explore what God intends for us within the divine program. To this end, we raise two crucial questions:
The Church’s Identity
What is the church? Consider the language we use. We often talk about the church as if it were simply a building. “My church is on the corner of First and Main,” we say. Sometimes we equate church with the worship service. “Are you going to church next Sunday?” we ask. Or, “What are you going to do after church today?” And occasionally we speak of the church as an organization we join. “I have decided to move my membership to First Church,” we announce. Or, “Are you church members?” we ask people we meet.
Is this what the church is? Is the church a great structure of bricks, wood, and mortar? Is the church a building in which worship services are held on Sundays? Or is the church the Sunday services themselves? Is church an event we can attend? Then again, is the church rather a giant organization? Is it a society or a club in which each of us may choose to hold membership as we see fit?
No! None of these popular uses of the term gets at what the church actually is. To understand the church we must ask the question, “What is the church?” from the viewpoint of the Bible. When we do so, we receive a startling response. Viewed from the biblical perspective, the church is people. But not just any people. The church is a special people, a people whom the Spirit is forming together into a community. And the purpose of this people is to live, as we continue to emphasize, in fellowship with God, each other, and creation, thereby pointing in the direction that the Lord is taking all history.
In short, the church is the “pioneer community.” It is that people who are seeking to point toward the future God has in store for creation. Under the guidance of the Spirit, this people desires to live out in the present the glorious community for which God created us.
To say that the church is the pioneer community means, to put it succinctly, that it is
The Church Is a Relational People
The church of Jesus Christ is not a club we join. We are not members of a giant organization. Rather, we are a special people. We are a people in relationship with the God who saves us through Christ and a people in relationship to each other who together share in God’s salvation. This focus on people-in-relationship is evident in the ways in which the early Christians spoke about their fellowship.
The ekklesia. Even the Greek word translated “church” highlights this people orientation. Today we tend to regard the word as part of the “language of Zion,” one of those special terms we use when we want to speak about matters of faith. Yet the early believers did not coin the term. Instead, “church” (ekklesia) was a common word in the first-century Roman world. Arising from the verb “to call” (kaleo) plus the preposition “out of” (ek), ekklesia simply means “assembly.” More specifically, an ekklesia was a gathering of the citizens of a given community who had been called together to tend to city affairs (“assembly,” Acts 19:32, 39, 41).1
The early Christians found in this term a helpful way of expressing their own sense of identity. They were a people called together as well. They were the “called out” ones. They had been called out of the world by the proclamation of the gospel for the purpose of belonging to God through Christ.2
Their choice of ekklesia to designate who they were indicates that the New Testament believers viewed the church as neither an edifice nor an organization. They were a people—a people brought together by the Holy Spirit, a people bound to each other through Christ—hence, a people-in-relationship.
God’s nation, Christ’s body, the Spirit’s temple. Not only did they designate themselves as the ekklesia, but the early Christians also described themselves through a variety of metaphors. Three of these are especially important.3
“Nation” highlights the new status we share. Just as God had chosen ancient Israel, so now the Spirit has called out the church to belong to God. But this status is no longer based on birthright within a specific ethnic group. Now the Spirit calls together people from the entire world. Consequently, the church is an international fellowship comprising persons “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9).
“Priesthood,” in turn, informs us about our function. Just as priests played a special role in the life of ancient Israel, so also we have a significant task to fulfill in God’s program. Yet we dare not overlook one crucial difference. Whereas in Israel only a few were selected from among the people to act as priests, in the church all the people of God belong to the priestly order. And the ministry of the priesthood is shared by all.4
Later we will describe how we are to function as priests.
Like the human body, the church is a unity made up of diversity (1 Cor. 12:1–31). Not all members have the same task to fulfill. But all have the same goal; all are to be concerned for the others and to use their gifts in service to the whole. Together we are to carry on Christ’s own ministry and be his physical presence on earth.
We will look more closely at this task later.
In ancient Israel the temple served as God’s earthly dwelling place (2 Chron. 6:1–2). Now, however, the focus of the Spirit’s presence is no longer a special building but a special people. Because we are the temple of the Spirit, we must live holy lives (1 Cor. 6:19–20).
The church, then, is a people-in-relationship. But we have not yet answered the practical question: Exactly where is the church? In what form do we find this people-in-relationship?
The congregation of believers in which we participate is the church of Jesus Christ.
The church as congregation. The New Testament writers provide a definitive answer to this question. Repeatedly they use the designation “church” to refer to a local congregation of believers. Using the New Testament as a guide leads us to conclude that whatever else it may be, church is the visible fellowship of Christ’s disciples in a specific location.6 Consequently, each congregation is the church of Jesus Christ.
Church emerges whenever the Holy Spirit brings believers in any location to join together under Christ to be a people-in-relationship. It emerges whenever a group of Christ’s disciples pledge themselves to be a called-out people. Church exists whenever believers join together with the purpose of walking with one another as God’s people, under Christ’s authority, and by the empowerment of the Spirit.
While focusing on the local nature of the church, we must not forget that each congregation is a visible expression of a larger people. This people transcends any one location and any one time. Indeed, we participate in one body composed of all believers of all ages (Heb. 12:22–23). And we are part of the one worldwide fellowship of believers.
The Church Is a Future-Oriented People
The church is not an end in itself. God does not call us out of the world to become a cozy little clique or a “holy huddle.” Rather, the church exists to serve a larger intention. The Spirit forms us into a people through whom he can bring about the completion of God’s work in the world. This suggests that we must be a future-oriented people. Our task is directed toward a grand goal that will come in its fullness only at the end of the age.
To understand this, we must introduce the biblical drama of God at work establishing his kingdom or reign. Indeed, the church initially emerged in the context of Jesus’s announcement, “The kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:15).
God’s reign. The biblical drama begins with the declaration that as Creator, God is the sovereign ruler of the universe. God alone possesses the right to rule over all creation. And in this sense the entire universe is God’s kingdom.
What is true in principle (de jure), however, is not yet fully true in fact (de facto). On the contrary, humans have rejected the kingship of the Creator and have erected an enclave of rebellion in which another—Satan—appears to reign.
Into this situation, Jesus came. Through his ministry, death, and resurrection he demonstrated God’s claim to rulership. As a result, God has installed Jesus as the Lord of the universe. Even now, some people acknowledge his lordship and thereby enter God’s kingdom.
The biblical drama does not end in the past, however. Its grand sweep moves to the future. At Christ’s appearing, what is God’s prerogative by right (de jure) will also be universally true in fact (de facto). On that great day all persons will acknowledge Jesus’s lordship (Phil. 2:10–11). The principles of God’s kingdom will hold sway throughout the new human society. And the entire universe will become the realm of God’s rule.
Ultimately, therefore, God’s kingdom is a gracious gift God will bestow on us one glorious future day. Nevertheless, kingdom power is already at work in our world, for it breaks into the present from the future. As a result, we can experience the divine reign in a partial, yet real, sense prior to the great “day of the Lord.”
What is the link between the kingdom and the church?
God’s reign and the church. The church father Augustine was one of the first theologians to wrestle with the question of the relationship between God’s reign and the church.7 His position—or perhaps a misunderstanding of it—led theologians in the Middle Ages to link the divine kingdom to the church. The church is the kingdom, they concluded.
In the late 1800s certain thinkers devised a diametrically opposite response to the question. Their proposal, which we may call “classic dispensationalism,” introduced a rigid distinction between the church and the kingdom. The kingdom is a future, one-thousand-year rule of Messiah over the earth.8 The millennial kingdom will mark the completion of God’s program with Israel. This program began in the Old Testament but was interrupted when Israel rejected Christ on Palm Sunday. The church, in turn, is merely a “parenthesis” in God’s “Israel program.” In this sense, the older dispensationalists claimed that the church is unrelated to the divine reign.
The biblical drama will not let us follow either of these proposals. We ought neither to equate the kingdom with the church nor to drive too radical a wedge between the two. Rather, we must understand the church in the context of the kingdom.
The Bible plainly indicates that God’s kingdom is bigger than the church. “Kingdom” refers to God’s domain in all of its aspects. When viewed from the perspective of the future, God’s domain includes not only the church of Jesus Christ but the entire created universe as well as the heavenly court.
The church, in contrast, arises from God’s saving action in history. It was inaugurated by Christ, whom the Father sent to earth to bring God’s will—God’s goals and purposes—to pass. Since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit draws people to respond to the gospel proclamation. And as we respond in repentance and faith, he brings us to participate in the church, which is the company of those who acknowledge Christ’s lordship.
The church, therefore, is the product of the kingdom.9 It comes into being through the obedient response to the announcement of the divine reign.
In addition to being the product of the gospel message, the church derives its purpose from God’s activity in the world. The Holy Spirit calls the community of faith into being, in order that we might proclaim the gospel and live in the world as the company of those who acknowledge in the present the coming reign of God. In this sense, the church is the eschatological company, a people of the future. We are the body of those who bear testimony by word and deed to the divine reign, which will one day come in its fullness.
The church and the future. This connection between the church and the kingdom has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the church. It means that we must be a future-oriented people.
We have repeatedly noted that the goal of God’s work in history still lies in the future. God is establishing an eternal community. This has great implications for us. It means that this future reality, and not the past or even the present, defines who we are.
In chapter 8 we applied this principle to our personal lives. Our personal identity, we said, lies in the future. Each of us is a glorious, resurrected saint participating in God’s eternal community.
In the same way, our corporate identity lies in the future. What the church is, is determined by what the church is destined to become. And the church is destined to be nothing less than a new humanity, the glorious company of God’s redeemed people who inhabit the renewed creation and enjoy the presence of the Triune God.
In the meantime, the Spirit calls us out of the world so that we might be an “eschatological people,” a company who pioneer in the present what the future will be like. Our task is to live according to the principles that characterize God’s future goal for creation. Our purpose is to be a foretaste of the glorious eternity that God will one day graciously give us in its fullness. Our goal is to connect Christian belief with Christian living.
In short, the church is a sign of the kingdom. We are to point the way toward the future.
The Church Is a Fellowshiping People
The church is a people-in-relationship and the sign of God’s kingdom. In fact, it is as a people-in-relationship that we become a sign of the future. This leads us to yet a third perspective, one that is implicitly present in the other two: the church is a fellowshiping people, a community.
As a people-in-relationship we are a fellowshiping people. We noted that the early believers saw themselves as a special people, a group united together because they had been called out of the world by the gospel to belong to God. The New Testament writers referred to the church as a nation, a body, a temple. And although this people transcends spatial and temporal boundaries, it is chiefly manifested in a visible congregation of believers who band together to be the local expression of the church. This means that the church is a community fellowship.
The church is more than a loosely related group of people. We share a fundamental vertical commitment—loyalty to Christ—that shapes our very lives. But our common allegiance to Jesus, in turn, forms a bond between us that is greater than all other human bonds.10 Jesus himself spoke of this in his radical call to discipleship: “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37).
This felt bond adds a horizontal commitment to the vertical. Our common allegiance to Jesus draws us together. Because of our loyalty to him, we are committed to each other. We desire to walk together as one discipleship band, to be a people in relationship with one another. We who name Jesus as Lord, therefore, become one body—a fellowshiping people, a community.
How does this happen? The answer is: through the Holy Spirit. Although Christ institutes the church, the Spirit constitutes it.11 The Holy Spirit is the one who transforms us from a collection of individuals into a fellowshiping people. In conversion, he draws us out of our isolation and alienation. In so doing, he knits us together as one people. Indeed, there arises among us a oneness that is nothing less than the unity of the Spirit himself (Eph. 4:3). In this manner, the Spirit brings us together to be the contemporary expression of the one church of Jesus Christ.
As a future-oriented people we are a fellowshiping people. In speaking about God’s work in salvation, we repeatedly emphasize the individual: God saves individual sinners. Correct as it is, this focus all too often settles for a truncated understanding of salvation. And this results in an inadequate view of the church.
God’s purpose is the salvation of individuals. But God saves us together, not in isolation. And he saves us for community, not out of it.
The Bible teaches that we are alienated from God, of course. But this estrangement also taints our relationships with one another, with creation, and even with ourselves. Consequently, the divine program leads not only to peace with God in isolation; it extends as well to the healing of all relationships—to one another, to creation, and in this manner to ourselves (that is, to our true identity). And God’s concern does not end with the redeemed person as an individual. Rather, God desires a reconciled humankind (Eph. 2:14–19) living on the renewed creation and enjoying God’s own presence (Rev. 21:1–5).
To effect the transformation of estrangement into community, the Father sent the Son and poured out the Holy Spirit. In this new community the old distinctions of ethnic origin, social status, and gender are no longer significant (Gal. 3:28–29). The church, therefore, is far more than a collection of saved individuals who band together for the task of winning the lost. Rather, we are a fellowshiping people, the community of salvation.
But we have not yet mentioned the most foundational consideration. Our understanding of the church as a fellowshiping people arises from the Triune God.
As God’s image we are a fellowshiping people. In chapter 3 we declared that God intends to bring his highest creation—humankind—to reflect the eternal divine nature. That is, God desires that we be the image of God.
In chapter 2 we provided the foundation for understanding what that divine image must be. We declared that God is characterized by love. Throughout eternity God is the social Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the community of love. More specifically, the dynamic of the Trinity is the love shared between the Father and the Son—namely, the Holy Spirit.
God’s purpose is to establish a reconciled creation in which humans reflect the very character of the Creator. Even more awesome, the Triune God desires that we be brought together into a fellowship of reconciliation. This fellowship not only reflects God’s own eternal essence; it actually participates in God’s nature, which is love (2 Pet. 1:4).
Where is this to happen? According to the New Testament, beginning with Pentecost the focal point of the reconciled society in history is the church of Jesus Christ. As a people set apart for God’s special use, we are to show what God is like. We are to reflect God’s own character as we become a genuine fellowshiping people, a loving community.12
How does this happen? The clue lies in the role of the Holy Spirit as the Completer of the program of the Triune God. We are a fellowshiping people insofar as we share in the communion of the Spirit.
To understand this, we must review the grand sweep of God’s eternal purpose as it relates to his own triune nature. The Father sent the Son in order to realize God’s eternal design to draw humankind and creation to participate in the divine life. As we noted in chapter 8, through conversion the Spirit causes us to become the children of God. But this filial status is exactly the relationship the Son enjoys with the Father.
At conversion, therefore, the Spirit—who is the Spirit of the relationship between the Father and the Son—makes us the brothers and sisters of Christ. Thereby he brings us to share in the love the Son enjoys with the Father. Through the Spirit, we participate in the love that lies at the very heart of the Triune God.
Participation in the dynamic of trinitarian love, however, is not ours merely as individuals in isolation. Rather, it is a privilege we share with all other believers.13 The Spirit’s activity within us makes us co-participants in the relationship enjoyed between the Father and the Son. In mediating this relationship to us, the Spirit draws us together into one people. Only in our Spirit-produced corporateness do we truly reflect to all creation the grand dynamic that lies at the heart of the Triune God. As we share together in the Holy Spirit, therefore, we participate in the relationship with the living God and become the community of Christ our Lord.
Consequently, the community of love that the church is called to be is no ordinary reality. The fellowship we share with each other is not merely that of a common experience or narrative, as important as these are. Our fellowship is nothing less than our common participation in the divine communion between the Father and the Son, mediated by the Holy Spirit.14
The church of which we are a part is no ordinary community. It is to be a people who participate in a divine communion.
We are one people, therefore, because we are the company of those whom the Spirit has already brought to share in the love between the Father and the Son. We truly are the community of love, a people bound together by the love present among us through God’s Spirit. As this people, we are called to reflect in the present the eternal dynamic of the Triune God—that community that we will enjoy in the great fellowship on the renewed earth.
This is who we are. This is our identity: we are the pioneer community of God, the people who by the Spirit within us participate together in the fellowship of the Triune God. Our identity, in turn, forms the foundation for our ministry in the world.
The Church’s Task
As the church we are a pioneer community. But what does the church do? What is our divine calling? What task has Christ given us to complete? What is our ministry as Christ’s disciples? To answer these questions we must first ask another: What is the fundamental purpose of the church’s existence? Only after answering this can we then explore the church’s mandate.
Our Purpose: To Glorify God
Why did Christ institute the church? And for what end does the Spirit continue to constitute the church today? Our answer to this question can only be: “for God’s glory.” The church exists ultimately for the sake of the glory of the Triune God.
The biblical authors repeatedly suggest that God’s glory is the fundamental purpose of all creation (Ps. 19:1). As God’s special creation and the recipients of God’s special concern, however, humans are to offer special praise to their Creator (Ps. 147:1).
Unfortunately, in our sin we fail to praise God as we should. Therefore, God is at work in bringing us to participate with all creation in glorifying him. To this end the Father sent the Son. Our Lord purchased us from sin for the sake of God’s glory (Eph. 1:5–6, 11–14). And he has poured out the Spirit in our hearts so that we might live for God. Throughout all eternity, therefore, we will stand as “trophies” of God’s grace (Eph. 2:6–7). Consequently, the purpose of the church is to bring glory to God.
This conclusion carries far-reaching significance for our corporate life. It means that the ultimate motivation for all planning, goals, and actions must center solely on our desire to bring glory to God. We must direct all that we say and do toward this ultimate purpose, that God be glorified through us.
At this point we must clarify what we mean in the context of a possible objection. Talk about glorifying God can too readily be interpreted as implying that God is a cosmic egotist. We know that the biblical ideal is humility. Paul commands us to “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” (Phil. 2:3). In this Jesus Christ himself is our model (vv. 5–8). How different appears the attitude of a God who directs all the divine activities toward his own exaltation, demanding that all creation glorify God alone!
To understand how God’s glory is, indeed, the final goal of all his actions, we must remind ourselves of who this God is. The God we are speaking about is not a solitary subject who is so enamored with his own surpassing greatness that he relishes the acclamations of his creatures. That God is more akin to Aristotle’s Unmoved Mover, who as the only reality worthy of his own contemplation sets himself to be cognizant only of himself.15
Rather, the One whom we glorify is the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the God who desires that we reflect the divine character, which is love. As we live in fellowship, we bring honor to the One who is the divine community of love. But true community requires that its participants relate to each other with humble servanthood motivated by love. For this reason, the Bible elevates humility, exemplified by Jesus’s humble obedience to the will of his Father, as our ideal.
We are to be a community bound together by the love present among us through the power of God’s Spirit. This divine love is exemplified by humble service to each other and to the world. Indeed, as we exist in love, we are the image of God—that is, we reflect what God is like. Thereby, we bring glory to him, for we exemplify the love that lies at the heart of the dynamic of the Triune God, which Christ himself has revealed to us.
Our Mandate: Worship, Edification, and Outreach
We are to be the community of God’s people who bring glory to God. The Bible links the glorification of God with love-motivated obedience to an entrusted vocation. Jesus glorified his Father by completing his work on earth (John 17:4). Our Lord’s obedient fulfillment of his vocation expresses the eternal love of the Son for the Father.
So also our obedient acceptance of the vocation God has given us brings glory to Christ and through him to the Father. Indeed, in his great prayer, our Lord rejoiced in the glory he had received through his disciples (John 17:10). Earlier, he told his friends that their fruitfulness brings glory to the Father: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8).
The church glorifies God, therefore, as it is obedient to its Lord—that is, as it fulfills its divinely given mandate. Specifically, in our common life we are to be a true community of faith, manifesting the community bond in
Worship. Jesus entrusted a joyous responsibility to his followers. We are to “worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). As Christ’s church we are to be a worshiping community, offering to God the glory due his name (1 Cor. 14:26; Heb. 10:25). For this reason we speak of the church as “gathered to worship.”
Worship means attributing worth to the one who is worthy.16 Therefore, only the Triune God can be the focus of true worship. We praise this God for who he is and for what he does.17
We worship God for who he is. As we praise God for being the Holy One (1 Chron. 16:29; Pss. 29:2; 96:8), we consciously join with the angelic hosts who continually proclaim, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come” (Rev. 4:6–8; see also Isa. 6:3). As we worship God the Creator, we join the twenty-four elders in declaring, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being” (Rev. 4:11).
We also worship God because of what he does. Indeed, God’s saving acts display the divine character.
The focal point of God’s saving work is Jesus. We gather to commemorate the foundational events of our spiritual existence, at the center of which is the action of God in Christ delivering us from the bondage of sin. To this end, we praise the crucified and risen Lord (Rev. 5:9), as well as the Father who “so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16).
Perhaps no activity is more central to biblical worship than music (Exod. 15:1–18; Matt. 26:30; 1 Cor. 14:26; Eph. 5:19). This is not surprising, for music offers us a medium through which to give expression to all dimensions of our being. Song can incorporate the intellectual aspects of life, expressing in lyrics and in the structure of the music the composer’s conception of the world. But music also captures feelings, emotions, and moods, thereby giving expression to what cannot be said through words alone. In expressing our Christian consciousness through music, we offer to God our emotions in addition to our creeds, our feelings as well as our beliefs. Through music we offer God our joy as redeemed people (Pss. 92:1, 4; 95:1), we share in the sorrow and pain Christ bore on our behalf, and we anticipate the glory of the great day when our Lord will return. As we respond in this manner, God delights in us (Ps. 149:1–4).18
Although music is important, center stage is reserved for declaration. We come together to speak and to listen.
Worship includes verbalizing our praise to God, offering “the fruit of lips that openly profess his name” (Heb. 13:15). We not only tell each other about the greatness and goodness of God, we also extol God for who he is and what he has done (1 Chron. 16:9, 23; Pss. 95:1; 96:1–3; 1 Pet. 2:9).
Worship entails as well the proclamation of God’s Word. This may take the form of prophetic utterances (1 Cor. 14:1–5, 26–32). But more importantly, proclamation centers on the reading and explication of the Bible (Neh. 8:1–9; 1 Tim. 4:13), such as in the sermon. As the church gathers to hear the sermon, they are celebrating the divine provision of instruction in the present as the Spirit speaks through the Scriptures.
One specific aspect of declaration is a fourth element of corporate worship, prayer. In prayer the community focuses its address directly to God.
Corporate prayer moves among four aspects (which follow the acrostic ACTS). We honor God for who he is and extol God for his perfect character (adoration). We acknowledge our human failure and express agreement with God concerning it—namely, that it is displeasing in his sight (confession). As we receive God’s gracious forgiveness (1 John 1:9), we are moved to express gratitude to God for all that God has done and is doing (thanksgiving). Finally, we petition God concerning human need (supplication).
We respond to God’s grace by engaging in the kind of worship that encompasses the various dimensions of our being and person.
A final vehicle for corporate worship is symbolic act.
The central symbols in the life of the church are the ordinances, or sacraments, which represent the gospel. Because we will discuss baptism and the Lord’s Supper in chapter 10, we need only mention them here.
Although often overlooked, many other symbolic acts enhance our worship. Consider, for example, the friendly handshake through which we extend to others the welcome and acceptance we have received from God. In this way, the act becomes a way of indirect praise to God for the divine goodness. Similarly, joining hands in a circle (especially following the Lord’s Supper) as a symbol of our oneness in Christ can bear silent praise to the Spirit who fosters Christian unity.
Consider as well how many congregations collect the financial gifts of the worshipers. Passing offering baskets through the congregation and then having the ushers bring the collected money to the front symbolizes our offering of gifts to God in one community act. And the giving of money itself can be symbolic. The gift can be an expression of our gratitude to God for his goodness to us as a people. The monetary gift ought also represent our entire selves, symbolizing that in this act we are offering to God all that we have and are.
Mutual edification. A second way that the church manifests the bond of community is mutual edification. After Jesus washed the feet of the Twelve in the upper room, our Lord mandated that we follow his example (John 13:12–17); he entrusted to us the responsibility of mutual edification. Christ calls us to build each other up, so that we might all become spiritually mature (Eph. 4:11–13). Mutual edification is crucial to us all. The Christian life is not merely an individual struggle for perfection. Rather, in an important sense it is a community project.
If we would become a people who edify each other, we must take seriously our calling to be a fellowship of mutuality. Mutuality arises from the sense that we share a fundamental oneness with each other as those who are bound together by common values and a common mission. Mutuality grows as we seek to live in harmony with each other (Rom. 12:16). Mutuality blossoms as we come to sense sympathy, compassion, and empathy for each other—as we learn to “rejoice with those who rejoice” and “mourn with those who mourn” (v. 15).
Christ calls us to build each other up in several ways. We are to minister to each other’s material and spiritual needs. We are to share the burdens of those who are facing difficulties (Gal. 6:1–2), encourage and admonish each other (Heb. 10:24–25), and nurture those who are new or weak in the faith (Rom. 14:1, 19).
How you live as a believer affects all of us; how I live, in turn, affects you.
Mutual edification also occurs as we become accountable to each other. True accountability does not entail blind obedience to a group or to dictatorial leaders. Rather, it involves taking seriously the simple truth that we are one body—an interrelated, interdependent community of faith. What each of us does and how each of us lives affects the entire fellowship. Any willful, blatant sin casts a shadow over our common testimony to the gospel (1 Pet. 2:12). Conversely, as each of us grows spiritually, we all benefit (Eph. 1:18). Accountability also means that we are open to learning from another, knowing that each of us can be an instrument of the Spirit’s work in fostering maturity in us.
Mutual edification occurs through many activities. Obvious examples are the preaching and teaching that occur within church life. Churches regularly provide structures designed to foster mutual nurture—inquirers’ classes, small groups, and larger fellowship groups. Even involvement in the other two aspects of the church’s mandate—worship and outreach—serves its edification ministry. Such common activity can be a means of solidifying the bonds that tie us to each other and of fostering growth within our lives.
But above all prayer is a central means of mutual edification. We carry out our edification mandate as we become a praying people, practicing the art and privilege of intercession (James 5:16).19 We intercede for each other because together we are a “priesthood.”20 Each of us functions in the church as a priest.
The Old Testament provides the context for understanding this. In Israel, priests offered sacrifices to God and interceded before God on behalf of the people. As a kingdom of priests purchased by Christ (Rev. 5:10), we now share the privilege of praying for each other.
In the upper room Jesus provided a model for our intercession. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world,” he said, “but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:15–17).
Following Jesus’s example, we do not petition God that our friends experience a life of ease—that they be spared all the trials of life. Rather, the focus of our intercession is that God protect them from the evil one as they live in the midst of the world and that they be sanctified—built up—by the truth that is God’s Word.
Finally, we engage in edification as we act as a “community of memory and hope.”21 We continually remind each other of our common story. This story focuses on God’s past action in Christ for our salvation but includes as well the stories of the great people who have left to us a lasting legacy of faith (Heb. 11). Our common story also involves our future. One day Christ will return in glory. Until then, he promises to be with us through his Spirit.
The grand biblical drama provides a transcendent vantage point for life in the present. This story allows us to connect our personal lives with something bigger—namely, God’s own work in history. As we remind each other of this connection, we engage in the ministry of edification. We follow the example of Paul, who drew from our future participation in Christ’s resurrection an exhortation to steadfast action in the present (1 Cor. 15:58).
Outreach. A third way that the church manifests the bond of community is outreach. No true community of faith fails to set its sights outward—toward the world in which it is called to live. Indeed, our vision drives us beyond the boundaries of our fellowship. We long to see the whole human family reconciled to God, one another, and creation. As we direct our energies toward those who yet stand outside, we become obedient to the outreach mandate Christ entrusted to us, and we bring glory to the Triune God. This outreach mandate encompasses two interdependent activities—evangelism and service.
Evangelism, of course, entails proclamation. Jesus himself declared, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14; see also Rom. 10:14). Following Jesus’s own example, we announce to people everywhere that God has intervened in history to bring about our salvation (Mark 1:15). We announce that God is acting toward the fulfillment of his purpose for creation—namely, the establishment of the new community of reconciliation. Evangelism, therefore, includes telling “the old, old story of Jesus and his love.”22
Evangelism is also presence. Evangelism occurs not only as we proclaim the good news. It also happens as the Holy Spirit fashions us into a community of faith in the world. Our very presence in the world testifies that God has acted, is acting, and will act.
We are a sign to the world in various ways. For example, as we offer in the midst of the fallenness of the present the praise that one day will reverberate throughout the universe, we remind the world that God has not forsaken creation to the forces of evil.
We are a sign likewise when we live as a community in the world. By being a true community of believers, we indicate what God intends for all humankind—namely, the establishment of the new community. Therefore, as we are a community in the world we implicitly call others to join us, to be reconciled and participate in God’s community. Indeed, the gospel must be embodied—credibly demonstrated through our life together—if others are to see and acknowledge its truth. For this reason, truly being the presence of the community of Christ in the world is central to our evangelistic mission. And a vibrant fellowship of believers is one of our greatest apologetics for the truth of the gospel.
In the evangelism task, prayer is crucial. Our prayer focuses on intercession for individuals who have not as yet acknowledged Jesus as Savior and Lord. But it also encompasses the world. We intercede for political leaders, invoking on their deliberations the Spirit of wisdom in the cause of the kind of peace that is conducive to the spread of the gospel (1 Tim. 2:1–3).23 And we petition God that the church may accomplish the task of proclaiming the good news to the entire world, in accordance with Jesus’s declaration (Matt. 24:14). Such supplication includes prayers for specific proclaimers. We ask that their words be energized, so that the message will spread, and that they be protected from their enemies (2 Thess. 3:1–2).24
Our mission is not limited to the expansion of the church’s boundaries. Rather, it includes sacrificial ministry to people in need.
We engage in service because it is a natural extension of Jesus’s own ministry. Our Lord placed his task of proclamation in the context of service: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19). True to his word, Jesus engaged in service to people in need. The sick, the outcasts, the demon possessed, the sinful, and the sinned against found in him a friend and healer. Then, prior to his death he promised the disciples that they would carry on his work, doing even greater things than they had observed in his ministry (John 14:12). As Christ’s body—his presence in the world—we now seek to accomplish those “greater works” under the direction of his own Spirit.
We serve likewise because service is inherent in the gospel itself. The biblical gospel is explicitly social. It focuses on reconciliation with God, of course. But the Bible teaches that reconciliation must also be a social reality. We are in right standing with God only as we are likewise being brought into right relationship with others. Consequently, the gospel demands that reconciliation with God be embodied in social relationships, as well as in earthly social institutions such as family, business, and government.25
As the community of those who have responded to the gospel, we are concerned about compassion, justice, righteousness, and, above all, love. Hence, we naturally seek to be instruments of the Holy Spirit in advancing the lordship of Christ in all facets of human life.
Following Jesus’s example leads us to a ministry of service that focuses on meeting the needs of the less fortunate. Like the Good Samaritan, we bind up the wounds of the injured and outcast of the world. Service to the world also demands that we become the advocates of the wounded by attempting to change those structures that wound people. And as those who acknowledge Christ’s lordship, we desire that society reflect to an increasing extent the principles that characterize the reign of God.
Prayer is indispensable to our service as the people of God in the world. The attempt to minister to the wounded and the quest for social justice are spiritual activities for which prayer is a powerful spiritual resource.
Our mandate as participants in the community of Christ is to proclaim, support, and serve.
In the midst of the evil present in contemporary society, we petition God in accordance with the prayer of our Lord, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Through prayer bathed in the Scriptures, God’s Spirit brings us to sharpen our focus. In prayer, we view specific aspects of the current world order in the light of the biblical vision of the future new order, allowing us to perceive the shortcomings of our world in the backdrop of God’s purposes. And the Spirit illumines our minds to see what the will of God might mean for the situations we now face.
Prayer, however, is more than an envisioning of our world in the light of God’s future; it also provides resources for battle. Our attempt to minister to human needs pits us against structures that lie beyond our ability to affect. If we are to be victorious, we require the resources of God for which prayer is crucial (Eph. 6:12, 18). By means of prayer, we are strengthened for service and renewed in faith.
Above all, however, through prayer we tap the power of God, which alone is able “to demolish strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:4). Our petition becomes the cry for God to act in the present needy situation. We know that ultimately only God’s power is sufficient to overcome the “spiritual forces of evil” (Eph. 6:12). Therefore, prayer lays hold of and releases God’s willingness and power to act in accordance with the divine will on behalf of the creation, which God loves.26
This, then, is the church. We are a people—a community. Together we seek to glorify God as we obey Christ through fulfilling our mandate of worship, mutual edification, and outreach. In the light of this mandate we admonish each other: “O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling.”27
Our participation in the church is enhanced through certain practices of commitment that our Lord himself ordained. These symbolize and strengthen us for the task of being his people in the world. And the New Testament provides guidelines as to how we should organize ourselves for the completion of our mandate. To these we now turn our attention.
Mastering the Material
Having Read This Chapter, You Should Know:
For Connection and Application