Welcome back to our investigation into this thing called Praise Breaks. The last time we left off, we had a "brief" look into the issue of "judging".
This time, we're going to look into the purpose of the church.
What is the church?
The word, “church”, is the greek word Ekklesia.
1) a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly
a) an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating
b) the assembly of the Israelites
c) any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance, tumultuously
d) in a Christian sense
2) an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting
3) a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order's sake
4) those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body
5) the whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth
6) the assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received into heaven
The church is not the building, but the church meets in a building. The church is the congregation as a whole.
We are told to not forsake the assembling of ourselves (Hebrews 10:25) - meaning God wants us to gather together as often as we can.
That is the general will of God for the church.
Why does God want us to meet?
God wants something to take place when we meet. Here is what should be taking place...
Ephesians 4:12-16
...For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
This is the main purpose for the gathering of the church.
If you look at that passage, you can see that the thought doesn't start at verse 12.
So let's go back a bit.
Ephesians 4:11
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
From this, we can clearly see that God instituted the positions in the church in order to carry out the main purpose of the church.
This is why those who lead the church… the elders… are supposed to measure up the stringent list of characteristics located in the pastoral epistles.
So our main focus when we gather is not to dance, sing, pray, shout, celebrate or anything like that. Our main focus is to grow in our theology and doctrine. Our main focus is to be grounded in the word and draw closer to God by being taught from His word.
This is the role of the elders, to make sure that the congregation stays focused on its main purpose.
So what are we allowed to do when the church meets?
Well, when we look at the main purpose of us gathering together, we see three descriptions… the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry, and the edifying of the body of Christ.
How do we become perfect? We become more Christ-like, as He was perfect.
How do we do that? We learn more about Him, and His ways and become more and more obedient to His commands.
How do we know what those are? We read and study the bible. But since this is in the midst of the congregation, we are supposed to be taught His commands and truth from the bible.
In other words, we become perfect as we are taught the bible when the church gathers together, and when we read and study the bible when the church isn't gathered.
What is the work of the ministry?
Well, the word "ministry" tells us.
It is the greek work diakonia
It means...
1) service, ministering, esp. of those who execute the commands of others
2) of those who by the command of God proclaim and promote religion among men
a) of the office of Moses
b) of the office of the apostles and its administration
c) of the office of prophets, evangelists, elders etc.
3) the ministration of those who render to others the offices of Christian affection esp. those who help meet need by either collecting or distributing of charities
4) the office of the deacon in the church
5) the service of those who prepare and present food
That is the work of the ministry.
This is what Jesus did.
Because it’s what Jesus did, and we are becoming like Jesus, the procedure would be the same as becoming perfect.
What is edification of the body of Christ?
Edifying is the greek word oikodomē
It means...
1) (the act of) building, building up
2) metaph. edifying, edification
a) the act of one who promotes another's growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, holiness
3) a building (i.e. the thing built, edifice)
We are being built up to become like Jesus. So the procedure would be the same as becoming perfect.
So, to sum up... the things we do when the church gathers together should cause us to become more perfect, prepare and enable us to minister, and edify the body - not one or two people, but the body as a whole.
Let's end here for today. Meditate on the things we have learned. Join us next time as we continue to lay the foundation for our investigation into this thing called Praise Breaks.
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