THE CHURCHlesson 1
by Rev. J. Scott Lindsay
The British playwright, Dorothy Sayers, once said that “God went through three great humiliations in his pursuit of humanity.” The first was the Incarnation, when Jesus took on human flesh and became like us. The second was the Cross, where he died a shameful and painful death. And the third, she said, was the church, “when God entrusted his reputation to ordinary — sometimes very ordinary — people.”
This morning we are beginning a series of messages on the church — what it is and what it is not. And as we embark on this journey it is important that we keep the subject before us in perspective. As one historian has observed, “in history a keen [interest in the church] has, almost without exception, been a sign of spiritual decadence.”
And so, with that caution in mind, and thinking of the words of Ms. Sayers, it is important to keep our study on the church in perspective and in proportion. By “in perspective” I mean that we must not lose sight of the fact that when we think about the church, it is not simply a reflection on us. It is a reflection on God. The two are caught up together, so to lose sight of either aspect is to stray into error. By “in proportion” I mean that, as important as this issue is for us, “the doctrine of the church is not the most fundamental doctrine of Scripture,” as Ed Clowney puts it. We don’t want to lose the forest for the trees, and so we must be measured in our approach to this subject.
It is also important to note, at this early stage, that our approach in handling this subject, while certainly biblically driven, will not work systematically through books of the Bible, from beginning to end. In approaching a subject or handling a certain topic (like the church, or the Holy Spirit, or capital punishment, etc.), one must of necessity range over the whole of Scripture to come up with a composite picture of what the Bible has to say on the matter. This is due to the nature of how the Bible was written and put together. In the Bible we don’t have an encyclopedia of useful things that one might need to know for life so that, if we want to know what the Bible says about money for instance, we turn to the “M” section and find it there in alphabetical order between Methuselah and Moses. That’s not how the Bible was written. The organising principle of the Bible is not essentially topical, but rather it is essentially (although not strictly) historical.
So, if you want to know what the Bible says about money, you’re going to have to look in a lot of different places, spending time looking at various verses. And when you do so, you will, of course, need to make sure you are interpreting them in a way which is consistent with their context. But you will not be taking the time to interpret the whole book in which that verse is found. To take that approach would involve you in a never-ending task.
And so, as we look at the subject of the church in Scripture, we will be looking at various portions of the Bible — a verse here, a chapter there, a paragraph in another place — but always with the intent of understanding the passages properly, and with the ultimate goal of putting together a faithful picture of what the Bible, as a whole, has to say about the subject of the church.
Now you might suppose that when you’re thinking about the church, the place to start would be somewhere in the New Testament. After all, that is where the greek word translated as “church” is first used. But if you understand the church as the people of God, then you’re going to have to look much earlier than Matthew’s gospel to find the origins of that idea. Exodus 19 is a pivotal passage for getting us started in thinking about the church.
If you’re not familiar with this story, let me just fill in a few gaps for you. In Genesis 12 God chose a man and his wife, Abraham and Sarah, and he promised that through them he would make a great nation, a people for himself. Then, in Genesis 15, after God had made this great promise to Abraham, he came to Abraham (called Abram):
“As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.’” (Gen. 15:12-14)
Now, sometime after this, in Genesis 37-50, you get the story of Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph. It is the story of Joseph which sets the stage for the fulfillment of the words about Abram’s descendants being enslaved. By the end of Genesis, Joseph and his brothers are living in Egypt, in a privileged position and a choice land. Then the opening chapter of Exodus tells us this:
“Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. ‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.’ So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labour, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh” (Ex 1:6-13).
So, by the beginning of Exodus, Abraham’s descendants were certainly numerous — as God promised — but they were not free. They need a deliverer, so God sent them Moses. This is what God said to Moses about this important job he had been given:
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him . . . Then say to him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert”’” (Exod. 7:14-16).
After lots of amazing and terrifying things happened, Pharaoh let the Hebrew people go and they gathered together in the desert at the foot of Mt Sinai:
“Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, ‘This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites” (Exod. 19:3-6)
This event of the Exodus, of God’s bringing them out of one nation, separating them, setting them apart and then bringing them together to himself and for himself, was a pivotal, character-forming, identity-shaping event for the people of God. God brought them out in order that he might bring them in, together, as his people assembled before him in the wilderness, to worship him, to give attention to him, to listen to his words given to them by his servant Moses. And God had identified them as his “treasured possession,” a “kingdom of priests” and a “holy nation.”
The pivotal nature of this event is seen in various ways in the Bible. By the time you get to Deuteronomy 4, many years have come and gone since that initial gathering in Exodus 19. The Israelites have wandered in the wilderness for almost 40 years — because of their own sin — and a whole generation has perished without seeing the land which had been promised them. And here they are now, on the cusp of the land, right on the edge, and there is a pause before they move in to take the land. Moses is still with them, but he will not be the one to take them into the land because of his own rebellion. The leaders of God’s people are not immune from the consequences of their own sin any more than anyone else is.
So here, in Deuteronomy, we have essentially three great addresses or farewell messages from Moses to the people of God before they enter the land and before Moses dies. Chapter 4 is part of Moses’ first address. Listen to what he says, starting at verse 5:
“See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, ‘Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.’ You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets” (Deut. 4:5-13).
Moses reminded them of this very significant event in the life of God’s people and told them to keep remembering that day. And then Moses died and the people of God get a new leader, Joshua, who led them into the promised land. In Joshua 8, after they were in the land but before they had conquered all their enemies, there was a special ceremony led by Joshua which basically reenacted the events at Mt Sinai, recommitting the people to God’s covenant:
“Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites . . . On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua copied on stones the law of Moses, which he had written. All Israel, aliens and citizens alike, with their elders, officials, and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing those who carried it — the priests, who were Levites. Half of the people stood in front of Mt Gerizim and half of them in front of Mt Ebal. . . Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law — the blessings and the curses — just as it is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel” (Josh. 8:30-35).
Here again, you see this picture of God’s people, gathering together to worship God through sacrifice and offering, and to listen to God’s words to them through God’s servant Joshua. As you continue to read through the Old Testament, you see that this pattern repeats all over the place — with King David, with Jehoshaphat, Joash, and Hezekiah. Even after the people of God had been taken into exile in a foreign country, and a remnant had subsequently returned to the land, even after that great disruption, the pattern continued under Ezra and Nehemiah:
“So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon . . . And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion . . . Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’ Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. The Levites . . . instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read” (Neh. 8:2-8).
To be a member of the people of God in the Old Testament, meant, at the very least, having the privilege of standing in the great assembly of God’s people — worshipping him together and listening to his word being read in a way which made it clear and understandable. In the Old Testament we get a picture of the people of God, coming together at crucial points in their history — for praise and worship, for listening and learning.
In Acts 7:38 you have Stephen, one of the first Christians, who has been arrested on false charges as a direct result of his gospel work. In chapter 7 we have the record of his great defense speech before the local religious authorities, the Sanhedrin. In his defense he is recounting the great history of the people of God and, not surprisingly, one of the central elements of that history, as Stephen tells it, is the account of God’s people gathering together in Exodus 19. Now, there’s a lot going on in this passage, but for our purposes all I really want you to focus on is the language that Stephen uses when he describes the account of Exodus 19:
“This is that Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.’ [Moses] was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us” (Acts 7:37-38).