Jesus Built His Church

What Did Jesus Do?

“…I will build my church…”
Matthew 16.18

Much is made, and rightly so, of the confession of Peter in Matthew 16.16, which in turn prompted the Lord’s declaration that the impetuous, and inspired, fisherman was to be the rock upon whom Christ would found and build his church. To me, it seems high time to give some more consideration to what Jesus meant, and means, when he talks about “his church.”

The Greek word employed in the New Testament which is translated as “church” is ekklesia, which means literally, “the called out ones.” I believe much of the Body of Christ today has either forgotten, or perhaps never really known, the nature of her called-outness, to create a novel, but helpful term. By “called out” the Church must grasp the radical nature of her inception and her life. Radical here is to be understood as foundational, fundamental, essential, and intrinsic.

Christ established his Church to be an out of this world organism. By the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Church is to think, speak, and act in direct and utter contrast to the way the world thinks, speaks, and acts. Yet, it was never the Lord’s intention to remove his Church from the world, but rather to have his Church insistently and vigorously encounter and engage the world from her out of the world perspective. Essentially, the Church, both on the level of her individual members, and corporately, was and is to manifest to and for the world a whole new way of life, of being human. The life of the Church is lived by loving the Father with her whole being, completely submitting to the Son’s Lordship, and totally in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is life so different from life lived under the control of the world, the flesh, and the devil as to be, thoroughly alien.

You see, though Jesus established his Church by calling her out of the world, he also gave his Church her singular commission to “go into the world.” (see Matthew 28.18-20 and Acts 1.8) Thus, the Church must understand both the radical nature of her creation, and the missionary nature of her calling. In fact, a church or denomination that fails to understand that it has been radically called out in order to be sent in knows neither its true origin nor its true mission.

Wherever and whenever the Church has been true to her origin and her mission, she has flourished, even in the face of opposition and bitter persecution. But, when the Church loses or compromises her true self she languishes, and recedes into irrelevancy. This is largely the case with the Church in North America at this juncture in the Twenty-first Century. Part of the body of Christ, in touch with the radical called out foundation, stands apart from, and in judgment of, the world. Yet this part of the Body seems to have forgotten the sent in mission, and seeks to avoid encountering and engaging the world. Another part of the Body, embracing the sent in mission, has forgotten, or, in some cases, intentionally abandoned, the radical called out foundation, and become so worldly as to effectively refute the Son’s lordship. Thus, many churches make lost sinners feel unwelcome, while many others welcome lost sinners but leave them as lost in the church as out.

The good news is that there are a growing number of congregations which are coming to a fuller understanding of their radical called out foundation, and their singular sent in mission. These are churches which place a high value on coming together for deep, powerful, and sincere worship on the Lord’s Day, and are committed to going out to fulfill the Great Commission when worship ends. These churches recognize that it is in true worship and mission alone that the Church, the Body of Christ, is built up.

Remember, this is what Jesus did: he came into the world to build his Church.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4