“The Church: An Overview of Basic Ecclesiology and Healthy Church Life”
The Doctrine of the Church as Central in God’s Redemptive Plan (Scripture references from ESV)
We are in a series of messages- biblical responses to basic questions about the church:
Message 1: What is the church? – we saw what makes the church and membership significant Message 2: How is the church ordered? – we saw what the church should look like
Message 3: Why does the church exist? – we’ll see the purpose of the church and what it should be doing
• Christ is Sufficient – our federal head - truly man, truly God – prophet, priest, king active and passive righteousness, penal substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection - 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Cor 15; Heb 9:22
• Faith and Repentance are Commanded – Mk 1:15; 2 Cor 5:17; 1 John
Paul Washer states: “With one hand, God is motioning man to come to him. With the other hand, he is holding back his wrath. Soon, he is going to drop both hands” (see Washer, Gospel’s Power and Message). Come to Jesus Christ. Now is the time of salvation. Scripture urges:
turn from your sin, believe in Jesus Christ, submit to his lordship and delight in him.
James Montgomery Boice summarized the core gospel doctrines, “Without these five
confessional statements–Scripture alone, Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone, and glory to God alone–we do not have a true church, and certainly not one that will survive for very long. For how can any church be a true and faithful church if it does not stand for Scripture alone, is not committed to a biblical gospel, and does not exist for God’s glory?
A church without these convictions has ceased to be a true church, whatever else it may be” (Boice, Gospel of Grace, 32).
The way we view God directly informs the way we think about the church.
2. The Right Administration of the Ordinances (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper) Baptism signifies the initial identification of a Christian with Christ and the church. The Lord’s Supper signifies such continual identification. “Baptism binds one to many, and the Lord’s Supper binds many into one” (Jamieson, Going Public, 150). Wayne Grudem explains, “Baptism and the Lord’s Supper also serve as ‘membership controls’ for the church. Baptism is the means for admitting people into the church, and the Lord’s Supper is the means for allowing people to give a sign of continuing in the membership of the church--the church signifies that it considers those who receive baptism and the Lord’s Supper to be saved” (Grudem, Systematic Theology, 865-866). Acts 2:41-42
MARKS OF A TRUE CHURCH:
THE ORDINACE OF BAPTISM – 6 Basic Questions about Baptism
WHAT is baptism? - The Abstract of Principles (1859) states, “Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus, obligatory upon every believer, wherein he is immersed in water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as a sign of his fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ, of remission of sins, and of his giving himself up to God, to live and walk in newness of life.”
WHO should be baptized? – Christians with a credible profession of faith in Christ are the only recipients of baptism. Belief and baptism are married in Scripture- belief coming before and baptism following soon after.
Acts 2:37-41; 8:12-13, 36-38; 8:37; 9:18; 10:44-48; 16:14-15; 16:32-33;
18:8; 19:4-5
Matt 28:18-20; cf. Jn 4:1-2; Rom 6:1-5; Gal 3:26-27; Col 2:11-12; Gal 3:27; 1 Pet 3:21
Scripture does not teach that baptism saves but uses baptism as a short-hand to
summarize salvation. Christians were those who underwent baptism to profess, prove and picture conversion (Schreiner, Believers Baptism, 99).
WHY should a Christian be baptized?
Baptism signifies union with Christ and communion with the church.
• Baptism indicates an Identification with the Triune God – Matt 3:15-17;
Matt 28:18
• Baptism indicates a Distinction from the World
• Baptism indicates a Regeneration by the Holy Spirit – Tit 3:5; cf. Mk 1:8;
Jn 3:1-8; Acts 2:38
• Baptism indicates a Purification from Sin – 1 Pet 3:21; Ezek 36:25;
Heb 9:13-14; 10:19-22
• Baptism indicates a Participation in the Body of Christ – Eph 4:4-5;
1 Cor 12:13; cf. Acts 8
• Baptism indicates a Proclamation of the Gospel - Rom 6:4-5; Col 2:12;
Gal 3:26; 2 Cor5:15-17 o Picture of the Gospel o Profession of faith o Pledge of obedience o Promise of preservation
• Baptism indicates an anticipation of the Final Resurrection WHEN should a Christian be baptized?
What about re-baptism? What about children?
HOW should a Christian be baptized? – Meaning is affected by mode.
(John L Dagg, Manual of Church Order, 21-68; Restoring Integrity, chap 4, D. Allen)
• Immersion is indicated by the word for baptism – Mark 1:9
• Immersion is indicated by the biblical precedent of baptism - Matt 3:16-17;
Mk 1:5, 10; Jn 3:23;
• Immersion is indicated by the theological picture of baptism – Rom 6:3-4
• Immersion is indicated by the church’s early practice of baptism
WHERE should a Christian be baptized? – The local church is the authorized context for baptism, which as a gathered assembly holds the keys of the kingdom and exercises them through baptism and discipline. Baptism should ordinarily occur both by and into the local church which affirms one’s faith and in which one commits his life. “In Acts, baptisms resulted in the recipients gathering daily for additional instruction. The ecclesia, or local church, of the New Testament is the fulfillment of the commission of Christ. The New Testament knows nothing of baptized believers not associated with a local church” (White, Restoring Integrity, 111).
The DANGER of Baptism The BEAUTY of Baptism
“The Church: An Overview of Basic Ecclesiology and Healthy Church Life”
The Doctrine of the Church as Central in God’s Redemptive Plan (Scripture references from ESV)