Church; Family, Flock, Building ~ 20250209 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
02/09 Who Is The Church; Family, Flock, and Building; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20250209_church-family-flock-building.mp3
We are looking together at what the Bible says about the church, what (or who) the church is. We have recognized elders in our local church, and the elders need to know who they are responsible to lead, feed, guide and guard. Who is the church?
We all need to know who we are as the church, what it means to belong to the church, what God expects of us as part of the local church. In this and the coming weeks, I want to look at some of the metaphors used to describe the church; a family, a flock, a building, a body, a bride.
So far we have seen that the church is made up of those who gladly bow the knee to Jesus, who own him as their sovereign King. The church consists of all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus for rescue from the guilt and power of sin, for forgiveness and transformation, all whom the Lord our God calls to himself. Those who surrender to Jesus as Lord and King become citizens of his heavenly community, an outpost of heaven, inviting others to cry out to the sovereign Lord Jesus for rescue from sin, inviting others to turn their allegiance to King Jesus.
We saw that the church is a Holy Spirit created New Covenant community of born again baptized believers. It is the Spirit of the living God who gives new life, a new heart, who causes us to be born again, born into the family of God. This is fulfillment of God’s New Covenant promise that he will give us a new heart and put his Spirit inside of us, to transform us from the inside. John the baptizer pointed to Jesus who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. After Jesus died and rose, securing our salvation, he ascended to the right hand of his Father and poured out the Spirit on believers. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
To baptize means to immerse. John immersed people in water. Jesus immerses us in the Holy Spirit. Because we are born of the Spirit, we are immersed into the body of Christ. We enjoy a supernatural unity with every other blood-bought born again believer in the real Jesus.
Church Universal / Local; Invisible / Visible
This includes every genuine believer in the real Jesus throughout history and around the globe. That’s the church invisible, or the church universal. The ancient creed says ‘We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church’; the word ‘catholic’ in that context simply means universal (not the Roman Catholic church; that developed centuries later). This is the church Jesus promised he would build, against whom the gates of hell would not prevail (Mt.16:18). We become part of this catholic or universal church by being born of the Spirit. This universal church will not all be assembled together until we are gathered around the throne of God, so we can also call the universal church the invisible church. It is not currently visible. There are lots of visible local expressions or subsets of this universal invisible church. The church in Ephesus, in Corinth, the churches of Galatia, Ephraim Church of the Bible are each local and visible expression of Christ’s invisible and universal church.
This is where it can get messy. Remember last time we talked about the real inward invisible baptism of the Spirit, and the outward visible public symbol of water baptism? Those are meant to go together. The outward sign is for all those and only those who have experienced the real inward spiritual regeneration by the Spirit. The elders need to do their best to discern that those who are water baptized are those who have been truly born again. But we can’t see the heart, so it is possible to have a truly regenerate person who is not water baptized, or to have someone who is water baptized who was never really born of the Spirit. Water baptism is how a person identifies with the visible local church, but there are some people who belong to local churches who have not been born of the Spirit. How many Sundays does it take gathering with believers in a local church for someone to be born again? How long would you have to stand in a garage before you become a car? You can pretend to be a car and make engine sounds, but it would take a supernatural act of transformation to actually make you into an automobile. You can attend a local church gathering for years, but it is a sovereign act of the Spirit of God who gives new birth. All who call on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved. So get to know Jesus, understand the weight of your sin and your need for him, and cry out to him as your only hope for rescue.
Born Into a Family
If the entrance into the church is being born of the Spirit, being born implies we are born into a new family. John 1 puts it this way:
John 1:11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Those who receive Jesus, who trust in him become children of God, born of God, born of the Spirit. Paul says in Romans 8
Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
The Spirit of God makes us sons of God, adopted into his family. The adoption language draws a distinction between the eternal, only begotten Son of God, and those who become children of God through faith and the new birth. The stunning thing is that we as adopted children are included in the inheritance, fellow heirs with Christ. Jesus welcomes us as his brothers, according to Hebrews 2.
Hebrews 12 also reminds us that when we experience discipline, God is treating us as sons, because ‘the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives’.
Because we are born of the Spirit, adopted into the family, we have siblings, brothers and sisters. We are members of a household, as Galatians says
Galatians 6:10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Throughout the New Testament we read the language of brothers. This is not just a name, it is a reality. The church is a household, a family of faith; those born of the Spirit, adopted children of God. As siblings of this greater family, we have obligations to one another.
Shepherd the Flock of God
The church is also described as a flock. We’ve looked at Acts 20 and 1 Peter 5, where both Peter and Paul exhort the elders to shepherd the flock of God. They learned this metaphor from Jesus. The whole of John 10 is an extended teaching where Jesus portrays himself as the door of the sheep, the good shepherd who knows his sheep and lays down his life for them, whose sheep hear his voice and follow him. Jesus said:
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ... 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
Jesus intends to gather both believing Jews and non-Jews together into one flock. He goes on:
John 10:26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
The metaphor of sheep points to our wayward tendency; sheep that are lost, that have gone astray, who need to be rescued and brought home.
1 Peter 2:25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
It points to our vulnerability. Sheep are defenseless; we need constant supervision, protection and care. Sheep are dependent; we need to be led to green pastures and quiet waters.
Jesus is the good Shepherd, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and he has called under-shepherds to care for his flock. Jesus told Peter in John 21 to ‘feed my lambs ...tend my sheep ...feed my sheep’, and he calls elders to ‘shepherd the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood’ (Acts.20:28)
Build My Church
The church is a family; the church is a flock; the church is a building. Jesus said
Matthew 16:18 ...on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
This is construction language. The firm foundation is laid, and Jesus is constructing a building on it.
Paul blends these metaphors of a household and a building in Ephesians 2:
Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
The household of God is built on the one unrepeatable foundation of apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus anchors the building, defines the shape and direction of the building; without him we are building on sand. This is a structure, but it is growing. This word almost always refers to organic growth; something living like a flower or a plant or a baby grows. The church is a building, but it is not a building of wood and stone. It is an organism, a living growing thing. It grows into a holy temple in the Lord, a dwelling place for God.
When we say the church is a building, we don’t mean a location or a place that we meet. We don’t go to church, we are the church, we gather as the church, we meet with the church. Peter makes this clear:
1 Peter 2:4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the living stone, and we are living stones being built up as a spiritual house. This building is made up of people. We, together, are a dwelling place for God most high. The stones in the building are people. And those people are priests, offering spiritual sacrifices. There are no passive recipients. All are active participants. The church is a building, but it is a living breathing organism,
A building is a unity, it is one thing, but it is made up of many parts. The parts are interconnected and interdependent.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
We are a building, and we are to build one another up.
Paul says to Timothy;
1 Timothy 3:15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
The church is a household, and it is to stand tall and stand firm for the truth and against false teaching
Have you every played Jenga? You build a tower with wood blocks, and then see how many individual blocks you can remove before the whole thing topples over. We can make due with a few building blocks missing, but we are not as sturdy and can’t withstand the elements as well as if every stone were doing its part.
Conclusion/Application
We are a family, given new life, adopted in, made fellow heirs with Christ. We ought to have each other’s backs.
We are a flock, prone to wander, lost, dependent and needy. We need to learn to hear our Shepherd’s voice, and we ought to be thankful for the under-shepherds that he has charged with the responsibility of caring for his flock.
We are a building, a living growing organism, a spiritual dwelling place for the Lord, a kingdom of priests offering spiritual sacrifices to the Lord.
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2025.02.09 Sermon Notes
The Church; a Family, a Flock, and a Building
The church consists of all those who swear allegiance to King Jesus and call on him for salvation
1 Corinthians 1:2; Acts 2:21
The church is a Holy Spirit created New Covenant community of born again baptized believers
1 Corinthians 12:13
The church universal and local; invisible and visible
Matthew 16:18
The church is sons born into a family
John 1:11-13; Romans 8:14-17; Hebrews 2:10-14; 12:5-8;
Galatians 6:10
The church is the flock of God
Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 2:25; 5:2-3; John 10; John 21:15-17
The church is a building on one foundation
Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:4-5;
1 Thessalonians 5:11; 1 Timothy 3:15
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org