The State of Our Church Family

I had a discussion this week with a young woman named Alisha who served 18 months on a military base in Turkey. I asked her if she was able to tour any of the ancient ruins. She said, “They are everywhere. Just a few minutes from the base was a church building so old that no one even knew its history.”

The church of Jesus Christ took off like wildfire in Turkey. It became a center for ancient Christianity. Turkey is now 98% Muslim. The ruins of churches testify to that vibrant past.

“Others” By Charles D Meigs (1902)

Lord, help me live from day to day

In such a self-forgetful way
That even when I kneel to pray

My prayer shall be for others.

Others, Lord, yes, others, Let this my motto be;
Help me to live for others That I may live like Thee.

David Kanost was a servant who always sought to help.

Jesus Has a Church in This World.

Jesus said that He himself would build his church. Jesus continues to do just that—building his church in the world.

• The church has not disappeared.
• The church has not died or failed.
• The church is right here with us in this world.

The church of Jesus Christ is alive and well. He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against it.

• That means that the church of Jesus Christ is winning against the forces of hell.
• That means that the church of Jesus Christ is storming the gates of hell and bringing them down.
• Where is the triumphant church of Jesus Christ? Which one is it? All of them? One of them? “I will build my church.”

Identifying the “true church” is risky business.

• If you do a search for “signs of the true church” four of the first five websites will be the church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints, or Mormons. This would be faithful to their founder, Joseph Smith, who heard God say to him about the churches of his day, “They are all wrong. Don’t join any of them.” That statement still resonates with a lot of people.
• The Worldwide Church of God founded by Herbert W. Armstrong is still going. One of the offshoots is a top ten website.
• And then you have the Catholic statement, the Protestant, and many other statements about the true church.

Jesus told his disciples to let the tares and the wheat grow together until the harvest. Then the angels would sort it all out. That is an inevitable truth. Only Jesus thoroughly knows his church. So we can be at peace in his just and final judgment.

• And we can dismiss anyone who says, “they are all wrong.” That rings of an arrogance that is self-serving.
• We can dismiss those who say, “All of them are right, no matter what they believe.” Truth is just not that malleable.

We can say that some so-called churches are not churches of Jesus Christ at all. They are religious, political and social entities that have forgotten why they exist. Jesus himself described to John the state of seven first-century churches (Rev. 2-3).

• The church of Ephesus was hard-working and ethical, but they had “left their first love.” “I hold this against you. You have forsaken the love you had at first.” They were in danger of losing their light unless they repented (Rev. 2:1-7).
• The church of Sardis had a reputation for being alive, “but you are dead,” Jesus said through John. “Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy” (Rev. 3:1,4).
• At least one of those churches did not have Jesus on the inside. The church in Laodicea was keeping Jesus on the outside. Revelation 3:20 is written to a so-called church. There Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and have fellowship with him and he with me.”

And then there was “the church of the open door” that every pastor hopes his church will be—Philadelphia (Rev. 3:8). We can definitely say that the churches of Jesus Christ are as varied in their faithfulness to the Lord Jesus as are individuals who claim the name of Christ. Some seem to be congregations who are fully committed followers of Christ. And some seem to be more cultural and social gatherings that really do not order their lives around the lordship of Christ.

Churches May Be Healthy or Sick.

The true state of our church is known only to Jesus.

• Some people think the “angels” or “messengers” of the churches were the pastors of these seven churches. Perhaps so. Yet even these pastors are receiving information about their churches that they did not know.
• Some churches are being warned that they are nearly gone, that judgment is about to fall. Others are being commended for good work while being reprimanded for unfaithfulness. There is a wide spectrum in the condition of these churches.

Every individual should examine himself or herself: Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5).

• The Corinthians were suspicious of Paul’s credentials. They wondered whether God was speaking through him.
• So he turned it back on them—the question of authenticity—and challenged them to examine themselves in part because, if they were genuine, then God genuinely did speak through Paul, for they came to know Christ through his preaching.

Every individual church should examine itself with these two questions:.

1. Are we in the faith?
2. Is Christ Jesus in us?

FBNO on These Two Questions:

Are we in the faith?

• This refers specifically to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It is about being in the Gospel, believing in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
• We are in the faith at FBNO. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the World. We have trusted in him alone for our salvation. We have no other plea, “but that thy blood was shed for me.”

Is Christ Jesus in us?

• Paul refers here to the indwelling of Christ in every believer. “You are the temple of the Holy Spirit,” Paul says in another place (I Cor. 6).
• Christ Jesus is in us here at FBNO.
  • We are seeking to be “Jesus People.” This means that we have received Christ Jesus into our lives as Savior.
  • Being “Jesus People” also means that we seek to follow him in all that we say and do. So we are trying to “walk as he walked” (I John 2:6).

FBNO is in a Glorious State.

We are the church of Jesus Christ.

He is Lord of his Church

He loves the church and gave himself up for her.

He is sanctifying his church right now so that the church may be blameless and spotless before him.

He is achieving his purpose in the world through FBNO. We are seeking to be his hands and feet in our community.

We are the apple of his eye—precious to him.

We are going to be gathered to him one day.

We are co-heirs with Christ of all that the Father is giving.

We are absolutely secure and safe in the hands of our Lord.