Since we live in a world of “you go to your
church and I will go to mine,” and since we are so touchy about
anyone’s
judging anything we do, including which church we attend, we thought it
important
to ask the question that stands as title for this article. Many are not
at all
concerned with such things as finding Christ’s church in our world, but
are
deeply concerned with finding a church they like, or one that preaches
what
they want to hear, or conducts a worship after the style that they call
worship. If they are partial to rock ‘n roll music, then they want a
church
that uses a rock band to entertain them as they carry on what they call
worship. Such persons usually do not make any spiritual connection with
the
church and what is going on; it is a matter of finding one (if they are
seeking
one at all) that does or says something they like. Now, such attitudes
are
neither new nor novel inasmuch as they have been around for hundreds
upon hundreds
of years. However, for those who are deeply interested in the Bible and
the
things that pertain to it, for those who “hunger and thirst after
righteousness,” there is an entirely different attitude regarding the
question
we have before us. It is to these people we dedicate our answer today.
Firstly, it is of vital importance that we
identify the church for which Jesus gave his life because he did that
only once
and he purchased only one church. The church about which we read so
much in the
New Testament was not one of many from which men could pick and choose
as they
do with sweat shirts in the clothing store. People were not called to
be
followers of Christ in a way that allowed them a great many choices.
They
either chose Christ or they stayed with what they had been. They had
many, many
heathen choices, and among the heathens gods a plenty. But when it came
to
Christ they either chose or rejected him. We have lived in a divided
religious
world so long with all manner of choices so far as churches are
concerned that
we have come to believe that it has always been that way, when the
plain fact
of the matter is that in the 1st Century such choices did
not exist.
Furthermore, those who did choose to follow Jesus were intensely loyal
to him,
because in all reality they had nowhere else to go. In the age in which
we
live, one might search for years to find that church, but it is worth
the
search.
Secondly, it
is of vital importance that we identify
the church for which Jesus gave his precious life because it is the one
to
which the saved are added at the time of their conversion to our
magnificent
Master. When one turns to the Book of Acts and studies all the cases of
conversion, he is impressed with the fact that these Christians were
gathered
into an assembly of saints in every place in which conversions were
made. The
final verse of Acts 2 reports that fact in these words, “And the Lord
added to
the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). If those who
were
saved day by day as they became Christians were added to the church,
then it
must follow that the church was the called out assembly of the saved.
This
was/is a very special body of people in the sight of God and should be
in the
sight of man. This body of saved people was known in apostolic times as
“the
church.” Notice the language of Colossians 1:18 in which Paul, by the
Spirit’s
inspiration wrote, “And He is the head
of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead,
that in all things He may have the preeminence.” It is clear that the
“He” in
this passage refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is equally clear that
he has a
divine body of people made up of those who are saved from sin and ready
to live
in service to him. Furthermore, it cannot be denied that this divine
body is
the church. Therefore, any reasonable person would rightly conclude
that if the
Head of the church is Christ himself, and if he is the divine Son of
God, then
the church which is his body must be equally divine. If one wants to be
truly
saved from all past sin, he will strive to find that body of people to
which
the Lord alone adds those who are saved by his blood. In 1 Corinthians
15:24,
Paul, referring to the church under its governmental feature of a
kingdom, said
that Christ will one day deliver the kingdom up to God the Father. At
that
time, salvation will be totally completed and the glorified bodies of
the
saints of God will forever live in the heaven of heavens.
