The Church Is God’s Special People
CHURCH ARTICLE
Wayne Goff | Kansas City, Missouri
Jesus Christ came to deliver mankind from his sin (Matthew 1:21). Sin has always separated man from God (Isaiah 59:1-2), and sin caused us to be spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). The sacrifice of Jesus’ own precious blood has redeemed us from the guilt of sin and from the power of death which sin caused (1 Peter 1:18-19; Ephesians 2:4-7). This redemption causes great joy among the saved (see Acts 8:8, 39). It is a privilege to be a child of God, and an eternal heir of the grace of life (Romans 8:16-17).
Today, the concept of “sin” is almost missing in our society. You do not hear it on the radio, television, or social media. The word is not found in our newspapers, magazines, or other writings. Just stop and ask yourself when the last time was that you heard the word “sin” mentioned outside of our churches. Consequently, men and women in America do not feel the need for salvation because they do not believe that they are guilty of sin and in danger before an Almighty God! Preaching about salvation falls on deaf ears because of this.
Similarly, “church” in our society today is a place to solve one’s social ills. Go to church to find payment for your late electric bills. Go to church to have a beautiful, traditional wedding. Go to church to leave your child for the day to give mothers a day out. Go to church to find a warm meal, a comfortable bed, and a hot cup of coffee. The social gospel has destroyed the true meaning of the “church.”
The Lord’s church is the place Jesus gathers together all His saved. “…And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” Acts 2:47. This is where those redeemed from sin by the blood are united. This is “… the church of God which He purchased with His own blood,” Acts 20:28. If the church is the blood-bought people, then we should expect it to act like blood-bought people! These people have been “set apart” by the blood of Jesus Christ. These people do not act like the world because they are no longer part of the world.
You see, my dear readers, when God saved us by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), He placed us “together with Christ” (Eph. 2:5-6). We are here in His church as “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). As children of God, as members of the Lord’s church, we have a job to do — remain separate from the sins of the world, and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age (see Titus 2:11-12). That is why we are “the church” — “the called out” (Greek, ek– out of; kaleō – to call; hence ekklesia). We might want to remind ourselves of this great truth because when the church is in the world, it is a blessing. But when the world gets in the church it is a travesty! Worldly churches soon die in the eyes of the Lord, for they have forgotten who they are and why they are called out. “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write,
‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead,”’” (Revelation 3:1). Many churches of Christ are following the dictates of their denominational neighbors and are trying to become more like them, instead of less like the world! It is killing us as a church and as a people of God! We need to repent, remember our “first works” of separation from the world and refuse to touch those unclean things! (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). Plainly spoken, we need to stand up against the sins of the day — idolatry, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, drunkenness, immodesty, dancing, covetousness, and debauchery! (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). When was the last time you heard the local preacher speak out against these things? Do you know of members of your local church or their children who engage in social drinking, swimming parties, the prom, and other such activities? Do you hear your preacher denounce denominational errors like salvation by faith only, instrumental music in worship, and fellowship with those in sin (2 John 9-11)? More and more churches are becoming friendly with the world, socially acceptable to the denominations, and happy to be a part of them. God forbid!
Listen to what Jesus said about His redeemed disciples, the church: “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth,” John 17:14–17. The “world” is that “mass of humanity which stands in opposition to God every day” (1 John 2:15-17). That rebellious “world” HATES God’s true people and His true church because the church is not of the world! This is the distinctive nature of the church that makes it special to God and to a lost humanity. Christians and the Lord’s church are IN the world, but not OF the world. They are of God and have been “called out” from the world of sin and death.
The apostle Paul proclaimed that “our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself,” (Philippians 3:20-21). If we are citizens of the heavenly kingdom, then we need to keep this in mind as we go out among the sinful in this world. Do not become like them, dear friends.
So, what is the church of Christ? It is the saved who come together to worship and honor God as they provide a habitation of God through the spirit (Ephesians 2:22, kjv). It is those people who are “blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,” (Philippians 2:15). It is a congregation of men and women who have been saved by the grace of God, who rejoice in it, and who consider “one another in order to stir up love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24) whenever they assemble together (Hebrews 10:25). The church of Christ is God’s peculiar people (Titus 2:14, kjv) —not “peculiar” in the sense of “strange, odd, or weird,” but peculiar in the sense of “being distinguished in nature or character.” Christians are different from the average person in the world. The Lord’s church is a collection of that kind of person. The church is a blessing to those who see them as “the light of the world” and a “city set on a hill which cannot be hidden.” God bless those true churches of Christ today!
18.07.03 | GROW magazine
