BIBLE BASICS

		       For Smart People
		 Who Do Not Want To Be Dummies
		    About God and the Bible

Lesson 17 - What About Church?

Scripture References: Matthew 16:18; Matthew 18:17; Acts 2:47;
Acts 13:1; Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 11:22; Ephesians 1:22;
5:23-32; Colossians 1:18; 1 Timothy 3:15, 13; 3 John 9-10;
Revelation 22:16

Definition of Church:

The word "church" is not found in the Old Testament. It is a New
Testament word and a New Testament institution. The Greek word
for church is "ekklesia" = that which is called out. That is the only
word for church in the whole Bible. 

The Nature of the New Testament Church 

 1.It is the Lord's Church of which He is the Head. The real
   church is the body of Christ on earth. Jesus said, "I will build
   MY church." It is still under construction. "And He is the head
   of the body, the church" (Colossians 1:18). For His body's
   sake, which is the church" (Colossians 1:24). 
 2.Only those who are the "called out ones," as the Greek word
   implies, are a part of that church. (Called out of the world
   purified and cleansed by His blood to be His own.) 
 3.It is the Lord that adds people, who get saved, to the church
   (Acts 2:47). 
 4.The church is more than an organization; it is a living,
   growing, organism, with the life of Christ within. 
 5.Each member is a part of that church and has an important
   function. "For as the body is one, and hath many members,
   and all the members of that one body, being many, are one
   body: so also is Christ." Read 1 Corinthians 12:13-31. An
   individual Christian is not a church but is to function as a part
   of the church. 
 6.God set in the church various gifts and ministries.

	"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles,
   secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles,
   then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of
   tongues" (1 Corinthians 12: 28). 
	"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets;
   and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; For
   the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
   the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity
   of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
   perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of
   Christ: That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and
   fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
   sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in
   wait to deceive" (Ephesians 4:11-14).

 7.The church needed to choose deacons or men "of honest
   report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom" to "serve tables"
   (minister to the material needs of widows) -- to do those
   tasks so the apostles could give themselves to prayer and
   ministry of the Word (Acts 6). 
 8.There were strict moral and spiritual requirements to qualify to
   hold office in the church (1 Timothy 3:1-14; Titus 1:59). 
 9.There must be discipline in the church, according to Jesus
   (Matthew 18:17; 2 Thessalonians 3:6.) 
10.The body of believers operated as a church: they worked
   together as a church; they fellowshipped together, exhorted
   one another, and prayed together as a church. They were
   ministered to as a church by those whom God had set in the
   church to do that. They were persecuted as a church. 
11.Individual, local, churches were established to carry on the
   work of Christ as a local body of believers. "And so were the
   churches established in the faith, and increased in number
   daily" (Acts 16:5). 
12.The churches needed to be edified (strengthened, built up),
   exhorted, sometimes reproved, instructed. 

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