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“We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

INTRODUCTION: Today is the final message in our series on “Biblical Foundations.” We have covered a lot of ground in seven weeks. And if you have been here for most of the messages, you have received what I would really call a mini-course in theology. You should all get some type of certificate or something! So far, we have studied what the Scriptures say about the Bible, God, Jesus, salvation, the Holy Spirit and the resurrection. Today we finish up our series by looking at what the Bible says about the church. (Read Ephesians 4:3-6 and pray.)

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I have a confession to make. I love the church of Jesus Christ. I love God’s people. I love worshiping with God’s people, fellowshipping with God’s people, serving with God’s people. I grew up in the church, and I have been a member of nine different local churches over the years.

I am so thankful that my parents were faithful in bringing us to church each Sunday and were faithful in church attendance themselves. As long as I can remember, church and family have intertwined as the two major shaping influences in my life. The church has nurtured me in my faith from the time I was a child, through my years of seminary study, and even now as I serve as pastor.

Now I’ll be honest with you, growing up as a kid I didn’t always like going to church. And if my parents had given me the choice, I may not have gone every Sunday. If so, I would have made a bad decision. It was through the church that I learned not only to love Jesus as the Son of God and the Bible as the word of God, but I also learned to love the church as the people of God.

When we hear the word “church,” we often think of the church building, but the word “church” in the New Testament always refers to the people who make up the church (the Greek word ekklesia, which means “public assembly”). Sometimes people will call the church office and ask, “Where is your church located?” I know they just want the address, but I often feel like saying, “Well, the Douglases are up in Coral Springs, the Braswells live in Pembroke Pines, a lot of our people live here in Plantation, and most of the kids are in school right now.”

You see, when the Bible speaks about the church, it’s not talking about the building, but the people. They didn’t even have church buildings when the New Testament was written. A church building is simply a place where the church people gather together to worship God. Now that doesn’t mean that a building is not important. It is a wonderful tool for ministry, and when used well a church building can greatly increase the effectiveness of the church people. But the building is not the church. The church is the people.

Jesus died on the cross not just for individuals but for the church. Now, we will all stand individually before God for judgment one day, and when you are saved, you are saved as an individual. No one else can make that decision for you. It is a personal decision that you make yourself. But although you may be saved as an individual, you are not saved simply to be an individual Christian. You are saved into God’s family. You are saved to be a part of Christ’s church.

Yes, Jesus died for you. If you were the only person on earth, he would still have come to die for you. But in a deeper sense Jesus also died for the church. Ephesians 5 tells us: “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her … to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25-27). Jesus loved the church and gave himself up for her—not just for individuals, but for the church.

Jesus loves the church, Jesus died for the church, and Jesus works today through the church. If the church is that important to Jesus, the church should be vitally important to us as well. You’re here today, so I’m assuming the church is important to you, I hope in a very deep and personal way. So, today we will look more closely at what the Bible says about the church.

Our statement of faith speaks of the church in the following way: “We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.” In order to understand this spiritual unity among all believers, we must first talk about the one, true universal church.

I. One true universal church
      – John 10:16; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Ephesians 4:4-6; 2 Timothy 2:19

There is one true universal church, and guess what? It’s not us! It’s not Plantation Community Church or any other local church. I’m sorry to disappoint you if you thought otherwise, but it’s just not so. There is one true universal church, and it is comprised of all those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The most basic of all Christian confessions is simply this: “Jesus Christ is Lord.” And so, the universal church comprises all who acknowledge Jesus as Lord.

The universal church began with the disciples in Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago and continues to spread around the globe. When you look at global Christianity, you find an amazing cultural diversity among true Christians.

Paul Marshall reminds us that Christianity is not a white, European, American, western religion, although it is often labeled as such. Most Christians are not white. Seventy-five percent of Christians today live in third-world or developing countries. Christianity was in Africa before Europe, in India before England, and in China before America. In fact, more people participate in Sunday morning worship in communist China than in all of Western Europe combined! The same is true of Nigeria (Paul Marshall, Their Blood Cries Out, pp. 7-8).

We hear a lot about the Middle East today, and we know that the Middle East is predominantly Muslim. But did you know that the Middle East also has many Christians? The country of Lebanon is 30% Christian, Egypt 10% and the Sudan 5%.

Did you know that there are more Christians who speak Spanish as their primary language today than Christians who speak English? According to the World Christian Database, 413 million Christians speak Spanish, 250 million speak English, 206 million speak Portuguese, followed by Russian, Chinese, French, Tagalog and German (World Christian Database, 2020; https://www.gordonconwell.edu/blog/christianity-language/ ).

Now, we’re a pretty diverse group here at our church, but the universal church is far more diverse than we are. We are but a small cross-section of the church of Jesus Christ.

The universal church comprises not only those who are alive today and acknowledge Jesus as Lord. The universal church also includes those Christians who have died and gone to be with the Lord before us. We sometimes speak of those Christians still here on earth as “the church militant,” and those Christians in heaven as “the church triumphant,” but it is still one universal church. All Christians everywhere, living or dead, comprise the one true universal church of Jesus Christ.

A lot of people struggle with this. They say, “But there are so many denominations.” Yes, but there is only one true church. “But churches disagree on so many things.” Yes, but there is only one true church. “But aren’t there Catholics and Protestants and charismatics and independents?” Yes, but there is only one true church.

There are many legitimate reasons for various denominations, such as different doctrinal emphases or varieties in style. And denominations continue to grow. There were 1,900 church denominations at the beginning of the twentieth century. Today there are over 45,000! Now, that is not all a good thing, but regardless of how you feel about denominations, there is still only one true universal church, and all those who have truly believed in Jesus Christ for salvation belong to this one universal church.

Someone else might ask, “So, it doesn’t matter what church you go to—all people in all churches are saved?” I didn’t say that. Belonging to a certain church doesn’t save you; only belonging to Jesus does. And when you belong to Jesus, you belong to his church.

The Reformers distinguished between the visible and the invisible church, between those who can be found in church buildings and among church assemblies, and those who truly belong to Christ. Just because you go to church doesn’t make you a Christian. Or as one wise old Christian once said, “Just because a mouse lives in a cookie jar, doesn’t make him a cookie!” 2 Timothy 2:19 says: “The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Tim. 2:19) You cannot fool God.

Someone else might say, “But churches disagree on so many issues, they can’t all be right.” I didn’t say they were all right. The Bible says there is one true church. There are also many false churches. No one church has a premium on the truth, but the closer a church or denomination conforms to the teaching of God’s word, the closer that church aligns itself with the one true church of Christ.

Those who belong to the universal church are members of the body of Christ. We read in 1 Corinthians 12: “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink” (1 Cor. 12:12-13). The universal church has many members, but together we are one body of Christ.

Ephesians 4 says it this way: “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4-6). Together we are one body with one head, who is Jesus Christ. In speaking of the universal church, Jesus told his disciples: “There shall be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16). Jesus is our one shepherd. The universal church is the one flock under his care.

The Nicene Creed is an early confession of the church dating back to the fourth century and affirmed by most Christians throughout history. It describes the church using four words: “one, holy, catholic, apostolic church.” The word “one” in the creed speaks of the unity of the church. The word “holy” speaks of the church as set apart for God. The word “catholic” in the creed doesn’t mean Roman Catholic as we understand it today but speaks of the church as universal—all true Christians from all times in all places, regardless of race or cultural or denominational background. And that fourth word “apostolic” speaks of the church as holding to historic, biblical doctrine—the truth of God as revealed in Scripture.

So that’s the first truth we want to affirm this morning. There is one true universal church, which is comprised of all those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

II. Many local assemblies
      – Matthew 16:18, 28:19-20

This one universal church, however, expresses itself as many local churches. That’s the next Scriptural truth we want to look at: there is one true universal church but many local assemblies.
So, let’s see how local assemblies fit into the big picture of the universal church of Christ.

If all true Christians everywhere belong to this one true universal church, then why have local churches? Why not just have one big local universal church?

A lot of it comes down to logistics. You physically can’t get everyone together all at once. God created us as finite human beings, and we live in finite, limited physical spaces. We are limited in the number of meaningful relationships we can enjoy. We can’t have true fellowship with all the millions of Christians both living and dead. And so, God has gifted us with local churches where we can learn and grow and enjoy fellowship with each other.

Jesus said in Matthew 16: “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18), speaking of the universal church. But how does Jesus do that? Christ builds his universal church through local churches. As you read through the New Testament, you see that the apostles planted local churches wherever they went—in Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, and so on. A large part of the New Testament is actually letters written to these local churches.

It’s interesting: when the apostles address a local church, they don’t address it as merely being part of the church, but they speak of it as being a whole church. A local church is not the entire church, but it is an entire church in itself. It is not the whole body of Christ, but it is a local body of Christ functioning as a complete church in and of itself.

The local church is essential to God’s plan of reaching out to the world. Just before Jesus left his disciples to return to heaven, he gave them these instructions: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). We often call these verses “the Great Commission.” This is Christ’s commission to the church, to bring the gospel into all the world and to make disciples of people in all the nations. Well, how does the church fulfill the Great Commission?

God has chosen to work primarily through local churches to bring the gospel to others around the world. How many of us would be Christians today if there were no local churches? Very few of us. This is one of the reasons why missionaries focus so much of their efforts on church planting. God works primarily through the local church to fulfill his purposes here on earth.

III. United in purpose (worship; service; fellowship; teaching; evangelism)
      – Philippians 2:2

That brings us to our final point we need to make this morning: what are God’s purposes for the local church? Part of being united as Christians means being united in purpose. Paul encouraged the Philippians to be “like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose” (Phil. 2:2).

So, what are God’s purposes for his church? We find several purposes in Scripture. God calls the church to worship him, to serve together, to fellowship together, to teach the word of God, to share the gospel and to be a witness to a watching world.

Our church has a purpose statement that tries to capture these various purposes. It is an acrostic that spells out the name Christ. Let me share it with you now. The purpose of Plantation Community Church is to make disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ by:

• Calling people to Christ
• Helping them grow in Christ
• Receiving them into fellowship and service
• Involving them in personal and group worship
• Sharing God’s love in Broward County and beyond
• Teaching and equipping people for ministry

What is the overall purpose of the church? To make disciples. How do we do that? By calling people to Christ, helping them grow in Christ, receiving them into fellowship and service, involving them in personal and group worship, sharing God’s love in Broward County and beyond, and by teaching and equipping people for ministry.

Most churches have purpose statements, and they may be worded differently, but as long as they focus on God’s purposes for the church as revealed in Scripture, then we are united in purpose as we seek to fulfill God’s purposes for his church.

CONCLUSION: So, there is one universal church but many local assemblies which are called to be united in purpose as we fulfill God’s purposes for his church. What does that mean to you and me today? Let me close today’s message with two applications.

First of all, because there is one true universal church, we should strive to demonstrate Christian unity with other true believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. We should stand in unity with other true believers in Christ regardless of their cultural, racial or denominational background. We should allow for differences of interpretation in those minor areas of Christian doctrine where Bible-believing Christians sometimes disagree. At the same time, we need to stand strong on the major truths of Scripture which God has clearly revealed to us—for example, the seven Biblical foundations we have been studying in this series. There is one true universal church, and therefore as believers we should strive for both unity and truth.

Secondly, because God works primarily through local churches to fulfill his purposes in the world, you should commit yourself to a local church. And you should look for a local church that is pursuing the purposes that God has revealed in the Bible. Some people like to church hop from one place to another, and they never really put down roots anywhere. And that’s a shame, because they never get to experience the joy of finding a local assembly of believers that they can call “home.”

And so, I would encourage you to become a member of a local church. We hold membership classes at our church several times a year. So, if you attend here regularly, I would encourage you to take that next step and become a member. You don’t have to be a member to attend church here—you are always welcome. You could attend church here for the next fifty years without becoming a member and you would still be welcome. But if you are a believer in Christ and you have been attending here awhile, if this is the church that you call home, then let me encourage you to pray about becoming a member. If you’re not sure what that all involves, feel free to talk to me after the service or contact us during the week. We would be glad to talk with you more about it.

“We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.” There is one universal church but many local assemblies which are called to be united in purpose as we fulfill God’s purposes for his church in this world.

© Ray Fowler

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Click here for more messages from the Biblical Foundations series.
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