Posts from August 2022

Section 8: The Church Week 4: Life in the Church Day 3: Corporate Worship Heb. 12:18-29 Earlier we noted that worship encompasses all of life. As a result, everything we do as individuals is an opportunity to worship. However, worship isn’t only an individual thing. The Church is also intended to gather together and celebrate all that God is and all that he has done for us. There is thus a corporate dimension to worship as well. What do we…

Section 8: The Church Week 4: Life in the Church Day 2: The Lord’s Supper Matt. 26:17-30 Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper during his last supper with his disciples. At that time: Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of…

Section 8: The Church Week 4: Life in the Church Day 1: Baptism Acts 8:26-40 Baptism is obviously something important in the life of the Church. We find it, for example, at the heart of the Great Commission, and we read about it being performed throughout the New Testament. There are two questions that are typically raised in connection with baptism: 1) who should be baptized? and 2) how are we supposed to do it? Is it sufficient to sprinkle…

Section 8: The Church Week 3: The Government of the Church Day 5: What Is the Appropriate Structure for Church Government? Acts 6:1-7 There are three main forms of church government: episcopalian, presbyterian, and congregational. Episcopalian The episcopalian form of government has a hierarchical structure. It takes its name from the Greek word “episcopus”, which means bishop. At the bottom level is the local congregation, headed by an ordained priest. At the next level is the diocese, which is made…

Section 8: The Church Week 3: The Government of the Church Day 4: Deacons Serve the Church in Various Capacities 1 Tim. 3:8-13 We looked at elders yesterday. The Bible also refers to deacons as having a specific role within the Church. What are deacons supposed to do? Unfortunately, their specific responsibilities aren’t detailed anywhere. However, we do get some idea of what was expected of deacons from the list of qualifications. Deacons aren’t supposed to be greedy for gain…

Section 8: The Church Week 3: The Government of the Church Day 3: Churches Today Are Led by a Group of Elders 1 Tim. 3:1-7, 5:17-21 If the Apostles are gone, does anyone today have authority within the Church? Yes. God knew his plan didn’t include a continuing apostolic ministry. That’s why we see elders in the New Testament churches. They [Paul and Barnabas] preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned…

Section 8: The Church Week 3: The Government of the Church Day 2: Apostles Filled a Unique Role in the History of the Church Acts 1:15-26 The word “apostle” simply means messenger. At times the Bible uses the word in a very broad sense to apply to anyone who has a message. More often, the term is applied to a specific group of people in the Church with unique power and authority.[i] Does the office of Apostle continue today? No.…

Section 8: The Church Week 3: The Government of the Church Day 1: Christ Is the Head of the Church Col. 1:15-20 Last week we looked at the authority and power of the Church. In theory, God could have given that authority and power to every believer to do with as he or she saw fit, without any accountability to any other believer. But God didn’t set things up that way. Instead, he instituted a leadership structure to govern the…

Section 8: The Church Week 2: The Church’s Authority and Power Day 5: The Church Has Been Given Authority to Discipline Its Members Matt. 18:15-20 God is concerned about the purity of his Church. As a result, he has given the Church authority to discipline its members (Matt. 18:15-20, 1 Cor. 5, 2 Thess. 3:6-14). Jesus, himself, described what the process ought to look like. If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the…

Section 8: The Church Week 2: The Church’s Authority and Power Day 4: The Church Has Been Given Authority to Engage in Spiritual Warfare Eph. 3:7-13 God’s overarching plan is to bring everything together under Christ (Eph. 1:10). As we’ve seen, the initial harmony of the universe was fractured by sin.  God intends to repair the damage by putting things back together again as it were.  He will do that by bringing everything together in proper relation to Christ.  Harmony…