02 His Answer is Church

Welcome to session two. Now we are going to start looking at what the church actually is. From there we'll look at leadership and how we should relate to it. But this session is about—What is church really? The last session, we looked at what it shouldn't be.

Now we're going to start looking at what it is and how to do this well. In Ephesians 3:10—it's through the church, that God has chosen to reveal His glory. The church is such an important thing. It is the thing that Jesus died for.

It is the most beautiful thing on the earth. It's a thing that we should treasure and nurture. We also should lay down our lives and see the church as beautiful, because it is the bride of Christ. It's ultimately going to be the thing that He comes back for on the earth and we have to get her ready for Him.

Community vs. Modern Individualism

And so we've got a lot of work to do. When you look at what the Bible says about the end times, I just think, God, we've got a lot of work to do to get these things working well. One of the great challenges we face is obviously our modern culture.

We live in a world that most of your Christian books are about how everything is personal—how you can get your breakthrough, how you can find your seven keys to whatever it is. And so we are inundated with teachings that are about us.

But actually, when you look at the Bible, hardly any letters are written to individuals. All of them are written to the church, the corporate body of Christ, the people of God. And so, God's culture is much more community based than our culture. We come out of an individualistic, Western culture, which is very much rooted around the "me" and the "I".

We often joke about the evil trinity: me, myself, and I; where God is Trinity and He is Father, Son, and Spirit, three distinct persons who are so united, they are regarded as one God. And this is really how the church is supposed to start to look.

The First Mention of Church in the Bible

We're supposed to reflect God. And so in many ways, we've got to take culture captive and start to learn about the ways of God. The first time we see the word church used in the New Testament is in Matthew 16:18. Jesus is speaking and He introduces this concept to our Bible. Later we'll see that the concept of church was not just something that Jesus started.

It was already very much in the Jewish culture. But let's quickly look at the first mention of this in our Bibles. Jesus is talking about Peter becoming this rock, this key apostle. And He says, "And I tell you that you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell or Hades will not overcome it."

Jesus said, I'm going to build My church. If My church is rooted in Me, then hell will not overcome what I built. And so the key thing always for the church is that it's properly rooted in Jesus. But when He says "the church", that word in the Greek is the word ecclesia.

Defining Ecclesia: People Not Buildings

And obviously we wanna dig into the original language to find out what does that word mean and was it used? Was that a common word? Because then we can learn what Jesus meant when He used the word "church". There are many people with many ideas about what a church is.

Sometimes you drive down the road and you see a building and it says, "church". Well, technically, no, that's not a church. A church is not a building made of stone anymore. We're not in the old covenant with a temple that was made of stone.

We are the church and we are living stones being built together to become a dwelling in which God will live by His Spirit. And so we have to dig into what this definition is and find out how it apply to us. Also, a lot of people say, "I am the church"—no—the church isn't an individual.

The church is a community. The word church is used in two ways. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, "I will build my church." And in this sense, He's using the word in the very broad sense, that I'm going to build My people. And He's using it as a picture of the collective saints of God.

They will be together called the church. But that's not normally the way that it's used. It's normally used in a much more local, defined way. The people of God who are actually gathering together in a specific place would normally be the church. So in the last session we read about the church in Ephesus—that's the church.

It's the gathered saints coming together. So the church really means this: it's a public assembly of the citizens duly assembled or duly summoned. It's as though in Caesar's time, you might find a city that would gather together and all the citizens of Rome would gather together in one place, and that would be called the Ecclesia.

And so when Jesus uses this concept, like the citizens of Rome would gather together and have an Ecclesia—a gathering of the appointed citizens of Rome—Jesus is saying, "I'm going to call a new kingdom on the earth, and My people will gather together, and when they gather together—that's when I'm going to call it My church."

Through that gathering, that oneness, that I'm going to build and bring My kingdom and the gates of hell will not prevail because I'm going to use this vehicle to bring down principalities and powers and rulers in the heavenly places. So it is a very important thing and something that Jesus is going to build.

Historical Context of the Greek Assembly

The concept of Ecclesia in the Greek was adopted before Jesus came. In the year 300 B.C., so you're talking 300 years before Jesus, the Jews who had been in captivity in Babylon from a few hundred years before that had actually lost the Hebrew language.

So, the Hebrew language was gone; very few people could read or understand it. And so the problem is when Judah came back to the promised land, very few people could understand Hebrew. Which meant that when you're reading the Hebrew Bible, no one knows what you're saying.

What the scribes did is they translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek. And it became known as the Septuagint. Mainly because very few Jews could actually understand Hebrew anymore. Which kind of goes against a lot of what modern Christians say, but anyway. Every time you read in your Bible the quotes of the Old Testament, it's always quoted from the Septuagint, and even many of the disciples, although they were Jewish boys, they had Greek names.

The Greek culture had prevailed so strongly that at the end of the day, Greek was probably one of the common languages. Some say Aramaic and Greek, not Hebrew anymore. In 300 B.C., the scribes began to write about the people of God that were gathered in the Old Testament.

And in Deuteronomy 31:30 it says, "And Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel." And that word, assembly, is Ecclesia. And so here the scribes are talking about this gathering of the Old Testament people of God coming together, and they called them the Ecclesia, because they thought they were the citizens of heaven. They were the people of God. And so this concept that was already very much in the language of the day, but Jesus now spoke about this thing that was going to be a little bit different.

The Church as an Assembled Body

It wouldn't be the Jews anymore, although they could come into it. It would actually be ultimately something that He would build. Salvation would finally come through what He would do and then through the vehicle of the church. So it needs to be said, the church is who we are, but it's also something that we do.

We gather together; we are joined together as a community. When you use the word "the church," it's always us, it's not me. Does that make sense? It's something we do; it's not something that we just are. I am, but I'm not just am, I also do.

Does that make sense? In the broad sense, I am part of the church, but I'm only really truly the church when I'm a part of a gathering of the people of God. And maybe the picture for this is years ago, my dad went on a business trip and as dads do on business trips, he came home with a model airplane.

I remember it was a Spitfire, which is a kind of an airplane that was used in the Second World War. But I remember when I opened the box and there were these little pieces that were wheels and little parts. You couldn't actually see what plane it was.

You couldn't even really see that it was a plane. Only when I assembled the pieces together could you start to see, it's an airplane, it's a Spitfire. And it's like that with the church. You can't really see the church when you look at an individual.

You only start to see the church when it assembles and it's joined together by the hand of God. And so it's a holy thing. It's a beautiful thing. And later we'll look at some of the wonderful words that God uses to illustrate what this thing is that we are now a part of.

Being Built Together as a Dwelling for God

In Ephesians 2:22 we read: "And in Him—you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God will live by His Spirit." Like those pieces, we are being built together. So many of you are here watching this course because you are possibly looking to join one of our churches.

There is a sense that you're a part, and here's an amazing thing. We'll later see we'll never fully reflect Him properly without you coming in because you bring a part of who He is to us. But only when we are all joined together do we become a temple in which God will live, by His Spirit.

And so God will join us together in this new community, this new thing called the church. And then we become a dwelling in which God will live by His Spirit. There is a process of sanctification, of God working in us to make us more and more like Him so that we can contain His presence.

So if you join a church properly, you can't stay the way you were. Change is inevitable because we are growing from one degree of glory to another. And so as you come in, you're going to start to find who you are is challenged as you start to learn, how do I fit within the bigger picture?

How do we work these things through so that we can become joined together to actually become a place in which God will actually live? In the New Testament the church is described as the temple. We are now the temple, living stones being built together, and the temple is a place that in the Old Testament, God came.

Now the church, us, is where God will come and He'll actually meet us in the temple. Now where's the temple now? We are the temple. There's no more Jewish temple. It's been destroyed in AD 70. Jesus said it would happen because He's going to build something new.

It'll be the church. So it's a beautiful, beautiful picture of what God is going to do. And it's really a lot about relationship. It's about caring for one another, loving one another and reflecting God together and worshipping together as the community. And we'll dig into that a bit more later.

The Mission to Disciple Nations

This is the goal. This is what the church becomes. It's a community of people gathered around the Father. Remember, He is ultimately the one that we all live for, rooted in the Son, rooted in Jesus. In other words, the only way you come into the kingdom is through Jesus.

He's the door. There's no other way. "I am the way, the truth and the life," He said. We come into the kingdom through Jesus, but we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now comes and lives in us.

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit make their home with us, and so we become joined to Them and They to us. And then we begin to join to one another. We become, the Bible says, one new man. And so He brings us together from all these places, and He joins us together, so that we become joined together almost like parts of a body.

And we then work together as one new man, to disciple nations, which is what He said you need to do. He said, go in Matthew 28, go and make disciples of the nations, you know. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you.

And so the church is this incredible thing that's got a mission. If you join a healthy church you'll live to bring people to the King and the kingdom and disciple them and grow them up so they can come in, grow up and mature, glorify God and then work with us to bring others into that plan of salvation.

We are a threshing machine that's going out into the nations to bring people in to the kingdom. We don't just come to sit in pews. We are missionaries. We're all missionaries. We've all got a job to do and we'll work together through our own unique grace to make that happen.

Devotion to the Local Fellowship

In modern churches, you often see people come as they feel like it. If the weather's good, they'll miss. Some people are just floating around between churches. That is not the New Testament picture we see. In the New Testament we see every single person is in—every single one is fully in—they are devoted.

Remember in the last session, Acts 2, "they devoted themselves." If you looked at me and my wife—what does devotion look like? It would mean I'm totally and utterly living for her. I'm devoted to her. They were devoted to fellowship. They were devoted to the church.

And we see this even in Acts 15:22 and throughout the New Testament in these pictures of the healthier church. It seemed good to the apostles and the elders and the whole church. The whole church, every single one of us is important. We're not here to fill a pew.

We're not here just to be a number. We are important. We are loved by God. Jesus died on the cross for us, but then He brought us into this plan and we are actually a part of His inheritance and we all have a part to play.

And so it's not the kind of place you can hide. So normally we won't let our churches get too big, because when they get big, you'll come and enjoy the show and we'll play the A-team every week because they're the only guys good enough to entertain you.

No, we want to see the church working where everyone is involved. The whole church is there. I often say, if we call a prayer meeting, the whole church should be there, not just the 20 percent committed guys. We are the church, we're the body of Christ, and we no longer live for ourselves, we live for Him.

Choosing and Joining a Local Church

In Acts 2:47, we see that God adds us to the church. God joins us into a community that reflects Him. And I would submit to you, in Hebrews 13:7, it says this, "Consider your leaders. Consider the outcome of their way of life. Imitate their faith." And then in verse 17 it says, "Obey them and submit to their authority." I would submit to you, as you're thinking of joining a church, be it one of ours, consider your leaders. Consider the outcome of their way of life.

In other words, check us out. Decide, is this the place that God's joining me? Are these leaders that will take me forward in the things of God? Or are they going to tickle my ears and entertain me? And be very careful how you choose, because if you choose the wrong church, you could die.

So don't mess that up. And I would submit to you, check us out. Check out what we do. Look over our shoulders. Make sure that we're a church that reflects Jesus well, so that when or if you join, that this is a place that you can grow, because your eternity will be connected to the church you join.

The things we teach, the opportunities we create, these things will determine your eternal standing before God in terms of rewards and possibly even in terms of the true gospel of salvation or not. It's a big thing. So God adds us to the church and the Bible says that the Lord added daily those who are being saved.

Why Church Membership Is Only for Believers

And so the church exists for the world, but joining the church is only for born again Christians because we become members of Christ's body. What does light and darkness have in common? You can't have people that are not truly born again connected to us because it would be like my wife's kidney transplant.

You have to make sure that whatever kidney goes into her is genetically aligned with hers. That it's, it's not foreign because if it's foreign, the body rejects it. If an unbeliever joins the church, inevitably there's going to be a clash because they have a different value system. They've got different genes. And so eventually you'll find the unbeliever causing problems or leaving or even killing the church.

And so to join the church you've got to be saved. But the church lives to bring everyone in so that they can be saved and become part of what God is doing in His salvation on the earth. And so when you join into the church, you become members of Christ's body. And I often think we don't actually understand the wonder of how beautiful and how important and how valuable the church is to God. Because the Bible says He finds us as individuals, but as we come to Him, we lay down our life and we live for Him. We crucify ourselves. We, we no longer live for ourselves, we live for Him.

And the Bible says, it's no longer I that lives but it's now, it's Christ Jesus that lives in me. And so what happens is as believers are saved and Jesus becomes their Lord, and He comes and lives inside of them by His Spirit, so He begins to manifest Himself through us. And so we begin to actually reflect Him one to another.

I was at a funeral recently and it was a beautiful man. He served with me as an elder for a number of years. At his funeral they said, loving Pierre was very easy, because when you were with him you were actually with Jesus. I thought this was profound. When you were with him, he was so dead—he had died to himself so much that when he spoke you just heard Jesus. The Bible says, Christ in me is the hope of glory. And so as we allow Jesus to be our Lord, so He begins to manifest Himself through us, and we become an expression of Him, or He expresses Himself through us.

Becoming One Body and the Expression of Christ

Does that make sense? And so when we come together as a church, you actually start to find we become this one new man, where we were individuals. We actually get joined together. Like God is one, but many. We become many, but we actually become one new man.

In 1 Corinthians 12:12 the Bible says this, "The body is a unit, though it's made up of many parts. And though all of its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ." And now the writer here of Corinthians, Paul, is actually calling the church, Christ.

You get that? The body is a unit that is made up of many parts. Now when God joins us together and we are in Christ, like members of the body, and He joins us together, so... It's Christ Himself starts to manifest Himself through the vehicle of the church.

Jesus is still working on the earth. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, but also He says, "I live in your heart." And so when we gather together, there is an expression of Jesus as we begin to play our part. And 1 Corinthians 12:27:

"Now you are the body of Christ." Now I'm spirit, soul and body; you are seeing an expression of my soul through my body. If my body dies, you can't see what my soul is doing. You can't see my spirit. My body expresses who I am.

Now the church is the body and what manifests through the church is Christ. And each one of you is a part of His body. The church is supposed to be the expression of God on the earth. Remember you can have sick churches, healthy churches, dead churches.

A dead church lost connection to the head—there's form, but there's no life. One of the radical scriptures for me that really cements this is in Ephesians 1:22-23, "And God placed all things under Jesus' feet and appointed Jesus to be the head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way."

When the church is built properly in Him, and it's buried properly in Him, it is His body, and it is the fullness of Him, who fills everything in every way. In other words, when the church is healthy, we should be able to say, if you want to know what He's like, look at us.

Do you remember Jesus said this? "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father." The church should say, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Son." And so the church has got this glorious inheritance. She's called to reflect the glory of God to the earth.

The only God that they will see actually would be Him in us reflecting through us, because they don't read Bibles. And so in a sense, the church becomes the literal manifestation of the presence of God on the earth. The fullness of Him fills all things in every way.

Touching the Church Is Touching Jesus

It's not something you go to and fill a pew in. It's so much more than that. And remember this, there's a man called Saul who was actually a Jew who thought that this Christian thing and this church was rubbish. And so he was very zealous and so he began to chase Christians down and persecute them and put them in jail.

And at one point, he actually even was there at the killing of one of the early church leaders. And then he's on this road to Damascus to hunt down Christians because he wants to destroy them. He wants to get rid of them, and on the way to Damascus Jesus appears to him and says, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?"

And Saul says, "Who are You, Lord, that I'm persecuting You?" And you realize when you touch the church you touch Jesus. "You're persecuting Me," Jesus said. Who are You, Lord? "You touch My church, you're touching Me. The church is My body on the earth." It would be the same with me.

If you touch me, you slap me in the face, I would say you slapped me. It's the same with the church. So be careful, because she's a glorious thing. Something that I think we've really not understood the wonder of how God has planned to bring His kingdom through her.

Building the Church on Sacrifice

And so the church is here, it's built on certain things. And obviously the church is foundationally built on the sacrifice of Jesus. But the church isn't just built on the sacrifice of Jesus; the church is also built on our sacrifice. Now you're thinking, hang on, Andrew.

Please understand Joshua Generation as one church, or the church you might be joining in one of the Four12 churches, or if you're watching this from whatever church you're in, it was built on the sacrifice of people. People believed God, they heard God, they obeyed God, they were in God and God began to grow something in and through them.

And so there was sacrifice, there were tears, there were many things they've done and Paul writes about this in Colossians 1:24. He says, "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions."

Did you hear that? "I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church." Paul said, Christ suffered and no one else could do what He did. He provided the way of salvation, but the work has still got to be done.

No one can replace Christ. He alone could be the way of salvation. But now I'm going to fill up in my body what's still lacking in terms of what God wants to do in bringing salvation to the world through the church. And so I'm going to suffer like He did.

I'm going to lay down my life like He did. I'm going to fill up in my body the sufferings that I need to carry like He did in His body, so that the way of God and the work of God will continue on the earth.

The church is built upon your sacrifice. If you do not sacrifice, you're not reflecting God. Because the Bible says we should share in His suffering. We should pick up our own cross and deny ourselves. Do you get that? And so the church that Jesus has built is in some ways connected and tied to you.

If we don't do it, the world will never know what He's like. And so when you join a church, you need to understand, you're not joining a church because the kids ministry is great and you like the teacher. You're joining a church to die.

You're joining a church to love one another as Christ has loved you, and to, together, sacrifice and sacrifice and sacrifice for the rest of your life with those people to see the kingdom of God come to the earth. That's what it is to be the church.

We've changed it to—I go to that church because I really love the teaching—and I'm like—that is lovers of self. You're probably not even in the church. You're probably not even properly saved. Maybe you are, but you're just badly deceived. Are you with me?

I mean, if you look at the last session, you think this is what it is to be the church. Remember, we were supposed to imitate Paul. So when he said, "I'm doing this," I'm also supposed to do that. I remember when we planted JoshGen.

Man, I think at that time there were probably ten of us and I asked God, "Oh Lord, how's this going to grow?" And I remember our first family with kids joined us; we were meeting in a hall, and there was no kids ministry.

We had no kids. We only had a hall. We didn't have a place for the kids to meet. We didn't have a room for moms to breastfeed. There was nothing. There was just a hall. And a family came and visited us; I was so excited.

It was our first family and I met with the father after. His name was Stephen. And I met with him afterwards and he said, "I really loved what was happening and we enjoyed the fellowship. We probably would have joined, but you have got no kids ministry. My child's going to grow up with no friends and there's no kids ministry. So I think we're going to join the church down the road that's got a great kids ministry and great kids facility and youth and kids pastors." I remember thinking, "Oh Lord, everyone's going to say that until they understand that someone's got to pay the price."

And I said to him, "Steve, you could join the church down the road and be a number and your life wouldn't even count, nor would your child's. But if you join us, you'll be the first of your kind. And at some point another family's going to walk through these doors and look around to see if there's anyone else like them and see, because of your sacrifice, you'll be the one who opens the door for others to come. And one day when JoshGen has got thousands of children, they won't know, but it was your sacrifice. It was you filling up in your body. It was your sacrifice that'll make a way for others."

And he joined us. And now, years later, he is actually leading one of our congregations. He's got now three children, and they're all serving God. It's just an amazing picture of a family that is devoted to God.

He sacrificed, and today we literally do have thousands of children, touching churches all over the world. The church is built on sacrifice. If you join, the future of this church is going to be built on yours. Don't mess that up. Don't drop the baton.

Sacrificing Convenience for the Kingdom

I remember another sacrifice we had to make. When we started the church was small and we were friends and we were hanging out because church is not just a meeting, we are family, we're doing life together. And then—I'll never forget—one day we started growing and growing and growing.

And I kept saying to people, "We need to bring more people in, we need to love people." And at one point I realized I wasn't having time to connect with my friends anymore. We were so busy connecting new people. People started grumbling—"Oh, it's not like it used to be. We were so close to each other"—and I thought, "We need to stop growing basically because now it's not like it was." And I realized, we've totally missed the point.

The point is this: Jesus left the glory of heaven, the Father's presence, to seek and save what was lost, which is you and me.

He could have just said, it is so great here with the Father. I don't want to leave the Father's presence because there's nothing better than His presence. But He left the Father's presence and sacrificed so that we could be saved and brought to the Father and into the kingdom.

And so likewise for us, we leave the comfort of our convenience, the comfort of our friendships, at times, to draw others in so that we can reflect the kingdom of God. There's a song in South Africa, which was popular a while ago, and I always think of it when I think of the church.

There was a song that went like this, "Make the circle bigger, bigger, bigger." They're obviously saying, this friendship circle, make it bigger. And I love that picture of just make the circle bigger. There's always space for one more at the table of God.

He leaves the 99 to find the one. No matter what culture, no matter what color, no matter where you come from, we are the people of God, and He's joined us together. And so we love people that are different from us, and we draw them into family because we were different from God.

And He loved us and brought us into community. And so this is what it means, that we live that way as the people of God. If you join a church, it's sacrifice, it's loving, it's not comfortable. It's giving of your life to bring others into what you have.

Defining Church by Agape Love

In fact, Jesus would say this, in John 13:35—"By this will the world know that you are My disciples, by your love, one for another." What defines us as church is our love for one another. So, when you join a church, you've got to understand, it's not about if you feel loved.

It's that you loved. And I want to say, if you join the church and you never feel loved by anyone... Praise God. Because then you are the one that continually sacrificed and poured out your life. And actually the Bible says if you only treat people well when they treat you well, then you don't understand the faith at all.

We always are loving those that are different from us. Always loving those that can't give back. In fact, the word love—Agape—is the root of the word is charity. Charis, in the Greek. Charity. True love is this—I'm going to love you, never expecting anything back from you.

And if everyone joined the church in this way, then we're truly Christians. But if I love you so that I get something back, then I'm no better than the heathen. And so if you join the church, love. Lay down your life and love like Christ loved you.

Belonging as One Body in Christ

This is the posture of what it is. Another thing the Bible says is that when we join the church we belong. That's a profound word. In Romans 12:5, "In Christ we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others."

You think, doesn't my finger belong to me or to you? It's mine, it's my finger. That's the picture we're given. If you join the church, you're no longer are your own. You are bought at a price; you belong to Him. And if He's manifesting Himself in this part and this is His body, well then you belong to us.

If you belong to the Head, you belong to the body. And so when you join the church, you're no longer your own. Actually I belong and I've found a place that I exist. This is my people. This is who I am. But at the same time, I'm theirs.

I don't live for me anymore. I live for them. Do you realize how few churches even think like this nowadays? And again, as members of His body. In 1 Corinthians 12:26, "If one part suffers, every part suffers. If one part is honored, every part rejoices."

If you see your brother in need, James, the apostle, tells us this. Don't pray for him. Christians are terrible at that. "I've got a need." "Oh, let me pray for you." No. He says if you can meet the need, meet it, otherwise you're not loving.

And so if you see a brother in need, meet the need. And so we often say to people, if you lose your job, we need to love you enough because you're family. And what do you do when a family member loses their job?

No one's on the streets. Everyone shared what they had. They gave to anyone as he had need because they had the love of Christ in their hearts. It is a place where the individual is cared for and loved. And everyone comes to give, not to take.

And it's something that we give. It's not something the church can force on us. This is something that comes from within you, if you understand this. We can teach you the ways of God, but ultimately the church does it or doesn't do it.

Every Part Has a Role to Play

It comes down to the individual as they give themselves as parts of the body. Then you have a part to play. And in 1 Corinthians 12:18—when Christ ascended, He gave portions of Himself to us. The Bible tells us that, "God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be."

He joins us together. He comes and He says, "I'm the perfect administrator. I administered the universe by My command. And I'm going to give you a portion of that to reflect the body. And I'm going to give you an ability to serve like I am."

Because I am the great servant of all. And I'm going to give you the ability to lead. And I'm going to give you the ability to speak in tongues and prophecy. Like members of a body, every part has got a part to play.

So it is with the church. We have a part to play and God arranges it where He wants it. I can't decide. It's something that God does and everyone looks around you and goes, "Oh, that's a finger. It's obvious." Whenever Jesus flows through them, we sense Jesus whenever they do that—that's a finger.

And so that's the hand. And so this is how the church begins to work. It's so important that if one part doesn't play its part, the world won't see Him. My wife, she's had a number of medical challenges, but one of them is a present one.

She's had a kidney transplant, which is awesome because she's now actually able to have a life and not sit in the hospital every second day for six or seven hours on a machine. So that's given her a great shot at life. What many of you don't know is, because of the years of nerve damage, which she was born with, her nerves have damaged so much into her foot that she's got something called Charcot foot.

Basically what it is, is that the bones in her foot have started to collapse and crumble and decay. So on one foot, basically, she's probably permanently got a broken foot. She doesn't feel much because she's got no nerves—the nerves are damaged—but her foot is swollen and she can't stand that long.

So even though she's got a kidney transplant, we can't go walk through a shopping mall together because she can't walk for long. Unless God heals it, that'll be the case for the rest of her life. You can't even see that. Most of you would not have known that because she can sort of get by.

Actually, she can't properly function as a human being because there's something inside of her foot that you can't even see that's not working properly. So it is with the body. Any part that doesn't play its part limits what the body can do because every part's important for the body to manifest Jesus.

If you want to know what Jesus is like, you've got to see us, not just me. I'm only one part. And so when the body plays its part, you see Jesus, and the Bible says that in Ephesians 4:16—listen to this: "From Him, Jesus, the whole body is joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work."

The body functions as every part starts to work, and so each one of you, as you join the local church, you've been added to that church by God to add something to that community that will reflect Him. And if you don't find that and you don't walk in that, that church will never properly reflect Him.

The Value of the Individual in the Church

It'll never look fully like Him. There'll be some aspect that's crippled or lame or unable to reflect Him. And again, the funeral I mentioned earlier—I didn't lead the funeral, but one of the men who was leading the funeral got up and he prayed this prayer that made me think, "What are you saying?"

And then I realized. He said, "Lord, Pierre's not with us anymore. He's with You now. Would You take the spirit that's on him and put it on somebody else?" I heard that and I thought, "What are you talking about?" And it hit me.

The understanding of this: if Pierre, as an individual, had been part of a church, he was able to reflect something of Jesus that no one else could. He was a part, but that part was gone. It was like a finger had been amputated, which means when you look at the body, a part is missing.

So he prayed, "Take what he had and put it on somebody else so that we can still look like You." Do you realize how valuable you are to this thing? God has decided that without you, the church will never be fully the church.

It'll never fully reflect Him in the world. They'll never know what He's like. We won't be the fullness of Him. We'll be a small, broken aspect of what He's like. But we are called to reflect the fullness of Him who fills all things in every way.

Devoting Yourself to the Lord and the Body

And the only way that happens is if you dive in—boots and all—and give it everything you've got. Paul was writing about how they gave themselves to the church and we read in Acts 2, "They devoted themselves." Here in 2 Corinthians 8:5, "and they," he is talking about the Macedonians, "didn't do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will."

In other words, these guys, and he's saying they didn't do as we expected because they did it so well. They went so far down this road. They gave themselves first to the Lord, and then to us, in keeping with God's will.

And it was God's will for that to happen. So if you join a church, part of your thing is that every individual gives themselves first to the Lord. But if you give yourself to the Lord, that means you're going to do what? You're going to give yourself to us too, because we are His body on the earth.

And so as you give yourself to us, you're actually in keeping with God's will. This is how God intended it all along. Does that make sense? Sometimes you have these moments that define you. There was a song that defined me as a young Christian.

It was such a cheesy song. I came out of an alternative music background, and when I got saved in 1990, Christian music was not cool, but there was this one song, and as cheesy as it was, the words just blew me away as a young Christian.

It was a song by a guy called Ray Boltz, and I'm gonna read the words because I think it illustrates so beautifully what Jesus teaches. He says this, "I dreamt I went to heaven and you were there with me. We walked upon the streets of gold, beside the crystal sea.

We heard the angels singing, and then someone called your name. You turned and saw this young man, and he was smiling as he came. And he said, 'Friend, you may not know me now.' And then he said, 'But wait. You used to teach my Sunday school when I was only eight.

And every week you would say a prayer before the class would start. And one day, when you said that prayer, I asked Jesus in my heart. Thank you for giving to the Lord. I'm a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord.

I'm so glad that you gave.' Then another man stood up before you and said, 'Remember the time a missionary came to your church and his pictures made you cry. You didn't have much money, but you gave it anyway. Jesus took the gift you gave and that's why I'm here today.

Thank you for giving to the Lord. I'm a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord. I'm so glad that you gave.' One by one they came, far as the eye could see, each life somehow touched by your generosity. Little things that you had done, sacrifices made, unnoticed on the earth, but in heaven now proclaimed.

And I know that up in heaven, you're not supposed to cry, but I'm almost sure there were tears in your eyes, as Jesus took your hand and you stood before the Lord, and He said, 'My child, look around you, for great is your reward.'

Our Reward for Serving the Church

Thank you for giving to the Lord. I'm a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord. I'm so glad that you gave." It's a beautiful picture of actually what the Bible teaches will be on that last day. Because Jesus said things like this—what you do for the least of these little ones of Mine, you did it for Me.

You give them a glass of water, or food, or you visit them in prison. It's actually Me that you're giving the glass of water to. It's Me that you're visiting in prison. It's Me that you're caring for. And so whatever you do for the least of these little ones of Mine, you did it for Me.

And so I want to encourage you as you join the church, and as you learn to serve and love and to lay down your life, whatever you do for your brothers, you're actually doing it for Jesus. And He keeps a record of everything.

On that last day, the Bible says you'll receive your reward and the Lord will even boast about you before the Father because of the things that you've done. And so when you join the church, it's not to stay comfortable in a chair. It's to grow up, mature, and to become like Him and to love others and to pour out your life for His kingdom.

Do Not Neglect Meeting Together

We can't neglect meetings and I'm going to quickly mention this. In Hebrews 10:25, we're told, "do not neglect to meet together as is the habit of some, but encourage one another all the more as you see the day drawing near." The church meet.

It's important. Don't miss the meetings. People in Cape Town, and other parts of the world where the weather is nice, they like to go to the beach on a Sunday morning, and I'm thinking—No! This is the Lord's Day. Don't neglect the gathering of the saints.

This was such a big thing if you go through church history, that in some contexts, they would literally discipline you out the church if you didn't come. I'm going to quote from the Baptist constitution—For absenting themselves habitually without good reason from the church at the season set apart for public worship, they should be church disciplined.

The Necessity of the Local Church

The Westminster Confession regarded as one of the greatest constitutions that was written. Quoting—outside of the church, there's no ordinary possibility of salvation, ordinary. I remember the guy on the cross got saved, but he was stuck on a cross, so he couldn't really join the church.

But ordinarily, there's no salvation outside of the church. The guy next to Jesus, remember me and you're coming into Your kingdom. I mean, that guy couldn't be the church, because he died a few moments later, he's stuck on a cross. But outside of that extraordinary moment, they believed there was no ordinary salvation outside of the church.

And so there was this deep sense of the church is this place that we go to, and it's not a place to be consumer, it's not a place to feed me. It's a place to come and learn, to grow, and to love, and to learn on our lives.

Submission and the Accountability of Leaders

The Bible says in Hebrews 13:17, again, "Obey and submit to your leaders. They keep watch as men and must give an account." Jesus died on a cross for you. He paid in blood for you. It wasn't a cheap salvation. You weren't bought with money.

You were bought with the blood of the Son of God. And then God says, I'm going to entrust you to the care of shepherds. Who must reflect Me well, and they must look after you and care for you, and you must listen to them and obey them—and we'll look at that later.

But then He says they will give an account for you. That means if you join the church, when you stand in front of Him on that last day as an elder’s church, I'll stand there with you and I'm gonna give an account. And the picture you've got is, I've got a daughter now who's 16, but even at this age, if I had to leave her in your care and say, I'm going away for a few days, would you look after her?

And I come back later and ask, where's Enya? And you say, Oh, I actually don't know, I actually haven't seen her in two days. Please understand. If I can hold you to any account, this is not going to go well. Because I entrusted her to your care.

The Bible says that we are entrusted to the leaders, and they will give an account for you. So surely then if you're going to miss a meeting, just have the decency to phone and say, Don't worry. I can't make it. This is a weekend.

We've been working really hard. Can we just take off this weekend. The church is important, don't forsake the gathering. It's a command of God. It's a place that we grow and there's some meetings that are more important than others. And so the church meets in homes, it meets in, it meets in the synagogue type scenarios, which I don't have time to explain.

Corporate Gatherings and Apostolic Teaching

We do life together during the week, but then also the church gathers together sometimes from across a city or across a region. In the book of Acts, they gathered at Solomon's Colonnade. The whole city would come from Jerusalem and gathered together at Solomon's Colonnade and listen to Apostolic teaching.

In our church, we have times where the churches would gather, and in the Four12 churches even around Equips where the regions would come together, and those are primary key times for us. Gatherings, or Equips, those are times that for us are the highest priority because they devote themselves to the apostle's teaching and to the fellowship.

So those are times that we say, if you join us, that is a time when we learn vision where with God's saying to us, we learn the ways of God. We sit and apostolic teaching. Don't forsake those meetings, as far as possible. Obviously, if you have to, but you should have the decency to phone.

And it's not to control you, because we can't, you can do whatever you want to. But, you are going to cause us to lose sleep because we do take it seriously. Does that make sense? We can't ask where you were, because we are not teachers.

But, we can ask if you are alright, and we should be doing that, otherwise we wouldn't be caring for you. Please understand that. Alright, so we are the temple of God. And we reflect God. The Bible says—in Philippians 1:27, "We must be in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel."

One Body with One Kingdom Purpose

As a church we no longer are individuals. We are now one man working as one spirit for the gospel. In other words, if you join the church, it's not just to be the church. It's to extend the boundaries of the church to bring others in through the gospel into the kingdom of God.

We work together—if you make a lot of money, the Bible says, use that wisely because you can store riches for yourselves in heaven. Bring it in so that we can plant more churches and raise up more leaders. If you've got different gifts, bring those things in.

But we all work together to disciple nations. And then it says in Philippians 2:2, "Make my joy complete," Paul says, "by being like minded. Having the same love. Being one in spirit and one in purpose." What does that mean? If we are one new man working together as the body of Christ, then we all work together for one goal.

And our primary goal is to seek the kingdom of God through the vehicle of the church. That's the way that God's chosen to bring His kingdom. So we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, Matthew 6:33. Be like minded.

Work together. Don't work against each other. Having the same love. Love one another the way He loves you. And that's profound. Love one another, He says, as I have loved you. Love holds no record of wrongs. Always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Integrating Individual Ministry into the Church

Love. Being one in spirit and one in purpose. If you join a church, your life's purpose is tied into it. It's no longer time for your little individual ministry. Your ministry comes into the life of that church and becomes a part of that church.

Because it works together as one man for the things of God. If your ministry is of God, God will raise it up within that church. But that's for God to decide. But we work together with one purpose. Your life goal is not to have a career.

That's a very Western culture thing. Your life's goal is to see the kingdom of God come to the nations. And to work together with us. As we plant churches, as we work together to love people and disciple people and to bring everyone into the knowledge of God.

Until He returns and we hear Him say, well done. If each one of you played your part, then one by one, the Bible says we will come before the throne room of God and we'll give an account for our lives—how we loved, how we served, how we laid down our life for the thing that He died for—the church.

And so we fill up in our body whatever is lacking so that the church can ultimately see the kingdom of God extending to the ends of the earth. That is what you're here for. You're here to run with us, not to fill a pew.

To work with us as one man with one purpose. He's coming back soon. We've got a lot of work to do. I'll finish with that. Let's pray together. Father, I pray for each one that's listening here that You would help us to see this, Lord.

We've settled for so much less than Your plan. It's like the devil's stolen these truths from us. But as we dig into the Bible, as we look at these things, raise up a church again, that's built properly in You, Jesus. That the gates of hell cannot prevail against.

That we would see churches springing up all over the world, built properly in Christ, according to the patterns of the scriptures. And ultimately making disciples of nations, bringing people into healthy church. And turning the world upside down for the King and with His kingdom in Jesus' name.

Amen.