Why this Series?

In every generation, there is a need to return to proper biblical definitions.

Habits, practices, and outside influences all shape how we understand what we are doing. Over time, those influences can quietly replace Scripture as the standard by which we function. It takes only one generation to drift from confidence in the sufficiency of Scripture and dependence on it for all matters of faith and practice. When that happens, the church will eventually bear little resemblance to the picture given in Scripture.

The book of Judges shows this pattern with sobering clarity.

When the people had a judge, they walked in relative faithfulness. But when the judge was gone, they turned aside to foreign gods. This led to captivity and suffering, until they cried out to the Lord. In His mercy, God rescued them and raised up another judge—only for the cycle to begin again when that judge died.

This was not because God had been unclear. Through Moses, He had already given His word: obedience would bring blessing in the land, but disobedience and the pursuit of other gods would bring discipline and removal.

Yet each time there was no judge to lead them, the people abandoned the commands of the Lord and did what was right in their own eyes.

Judges 21:25
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. 

We face the same realities in our own day. If we are not careful, modern practices, cultural preferences, and even secular models of leadership can begin to dictate how we function as a church. That is why we must hold fast to the Word of God—learning His ways and submitting to His directives—so that we may faithfully function as a New Testament church in the time in which we live.

Author and theologian David Wells once noted that many seminary students were deeply dissatisfied with the state of the church. They believed the church had lost its vision and wanted more than it was offering. Wells rightly observed that dissatisfaction itself is not wrong. In fact, a holy dissatisfaction can be the seedbed of reform. But dissatisfaction alone is not enough. What the church needs is not merely critique—it needs recovery.

We must recover what the church is by nature. What distinguishes the church from every other institution? What marks her as God’s design?

And that’s what I am hoping for us. That we would know deeply and intimately and in such a way that we all function as God intends for us to function in his household. We can’t fully excel in the role or roles that God has given us if we don’t understand the nature and work of the Chirstian life and how that is played out in the Church.

One of the subtle challenges we face as human beings is how easily we come to accept what is normal.

Consider physical health. A person can live in a poor state of health for so long that it feels fine—until a change in diet, the start of exercise, or a diagnosis reveals how unhealthy things truly were. What had become familiar was never actually healthy.

The same is often true in the church. A church can grow spiritually sick without realizing it, simply because its condition has become normal. It is often only when confronted by something outside itself—or when it honestly looks into the mirror of God’s Word—that the true state of its health becomes clear.

WHAT IS THE CHURCH?

The church is the people of God—those called out by Christ, both universal and local.

Scripture tells us that Christ is the Head of the church, and we are His body. This means the church is not primarily a building, a program, or an institution. It is a living body, united to Christ Himself.

An easy trap to fall into is to think of Christ as this one who sits on his throne in the heavens and not as an inherent part of the body. He is the head. We can have an institutionalized view of the church because all that we see are people, buildings, and programs.

But we cannot think of the church that way because when we do we essentially DECAPATE THE HEAD FROM THE BODY.

When we begin to view the church as merely organizational, we unintentionally separate the body from its Head. But Scripture is clear:

Colossians 1:18
And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 

The church lives, grows, and functions under the authority and life-giving leadership of Jesus Christ.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH?

The ultimate purpose of the church is simple and profound: to glorify God.

Whether we gather for worship, serve one another, or reach our community, everything we do is meant to reflect His glory and bring Him pleasure.

2 Corinthians 5:9
So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

We do this through:

By Being Rich in the Word

Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Everything we do together as the people of God is meant to shape us so that the Word of Christ dwells richly within us. This happens through preaching and teaching, through lovingly admonishing one another, and even through the songs we sing.

That is why I preach the way I do, and why we are intentional about choosing songs that exalt Christ. Music is not neutral—it teaches us. The songs we sing form our understanding of who God is and who we are, and some songs, however well-intended, reverse that order. Our desire is that everything we do points us rightly to Christ.

By Loving Each Other Well

John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus said that love for one another would be the defining mark of His disciples. Genuine love within the church points the world to Christ.

Being Useful in His Hands

2 Peter 1:8
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As believers grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, they become fruitful. Spiritual growth leads to spiritual usefulness.

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH?

The mission of the church is to make and grow disciples. To see people be called out of darkness and into his marvelous light and grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ until they are complete in him.

Matthew 28:19-20
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

Colossians 1:28
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 

One of the great dangers of complacency in the church is that we forget why we exist at all. The seven churches addressed in Revelation remind us that the church exists solely because of Christ and for Christ.

Without that clarity, the church can easily drift into becoming just another gathering of people—indistinguishable from the social clubs of the world. But that is not our purpose. Our calling carries eternal weight, because the God of the universe has called us, claimed us, and commissioned us for His purposes.

When a church replaces Christ’s purpose with its own, Scripture gives a sobering warning: the Lord Himself may remove its lampstand.

Revelation 2:5
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THE CHURCH?

Our message is the gospel.

Christ died for our sins. He was buried. He rose again. Forgiveness and repentance are proclaimed in His name to all nations. This message is not optional or secondary—it is central.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

Luke 24:46-47
46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

WHAT IS THE METHOD?

The method by which the church carries out its mission is discipleship, defined by teaching believers to obey all that Christ has commanded and entrusting truth to faithful individuals who will teach others.

Discipleship is the work of the ministry.

2 Timothy 2:2
what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

We do this through our corporate worship, our Bible Studies, our Home Groups, Small Groups, Children’s and Youth, and even our relationships with each other and with those in the world. Discipleship impacts everything we do in the life of the church.

WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE?

God has gifted and called each person in the body to differing responsibilities for the good of his people and progress of the gospel. The structure of the church is built on the spiritual gifts that he has given to key individuals.

Elders/Pastors/Bishops - all one office

Elder is defined as a person of responsibility and authority in matters of socio-religious concerns.

Pastor is another way of saying Shepherd one who is responsible for care and guidance.

Bishop or Overseer is one whose role involves both service and leadership

The service that Elders do for the church is to equip the people to know truth from error, to establish the doctrines, to exhort, to protect from wolves outside and inside.

Thus they will be held accountable, not solely by the church body, but by the Lord.

Hebrews 13:17
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. 

Deacons - one who serves the needs of the people. Scripture doesn’t give much in regards to the responsibilities of deacons, but what we do see in the Scriptures is that they supported the work of the elders/pastors/bishops by tending to the physical needs of the church so that the ones who were responsible to shepherd and lead were freed up to do so (see Acts 6:1-7).

Members

Those who have been tasked with protecting the gospel, affirming deacons, exercising church discipline, and submitting to the leaders God has placed to protect and care for them.

All members are a priesthood with direct access to God through Christ on behalf of one another.

All members are responsible to care for one another, reprove each other, and make and grow disciples.

All members are responsible for their own walk with the Lord so that they can be equipped and effective in the work of the ministry.

CONCLUSION

In summary, there is a call to the church to renewed biblical faithfulness by recovering a Christ-centered, Scripture-sufficient understanding of what the church is and why it exists. Only by anchoring itself firmly in God’s Word can the church remain healthy, fruitful, and faithful to the purposes for which Christ established it.