The Church: Very Much Alive

The Church: Very Much Alive! That the one, true Church is dead is a wrong conclusion that has resulted from all the sectarian confusion in Christendom. Cult leaders take advantage of this confusion to convince the gullible that they are the only true representatives for God at this present time. It is only when this false line of reasoning is accepted that the cults seem at all credible. Christendom Confusion
Bewildered by the many sects and systems – or hurt by one of them, or by some incident, or by some Christian who has acted in an unchristian way – people become vulnerable to the siren song of a cult. It is easy then for its representatives to point out the shortcomings of the churches and convince them that such a mess could not possibly be “the true Church.” This is how people are lured into cults. Of course, the confusion commonly seen in Christendom is not “the true Church” at all. Nor is this confusion an excuse for us to aim at anything less than God’s ideal. Each of us has the responsibility to help build our local church “according to the pattern shown ... in the mount” (Heb. 8:5 KJV). The Lord warned the seven churches of Asia of the necessity for obedience: “Repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place unless thou repent” (Rev. 2:5). Having said all this, it has to be recognized that there are serious misconceptions about what “the Church” is, and about what “the churches” together are. Since the situation in Christendom is so confusing, the only place to find the truth is in the Bible, where we read God’s Word on His Church. Holy Spirit Teaching
At this point one can hear the cult representatives firmly assuring us that their books, lectures, leaders and organizations can tell us how to understand the Bible. With equal firmness we have to decline, pointing out that their books and lectures on the Bible are not the same thing at all as our reading the Bible itself under the guidance of the Holy Spirit: “The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you ... the same anointing teacheth you all things, and is truth” (1 Jn. 2:27). There is no need for confusion. When it comes to God’s Word, there is no need to think that simple believers cannot get along without the help of those with greater intellectual capacity. What Wycliffe dared to believe was that “the boy behind the plough had it in him to know more than the Pope in Rome by the power of the Spirit of God and with Scripture alone.” The Lord Jesus has promised that “if any man will do His will, he shall know concerning the teaching” (Jn. 7:17) Even the simplest person, provided he wants to do God’s will, can find out what that is – no theologians required. Acts 17:11 shows us this principle in practice when Paul went into the synagogue at Berea: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Since God wants each of us to be “fully persuaded in his own mind” (Rom. 14:5), the following is offered for the reader to follow the Berean example of searching the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things are so. Church Of Living Stones
The Ephesian letter presents the Church as a temple, built upon the “foundation laid by the apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20). Like Solomon’s temple, it will not be complete until the last stone is in place. So the Church, also called “the temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16), will not be complete until the last soul is saved. When this happens, “the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout ... and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Th. 4:16-17). Of course, this has not happened yet. Lest anyone take the analogy too far, not realizing that God’s temple is a living one, Peter refers to believers as “living stones ... built up a spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:5). Unlike the workmen who labored in the quarries for Solomon (2 Chr. 2:2), the Holy Spirit directs evangelists to work among the nations of the world quarrying people to build His Church. Led by the Spirit of God, Paul not only wrote that the temple, the Church, is being “built,” but that it also, “groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord” (Eph. 2:21). The use of the word “grow” in the New Testament has to do with organisms, not inanimate things such as buildings. The implication is that “the Church of the living God” (1 Tim. 3:15) is not an organization but an organism, according to W. E. Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words. The implications of Stephen’s words are clear: “The most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Acts 7:48; Isa. 66:1). God only dwells in a living temple made of living stones. Church As Body And Bride
If this were not enough, Ephesians 5:21-32 also refers to the Church as the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. The Lord has neither a dead body nor a dead bride. In fact, they are still growing (Eph. 2:21). Colossians 1:18 tells us that Jesus is “the Head of the body, the Church.” Ephesians 1:22-23 also refers to the Lord as “the Head over all things to the Church, which is His body.” A living head cannot have a dead body. First Corinthians goes on to show us how the body is being formed when Paul writes, “For by One Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all make to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). This statement, and the instructions that follow, would not be made of something that is dead. One day soon the body of Christ, which is the Church, will be fully grown, that is, completed. Then it will be seen as it really is in the eyes of God. Then it will truly reflect the glory of our Lord. The cults cannot see this. And neither can we, except by faith, believing what God has said in His Word: that Christ is at work to “sanctify and cleanse it (the Church) with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:26-27). Beyond The Confusion
The world sees confusion and maybe even chaos in the many sects and systems of Christendom. It judges by what it sees, and inevitably comes to wrong conclusions. This confusion is not the Church. The sects, systems and denominations, however respected they may be, are not the same thing as “the Church.” God recognizes none of these as such. Galatians 5:19-20 lists “the works of the flesh.” These include “heresies,” but the word actually means “sects” or “parties.” According to Vine’s dictionary, the basic meaning of the word is “to choose.” In 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, the Corinthian Christians were choosing (or dividing over) who to follow. This should not have been their focus. Rather, it should have been to speak the same things and be perfectly joined together in mind and thought. Not only is the Church a living organism, a body and a bride, but also a living temple, only because it is His and “The Lord is there” (Ezek. 48:35). Without question, the true Church is alive and growing to maturity in spite of man’s divisive tendencies. And it will continue to do so until He comes to take it to Himself. By Roger Penney