What Is the Church of Christ?

I suspect that many of you remember Flip Wilson, a very bright comedian. I was particularly intrigued by his portrayal of a preacher. I had seen similar preachers on television. Do you remember what Flip called his church? It was "The Church of What's Happening Now." As I have driven to gospel meetings and to other appointments, I have noticed the names some groups give to their churches. For example, one church calls itself "The Truth and Love Church." Do not people care whether they honor their Lord by giving their churches biblical titles? I knew Flip Wilson was spoofing when he called his church, "The Church of What's Happening Now." So I was amazed to hear one preacher on television call his church "The Church of the Now."

I shall not take the time in today's lesson to review the Old Testament prophecies concerning the church. The Old Testament does not use the word "church" since the word ekklesia (translated either "church" or "assembly") is Greek and not Hebrew. The Old Testament predicts the coming of God's kingdom—the church of the living God. I shall read just one passage predicting the coming of Christ's kingdom. The prophet Daniel outlined the three world kingdoms that would succeed the Babylonian Empire. Those kingdoms were: the Medo-Persian Empire, the Alexandrian or the Grecian kingdom and the Roman Empire. The prophet Daniel then predicted: "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, that will never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" (Dan. 2:44).

I am fully aware that some theologians—especially premillennialists—argue that the kingdom Daniel predicted had to be postponed because the Jews rejected the king. There is a serious problem with that position. Time prophecies cannot be postponed. Long before Daniel came on the scene, the great Jewish lawgiver and prophet warned: "And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word that the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not follow, nor come to pass, that is the thing that the Lord has not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it presumptuously: you shall not be afraid of him" (Dt. 18:21-22). Time prophecies cannot be postponed. Anyone who speaks of postponing the kingdom that Daniel, Isaiah, Joel and other prophets predicted should remember the words of Moses. Surely no true Bible believer wants to accuse Daniel and the other Old Testament prophets of being mistaken.

John the Baptist understood that the establishment of the Lord's kingdom was in the very near future. The apostle Matthew records: "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt. 3:1-2). When Jesus began his personal ministry, he preached the same message. "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt. 4:17). Both John and Jesus were anticipating the immediate appearance of the kingdom. They did not have in mind a kingdom that was" thousands of years in the future, as the premillennialists teach.

But how do we know that Old Testament prophecies of the kingdom and the teaching of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ referred to the church? Two New Testament passages establish that fact beyond dispute. Matthew 16 tells of Christ's meeting with his disciples at Caesarea Philippi. He asked his disciples what men were saying about him. They told him that some people thought he was John the Baptist; others thought he was Elijah or Jeremiah; some thought he was one of the other prophets. Although Christ was certainly interested in what people in general were saying about him, his primary interest was what the disciples thought. He asked them, "Who do you say I am?" The apostle Peter confessed: "Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God." Jesus knew Peter had learned that truth from God almighty. He then said, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Please listen carefully to our Lord's next statement to the apostle Peter. "And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt. 16:19). Incidentally, the promise Christ made to Peter in this passage he made to all the apostles later (Mt. 18:18).

Jesus Christ promised to build his church. He then promised the keys to the kingdom to his apostles.Was he building one organization—the church—and giving the keys to another organization—the kingdom? We learn in Paul's letter to the Colossians that the kingdom was in existence and was the church of the living God. Paul affirmed that God had delivered him and the Colossians "from the power of darkness" and had "translated them into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Col. 1:13). Please remember that Paul was writing to the church at Colosse. Yet he says that he and the Colossians were translated into the kingdom. Were they translated into a nonexistent kingdom? The apostle John helps us to understand that the kingdom was already in existence. "I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Christ" (Rev. 1:9).

In addition to these passages about the kingdom, the New Testament identifies members of the church as "citizens." Paul charged the Christians at Philippi: "Only let your conversation be as it becomes the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel" (Phil. 1:27). The Greek word politeuomai (translated "conversation") means citizenship. Paul reminded the Philippians: "For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself (Phil. 3:20-21). And besides all of this, the word of God calls Jesus Christ the "blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of Lords" (1 Tim. 6:15). Paul referred to Christians as "fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19). The apostle John adds: "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they who are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful" (Rev. 17:14). If Christ is king, as both Paul and John affirm—there has to be a kingdom. Can the Lord Jesus Christ be a king without a kingdom? Christ is king and the church is his kingdom.

How does one get into the kingdom of God almighty? No one can be a citizen of the kingdom just because his parents were or because he lives in a community where there are numerous citizens of the kingdom. Jesus explains what one must do to become a citizen in the kingdom. He instructed Nicodemus: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus had difficulty with our Lord's words. He asked, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" Jesus explained in words we should easily understand. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:3-5). The inspired record of conversions in Acts of the Apostles never mentions being born again. Peter, Philip, Ananias and Paul told men and women to be baptized. "Then Crispus the chief ruler of the synagogue believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized" (Acts 18:8). When the Corinthians believed and were baptized, were they born again?

The New Testament also identifies the church as the body of Christ. The apostle Paul teaches that God "has put all things under his (that is, Christ's) feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all" (Eph. 1:22-23). Paul told the Colossians: Christ "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" (Col. 1:18). Please listen to other passages from Ephesians. "And that he might reconcile both (that is, Jews and Gentiles) in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby" (Eph. 2:16). "There is one body, and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling" (Eph. 4:4). Paul urged the Ephesians: "Speaking the truth in love, that we may grow up into him in all things, who is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love" (Eph. 4:15-16). "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and he is the Savior of the body....For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" (Eph. 5:23, 30).

It ought to be readily apparent that Paul compares the body of Christ—the church—to the human body. Both Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 stress that truth, but I shall concentrate in this discussion on 1 Corinthians 12. Paul affirms: "For as the body is one, and has many members, and all members of the body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ" (1 Cor. 12:12). If you have ever had any doubts about the tragedy of division among those who claim to be Christians, this verse should remove that doubt forever. Even though there are many members, the church is one body. Is that not also what Paul told the Ephesians? "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling" (Eph. 4:4). Paul makes that truth even plainer, if possible, when he wrote: "But now are there many members, but one body" (1 Cor. 12:20).

The members of that one body have many different functions, just as the different members of our physical bodies have different functions. "For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now God has set the members everyone of them in the body, as it has pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are there many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of you: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No, much more those members of the body, that seem to be more feeble, are necessary: and those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part that lacked: that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular" (1 Cor. 12:12, 14-27).

The human body is one of the most complicated, sophisticated and marvelous creations in the world. That was king David's reason for writing: "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knows right well" (Psa. 139:14). The human body alone furnishes abundant evidence for the existence of God. It also provides proof that all forms of evolution are false. Paul uses the human body, as I have just read from 1 Corinthians 12, to illustrate many features of the body of Christ—the church of the living God.

I shall not have time today to outline all Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12 about the body of Christ. But there are some truths we must not overlook when we are examining the question, "What Is the Church of Christ?" For example, there are many members of the body of Christ, just as there are many members in our physical bodies. The members in the body of Christ do not all have the same function. Some men serve as elders, some as preachers, some as deacons, some as song leaders and so on. But every member of the body of Christ has a role to play in the scheme of human redemption. All members of the body of Christ are important and must be honored for their work.

There is much more I would like to say about the oneness of the body of Christ and the function of the members of the body. But I want to go back to 1 Corinthians 12 and read one more verse. I deliberately left that verse out in my reading of that passage. I have a question for you before I read that verse. How does one become a member of the body of Christ? I have already read to you what occurred in Corinth when Paul preached that Jesus was the Christ. The Corinthians believed and were baptized (Acts 18:8). Please listen to what Paul said about the baptism of the Corinthians. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:13).

The fact that the church is the family of God is one of the most beautiful and meaningful aspects of the church. Although the exact expression, "family of God," does not appear in the sacred text, there can hardly be any doubt of the appropriateness of the term. Paul told Timothy: "These things I write unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly: but if I tarry long, that you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:14-15). The English Standard Version and the New American Standard Bible employ the term, "household of God."

Many New Testament writers speak of God as our Father. Jesus Christ is our older brother and all Christians are brothers and sisters in the family of God. Paul assured the Roman Christians: "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together" (Rom. 8:16-17).

If we will be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, does that not mean we must be in the family of God, the church of the living God? When my father died in 1982, his possessions were divided among the Claiborne children. No one outside the family was included in the inheritance. Paul's letter to the Ephesians explains that truth very forcefully. Paul insists that all spiritual blessings are in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:3). He then provides a list of the spiritual blessings—election, adoption, being accepted, redemption and forgiveness. He then wrote: "In whom (that is, in Christ) also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will" (Eph. 1:11). If we expect to be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, we must be in the family of God.

I have one final question I must ask you. How do we get into the family of God? Did you know that inspired writers speak of our being baptized into Christ or into the church, the family of God? Paul asked the Romans: "Do you not know, that so many of us as were "Baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death" (Rom. 6:3)? Paul reminded the Galatians of their obedience to the gospel. "For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:26-27). You know faith plays an essential role in our relationship to God. But we do not believe into Christ; we are baptized into Christ.

Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? If you do not believe, you cannot please God (Heb. 11:6). Will you repent of your alien sins? God commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30-31). Will you confess your faith in Christ as the Son of God so that he will confess you before the Father at the final judgment (Mt. 10:32-33)? Upon the confession of your faith, you are now ready to be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Contrary to what some Calvinists teach, you must be holy in thought and in action to receive the crown of life. The author of Hebrews exhorted his readers: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334