When we think about church, we usually think
of worship services, the collective assembly, our particular
denomination, or even the building in which we congregate. But does
simply coming together for worship, listening to a good Word and
eating some covered dishes afterward make us a church? Is that what
Jesus has in mind? Or are we somehow missing something?
Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not
prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Let’s examine that bold
declaration for a moment and perhaps we can begin to uncover Jesus’
intent for His Church.
For starters, notice the use of the personal pronoun “I” in this
Scripture. That clues us in to an important truth: Jesus is
intimately involved with the Church. That means He is taking full
responsibility for oversight of His Body. It also means that its
operation is of personal importance to Him.
Next, consider Jesus’ use of the word “will” in this passage. The
word “will” is used to express desire, choice, willingness, and
consent. The Church is Jesus’ will. It is His desire. He willingly
consented to die for His earthly Bride.
The next key word in this verse is “build.” Building describes a
process that will be completed some time in the future. We know that
the process is not complete yet; because when it is complete Jesus
will be united with His Bride. But the Church must be sanctified and
cleansed with the washing of water by the Word so that Jesus can
return for a glorious Church without spot, wrinkle or blemish
(Ephesians 5:26-27).
Once again, Jesus said, “I will build my church…” The word “my” in
this Scripture makes no bones about the fact that the Church is His.
He owns the Church outright because He purchased it with His very
own sinless blood. Five-fold ministers are merely stewards over the
souls in the local church, as described in the Book of Acts: “Take
heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God,
which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
But is this the way we look at the Church? Do we see the local
church as a body of believers that was purchased by the blood of
Jesus; as an assembly of saints that Jesus is personally involved
with by His own desire; as a work in progress toward holiness that
will be suitable for the King of Glory? Or are we still stuck with
an image of a quaint, little, brick building with a looming white
steeple that we visit on Sunday mornings?
To be sure, most of us probably fall somewhere in the middle,
understanding that there is more to church than what our parents
taught us, but not yet with the full revelation of what Jesus truly
intends for His Church. That’s because we have been trained and
conditioned from childhood to stay within the boundaries of well
known denominational – or perhaps even “non-denominational”
structures.
The real question, then, is what did Jesus mean by “church” when He
decreed, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19).
The picture that Jesus is painting in this verse is much different
than what most of us visualize as Church. Just glancing over these
verses, we should take notice of the uncompromising authority that
the Church is intended to possess. Jesus talked like He was going to
build a Church that would be a prevailing, powerful entity. This
Church would arrest portentous events in the earth. It would also
release God to liberally intervene in the earth with righteous
influence. It would have keys to lock the enemy out and to open the
gates of heaven. Unfortunately, this is a much different image than
what we see in church today.
Verses such as these in Matthew 16 become abstract to us, either
because we have no point of reference or because we simply fall in
line with commonly accepted mindsets concerning its interpretation.
We often read over Scriptures without listening for what God is
saying. It becomes much easier for people to tell us what we believe
than to dig around in the Word and seek God for ourselves.
Our lack of knowledge results in very little (if any) revelation
added to the foundation that the previous generations left for us.
Many of God’s people never even think that there might be something
else to discover. We inevitably fall into the trap of accepting
church the way it was handed to us, never understanding that the
Body of Christ is a living, breathing organism that is supposed to
continue to grow and develop. Ultimately, our ignorance robs us of
the destiny God has for us: to build on what the last generation
left us and to leave an inheritance for the next generation to build
upon.
In the Greek, the word for church is
ekklesia. It is made up
of two words –
ek, meaning “out of” and
kaleo, meaning
“to call.” The word literally means “the called out ones.” The
Church has been called out of the world of spiritual darkness into
the inheritance of God’s Kingdom. God preached this message through
the lives of Old Testament saints.
Abraham is a good example. He was called out of Haran to inherit
Canaan. The place that he was called to inherit was much greater
than the place from which he was called. We, the Church, must
understand that just as Abraham was called out, we have also been
called out to inherit the world around us – to exercise Kingdom
authority wherever the soles of our feet tread. But as long as we
are satisfied to sit in Haran we will never possess our Promised
Land.
It’s time for us to wake up! We are the Church of Jesus Christ. We
have a responsibility in the earth. The house of God is the Gate of
Heaven, the place where the authority of heaven is loosed into the
earth. Jacob experienced a glimpse of this in Genesis 28:17: “And he
was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other
but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Jesus
confirmed this in John 1:51: “And he saith unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels
of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”
While Jesus was here in the flesh, He was the Body of Christ in the
earth. He was the gateway of heaven. Wherever He went, the gates of
hell were impotent against Him. He had authority as the Body of
Christ to bind and loose, to heal, to deliver and even commission
angels for Kingdom business. Yet, when you look at the Church today
it looks nothing like what Jesus represented during His earthly
ministry.
When Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against the
Church, He was trying to clue us in on the purpose of the Church.
The gates represented the strength and authority of a city. The word
ekklesia in Jesus’ day was used to describe the governing
body of people that met in the gates of a city to establish policy
for that city. In essence, Jesus was saying, “When you come
together, my authority is with you for the purpose of establishing
Kingdom policy.” When the gates of hell are set against godly
principles in a territory, Jesus calls us out from our houses,
fields, jobs, friends, family, depression, anxiety and so on, to
institute godly, governmental authority in our region.
So just because we come together to worship doesn’t make us a
church. To be the Church that Jesus said He was building, we must be
an assembly of governing authority in the spirit. We must also
initiate, in the natural, what we declare in the spirit. The purpose
of the Church is not just to meet together for exciting services. We
must be instruments that God can use to establish His Kingdom on the
earth.
We have a mandate from Jesus Christ. We are here to be an occupying
force of governmental authority until Jesus comes. We all know about
the Great Commission. Most of us can quote it. We are to go into all
the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Matthew gives us
a detailed explanation. Jesus told the disciples that all power or
authority was given to Him; it was His to do with what He wanted. He
turned to the Church and commissioned us to make disciples of all
nations, baptize them, and then teach them how to observe everything
that was commanded.
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Jesus said that He would work with us in accomplishing this
magnificent task. His authority would rest upon us and we would work
together until the end of the age to accomplish the divine will of
God. We are not here to hang on until Jesus comes. We are the called
out ones, the ekklesia, the legislative branch of God’s government,
and the authority of God in the earth. We are here to take over.
So what is the Church? The Church has a much greater purpose than
what we have realized. We are not intended to be a country club. Our
destiny extends much farther than our social gatherings, school of
ministry classes, anointed services, and evangelistic crusades. All
of these things are wonderful; they help strengthen and unify the
local body of believers. These activities strengthen the foundation
of the Church, but they are not the purpose of the Church. They are
only a few of the tools we use to accomplish our purpose.
The purpose of the Church is to replace the principles of the
kingdom of darkness with the principles of the Kingdom of light. We
are not to conform to this world. We are to colonize it. We are here
to enforce Kingdom principles on every plane of existence we
encounter. If we are not assaulting the principles and doctrines of
darkness in our area we are not fulfilling our purpose. We are not
reaching the lost. We are not building the Church.
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