BIBLE COURSE TCB101

GRACESTAND LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

{GSGC BIBLE SCHOOL}

                                      

LEVEL ONE: CERTIFICATE

COURSE TITLE: THE CHURCH

COURSE CODE: TCB 101

GRACESTAND GOSPEL CHURCH UKRAINE

Clemzyclementministry.blogspot.com

gracestandleadershipacademy@gmail.com

THE CHURCH

The New Testament Greek word for church is “ecclesia,” meaning “an assembly of called-out ones.”

The term is applied to:

a)   The whole body of Christian is one city. Acts 11:22; 13:1

b)  A congregation. 1 Cor. 14:19; 35; Rom. 16:5

c)   The whole body of believer’s on earth. Eph. 5:32

Our English word “church” is derived from Greek “kuriake” meaning “that which belongs to the lord.” The church then is a company of people called out from the world, who prefers and tender allegiance to the lord Jesus Christ.

WORDS DESCRIBING CHRISTIANS

A.   Brethren: The church is a spiritual brotherhood or fellowship, in which all divisions that separate mankind have been abolished.

v There is neither Jew nor Gentile: - The deepest of all division based on religious isolation is overcome.

v There is neither Greek nor Barbarian: - The deepest of cultural division is overcome.

v There is neither bond nor free: - The deepest of social and economic divisions are overcome.

v There is neither male nor female: - The deepest of all human division is overcome.

B.   Believers: Christians are called “believers” because their characteristic doctrine is faith in the lord Jesus.

C.   Saints: They are called “saints” (Literally “consecrated or holy ones”) because they are separated from the world and dedicated to God.

D.  The Elect.: They are referred to as “the elect” or “the chosen” because God has chosen them for an important ministry and a glorious destiny.

E.   Disciples: They are “disciples” (Literally “learners”) because under spiritual training with Christ – inspired instructors

F.   Christians: They are “Christians” because their religion centres around the person of Christ.

G.  Those of the way: In the early days they were often known as “those of this way” (Acts 9:2) because they live according to the special way of life.

ILLUSTRATION OF THE CHURCH

A.  The Body of Christ. Eph. 1

The lord Jesus Christ left this earth more than nineteen hundred years ago; but He is still in the world. His presence is manifested through the church – His body.

If Christ is to be known to the world, it must be through those who bear His name and share His life. 1 John 4:17.

The church is an organism i.e any living thing which develop by inherent life and not an organization which is a group of individuals voluntarily associated together for a certain purpose, such as a fraternal organization or trade union.

B.  The Temple of Gold. 1 Pet. 2:5-6

A temple is a place in which God, who dwells everywhere, localizes Himself in one particular place where His people may always find Him “at home”. Ex. 25:8; 1 kings 8:27. As God dwelt in the Tabernacle and Temple, so He now lives, by His Spirit in the church. Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Cor. 3:16-17.

In this spiritual temple Christians, as priests offer up spiritual sacrifices - sacrifices of prayers, praise and good works.

C.  The Bride of Christ

This is an illustration used in both Old and New Testament to picture the union and communion of God and His people. 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:22-27; Rev. 19:1; 22:17;21:2.

The purpose of symbols is to illuminate one particular side of truth and not provide the foundation for any doctrine.

THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH

1.  Considered Prophetically

Israel is described as a “church” is that it was a nation called out from other nations to be with servant of God. Acts 7:38.

When the Old Testament was translated into Greek the word “congregation” (of Israel) was rendered “ekklasia” or “church”. Israel then was the congregation or church of Jehovah. After His rejection by the Jewish church, Christ predicted the founding of a nesw congregation or church – a divine institution that should continue His work on earth. Matt. 16:18.

This is the church of Christ, which came into existence at the resurrection of Christ from the grave. Rom.6:4-5; 2:12; Eph. 2:14-18.

2.  Considered Historically

The church of Christ came into existence as such at the resurrection of Christ from the grave. Rom. 6:4-5; Col.  3:1-5

The church was later consecrated on the day of Pentecost. The first members of the church were assembled as the church and consecrated as the church by the descent of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:1ff

THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHURCH

The New Testament lays down the following conditions for membership

1.   Implicit faith in the gospel

2.   A heart-felt trust in Christ as the only Divine savior. Acts 16:31.

3.   Submission to water baptism as a symbolic testimony to faith in Christ.

4.   Verbal confession of faith. Rom. 10:9-10

Entering the church was not a matter of joining an organization but becoming members of Christ, as a branch is grafted to a tree.

There also exist a distinction between the church invisible, which is composed of real Christians from all denominations, and the church visible, consisting of all who profess to be Christians. The first being composed of those where names are written in heaven, the second comprising all those who have their names on the church books. Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43, 47-49; 2 Tim. 2:19-21.    

THE WORK OF THE CHURCH

1.   To preach salvation: Matt 28:19-20. Christ has made salvation possible by providing it; the church must make it actual by proclaiming it.

2.   To provide a means of worship: The church must be a home of prayer for all the people where God is honored in worship, prayers, and testimony.

3.   To provide religious fellowship: The church provides a fellowship based on the fatherhood of God, and the Lordship of Christ. It is a brotherhood of those who share a common spiritual experience.

4.   To hold up the moral standard: “The church is the light of the world”, to banish moral ignorance; “it is the salt of the earth”, to preserve it from moral corruption. The church must teach men how to live as well as how to die.

THE ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH

        New Testament Christianity is not a ritualistic religion; at the heart of it is man’s direct contact with God through the spirit. Therefore it does not lay down hard and fast order of worship, but leaves the church in every age and land to adapt to the method best suited for the expression of His life.

There are however, two ceremonies which are essential because they are divinely ordained, namely: Water baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.

Water baptism is the rite of entrance into the Christian church, and symbolizes spiritual life begun. The Lord’s Supper is the rite of communion, and signifies spiritual life continued.

The first pictures Faith in Christ, the second pictures fellowship with Christ. The first is administered only once, for there can be but one beginning of spiritual life; the second is administered frequently, teaching the spiritual life must be nourished.

1.  BAPTISM

a)  The Mode:

The word “baptize” used in the formula means literally to dip or to immerse. The scripture original mode is by immersion, which is true to the symbolical meaning baptism, namely death, burial and resurrection. Rom 6:1-4.

b) The Formula:

“baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

The question of baptizing people in the name of Jesus Christ as said by Peter in Acts 2:38 means according to Thayer’s Lexicon, that the Jews were to “response their hope and that message is” be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Compare it with 1 Cor. 10:2.

c)  The Recipient:

All who sincerely repent of their sins and exercise a living faith in the lord Jesus are eligible for baptism. In the apostolic church the rite was accompanied by the following outward expressions:

o   Profession of faith – Acts 8:37

o   Prayer – Acts 22:16

o   Vow of consecration – 1 Peter 3:21.

Infants were completely ruled out for water baptism

d) The Efficacy:

Water baptism in itself has no saving power; people are baptized not in order to be saved but because they are saved. While we cannot say that it is essentially needed for salvation we must insist that it is essentially needed to indicate full obedience to Jesus Christ.

e)  The Meaning:

o   It signifies salvation: The lowering of the convert pictures Christ death accomplished; the submersion of the convert speaks of death ratified, or His burial; the raising of the convert signifies death conquered, or Christ’s resurrection.

o   Experience: The fact that the acts are performed with the convert shows that he has been spiritually identified with Christ.

o   Regeneration: The experience of the new birth has been described as a “washing” (Literally “bath” Titus 3:5), because thereby the sins and defilements of the old life are washed away.

o   Testimony: Gal. 3:27. Water baptism signifies that the convert has by faith “put on” Christ – the character of Christ – so that men may see Christ in him as they see the uniform upon the soldier.

2.  THE LORD’S SUPPER

The Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion may be defined as the distinctive rite of Christian worship, instituted by the lord Jesus on the eve of His atoning death. It consists of a religious partaking of bread and wine which, having been presented to the father in memorial of Christ’s inexhaustible sacrifice, becomes a means of grace whereby we are inspired to increased faith and faithfulness towards Him.

a)   Commemoration: Every time a group of Christians gather to celebrate the Lord’s Supper they are remembering in a special manner the atoning death of Christ which freed them from their sins.

b)  Instruction: The Lord’s Supper is a sacred object lesson setting forth the two fundamentals of the gospel.

1.   The incarnation: As we take the bread we hear John the apostle saying; John 1:14; we also hear the lord Himself declaring; John 6:33.

2.   The atonement: But the blessings included in the incarnation are imparted to us through the death of Christ. The bread tells that the bread of life must be broken in death in order to be distributed among the spiritually hungry; the poured-out wine tells us that His blood which is His life must be shed in death in order that its cleansing and quickening power may be supplied to needy souls.

c)   Inspiration: As we partake of the bread and wine of the communion, we are reminded and assured that, by faith, we may truly receive His spirit and reflect His character.

d)  Assurance: The new covenant instituted by Christ is a blood covenant. God has accepted the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14-24) and has therefore comitted Himself, for Christ sake, to pardon and save all who come to Him. The blood of Christ is the Divine guarantee that He will be gracious and merciful to the penitent. Our part in this contract is to believe in the atoning death of Christ. Rom. 3:25-26. Then we can testify to being sprinkled with the blood of the new covenant. 1 Pet. 1:2.

e)   Responsibility: Who shall be admitted or excluded from the Lord’s Table? Paul deals with the question of sacrament worthiness in 1 Cor. 11:20-34.

The apostle is not talking about the unworthiness of persons but the unworthiness of actions. And in a sense, only those who sincerely tell their unworthiness are in a right state to approach the table; the self-righteousness are never fits. Further, it has been noticed that it is the deeply spiritual people who feel their unworthiness the most.

THE WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH

First Paul’s epistle gather that there were two kinds of meetings for worship: one was in the nature of a prayer, praise, and preaching service; the other was worship service, known as the love feast (agape). The first was a public service; the second was a private service to which only Christians were admitted.

1.   The Public Service

The public meeting “was carried on by people as the spirit moved them”. At any point in time this simple service might be broken into and superseded by the manifestation of the spirit in the form of prophecy, tongues and interpretations or some inspired insight into the scriptures.

That this spirit-inspired worship was a powerful means of touching the unconverted may be gathered from 1 Cor. 14:24-25.

2.    The Private Service

We read that the first Christians continued in “breaking of bread”. Acts 2:42. Do these words describe an ordinary meal or the celebration of the Lord’s Supper? Perhaps both 1 Cor. 11:21-22.

Later in the first century the Lord’s Supper was separated from the Agape and celebrated on the Lord’s Day morning.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH

1.  The Government of The Church

It is clear that the lord Jesus purposed that there should be a society of His followers to give mankind His gospel and to represent Him in the world.

He fashioned no organization or plan of government, gave no detail rule of faith and practice. He did not ignore the organization for the promise of the coming comforter implied that the apostles should be led into the truth concerning these matters.

He impacted to it His very life, making it a living organism. A living body adapts itself to its environment so the living body of Christ was left-free to select its own forms of organization according to its needs and circumstances.

As the church grows in members, organization developed from the following sources;

o   Church officers were added to meet arising emergencies E.g. Acts 6:1-5

o   The possession of spiritual gifts single out certain individuals for the work of the ministry.

The first churches were democratic in government – a circumstance natural in a community where the gift of the spirit was available to all and where any and all could be divinely endowed with gifts for a special ministry.

It is true that the apostles and elders presided at business meetings and act the appointing of officers: But these things were done in cooperation with the congregation. Acts 6:3-6; 15:22; 1 Cor. 16:3; 2 Cor. 8:19; Phil. 2:25.

In the early days there was no centralized government of the whole church. Each local church was self-governing and managed its won affairs in freedom.

Naturally, the “Twelve” were regarded with deference because of their relation to Christ and they exercised a certain authority see. Acts 15. Paul kept general oversight over the Gentile churches; however this authority was purely spiritual, and not an official authority such as that granted by an organization.

While each local church was independent of the other as far as jurisdiction was concerned, the New Testament churches did enter into cooperative relationships with one another. Rom. 15:26-27; 2 Cor. 8:19; Gal. 2:10; Rom. 15:1; 3 John 8

THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH

Two kinds of ministry are recognized in the New Testament:

1.     The General and Prophetic Ministry

·        Apostle: these were men who received their commission from the living Christ himself (Matt.10:5, Gal 1:1), who have seen Christ after his resurrection (Act 1:22, 1 Cor. 9:1) enjoy a special inspiration (Gal 1:11-12, 1Thess. 2:13), exercise administrative power over the churches (1 Cor. 5:3-6, 2 Cor. 10:8, John 20:22-23), carried supernatural credentials (2 Cor. 12:12), and whose chief work was the establishing of churches in new fields (2 Cor. 10:16). They were Christ-called, spirit-filled church executives and missionary organizers. The twelve apostles of Jesus and Paul (who stood by in a class by himself) were the apostles by pre-eminence, but the title was also given to others who engaged in missionary work.

·        Prophets were those endowed the gift of inspired utterance, while the apostles and evangelists carried this message to the unbelieving (Gal 2:7-8); the prophet’s ministry was particularly to Christians.

·        Teachers were those gifted in the exposition of the word. Like the prophets, many of them travel from church to church.

2.     The Local Ministry and Practical Ministry

The local ministry which was appointed by the church on the basis of certain qualifications (1Tim 3) include:

·        Presbyters or elders to whom was given the title “Bishop”, meaning Overseer or Superintendent. These had general oversight of the local assembly, especially in relation to pastoral care and discipline. Their duties were chiefly of spiritual nature. They are sometimes called “Pastors” or “Shepherds” Eph 4:11. Compare Act 20:28

·        Associated with the presbyters were a number of assistant rulers called Deacons (Acts 6:1-4, 1 Tim. 3:8 -13, Phil. 1:1) and Deaconesses (Rom. 16:1, Phil. 4:3), whose work appears to be largely house-to-house visitation and practical ministry to the poor and needy 1 Tim. 5:8-11. The deacons also assisted the elders in celebration of the Lord’s Supper.