by HARVEYOPP | Apr 15, 2014 | featured, full-image, slider
In the language of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the church comprises the “whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be, gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof” (25.1). This is otherwise known as the invisible church. In another sense, the church is the body of the faithful (1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 2:21–22; Rev. 21:2, 9), consisting of those throughout the world who outwardly profess faith, together with their children (WCF 25.2). This is otherwise known as the visible church.
The Greek word that is translated as “church” in the Bible is ekklēsia. Conscious as we should be of the etymological fallacy (the idea that a word means what its composite root means), in this case it would seem to have merit. Thus, ekklēsia translates the Hebrew word qahal, the noun form meaning “assembly” or “congregation” and the verb essentially signifying “to call.”
Often in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word qahal is translated synagōgē. Common to both Hebrew and Greek words is the idea of assembling together before the Lord. Thus, the Bible translation of Paul’s day (the Septuagint) rendered Deuteronomy 4:10 (“assemble the people before me”) using the word ekklēsia — the gathering together of the Lord’s people as a covenant community before their covenant God.
Taking this etymological clue, we can expand what the word church in the New Testament means along three lines of thought:
First, the preposition ek (or ex) in ekklēsia suggests a particular dimension to the meaning of the word: the church is an assembly of people called out of the world. The church comprises those who are “called to be saints [holy ones]” or, possibly, “the holy called ones” (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2), just as their Old Testament counterparts were called “a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6). As the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (381 AD ) affirmed, the church is “one, holy, catholic and apostolic.” We are “set apart as holy” (2 Tim. 2:21); we are chosen to be holy (Eph. 1:4); we are “God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved” (Col. 3:12), “a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5), “a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9), and “a holy temple” (1 Cor. 3:17). Brutally honest as we must be about the unholiness of the church, “the church is so holy that every one of its members is a saint” (Philip Graham Ryken).
Second, the church is an assembly called together into a homogenous, integrated unity. Several perspectives reinforce this in the New Testament. The church comprises the “family of God.” Each member of the church has become an “adopted son” (huiothesia; Rom. 8:15; 9:4; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5). Now we are “members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19), in which Jesus Christ is our elder brother. Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers (Heb. 2:11). We come to God in prayer, saying, “Our Father” (Matt. 6:9). To those whose experience of family is dysfunctional in this world, the experience of belonging to a community of brothers and sisters is redemptive and restorative, particularly when they experience the loving concern (fellowship [koinōnia]) of “those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10).
Third, the church is comprised of those who are called into fellowship with the Lord. The church of God lives in God’s presence. Paul, addressing the issue of the need for orderliness and interpretation in the use of the Apostolic gifts of prophecy and tongues, adds the remark that when these gifts are correctly used, an unbeliever will be forced to declare that “God is really among you” (1 Cor. 14:29). From the very beginning, the community of the Lord’s people was called together in order to worship the Lord (Ex. 3:12). The primary relationship is vertical, not horizontal.
This brings us to the nature of the church as both here and there, on earth as well as in heaven: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb. 12:22–24).
The church, then, consists of those whom the Lord has called out of the world into union and fellowship with Christ and into communion with each other. And, as John Calvin (citing the church father Cyprian) says, “To those to whom he is a Father, the Church must also be a mother.” (Institutes 4.1.1). I wonder if you would agree with him. (Dr. Derek Thomas)
by HARVEYOPP | Apr 11, 2014 | featured, full-image
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” so that we would never have to utter that phrase. Jesus willingly suffered being forsaken by God so that we would never be forsaken by God. Jesus allowed the darkness of Hell to enclose Him because He refused to allow that darkness to enclose all who were given to Him by the Father. What manner of love is this, beloved, that Christ would drink the cup of God’s infinite, eternal, inexpressible wrath in our place so that we might be called the children of the living God?! No price was too high for Him in order to save us from our sins. The Good Shepherd laid down his life for His sheep. Do you see what utter blasphemy it is to say that God has abandoned someone who is trusting in Christ? Sometimes believers “feel” that God has forsaken them … what Martin Luther called the dark night of the soul … but God will never forsake His children because Christ was forsaken in their place. The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 3:13: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”). And again in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Let us always remember what Christ suffered in our place so that we might be restored into union and fellowship with God, so that we would never be made to cry out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Why has God accepted sinners such as you and me? Scripture gives only one reason … God has accepted us because one Friday afternoon, over 2000 years ago, He forsook His Son, our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, in our place!! Our response to Christ’s work on our behalf is nicely summed up in the words of John Newton:
Let us love and sing and wonder, Let us praise the Savior’s Name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder, He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame.
He has washed us with His blood, He has brought us nigh to God.
by HARVEYOPP | Apr 11, 2014 | Scott Henry
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” so that we would never have to utter that phrase. Jesus willingly suffered being forsaken by God so that we would never be forsaken by God. Jesus allowed the darkness of Hell to enclose Him because He refused to allow that darkness to enclose all who were given to Him by the Father. What manner of love is this, beloved, that Christ would drink the cup of God’s infinite, eternal, inexpressible wrath in our place so that we might be called the children of the living God?! No price was too high for Him in order to save us from our sins. The Good Shepherd laid down his life for His sheep.
Do you see what utter blasphemy it is to say that God has abandoned someone who is trusting in Christ? Sometimes believers “feel” that God has forsaken them … what Martin Luther called the dark night of the soul … but God will never forsake His children because Christ was forsaken in their place. The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 3:13: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”). And again in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Let us always remember what Christ suffered in our place so that we might be restored into union and fellowship with God, so that we would never be made to cry out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Why has God accepted sinners such as you and me? Scripture gives only one reason … God has accepted us because one Friday afternoon, over 2000 years ago, He forsook His Son, our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, in our place!! Our response to Christ’s work on our behalf is nicely summed up in the words of John Newton:
Let us love and sing and wonder, Let us praise the Savior’s Name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder, He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame.
He has washed us with His blood, He has brought us nigh to God.
by HARVEYOPP | Apr 4, 2014 | Kevin DeYoung
What do you do with your sin? You can explain it with science. You can minimize it with sophistication. You can swallow it up with self-talk. Or you can confess it to your Savior.
There are the two radically different schools of thought when it comes to dealing with our imperfections.
One message–the “good news” of the world–tells you: “You own yourself, you engineer yourself, you invent yourself, you discover yourself.” This message screams an absolutely diabolical falsehood. It will not give you the freedom you are looking for. It will not give you peace of mind. It will not give you a clean conscience. It will not give you eternal life.
The second message–the good news of the cross–will give you real freedom. It confesses, “I am not my own. I was bought with a price. I am not in charge. I am not the purpose of my life. I will not find the “true” me. I cannot create a better me. I need a new me.” The gospels promises life, but only through death–Christ’s death first, then yours in his.
Do you want true, lasting comfort for your body and your soul? Do you need what you can’t supply? Are you too lost to find yourself? Do you want to cope or do you want to be saved? If you have sin (and we all do), and if you are ready to name it for what it is, call out to God. Do not delay. Weep, wail, plead. See the Son of God crucified in your place. See the Son of Man risen for your justification. Approach the throne of grace in Jesus’ name. God will not turn a deaf ear to an honest cry. A broken and contrite spirit he will not despise.
Run to the cross. There you will find salvation for your sin sick self.
by HARVEYOPP | Apr 3, 2014 | Paul Tripp
The Bible says that suffering should not take us by surprise – we live in a fallen world during restoration and redemption. But I’ve found in my years of counseling (and even in my own heart) that many Christians are unprepared for when suffering enters their door.
In moments of suffering, it’s tempting to allow yourself to doubt the goodness of God. You’ll reason with yourself that somehow, someway, this moment of suffering is evidence that God is less than who He has depicted Himself to be.
Suffering will tempt you to doubt God’s goodness and kindness. Suffering will tempt you to doubt His faithfulness and love. Even though you may never speak this aloud, your theology will bring God into the court of your judgment and accuse Him of being unloving and unfaithful to His promises.
Here’s why doubt is such a deadly trap: as soon as you begin to question the character of God, you’ll quit running to Him for help because you don’t go for help to someone whom you no longer trust.
If you no longer believe that God is loving, faithful, and gracious, you won’t run to Him for hope and peace. Instead, you’ll seek out earthly saviors who will provide the supposed rest and comfort you think you need (this could be drugs, people, television, food, or a host of other numbing agents).
There are a host of Scripture verses that remind us that suffering is evidence of God’s grace. Those can provide enough of a theological framework in which you can interpret your suffering. But sometimes, you won’t find answers. In your lifetime, you may never know why God allowed it to enter your door.
Here’s what you always need to remember: you can trust the character of God because He sent Jesus to die for you, even when you were still His opponent. You don’t have to doubt the character of the Father because He gave His Son for your hardened heart.
In moments of suffering, don’t run away from God in doubt. If you do, you risk missing out on the wonderful blessings of grace that He has made available. Even if those blessings are uncomfortable or even excruciatingly painful, you can run to the Father.
He proved His eternal love for you by sending Christ to hang on that bloody Cross.
In the language of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the church comprises the “whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be, gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof” (25.1). This is otherwise known as the invisible church. In another sense, the church is the body of the faithful (1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 2:21–22; Rev. 21:2, 9), consisting of those throughout the world who outwardly profess faith, together with their children (WCF 25.2). This is otherwise known as the visible church.
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