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Steve Brown: What difference does the church make? I'll tell you on this edition of Key Life.

Guest (Male): That was author and seminary professor Steve Brown, and this is Key Life. We're all about radical grace because of what Jesus has done. God's not mad at you. Keep listening and that message will set you free to live a life of joy and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. If you were listening yesterday, we started talking about the church and the importance of the church. And one of the things that you got to remember, if you're a Christian, you're a member of the church. You have met all of the qualifications to be a member of the church.

I one time served as a pastor of a church and we had, we had weeks of training before anybody would join the church. And I had a guy who was in the church, his name was Roland, and he said, "Steve, I've been going through all these classes, and do you know it's harder to join your church than it is to get to heaven?" And I said, you know, I thought about that, but that's true. And that's when I stopped all of the church training.

I decided that if you're a Christian, if you've come to Christ, if you're forgiven, you're a member of the church, and you can't get out of it. You're a part of it. Who was it that said, "I don't want to be a member of any organization that would accept me as a member?" Well, it's kind of like that. The church is the church and if you, we saw yesterday, if you're a Christian, you are a member of the church.

I asked the question at the beginning of this broadcast, "What difference does the church make?" That question is not asked to decide whether or not to be in the church. That's already an accomplished fact. The question, when properly understood, is asked in order to perceive one's place in the church.

Now, before we talk about the importance of the church, the difference the church makes, it's important that we talk a little bit more exactly about what the church is. We saw yesterday that it's from a Greek word that means "called out ones," ecclesia. And before an individual becomes a Christian, he, he or she is called out to be different, to belong to Christ.

What some people don't tell you is that when that happens, you become a member of the church. Before an individual can answer the question of purpose or experience, there's a prior question of essence, which must be answered. In other words, we can't understand what we are doing here, unless we know who we are.

That is also true of the church. We can't understand what difference the church will make until we know what it is. And so, it's important to examine some of the biblical things that the church is, the way the Bible defines the church.

First, the Bible teaches that the church is people who have been brought close to God at a great price. The writer of the book of Hebrews, after speaking of the sacrifice offered in former times with the blood of animals says this, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve a living God?" Hebrews 9:14. We've been brought near to God through Christ's blood shed on the cross.

Paul put it this way, "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that those who are in the church, that it might be holy and without blemish."

Those who are in the church know that it is made up of men and women and children who together were brought to God at the price of the cross. Now, because of that cross, they can experience together his love, his acceptance, and his power.

The Archbishop of Canterbury back years ago, when he married the late Queen Elizabeth, said to the couple in the wedding ceremony, "Jesus is present here in this place right now." And then he smiled and he said, "You stay close to him and thereby you will stay close to one another."

Okay. Secondly, the Bible teaches that the church has not only been brought to God at a price of the cross, it is a family brought together by the same price. The church is unique because of its beginning. It was not formed so that there would be separation between good and bad people, to give reason for religious people to get together and meet and have covered dis-suppers, or even to perform service to the world.

It was performed, or it was formed because a man died on a cross to form it. To all people everywhere who have believed in Christ and what he has done on the cross, God gave the power to become the family of God. That's John 1:12.

I once heard a man who had been rejected by his human family stand before a congregation and say, "I don't have a mother and father or a sister or a brother in a human sense anymore. But I do have a family. You're my family."

"Last week I had holes in my shoes and one of my brothers came to me and said, 'My brother should not have holes in his shoes,' and he brought me a new pair of shoes. I've been hungry and my sister has said, 'My brother should not be hungry,' and she gave me a meal. I've been afraid and my family has said to me, 'Our brother should not be afraid because the family is with him and they comforted me.' I have an earthly family, I don't have an earthly family anymore, but I have you. You are my family and I love you."

Incidentally, that was C. M. Ward, the Assemblies of God preacher of another age. And I was there that night when he said it. And after he said that quote I just read to you, he said, "Everybody, come forward. Let's get together. I love you because you're my family." And this old Presbyterian preacher, and in those days I wore a collar, a clerical collar, I came with them because I was a part of that family too.

That C. M. Ward defined the church. Then third, the church is not only a family brought to God and to each other at the price of the cross. The church is a family with a fantastic heritage. Listen to what Paul said in Ephesians 2:19-20, "So then, you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets."

There's no other organization on the face of the earth with a heritage like the church. When Paul wrote the above words to the churches in Asia, he was writing to men and women of low estate. There were many slaves and vassals and common people, and he was saying, "My brothers and sisters, you may not have a great family heritage."

"You may not have much prestige here, but you have something much greater. You're a part of a spiritual family whose roots go back thousands of years. You're a part of a family built of great men and women of God who because they were committed to the family and because many of them were strong and courageous have given you a heritage that you should never forget."

The church is a family with a great heritage, brought to God and together at the price of the cross. But it's more than that. It's a family whose head is Jesus Christ. Paul said in Ephesians 5:23, and Ephesians is the church book of the Bible, "For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior."

The church is not a democracy. It is a dictatorship of Christ, who is the absolute head. The church's responsibility is not to meet together and decide what to do, or even to look at the problems in the world and decide which ones are to be addressed. The church comes together to discern what Jesus wants them to do and then to do it. Christ is the head of our family. His authority is absolute, his power unbridled. You think about that. Amen.

Guest (Male): What difference does the church make? Well, now you know. Thanks, Steve. We've been exploring the basics of the faith, a series we're calling Welcome to the Family. We'll continue delving into who and what the church is tomorrow, so be sure to join us, won't you?

Could the ancient discipleship tool of catechisms help us take on modern secular culture? Author Trevin Wax says that answer is yes. His new book is called The Gospel Way Catechism: 50 Truths That Take on the World. We spoke with Trevin about it on Steve Brown, etc., and I think you'll be intrigued by what he says. Check out that entire conversation on CD for free by calling 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 U.S. and Canada. Again, just ask for the absolutely free CD featuring Trevin Wax.

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