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Pastor: Dr. Lester Hutson

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The Difference it Makes to God - Part I

Despite what you may think or may have heard, it makes a great deal of difference to God which church you join. Even just a cursory look at the New Testament will give you a very clear understanding of how precious the church is to God and how integral it is to His plan for this age (John the Baptist until the rapture).

For those of you who have read the previous series, 'How to Find the Right Church', this information will be somewhat redundant. If you haven't read that series I would like to encourage you to do so.

First, let's set down some fundamental truths which will prevent us from coming to the wrong conclusions or misapplying or misinterpreting the scriptures we are about to study.

1. The New Testament only speaks of one type of church, a geographically local assembly of baptized believers. Please study the previous lesson in this series, 'The Bible Definition of Church' parts I and II for the scriptural and grammatical proofs of this fact.

2. Every time the word 'church' appears in the New Testament and does not indicate a specific New Testament congregation, it either refers to the future gathering of all the Lord's local churches into one congregation (Ephesians 5:23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32 and Hebrews 12:23), or to the congregation of the Israelites in the Old Testament (Acts 7:38 and Hebrews 2:12) or it is used to refer to the institution of the local church here on earth. As we studied in the previous two lessons in this series the noun 'church' is used either specifically to refer to a local congregation (either on earth, or in the future in heaven, or in the Old Testament) or it is used generically to refer to all local assemblies here on earth. Nowhere in God's Word is there any verse which teaches that all Christians are part of a universal church. There is only one type of church spoken of in the New Testament and that is a local body of baptized believers the first of which Christ Himself started (Mark 3:13-19, Luke 6:12-16).

One passage which clearly tells us just how important the right church is to God is found in Ephesians chapter 5 and verses 26 and 27. Here Paul tells the Ephesian congregation that Christ gave Himself for the church 'that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.'

The first major point in the Ephesian 5:26-27 passage is that Christ gave Himself for the institution of the church. Christ's mission was two-fold as described in the New Testament: 1. To pay the sin penalty Adam brought onto the entire human race (Romans 5:12), and thereby give everyone who believed in Him and what He did on the cross eternal life (John 3:16, 36); 2. To establish the first church (Mark 3:13-19, Luke 6:12-16), train its leaders (I Corinthians 12:28) and commission it to reproduce itself down through the ages until His return (Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:18-20). We know from the New Testament record that the Jerusalem church reached the entire world for Christ and established many churches.Among the miriad Bible based churches today there exist those which are descended from that first church, which teach the same truths and which hold to the very same standards. These are the ones which Christ died for and which God is interested in. But there are also those counterfeit churches which although Bible based are so far removed from the truth that God is far from them.  

The second major point of the Ephesian passage above is that at some point in the future Christ will gather all His local churches into one congregation and present that congregation to Himself. This is not speaking of all Christians but of all scriptural local churches. Just as Christ instituted marriage in Genesis, so too He instituted the local church during His earthly ministry. Ironically, none of us confuses the generic use of the words 'husband' and 'wife' in Paul's teachings to the Ephesians with a universal marriage in which all husbands are married to all wives, but we abandon all logic and reason when it comes to the generic use of the word 'church' and believe it to refer to all Christians. The truth is that only the Christians who are members of one of the Lord's churches will be part of this future congregation. All other Christians, although there in Heaven, will be outside this large congregation.

The third major point of the above passage is that each congregation is made pure because each member has been cleansed by the sinless blood of Christ shed on the cross on their behalf, and each congregation that adheres to His Word will remain clean,  'not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish' (Ephesians 5:27). Christ spent three long, hard years training the leaders of His first church in the truths He wanted that first church to teach it's members, and through it's missionary endeavors, to pass on to future churches. These truths exist today in exact form in our New Testament. 

Not every Bible based church in existence today correctly follows the teachings of God's Word. Some are so far removed from the truths of the New Testament that it is very difficult to recognize them as Bible based. They teach infant baptism, praying to idols, confessing sins to other mortals, praying for salvation, and baptism for salvation just to mention a few of the many errors they teach. These churches which do not follow the Lord's teachings cannot be classified as 'holy and without blemish'. They are not the Lord's churches.

But remember Christ's promise in Matthew 16:18 that throughout this age there would always be at least one of His churches alive and functioning. He specifically said that the 'gates of Hell would not prevail' against His churches. Today there are many of His churches alive and well all over the world. They continue to teach exactly what He and the Apostles taught.

SUMMARY

According to this passage in Ephesians there is only one type of church which is special to God: the one Christ gave Himself for, the one which believes and accurately teaches the truths of God's Word and which one day will be united with all the other scriptural churches to form one congregation in Heaven.

NEXT LESSON

Did you know that there is only one type of church in which God gets glory? Join me in Part II of 'The Difference it Makes to God' for further studies from the scriptures on this issue.

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"