The Body excerptby Chuck Colson
Chapter 5: On This Rock
"He cannot have God for his father who does not have the church for his mother." - Augustine
Laszlo Tokes lived through the violent days that followed his exile and arrest. After the revolution he returned to Timisoara. Bishop Papp fled the country after Ceausescu's fall, and Tokes was appointed to fill his place as bishop of Oradea.
"Without speculating or organizing the whole movement, it was really a miracle," Tokes told us, reflecting on those December days when the people of God came together in unity. "The people moved together and sang together and prayed together and acted together. The Spirit of God was there above our wills and out resistance. We did what was dictated for us by our faith through our conscience."
When the church is a church, as the believers of Timisoara show us, the people of God moved by the Spirit of God do the work of God, and evil cannot stand against them. That is the mandate Jesus put before His followers centuries ago in a beautiful town in the lush area at the foot of Mount Hermon, source of the springs that feed the river Jordan...
Many believe it to be the pivotal moment in the great drama recorded in the New Testament - that day the young Nazarene and His disciples arrived in Caesarea Philippi. Strange rumors had swirled about this Jesus ever since the wild-eyed prophet called John the Baptist had thundered the fearsome words: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." Some even said He might be a King.
This carpenter's son taught the crowds in mysterious parables and bewildering statements like, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." He healed the sick and fed thousands from meager rations. He annoyed and troubled the increasingly restive religious authorities.
Who was this man who was arousing such passions and such controversy in Palestine?
That was the very question Jesus put to His followers that day in Caesarea Philippi: "Who do people say I am?"
"Some say you are John the Baptist," the disciples replied. "others say Elijah, and still others believe you are Jeremiah or one of the other prophets."
Then Jesus looked straight into the eyes of these men who had turned from their trades, even their families, to follow Him: "But what about you?" He asked. "Who do you say I am?"
To which the irrepressible Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
One can almost imagine a hush in heaven at that moment. The words had been spoken. Soon the whole world would know that the long-waited day was here. The Messiah had come.
Such faith, Jesus said, could only come from God. "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven."
Jesus' next words, however, are critical for understanding the nature of the Christian faith. (-Read More-)For in direct response to Peter's confession, Christ announced: "On this rock I will build my church."
And to that church He promised a vast grant of authority, which He called "the keys of the kingdom of heaven." The church was to be His instrument on earth, and whatever was done in His will would have eternal significance and consequence.
Whether Jesus meant He would build His church upon Peter himself or upon Peter's confession of faith is a point about which Christian traditions disagree. But the critical historical fact remains: Jesus' response to Peter's confession was to announce that He would build His church. And from this declaration we learn four crucial lessons about the church.
First, the church is not a building. The church is a people.
(skipping this part here.)
But it is more than simply a collection of people; it is a new community.
Modern Christians, especially evangelicals, see the Christian faith primarily, if not exclusively, as the gospel of "Jesus and me." Christianity is simply a personal relationship with Jesus. Accept Christ into your life and you will be saved.
This is true as far as it goes, but it falls woefully short. Although we are justified through our faith, Christianity is much more than just a private transaction with Jesus.
When Peter made his confession, Jesus did not say, "Good, Peter. You are now saved and will have an abundant life. Be at peace." Instead, He announced the church and established a divinely ordained pattern. When we confess Christ, God's response is to bring us into His church; we become members of His church - and our commitment to the church is indistinguishable from our commitment to Him.
Radical words. For we know many Christians who say they are believers but are not members of a church. By that, some mean that they are not members of a local congregation. But many mean that they do not need the church in any sense.
Yet according to Scripture, Christianity is corporate. This is why we speak of the body with its different parts, the community of the redeemed, the holy nation and royal priesthood - or, as Carl Henry calls it,"the new society of God's people, the new society of the twice-born."
The church is not civic center, no social club or encounter group, no Sunday morning meeting place. It is a new society, created for the salvation of a lost world, pointing to kingdom come.
And it we properly understand the exchange between Peter and Jesus and the rest of Scripture, we come face to face with a truly staggering truth about the nature of this new society: It is so dear to our Lord that He purchased it with His own blood.
If the good people of Riverton Community Church had realized this awesome, terrifying fact, they would have abandoned their petty, self-centered ways and dropped to their knees.
For we are part of the body for which Christ died!
Therefore, the church belongs to God.
(skip)
And the church will triumph.
(skip)
There is more to this chapter, but I figured this post was long enough. haha. I can type up more parts of it, if people are interested.
Posted in: excerpt
