Articles
The Church Jesus Built (1)
The Church Jesus Built (1)
Mike Willis
I have tried to title this series of articles in such a way as to make it as inoffensive as possible. I am not interested in wrangling with anyone about “my denomination is better than yours.” My purpose is this: As much as possible, let us agree to lay aside our denominational loyalties and preconceptions so that one may examine what the Bible says about the church. I view the restoration of the church revealed in the New Testament to be a worthy pursuit. Those who wish to be Christians are expected to believe, teach, and practice what was preached by the apostles and prophets of the New Testament.
What do we know about the church from the pages of the New Testament? The first time the word “church” appears in the Bible is Matthew 16:18 from the lips of Jesus as He spoke to His disciples:
“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. AND I TELL YOU, YOU ARE PETER, AND ON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH, AND THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven’” (Matt. 16:13-19).
The passage tells us important facts about the church mentioned in the New Testament:
IT WAS BUILT BY JESUS. The church came into existence because Jesus willed that it be established. Those familiar with the history of the Christian church admit that the church was established in the first century by those disciples of Jesus who where convinced that He had risen from the dead. The church was not brought into the existence because several smart believers in Jesus decided to start a church, but because Jesus was resolved to build His church.
If it is the will of Jesus that a church be built, those who wish to be His disciples should submit themselves to the will of their Lord by becoming members of that spiritual body. The surveys of what is happening in American Christianity show that an alarming number of people, who believe in the existence of God and believe in the Lord Jesus, are walking away from the church. What these people mean is that they see things happening in these religious organizations that are not right. Consequently, these believers have made a conscious choice to walk away from these denominational bodies in record numbers. I would do the same. And, I partially agree with their decision.
However, one should not make the mistake of equating these twenty-first century denominations with the church that Jesus built. They are radically different. Here is where I differ with those who choose to walk away from the church: Instead of walking away, one should go back to his Bible and see what Jesus taught in the New Testament about the church He wished to build. Then, one should commit himself to becoming a member of the church that Jesus built. Jesus’s church is the body of people whom He loves. The Apostle Paul spoke of Jesus’s relationship with His church saying,
“For the husband is the head of the wife even as CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH, HIS BODY, AND IS HIMSELF ITS SAVIOR. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH AND GAVE HIMSELF UP FOR HER, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that HE MIGHT PRESENT THE CHURCH TO HIMSELF IN SPLENDOR, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, JUST AS CHRIST DOES THE CHURCH, because we are members of his body” (Eph. 5:23-30).
In this series of articles, we will learn more about the church that Jesus built and loved so much that “gave himself up for her.”
