The Function of the Church

There are probably as many opinions about how a church should function as there are churches in the world. I would not presume to claim to be an authority on this issue, but I do know the authority. The Word of God teaches a great deal about the function of the church. Our job is to faithfully interpret God's Word and strip off anything that we may be tempted to add to it.

Like every person in the world, I do not approach this subject neutrally. I have preconceptions that are always in play whether I would like them to be or not. We have to be honest about this fact. However, some preconceptions are good. Here are some that will be in play as we look to understand the function of the church.

• The Bible is true and sufficient to teach people about God and how they relate to Him.
• The God presented in the Bible is real and exists even now.
• God is sovereign and has complete control over His creation at all time.

The outline that I would like to use for the function of the church is Acts 2:42:

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

It would be good to get some context, for without it we could make this verse mean whatever we want it to mean.

Acts chapter 2 begins with the Spirit of God descending on the disciples and causing them to glorify God in different tongues not their own. This was the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus in Acts 1:8 (and John 14:16-17). After this, Peter launches into his great pentecostal sermon that ends with the people being cut to the heart and saying, "Brothers, what shall we do?" What happened next was miraculous:

And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Act 2:38-41)

The reaction of the people who received Peter's word and were baptized was DEVOTION. It is important to note that this verse is not a command. God did not save these people and then say, "you shall devote yourselves. . ."

The natural reaction of sinners saved by the grace of God is devotion to Him. True conversion leads to a changed life. In this day and age when many church devote themselves to serving felt needs or sensitivity to so-called seekers this is often neglected. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." A heart that is changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ will express its new faith by overflowing with worship that glorifies God. The natural reaction leads to the fourfold devotion that Luke described, and I would argue that this is the case in all believers.

First up is The Apostles' Teaching

The Apostles taught scripture. More specifically, the Apostles taught the Gospel. They were witnesses to the good message of Jesus Christ and everything they taught was in view of the cross of Christ. Old Testament passages were taught and preached with the truth that Jesus is their fulfillment.

Believers soak up the Gospel like a dry sponge tossed into a tidal wave. We cannot get enough and there is too much to get. It is not drudgery or painful work. It is not the homework that must be done before we can play outside on a warm spring day. It is everything to us. Devotion to the Word of God is the natural reaction to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

I was speaking with a friend recently and he asked why Christian musicians only seem to sing about God and their faith in Him. The question struck me as odd. I could not fathom a Christian musician singing about anything but the Gospel. My friend was showing that a changed heart cannot help but sing about the God that changed it, while other musicians sing about what their passions are: the truck and the dog they lost, the car they love, the glory days in high school.

In other words, the Gospel is effective and there is evidence of the radical change that has occurred. The Gospel is that Jesus REALLY bled for us. It is not some existential idea that we think about.

So one of the functions of the church is devotion to the Gospel. But what does that look like? What forms does the Apostles teaching take in the church today? One obvious answer to this is preaching.

Preaching is paramount to the church. Why? Because it is foolish. How is that for a paradox? The idea of preaching about a cross is foolish if you really think about it. How could a man dying on a Roman execution instrument do anything? That is the reasoning of the world. That is the reasoning of the perishing in 1 Corinthians 1:18. So God has set up a way for us to learn about Him in a way that most glorifies Him. We glorify Him the most when the seemingly impossible is accomplished by Him. This is why it absolutely critical that God's sovereignty is preached as well. Who devotes themselves to anything that is powerless? Preaching the cross of Christ may seem foolish to the perishing but the rest of the verse is wonderful -- but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. When God saves you, you even see, and hear, and feel, and smell, and sense, and know things differently. That is because you were dead before and now you are alive!

The sense of Acts 2:42 is that the church is devoted to ALL the teaching of the Apostles -- not only part of it. The type of preaching that does this best is expository preaching. It is preaching based on a text of scripture and that text determines the subject matter of the sermon. This type of preaching protects both the preacher and the church by keeping the authority where it belongs -- on the Word of God. A good expositor of scripture does not skip difficult passages and lets them speak for themselves in the sermon.

However, preaching is not the only form of teaching in the church. The Bible describes many other ways by which the church was taught. The books of the Bible themselves are often letters. The Apostles exhorted, appealed, rebuked, reproved, and corrected. Even church discipline is a form of teaching. I would lump these things as well as preaching into the category of love. They loved the people of God with a full love. By loving the people, the Apostles taught the people. The most effective teachers in my life were those who deeply cared for me. Survey your past teachers in your mind, and you will probably find that the ones that you remember the most and who has the greatest impact on your life were those who loved you. And since the Apostles loved the churches that they taught, the people were devoted to the Apostles' teaching. Where does this kind of love originate? It is from God.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. (1 John 4:7-9)

This may seem like a strange turn going from the Apostles' teaching to love but the good teaching depends on love. Good teaching cannot exist without love.

Next up is Fellowship!