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Guest (Male): Augustine said, "The church is a prostitute, but she's my mother." Let's talk on Key Life.

Key Life exists to communicate that the deepest message of Jesus and the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers. Because life's hard for everyone, grace is for all of us. Our host is seminary professor and author Steve Brown.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew.

I hope you had a great weekend and I hope your pastor's sermon was as good as my pastor's sermon.

Listen, let me give you an idea of some of the directions we're going to go in. I've got a little bit more to say. I want to spend some time talking about the church, and then I want to spend a little bit of time talking about the future.

I'm not going to deal with the premillennial, post-millennial issue or the rapture issue, but we're going to talk about the difference it makes, and this is one of the basics of the Christian faith when you know the future. And the future is that Jesus is coming back and cleaning up the mess.

And then I'm going to start on a new series and I'm going to do something that I don't think I've ever done before. We're going to be publishing a book over the next year that I wrote, and it's called The Astounding Nature of Truth and how it deals with shame and guilt and regret.

And I'm going to share that book with you before it's published. And I'm going to ask you to do me a favor, and that favor would be to let me know if you have additions or corrections to what I've written.

And so there's a sense that we're going to write a book together over the next few weeks when I finish this series on the basics of the Christian faith. I just thought you ought to know.

Okay, before we study, let's pray.

Father, we come into your presence rejoicing because we're forgiven, because we're free, because we're loved and because we're yours. You know everybody who's listening to this broadcast. You know the places that are difficult and the places that are easy, the places that are mixed with tears and the places that are mixed with laughter.

You're sovereign over all of that, and we praise you and we worship you. As always, we pray for the one who teaches on this broadcast. Forgive him his sins because they're many. We would see Jesus and him only and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

I got a quote that I want to share with you before we start talking about the church, because it wraps up the talk that I gave you on Christian responsibility. It's from a book by Olive Schreiner and it's titled Dreams and the Dream Life. And this is what is written.

"I thought I stood in heaven before God's throne, and God asked me what I had come for. I said, 'I'd come to arraign my brother man because he is not worthy and my hands are pure.' I showed them. God said, 'How is this?' And I said, 'Dear Lord, the streets on Earth are full of mire. If I should walk straight on in them, my outer robe might become besotted. You see how white it is? Therefore, I picked my way.' God said, 'On what?' I was silent. I let my robe fall. I wrapped my mantle around my head. I went out softly. I was afraid that the angels would see me.'"

That's it. That's what we are. We are beggars telling other beggars not where we used to find bread, but where we still find bread. And once that becomes our attitude, things begin to change and people began to listen.

Alright, another subject. What difference does the church make? Let me give you some scripture. Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them." And this is from Ephesians 5:25 through 27. "Husbands, loved your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." Hmm.

I've been a part of the church for all my life. I really have. And there was a time during my life when I didn't like that. I'd rather be in a bar than in church. But I'm older now and I'm wiser. Let me tell you something.

The church, the church has birthed me, taught me, loved me, forgiven me, been close to me, guided me for all of my life. And I can see why Jesus loved the church.

Augustine said that the church is a prostitute, but she's my mother. And if you've been in the church very long, you know exactly what he was talking about. I often have said when I'm preaching at a church that isn't mine, "If you're here visiting today, we're glad to have you, but let me give you some advice from the old guy: leave before you get hurt, because we're not a nice bunch."

We have cliques, we will reject you sometimes. We're not very nice sometimes. We're not very kind sometimes. So leave before you get hurt. But if you stay and you're willing to get over those humps and to be a part of this thing that Jesus loves that much, you'll find the most important fellowship you've known in all of your entire life.

Some Christians believe that when they come to know Christ, that that's all there is to it. We've all heard and maybe even said ourselves, "My religion is something between God and me. It's no one's affair but mine." If you feel that way, then you need to listen to what I'm going to teach you very carefully because you're in for a surprise.

The Bible teaches that when you became a Christian, you passed all of the entrance requirements for the church. In fact, not only have you passed the entrance requirement for the church, the Bible says you are already a member of the church. To say that your religion is your business and no one else is like saying my marriage is a private affair, has nothing to do with my wife or my husband.

To speak about the Christian faith without any reference to others who are Christians is the same as a businessman saying, "How I conduct my business is my business. It has nothing to do with my employees, my product, or my customers." The Christian faith, listen to me, is not a private matter. I don't like it all the time, but it's not a private matter. It involves your brothers and sisters. And when that involvement takes place, you call that the church.

Now, before we go any further, let me examine the word church. And there's a lot of misunderstanding about the word because people have used it outside its biblical context. Sometimes people talk of the church as if it were a building, a good thing for the community, or a group of quasi-religious people who've come together to talk about God. But the biblical word for church means none of those things. The Greek word in the Bible is ecclesia, and it means called out ones.

Also, the Bible calls the church the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the family of God. Those terms would define the church not just as an organization, but as an organism. That organism works out its presence, I believe, in the institution of the church. But there's an important difference between an organism and an organization.

Also, my brother or sister, you became a member of the church when you received Christ. The question is not whether you're a member. The question is, are you going to fulfill your membership? You became a part of the family of God when you were first born. You became a part of your spiritual family, the church, when you were born the second time. In both cases, you can walk away and reject your family, but you can't in either case cease to be a part of the family, even if you're a bad part.

And so we're going to talk about it next week. How important is the church? It's really important, in fact, more important than you think it is. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew: Thank you, Steve Brown. We've been learning about the basics of the faith and today we started talking about the church, separating the truths from the myths. So much more to explore here, and we shall do that beginning tomorrow. Don't miss it.

Last Tuesday was a big day, the 40th anniversary of the first Key Life broadcast. And to celebrate, we replayed that first episode, and if you missed it, I'm sorry. I don't know that we'll ever re-air that again. But I have good news. We'd like to send you that entire first Key Life broadcast on CD for free.

This is definitely a limited time offer, so right now, while you're thinking about it, call us at 1-800 Key Life. That's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at keylife.org to ask for that CD, or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the US and Canada. Again, just ask for the free CD featuring the first Key Life broadcast.

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