The Church: The Gospel Made Visible

What Does the Bible Say?

The Nature of the Church

The church is the body of people called by God’s grace through faith in Christ to glorify him together by serving him in his world.

The People of God in the Old Testament: Israel
In order to understand the church in the full richness of God’s revealed truth, we must examine both the Old and New Testaments. Christians may sometimes use the phrase “a New Testament church,” but the shape of the visible church today bears a clear continuity—though not identity—with the visible people of God in the Old Testament.

God’s eternal plan has always been to display his glory not just through individuals but through a corporate body. In creation God created not one person but two, and two who have the ability to reproduce more. In the flood God saved not one person but several families. In Genesis 12 God called Abram and promised that Abram’s descendents would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore. In Exodus God dealt not only with Moses but with the nation of Israel—12 tribes comprised of hundreds of thousands of people yet bearing one corporate identity (see Exod 15:13–16). He gave laws and ceremonies that should be worked out not only in the lives of individuals but also in the life of the whole people.

In the Old Testament, Israel is called God’s son (Exod 4:22), his spouse (Ezek 16:6–14), the apple of his eye (Deut 32:10), his vine (Isa 5:1–7; Nah 2:2), and his flock (Ezek 34:4). Through these names God foreshadowed the work he would eventually do through Christ and his church.   Continue at B&H Blog

Nothing Like the Church

It should come as no surprise that in Western culture, triumphantly individualistic as it is, institutions tend to suffer in people’s estimations. Christians, shaped too much by this culture, predictably have a diminished appreciation even for their very own institution. They may recognize a certain need for the church, but neither loyalty to and love for her, on the one hand, nor a conviction that an individual Christian’s fortunes are bound up with those of the church, on the other, is as central to Christian piety as in earlier ages. Christians nowadays do not typically sing songs in their worship that express the same sentiment as did the once treasured hymns “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” “The Church’s One Foundation,” or “I Love Thy Kingdom Lord.”

 To be sure, it isn’t always easy to think the church glorious or to “prize her heavenly ways.” She has often disgraced herself, and many times, though our spiritual mother (Gal. 4:26), she has done her children more harm than good.

I grew up, like most every American boy, glorying in the achievements of the American military in the Second World War. As I grew older, I learned more, and much of what I learned was not to the credit of my boyhood heroes. Their victories in battles and the heroism of the sacrifices made by so many remained, but now I had to add these facts to my recollection of triumph: incompetent or vainglorious generals who kept mistresses throughout the war while their soldiers struggled to endure long separations from wives and sweethearts; stupid and often self-serving tactics that cost thousands upon thousands of lives unnecessarily; inter-service rivalries that sometimes seemed as bitter as the contest with the enemy; substandard equipment that made its manufacturers rich but left G.I.s to fight a better-equipped foe; vast quantities of such equipment siphoned off to the black market by soldiers hoping to profit from the war; and profane and ill-tempered soldiers, sailors, and airmen who must have often been as great a trial to put up with as the enemy himself. This was the military that won that war — and far too often, such has been the church.    Keep Reading >>>

Some Questions Regarding the Nature of Israel and the Church

The Kingdom and The Church: Closer Than You Think

It has become commonplace in parts of the missional discussion to make a strong emphasis on the distinction between the kingdom and the church. I agree the two are not identical. Try replacing “kingdom” in the gospels with “church” or “church” with “kingdom” in the epistles and you quickly realize synonyms they are not.

But like the proverbial rear view mirror, might these objects–the kingdom and the church–be closer than they appear? Read the rest HERE

Redefining the Church

Why You Love the Church

Church: Love it, Don't Leave It

Why You Love the Church

What's Impressive About Briarwood Presbyterian?

But what's really impressive about Briarwood has nothing to do with the buildings. The chapel soars, but even more so does the spirit of the people of Briarwood. What's far more impressive is the earnest and deep hospitality, warmth, and evangelistic zeal of the people. Two things have been prominent from the moment I first shook hands with a Briarwood person: (1) genuine love for the brethren, and (2) genuine love for the lost.

Re - Everything?

A few weeks ago I was recording some of the many thoughts that float through my mind everyday. On that particular day I was thinking about all the "re's" that we read about in books, blogs, and hear on the radio. We have Re-think Conference , Re-inventing Jesus , Re-imagining the Church , Re-Jesus , Re-structuring the Church, Re-write Church History, and the list could go on and on.

Then we have a bunch of words that end with "al". Missional, Attractional, Incarnational, Reformissional, and Conversational.

We have Contemplative Spirituality, Spiritual Mapping, Prayer Walking, Walking the Labyrinth, Centering Prayer, Lecto Devina and on and on and....

We have "Shift", and Everything Must Change .

When will all this Evangelical Doping stop? Why are we taking cues from men like N. T. Wright, Brian Mclaren, Rob Bell - and a host of other not so Orthodox people? Why are we fishing in a poisoned pond? Is the Word of God our only and final authority for faith and life?

We can spend the next 10 or 20 years discussing all these alternative ways of "doing Church" and we will just be going in circles. We already have a Book that tells us how to do Church. We have a host of Godly men who know, from a Scriptural vantage point, what it takes to BE the Church of Jesus Christ. We can go on and trash all the ministries that we don't agree with and we'll never get to the real "business" of the local Church - Eph. 4:10-16; II Timothy 4:1-5.

And one more thing about another "re": The only "re" that will work is a Holy Ghost "Re-Vival" - and God will do it, not men and their clever marketing strategies.

For your consideration:
Thirsty Theologian

Will The Real Church... Please Stand Up?

Churches Receiving Foreclosure Notices

Fighting Error in The Church

Church Discipline in the News

Church Discipline Survey

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

The following description is taken from YouTube - GRK

First, I highly recommend reading this article by Christian Smith:
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

If you go to a "Christian Church" where they actually are against preaching the Scriptures, it's a good chance that you're not going to a Christian church at all. Christian Smith has coined the phrase to describe this new religion that is permeating many of these "seeker" churches as "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism".

Here is how Smith breaks down the religion:
1. A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in ones life except when he is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

Here are the words "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" broken down:

Moralistic: Characteristic of or relating to a narrow-minded concern of the morals of others; self-righteous

Therapeutic: Having or exhibiting healing powers: a therapeutic agent; therapeutic exercises.

Deism: Strictly, the term denotes a certain movement of rationalistic thought which was manifested chiefly in England from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-eighteenth century.

Affirmatively, deists hold to
(1) the existence of a personal God, Creator and Rule of the universe;
(2) the obligation of divine worship;
(3) the obligation of ethical conduct;
(4) the necessity of repentance from sins;
(5) divine rewards and punishments, here, and in the life of the soul after death. These five points were stated by Lord Herbert Cherbury (1583-1648), called the father of deism.

Negatively, the deists generally denied any direct intervention in the natural order on the part of God. Though they professed faith in personal Providence, they denied the Trinity, the incarnation, the divine authority of the Bible, the atonement, miracles, any particular elect people such as Israel or the church, or any supernatural redemptive act in history."

(Adapted from Baker's Dictionary of Theology, s.v. "Deism")

It's another religion, folks, and it completely explains why passages in the Bible are selectively cited while others are overlooked. For those of you who are familiar with the "seeker" movement: think about the verses they selectively cite. Do the verses, out of context, not support the religion of moralistic therapeutic deism? Do not the verses that are omitted speak against the religion of moralistic therapeutic deism?

Thanks to Mark Kielar and CrossTV for allowing this video to be posted. To get this program, go to http://www.crosstv.com or call 1-877-CROSSTV

How To Build A Church With False Converts

The Secularization of the Church

Secularization is the process by which a society becomes more and more distant from its Christian roots. Though the formal sociological theory is more complicated than that, the essence of secularization is the fact that the culture no longer depends upon Christian symbols, morals, principles, or practices. While most of the world is resolutely unsecular, much of Europe is pervasively secular -- and this includes Great Britain.

What Do You Think About the State of Today's Church?

Why You Need to be In Church this Sunday

Move that "but"

Encouraging Spontaneity in Your Church

Views on the State of American Churches