Foundations of Faith
THE CHURCH (IV)
“House of God” is an expression often used by people to refer to a church building. However, the Bible says that “the house of God … is the Church of the living God” (1 Tim. 3:15). The Church, as we have already seen, is a body made up of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the house of God is a building whose “stones” are people:”You also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:22). “You are the temple of God, and … the Spirit of God dwells in you” (1 Cor. 3:16).
The Church viewed as “the house of God” and “the temple of God” suggests several practices of the local church:
1. Just as the Spirit of God dwells in “the temple of God,” believers are to be gathered unto Christ, with Him as the Center in their midst (Matt. 18:20).
2. The believers are not only “living stones” making up the house, but holy priests within the house, “to offer up spiritual sacrifices (1 Pet. 2:5).
3. “The house of God … is … the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), so is connected with ministry of the Word of God.
4. As a “holy temple” (Eph. 2:21; 1 Cor. 3:17), discipline is exercised to cleanse the local church of unholiness (1 Cor. 5:13; 1 Pet. 4:17).
5. Order in the house of God is maintained in each local assembly by means of the service of elders and deacons (1 Tim. 3:1-15).
We shall consider each of these five aspects of the house and temple of God in more detail.
Believers in a local assembly may have many different reasons and purposes for gathering together:it may be (1) to participate in the Lord’s supper in which one man is officiating with a standard service; (2) to listen to a sermon; (3) to attend a Sunday school class; (4) to hear the preaching of the gospel; (5) to attend a music program or hymn sing; or (6) to plan some Christian service.
There is a type of Biblical gathering that is rather neglected in the Church today:”Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). “When you come together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying” (1 Cor. 14:26). In such meetings, Christ is in the midst, the focus of attention. There is no human leader in these meetings; rather the Spirit of God leads whom He will to praise, worship, pray, announce a hymn, read a Bible passage, or give a word of edification, exhortation, or comfort from the Scriptures (1 Cor. 14:3). This may be a meeting to remember the Lord in His death (Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:26-28), for prayer (Acts 2:42), or for ministry of the Scriptures (1 Cor. 14:3, 26-35). (See Assignment 13)
In the Old Testament there was a family in the nation of Israel (the descendants of Aaron) that was privileged to serve as priests on behalf of the rest of the nation. Only the priests could go into the tabernacle or temple or offer sacrifices. Only the high priest could go into the “holy of holies,” the innermost room of the temple, and that only once a year (Heb. 9:1-10).
In the New Testament Church, by contrast, all believers are holy priests “to offer up spiritual sacrifices,” “the sacrifice of praise to God” (1 Pet. 2:5; Heb. 10:19-25; 13:15); also, all are royal priests to show forth to others the praiseworthy acts of God (1 Pet. 2:9).
There is no indication in the New Testament of a priestly class or a system of clergy and laity in the Church. There is no hint of a certain class of believers being more privileged and qualified to draw close to God (for example, in administering the Lord’s Supper) than other believers. Christ Himself is our “great High Priest” (Heb. 4:14; 2:17). As shown in the previous section, in a meeting of the assembly, where the believers are gathered together unto Christ, our High Priest, “every one” of the brothers may participate as directed by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 14:26).
Notice that I said “every one of the brothers may participate.” This restriction is based on the verse, “Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak” (1 Cor. 14:34). This does not mean that the sisters occupy a less important position in the church. Rather, they provide crucial prayer support for the brothers who speak, and the Holy Spirit sometimes takes the silent meditations of a sister and gives them to a brother to speak publicly. There should be no thought that the vocal brothers receive more glory than the silent sisters because it is God who should receive all the glory. Also, nothing should really count with us but what God thinks of our prayers, thoughts, and meditations, whether silent or vocal.
The Holy Spirit has many other things for the sisters to do outside of the meetings of the assembly. These will be discussed in a later issue in connection with spiritual gifts.
Every member of the body of Christ has a specific and important role to play in the proper functioning of the body (1 Cor. 12:12-27). Another way of saying this is that one or more spiritual gifts have been given to every believer in Christ (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; 28-31; Eph. 4:11,12).
There is a common belief in Christianity that a seminary-trained, properly-ordained clergyman is the only one qualified to preach or teach the Word of God. But we do not learn this from the Bible. The uneducated fisherman Peter became a powerful preacher from walking with Christ for several years; so may you. The word “clergy” is derived from the Greek word kleeros which means “lot” or “inheritance.” It is found in the New Testament only in 1 Pet. 5:3:”Neither as being lords over God’s heritage (kleeros), but being examples to the flock.” So the only reference to “clergy” in the New Testament applies this word to the flock of believers as a whole, and not to a special class of leaders.
A special issue (or two) will be devoted to a discussion of the various gifts of the Holy Spirit and many ways that saved men and women can serve the Lord.
Running the Race
Assignment 13: (a) Write out verses in Acts 4 and Acts 12 that speak of a particular kind of assembly meeting. (b) Also write out verses in these two chapters that show the powerful results of these meetings.