IPC Messenger
A W eekly P ublication of T he I ndependent P resbyterian C hurch
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Volume 17 • No 31
August 2017
Jesus and the Church
H
ow many times does Jesus mention
the church? I’ve asked that question
in a number of forums (Reformed
University Fellowship, Sunday School,
Drug Court Bible Study, Sunday morning
pulpit, etc.), and gotten answers ranging
from 36 to 6. Surprise is the typical
response when I reveal that Jesus in the
whole of His earthly ministry mentions the
church, the ekklesia, only twice. Initially
this seems to confirm the bias of those who
say they admire Jesus but have little regard
for the church. The church, they say, is
man’s invention. Jesus said little about
the church. He didn’t intend to found
a church. We’ve built an ecclesiastical
mountain out of an exegetical molehill,
they insist. We follow Jesus, they claim,
but have discarded the millstone that the
church has become around His message.
What should we say about this? Simply
that Jesus’ words about the church must
be weighed, not merely counted. Essential
Jesus says two things.
Matthew 16:18 – “I will build my
church”
Matthew 18:17 – “tell it to the church.”
Take them in order. What does Jesus
promise to build? His church. Anything
else? No. He promises to build no other
earthly institution. He attaches His
personal pronoun, “my,” to no other
earthly entity. He sums up His entire
mission as church building. This is His
chief concern. What is Jesus doing,
incarnation and post-incarnation?
Building His church.
Let’s move to the second reference.
What does Jesus want us to tell to the
church? He speaks of the problem of a
sinning “brother” who refuses to heed
admonition, who refuses to repent.
His obstinacy must be revealed to the
church which must act to disassociate
him: “Let him be to you as a Gentile or
a tax collector” (Mt 18:17).
What is implied by this second
reference to the ekklesia? It must be
that the church that Jesus envisions has
1) standards of belief and conduct; 2)
membership respecting which one may
be included or excluded; 3) a process of
discipline; 4) a form of government; 5)
meetings at which a matter may be told;
6) officers who facilitate the whole. Jesus
speaks in these two passages of the keys
of the kingdom of heaven (Mt 16:19) and
the power of binding and loosing (Mt
16:19 and Mt 18:18). The church that
Jesus envisions has concrete existence,
bricks and mortar, one might say. It is
an organization. It is an institution. Its
members are committed to each other, to
the Triune God whose church it is, and
to the church itself as something greater
than the sum of its parts.
The church that Jesus builds is not
merely an ad hoc gathering of believers at
a coffee shop to pray and share Scripture
verses. Such meetings are self-selecting,
Continued Page 2
IPC Messenger
CONTENTS
2 Music Ministry
2 Children’s Ministry
3 Moral Concerns
4 Student Ministries
5
College and Career
Ministry
6 Family Corner
8
Congregational
Growth and Care
10
Announcements
and Events
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