[Biblemat] Good News for Norwalk: Volume II, Number 7: February 18, 2007

Sat Feb 17 21:38:03 CST 2007

Good News for Norwalk

For I am not ashamed of the good news, for it is the power of God for 
salvation to everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16)

A publication of the church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio
Volume II, Number 7: February 18, 2007

The Nature of the Church: Perceiving the Church of Christ

The Scriptures indicate rather clearly that the church is very important 
(Matthew 16:18, Ephesians 5:22-33); unfortunately, there is much confusion 
in the religious world regarding the nature of Christ's church. There are 
many churches in the world believing and practicing different things; 
churches are even divided in how they understand divisions and the church! 
It is easy to see why so many despair of being able to discern the church 
that belongs to Christ. People honestly want to know: where is Christ's 
church? How can I be a part of it?

Let us take courage, however, and recognize that we assuredly can perceive 
Christ's church. To do so requires us to investigate, from the Scriptures, 
the nature of the Church of Christ. Let us return to the fundamentals of the 
nature of the church so that we may be able to perceive the Church of 
Christ!

When most people hear the word "church", they will most often think of 
either a building or an organization. While this is understandable in terms 
of the modern religious climate, neither idea is inherent in the New 
Testament concept of the word. The word we translate as "church" is the 
Greek ekklesia, which means "assembly". While "church" in English has an 
exclusively religious meaning, ekklesia in Greek simply represented either 
an actual gathering of people or a community having a shared identity. The 
New Testament itself uses the term not only to describe groups of Christians 
but also an unruly mob (Acts 19:32), and a local political legislative body 
(Acts 19:39). Ekklesia does not refer to a building in the New Testament, 
and while any group of persons requires some level of organization, we do 
not see any organization of any ekklesia in the New Testament that is as 
structured and developed as most modern denominations are today. Christ's 
church, therefore, is an assembly-- a grouping of people who are Christ's. 
It is interesting to see that Christ names the body of His followers the 
ekklesia (cf. Matthew 16:18), and throughout the New Testament it remains 
the only name given to the body. Many designations are given-- church "of 
God", churches "of Christ", church "of the Firstborn", "the Way," "the sect 
of the Nazarenes," and so on (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:2, Romans 16:16, Hebrews 
12:33, Acts 9:2, Acts 24:5). While many denominations may use some of these 
designations today, such does not automatically mean that they belong to 
Christ, as we shall see.

The idea of the church as a group of people can be further understood by 
looking at how God describes these people-- the Christians that comprise the 
church. The ekklesia, or church, of Christ will not be some motley crew or 
band of renegades; Paul calls the Christians in Corinth "saints" in 1 
Corinthians 1:2, indicating that such persons will be holy and that their 
conduct will set them apart from the world. Another term constantly used is 
"brethren" (e.g., 1 Corinthians 1:10), representing the close nature of the 
association that ought to exist among fellow Christians-- all are brothers 
and sisters of the same Heavenly Father. In all of these terms we see no 
indication of any significant organization or structure implied in Christ's 
church.

What, then, is the Church of Christ? What is this collective of persons? The 
New Testament uses the term in different senses of the "church". Quite 
often, "the church" represents what is often called the "universal" church, 
the assembly of all those whom Christ recognizes as His own. Such is the 
case in Ephesians 5:22-33, Matthew 16:18, and many other passages. The New 
Testament uses the same term, nevertheless, when referring to local 
assemblies of Christians, like the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:2), or 
the church in Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 1:1). Such local assemblies 
represent the collective of Christians in a given area who come together to 
build one another up (Hebrews 10:25). Christ is indeed the Head of the 
church, either considered universally or locally (Ephesians 5:23-26, 
Revelation 2-3). The local churches are to be overseen and shepherded by 
elders who meet certain qualifications and served by deacons who also meet 
certain qualifications (Acts 14:23, 1 Timothy 3:1-12, Titus 1:5-7). The 
organization of churches, however, does not extend beyond the local 
congregation in the New Testament. Christians in different churches 
certainly had knowledge of and some interaction with each other (cf. 1 
Thessalonians 4:9-10), yet churches did not exercise authority over one 
another. Local churches in the New Testament were autonomous, or 
self-governing, each with Christ as its head and directed by its own elders 
and served by its own deacons. While some may despair of trying to 
understand whether a given passage speaks of the universal or a local 
church, we can rest assured that context will more often than not allow for 
easy identification.

Now that we have seen how the church is organized, we can now discover who 
is in the Church of Christ. The New Testament is very clear that there is 
one body, as assuredly as there is one Lord and one faith (Ephesians 4:4-6). 
Christ is said to have one body-- if Christ is the head, we surely cannot 
expect Him to be the head of many bodies (cf. Ephesians 5:23-33)! The 
universal church, then, comprises of all persons known to Christ-- all those 
who have become obedient to Him and whom He will save on the final day 
(Romans 6:16-23, 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18). Ideally, the local church would 
simply be the manifestation of the living members of the universal church in 
a given location; the Scriptures indicate, however, that not everyone who 
may comprise a local church of Christ are part of the universal Church of 
Christ (cf. Thyatira, Revelation 2:18-29), for some may be in sin known to 
God but not known to their brethren. Indeed, part of being obedient to God 
is to assemble with other Christians as part of a local church, yet one is 
not saved by merely associating with a local church of Christ-- one must be 
obedient to God and be part of the universal Church of Christ to be saved 
(cf. Hebrews 10:25, Romans 6:16-18).

God, in His wisdom, established the church for us. We are weak in the flesh, 
and we require constant encouragement and edification if we are going to 
endure the fiery darts of the evil one (cf. Ephesians 6:10-18, Hebrews 
10:25). What good is an assembly that does not assemble? As we have seen, 
Christ's church does exist on the earth, but it is not a building nor is it 
some elaborate organization-- it represents the universal collective of 
persons who strive to serve God, and the living members of that group 
assemble in local assemblies to build one another up. Such is the church of 
Christ, and we encourage you to be a part of Christ today!

Ethan R. Longhenry
evangelist at norwalkchurch.org

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Gospel Singing

Gospel Singing!

We are pleased to announce that the church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio, will 
be hosting a gospel singing.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Beginning at 7:30pm

386 North Edgewood Drive
Norwalk, Ohio 44857

Bring your friends and be ready to sing!

Expect to spend time with brethren!

We hope to see you there!

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The church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio

Thank you for reading the electronic version of our bulletin, Good News for 
Norwalk. If you live in Norwalk or happen to be traveling in the Norwalk 
area, we would certainly love to have you visit one of our assemblies!

Our location:
386 North Edgewood Drive (just off US 250 just north of Norwalk's city 
limits)
Norwalk, Ohio 44857

Our assemblies:

Sunday morning assembly: 10:30am
Sunday evening assembly: 6:00pm

Our Bible studies:

Sunday morning Bible study: 9:30am
Wednesday evening Bible study: 7:00pm

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For More Information

If you have any questions or comments about anything you have read here, or 
desire more information, please contact our evangelist, Ethan Longhenry, at 
evangelist at norwalkchurch.org.

Good News for Norwalk is a publication of the church of Christ in Norwalk, 
Ohio, for the promotion of God's truth in our world. For more information 
about the church of Christ in Norwalk, please visit our website at 
norwalkchurch.org.  Thank you for your interest, and have a nice day!

Ethan R. Longhenry/ disciple_of_iesus at hotmail.com
Evangelist, church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio
 (http://www.norwalkchurch.org)
Website: http://www.deusvitae.com
AIM: Deus Vitae / ICQ#: 28317056
MSN Messenger ID: deusvitae at hotmail.com
Yahoo! Messenger ID: discipuliiesus

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