Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Church is something we are. It's not just a building. It's you and the people around you working together for God. On today's Telling the Truth, Stuart Briscoe talks about the church as a community of the called. He'll get started in just a moment. Right now is one of the most important times of the year for Telling the Truth because we're approaching our financial year end June 30th. So to help close the books on the strongest possible footing, some generous friends of the ministry have stepped forward with a $91,000 matching grant which will double any gift you give today.

That means your support right now is worth twice as much. Your gift doubled by this matching grant will help take Stuart and Jill's teaching and resources even further, reaching more people with the life-changing truth of God's word through radio, digital platforms, global partnerships, and even social media. And to say thanks for your gift today, we'd love to send you Stuart's two message series Let Your Light Shine. So request your copy when you give today. And thank you for helping shine God's light into the hearts of people everywhere. Call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org.

Now here's Stuart Briscoe with his message The Church, a community of the called.

Stuart Briscoe: You may remember that I was talking about the problem that we have of thinking the church is somewhere we go, that it is God's house, that we have God contained in that situation on our terms, and we can visit him, and then we can leave, and we can move out into an entirely different environment and then go visit God again some other time. This is very, very similar to the dichotomy that these authoritarian regimes are building on. The dichotomy between freedom of worship and freedom of religion. In other words, when we're talking about the church, we are talking about a community of people who have come together on a common basis of belief that morphs into behavior that impacts not only their coming together, but has a profound impact on their scattering into the community in which they live.

And it's very, very important that we don't succumb to the idea that church is somewhere we go. It isn't. Church is something we are. Well, let's move on a little bit from that. Let's look into the question well, if church is something we are, what are we? You're well aware of the fact that the New Testament was written in Greek, not in English. The Greek word translated church is ekklesia. E k k l e s i a. The word from which we obviously get our English word ecclesiastical. Ekklesia. It comes from two Greek words, ek, which means out of, kaleo, which means to call.

So you put the two together and the ekklesia is the called out ones, the called out people. That is the fundamental meaning of the word. So in other words, the roots of the word that is translated church in the English, ekklesia, how do we found in the Old Testament where God calls out the people of Israel, calls them out to himself, puts them in the land of promise to be a the people of God, a holy nation, a new generation. They are placed land in order that they might be to the surrounding nations a model of what a nation under God can be.

The ekklesia, the called out people. That's who we are. That's who we are. Now when we talk about the called out people, we've got to remember that they were called out to deal with community affairs. And so my definition of a church, bearing in mind all these things I've been talking about, my definition of a church is a church is a community of the called, a community of the called. And a community of the called, if we do understand it, requires a clear understanding of what it means to be called, what it means to be called into community.

What is it that is unique about the community of faith that is something to be treasured, that is something that when we're called to participate in it, we do it. What is it that is unique about this community and what exactly is this calling that we have received? Now if you look at the letter to the Ephesians, for instance, at the beginning of Ephesians chapter four, Paul says now I, the prisoner of the Lord Jesus, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling you have received. Walk worthy of the calling you have received. What's interesting to me about that is that the general way of interpreting that is well, I have been called to be a believer in Jesus.

I've been called to be a disciple of Jesus. But if you read that in its context, I don't think that's what it's saying at all. The first three chapters of Ephesians are talking about what it means to be the body of Christ, what it means to be living stones built together into a habitation where God lives by his spirit. What it means to be the unique called out people of God. That is the calling that the first three chapters of Ephesians are talking about. And now the practical application in chapter four verse one is all right, walk worthy of that calling.

Now it's very easy to see that it's not an individualized calling that Paul is talking about because he then says if you are going to walk worthy of your calling, then it is going to require you to make every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit. Unity of the spirit is showing about community life. And then it goes on to say what is going to take to make every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit. It's going to require us to be humble and gentle for bearing with one another in love and being willing to work at it.

Notice that what Paul says here. He says this unity of the spirit has to be maintained, not manufactured. There's all the difference in the world between manufacturing something and maintaining it. I have my Mini Cooper parked outside here. It's the dirtiest car in the lot. My little Mini Cooper, I know how to maintain it. I know how to get the oil changed. I know how to get the air in the tires, etc., etc. I wouldn't have a clue how to make it. I wouldn't know where to start. I'm glad that God has called me to manufacture the unity of the spirit.

I do recognize that he has called me to work hard to maintain the unity of the spirit. But what is this unity? Well, in Ephesians four, Paul goes on even further and he tells us there are seven things that believers have in common. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in all, etc., etc., etc. This is what it means to be called into the community.

Guest (Male): More teaching from Stuart and Jill Briscoe is coming up, so stay with us. Did you know you can find more life-giving content from the Briscoes at tellingthetruth.org and on the Telling the Truth app? There you can sign up for daily devotionals, watch videos, read blogs, and access a variety of other resources to help you experience life. And while you're there, you can also request this month's featured resource as thanks for your gift of support to help share the abundant life Jesus offers with more people around the world. Visit us online or download the app today and experience life with Telling the Truth.

Now here's Stuart Briscoe once again.

Stuart Briscoe: When we look into what is unique about the community of the called, what we find is that over and over again in scripture we read the little expression one another, one another, one another. Do a study on this sometime and you'll get a very, very practical picture of what it means to be part of this community of the called. That is the basic meaning of ekklesia. Why is it important that the church should see itself not just as a group of individuals who go there and come sometime and don't come sometime and go for a while and then quit going, etc., etc.?

Why does it matter? It matters because of this reason. In the beginning, God created human being. Well, actually he created one human being, the male variety. And you remember that he evaluated everything that he created and he said good, good, good, good, good, uh not good. Now women of course understand that he was talking about men when he said not good. This is advised to most men. But this is also an example of taking a text out of its context and finishing up with a pretext. What he actually said was it is not good for man to be alone.

So he made woman. Now when God made man, the male, he made an individual. When God created the woman, he created something entirely different. He created community. When God created the individual, things were relatively simple. It was God and man and man and God. That was it. When God created woman, it was God and man man and God, God and woman, woman and God, woman and man man and woman. You see what women did? You see You see this this whole entirely different situation. Okay, then after creation comes the fall. When the fall happened, everything that was good wasn't good anymore.

It was ruined. It was spoiled. It was fallen. When the individual fell, what it meant was we came up with something called alienation. Individuals alienated from God. When community fell, something else happened. It was called fragmentation, alienation of the individual, fragmentation of the community. When we look at alienation of the individual and fragmentation of the community, we say this is the world we live in. Look at our world and there's every imaginable evidence of fragmentation of the communities. There's all kinds of evidence of the alienation of the individual. The situation that we have right now is that God is intervening in a fallen world in what we call redemption.

Always remember creation, fall, redemption, glory. Creation, all things are good. Fall, alienation, fragmentation, redemption, rolling back the consequences of the fall, rolling back the consequences of alienation of the individual and fragmentation of the community. Well, you ask the average Christian what is God's redemptive activity designed to roll back the alienation of the individual? The average Christian will tell you right away it it's Christ. It's Christ. That's that's what he does. He reconciles alienated men and women to God. That is the essence of the Christian gospel for the individual. But it's not just the individual, it's the community that is fragmented as well.

Does God care? And I believe the answer, the obvious answer is of course he cares. Well then what is God's answer to the fragmenting community? If Christ is the answer to the individual who's alienated, what is God 's answer to the community that is fragmented? And I believe the answer is an alternative community, an alternative community. And what is this alternate community? It's the community of the called. It's a community of the called. Now many people say I don't want to be bothered with that. It's too much of a hassle. Just let me do my own thing.

Just let me do my individual thing. I don't want to go through all the stuff that happens in the impact of a community. Let me take a little bit of this, a little bit of that when I want to. When I don't want to, I don't need to. And what is happening? We are robbing a fragmenting community of the model that it needs, the model that God intends it to see in the alternate community. So there's the picture now. The ekklesia is the community of the called. Why is the community necessary? And what does it mean to be called?

Those are the fundamental issues that we need to address. Finally, let me just direct your attention to a wonderful little verse in Ephesians verse 22 and God things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church. Now listen, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. There's a description of the church that blows my mind that he is the head over everything on behalf of the church, which is his body. The fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Well, Paul frequently talks about the church being the body of Christ.

But here he says that the church as the body of Christ is the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. The word fullness can also be translated completion. And what he seems to be saying here is this that Christ is the one who completes everything. He brings everything to fulfillment. But he says that something will fulfill Christ. Something will fulfill Christ. Now if Christ is going to fulfill everything, how can something fulfill him? It is the church as the body of Christ that fulfills Christ. That's why with all its faults I want to hang on and no wonder stick with it.

And I want to insist and persist in seeing Jesus doing what he wants to through his body. And you know why I don't you? Because church is not somewhere you go. Church is something you are.

Guest (Male): Now here's Stuart to dig a little deeper. Stuart, what would you say to the person who feels alienated from the community of Christ? How do they re-engage?

Stuart Briscoe: Well, there's no doubt about it that many people do feel alienated from the community of faith. And there's equally no doubt about it that we do have many situations in which we see disciples of Jesus behaving badly. And there are churches that are guilty of abusing people. All all that has to be admitted, it has to be repented of, and it has to be dealt with. The other side of the coin of course is this. Sometimes people say they are alienated from the church because the church was trying to deal with something in that person's life that was inappropriate, that was unacceptable.

They engaged in what we would call technically church discipline. A lot of people don't take kindly to any kind of church discipline, even if it is legitimate, even if it is handled in a godly but God-fearing way. And so when people say they feel alienated from the church, I think we need to start by exploring what is it that's upset them? Is it something that the church has done that they need to be confronted about? Is it something that the person themselves have mishandled and they need to look into that much more carefully? The both possibilities exist.

Guest (Male): Stuart, what do you think the church should do to reach out to the community around it?

Stuart Briscoe: There are ways in which a church as a whole can reach out to a community, but also there are many, many ways in which the individual members of the church need to reach out to the community. And let's take the second one first. Ways in which individuals can reach out to their community. Peter in his epistle sums it up beautifully. This is what he says. Live such good lives among the pagans. He uses the word pagans, but it's literally among the people. Live such good lives among the people that they will see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.

Now notice this. It means first of all that the individual believer has got to step outside the comfortable, secure surroundings of the community of faith into the community of the unbeliever. And they are to live out there. And they are to live out there in such a way that people recognize that they are people who are contributing to the society as a whole. They see their good works and they appreciate their good works. In fact, they go even further than that. They attribute the good works that those believers are responsible for to God himself and they give God the glory.

Now that is a huge, huge subject that that is the key to how a church will reach its community.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today. We're so glad you're with us and we pray today's message has helped you experience more of the abundant life Jesus offers. Right now is one of the most important times of the year for telling the truth because we're approaching our financial year end June 30th. So to help close the books on the strongest possible footing, some generous friends of the ministry have stepped forward with a $91,000 matching grant which will double any gift you give today. That means your support right now is worth twice as much. Your gift doubled by this matching grant will help take Stuart and Jill's teaching and resources even further, reaching more people with the life-changing truth of God's word through radio, digital platforms, global partnerships, and even social media.

And to say thanks for your gift today, we'd love to send you Stuart's two message series Let Your Light Shine. In this encouraging teaching, Stuart unpacks how your everyday life, no matter how ordinary, can reflect the light of Christ to the people around you. So request your copy when you give today and thank you for helping shine God's light into the hearts of people everywhere. Call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Thank you for joining us today. We hope you'll tune in again as the Briscoes share more powerful truth from God's word. Experience life next time on Telling the Truth.