The Church

We are going to look behind the scenes at what the church is really about.  We view the church from Christ's perspective.  Noel Edmunds once said that "Church is the most boring experience on offer." Christ sees things very differently.

A favourite clause in the whole catechism appears in the answer to question 54: The Son of God from the beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends and preserves to Himself by His Spirit and word...  a church...  The church is not a physical structure but a gathered people.

The first New Testament reference to church and Christ's first recorded use of the word is in Matthew 16.  Jesus gives us a picture of a rock with a building going up on it, which has a gate and keys to the gate.  We look at these components.

1.  The ROCK
This symbolises gospel truth.  Peter had just made the confession that Jesus is Christ the Son of the living God.  Jesus says that upon this declaration of heaven-sent truth he would build.  This is the foundation stone.  There is no true church without the gospel.  Indeed there is no true Christian without the gospel.

2.  The BUILDING
Jesus said I will build my church.  This is a divine work.  The church is no mere human institution.  Christians need to take notice of that before disparaging or despairing.  It may help to realise that the church is still under construction and may look something less than it will one day be.  The church is what the Lord is doing the world.

3.  The GATE
There is a gate to this fortification, but the Lord explicitly refers to the gate of another fortified city: the gates of hell will not prevail against it.  There are two cities: the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness.  Between the two is a war.  We go out to the city of the enemy to take back to the kingdom of light souls.  The agents of the evil one come out and battle and attack the kingdom of light.  You need to do more than merely know intellectually that we are involved in a battle.  You need to recognise it daily, in evangelism, in the life of the church.  And you need to do battle.

4.  The KEYS
This is the most difficult to understand but is clearly important.  V19: "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." is repeated in Matthew 18:18, making evident that we need to take note of it.  This is not about Christians taking heavenly authority in prayer as some take it to be.  It is with keys that the gate is locked.  It is locked in order to keep out the enemy and keep in the vulnerable.  It is all to do with the defence and preservation of the members of the church.  The context suggests that the keys are the preaching and the discipline of the church.  It is by preaching and discipline that the church is defended.

This picture gives to us Christ's view of the church.  How different it is from that of the world.  It is exciting, hard, dangerous but victorious.  Be involved in it.  Don't miss out on it.