Calvary Road Baptist Church
“THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST: ITS IDENTITY”
I have already presented an elementary and straightforward consideration of the mystery of the Church. As something previously concealed from us but always a concept in the mind of God to be revealed at the appropriate time, the mystery of the Church of Jesus Christ is revealed only in the New Testament portion of God’s Word.
Also, since the Church of God is declared to be a mystery, it happens to be a spiritual matter in that decisions reached by Church congregations reverberate in heaven, and the primary reason for the creation of the Church (which is to glorify God in Christ) is a never-ending and eternal purpose.[1]
These things being true, for one reason or another this matter of the Church is understood differently by different people, in part because the Holy Spirit’s illumination of believers so we can comprehend spiritual things is incomplete and never full in any Christian’s understanding. The light of illumination on this side of heaven is a rather dim light, with each believer knowing more about some things and less about other things than other believers.
This is true not only of the Church of Jesus Christ but of every other truth set forth in Scripture. Two godly members in the same congregation and under the same instruction from God’s Word will always understand somewhat differently different spiritual truths. This holds true with the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ, as with any other doctrine.
This is another simple message focusing on the identity of the Church of Jesus Christ. By identity, I mean who it is and who owns it, who created it, and therefore, by right of creation, possesses it and ought to control it.
Please forgive this message about the Church of Jesus Christ for being so basic and simple. There is so much confusion in the world about the Church of Jesus Christ that baby steps are needed to establish a solid foundation for future instruction.
What are some reasons for this confusion? The Roman Catholic Church has long held the view that it is the Church of Jesus Christ, the visible universal Church of Jesus Christ. Various orthodox Churches, such as Greek, Russian, and Armenian Apostolic, have their views of the Church of Jesus Christ. The Anglicans (known in the USA as Episcopalians) have their view of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Even the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Church of Christ, and Seventh-Day Adventists add their confusing positions to the Mulligan stew of what the identity of the Church of Jesus Christ is thought by people to be. Then there is the Protestant position that is also embraced by some non-Protestants.
If the identity of the Church of Jesus Christ reveals to us whose it is and who owns it, who created it, and who, therefore, by right of creation, possesses it and ought to control it, then we are faced with two considerations of the type that lawyers frequently talk about, de facto and de jure. Don’t let these two Latin phrases discourage you; they are simple concepts. De facto is Latin for “from the fact.”[2] De jure is Latin for “sanctioned by the law.”[3]
These two Latin phrases will be the framework for our discussion of “The Church Of Jesus Christ: Its Identity.”
First, THERE IS THE DE FACTO OWNERSHIP OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
The Latin phrase “de facto,” literally “from the fact,” refers to reality.[4] It is one thing, for example, for a contract to specify who under the law is authorized to call the shots. Still, it is quite another thing to observe who is actually calling the shots, actually making the decisions, and actually controlling the operation. Ideally, of course, in a perfect universe, “de facto” would be the same as “de jure.” However, that is sadly not the case in so many different situations. We see the conflict between “de facto” and “de jure” being played out in our nation’s capital almost every day of late, with unauthorized activities seeming more prominent than legal ones.
Allow me to illustrate: We know from God’s Word that a husband is supposed to be the head of his household. Yet it is commonplace for us to recognize and admit that despite what is written in the Bible, and despite what oaths and promises are made when two people marry, it is unfortunately very common in our culture for wives to be the “de facto” heads of the house and leaders in the marriage. Whenever you have a married couple with children, and the wife and mother have the final say concerning the disposition of their children, be it their diet, be it their attire, be it their education, or be it their discipline, then the mother is the “de facto” head of the house and leader in the home. That ruins not only marriages but also husbands and children.
Therefore, let us set aside, for now, a consideration of what different Christian denominations and groups of so-called Christians, and even congregations, claim about who owns the Church of Jesus Christ, who owns their Church so that we might actually investigate who is the “de facto” owner of the Church by a consideration of their function. Observe and then, with me, conclude who actually, and for all practical purposes, owns and runs what they insist is the Church of Jesus Christ.
Without turning to any specific passage in the New Testament, I would like to pose a question for your consideration: Does a Church of Jesus Christ engage in any legislative activity? Or is a Church of Jesus Christ an entity tasked with purely executive functions? Does a Church of Jesus Christ decide what is right and wrong? Does a Church of Jesus Christ, for example, determine who is and is not a saint? Does a Church of Jesus Christ possess the authority to depart from the clear instructions of the Bible? Or is a Church of Jesus Christ supposed to be restricted to executive action, limited to doing what God’s Word directs them to do? Our task as a Church is to discover and then do His will as revealed in the Bible.
I am persuaded, and I hope you are convinced as well, that God, the Word of God, and the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit to discover God’s will in the Bible makes a Church of Jesus Christ a creation of the Lord Jesus Christ that is supposed to be limited to executive action, without any authority to legislate in spiritual matters.
If a congregation, or a denomination, or some religious body claiming to be a Church of Jesus Christ engages in spiritual legislation, actually decides what is right and wrong, what is and is not sinful, such as who should be allowed to marry who, then that so-called Church of Jesus Christ is the “de facto” owner of the Church instead of Jesus Christ Himself. Not good.
Then, THERE IS THE DE JURE OWNERSHIP OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
To refresh your memory, “de jure” means “sanctioned by law.”[5] Thus, regardless of who actually decides how the money is to be spent, how the children are to be corrected and trained, and where the family will go on vacation year after year, the husband is in fact and according to the Word of God the actual head of the household. Thus, saith the Lord.
What we are interested in, therefore, is not who acts like they are the head of a Church of Jesus Christ by redefining what is and what is not sinful, by choosing what commandments to ignore and to obey, and by selecting what portions of God’s Word they will explain away.
Such conduct is legislative and should have no part in any Church’s life. I maintain that a Church is strictly limited in God’s Word to executive action, to doing what our Lord and Savior directed us to do as He gives us grace to do it. Only then are a congregation’s actions reflecting what the Bible declares to be true, with Jesus Christ owning and governing His Church because He created it, He sustains it, and He makes it grow.
That said, what can we find in God’s Word that provides information for us regarding a Church of Jesus Christ’s relationship to Him? We begin with Matthew 16.18, where our Lord made a statement showing both ownership and intentions concerning His Church:
Do you remember when Tim Russert decided, after almost two centuries of leftists, socialists, and communists identifying as 'reds' to determine that Republicans were from now on red and the Democrats were from now on red?
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
After that passage demonstrating His ownership and intentions, notice next Matthew 18.15-20, showing His instructions to His Church:
15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Now turn to Matthew 28.18-20, where we are given the Lord Jesus Christ’s authorization, commonly referred to as the Great Commission, revealing His authority over His Church:
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
We next turn to Acts 2.47, where, on the Day of Pentecost, we see the Lord adding to His Church:
“Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
We now turn to the epistles, where the Apostle Paul declared Christ to be the head of a Church:
Ephesians 1.22:
“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church....”
Ephesians 5.23:
“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.”
Colossians 1.18:
“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
The Apostle Paul was inspired to present the Lord Jesus Christ as the head over everything to His Church, Who is the Savior of the Church, and that He should have preeminence with respect to His Church in every way. Our final resort is Revelation chapters two and three, where we find seven letters written to the angels of the Churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Read each of those letters, and one thing stands out above all else: the Lord Jesus Christ in those letters exercises sovereign rule over the men placed by Him in positions of spiritual leadership. In other words, He is in charge in His Church, as evidenced by holding them accountable.
Who does the Word of God show ought to be in charge of a Church of Jesus Christ, as its Creator, as its Lord, as its Head, as the one who provides direction to a congregation for dealing with sin in our midst, as the one who possesses all authority in heaven and on earth and therefore gives to us our marching orders in the form of the Great Commission so we will know how to serve Him, and who also holds our spiritual leaders accountable because He holds those Church pastors in His hand, Revelation 1.16 and 20?
What I have described to you from God’s Word shows us the “de jure” head of the Church, who in Scripture is supposed to be in charge. How, then, does it come to be that the “de jure” head of the Church is the “de facto” head of the Church? That is, how is the legal and proper head of a Church shown to be the practical and actual reality head of a Church? Only when a Church functions as the executive body it is shown to be in the Bible, actually doing what the Lord Jesus Christ in His Word directs us to do.
Christians sometimes sing the tune, “He is Lord.” Those are wonderful words to say, though merely singing those words announces that Jesus Christ is the “de jure” head over His Church, the One who is supposed to be the functioning head.
What reveals Him to be the “de facto” head over His Church, the One who is in practice the head, is when His Church follows His direction, obeys His Word, yields to His Spirit, and engages in the fulfillment of His Great Commission.
The Church in Ephesus recognized the Lord Jesus Christ as the “de jure” head of the Church, by our Lord’s own testimony, in Revelation 2.2-3, without, of course, using the Latin phrase:
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
However, what was the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ not being the “de facto” head of that Church, according to the Savior, in Revelation 2.4?
“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”
We know from Second John 6 that love is obedience. Therefore, any congregation that does not comply with the Savior’s wishes has left their first love, with the decision makers functioning as the “de facto” heads of the Church. What damage, what sin, what an outrage it is when we behave that way and do not love our Lord enough to obey Him.
A Church of Jesus Christ is His, and we must conduct ourselves as though we truly are His. His marks of ownership should be all over us, in our countenances, our praises, our devotional lives, and our evangelism, with everything we do reflecting that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. That correctly displays our identity as the Lord Jesus Christ’s Church.
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[1] Matthew 18.18; Ephesians 3.21
[2] Eugene Ehrlich, Amo, Amas, Amat And More, (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1985), page 97.
[3] Ibid., page 98.
[4] Ibid., page 97.
[5] Ibid., page 98.
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