It has been my blessing to pastor small country churches in relatively small communities. The benefits of ministry in such a place is that it’s easier to get to know the people and the community. It doesn’t take long to get around in such places.
Sure, there are drawbacks, as there always is in all areas of life. After all, nothing is perfect. One of the things that is a major distraction in small towns is the prevalence of gossip and rumor. I’m sure such things exist in larger locales, but it seems to have a particular hold on the smaller communities. Perhaps it’s because it’s easier for the gossip to get back to someone since there aren’t that many people to begin with.
When confronted with the evil of gossip in a community, the usual response is, “There’s not a lot to do in a small town, so we talk about each other.” This is coming from the church members.
During one particularly nasty round of gossip, I heard that excuse I guess once too often, because it raised a question in my mind that still resonates within me. In each of these small communities, there was at least two churches. Yet these churches had allowed themselves to be co-opted by the norms of that society. So the question that stirred in me is this:
Is it the role of the church to be shaped by society, or is it the role of the church to shape society?
What Jesus Tells Us about the Church
Surprisingly, Jesus says very little about the Church in the Gospels. There are only two times He actually uses the word “church,” once in Matthew 16 and the other in Matthew 18.
In Matthew 16, Jesus is with His disciples in a place called Caesarea Philippi as a sort of group retreat. During the time of discussion, Jesus asked the disciples what people were saying about Him. The answer was that the general consensus was that Jesus was a latter day prophet in the manner of Elijah or Jeremiah. Some even said John the Baptist. Then Jesus got more personal and asked the disciples who they thought He was. Simon, speaking for the group, answered that they believed He was the Christ, the Son of God.
In response, Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:17-18). Jesus used this opportunity to affirm Peter’s statement of faith, but He was stating that the Church is to be planted on the firm foundation of God’s revelation of Himself to His followers. (Please note: I use Church to refer to the universal family of God across the world united in our confession of faith in Jesus Christ; I use church to refer to the local congregation of believers.) So one of the roles of the Church is to be firmly grounded in the Word of God, Jesus Christ (cf. John 1:1-2, 14). In doing so, we place ourselves securely on the foundation of Truth (cf. John 14:6; John 8:31-32; John 13:13-14).
The next time Jesus refers to the Church, in Matthew 18:15-20, He mentions it in the context of church discipline. Jesus’ instruction is that if someone wrongs us, we are to “go to him and show him his fault” (v.15). This is to be a meeting between just the two people. If there is no reconciliation and repentance, the next step is to take the issue to one or two others to hear the dispute. If the mediator is unable to resolve the issue, then it is taken to the entire church. “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector” (Matthew 18:17). In short, the church has a duty to maintain the integrity of its message, sometimes through church discipline.
It is interesting in both of these passages that Jesus concludes with, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19; cf. Matthew 18:18).
Jesus’ last word on the Church is this: “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:19-20). There’s a whole lot that should be written about this passage, but for the purpose of this paper, let’s focus on two things. First, it’s easy to take this verse completely out of context and assume that the next lottery drawing is yours, since you’ll find one other person to pray with you to win it all. That’s not what He’s saying, and we know that when we look at the overall lessons on prayer found throughout the Bible. Second, and more importantly, Jesus makes a promise that His presence will always be with His Church. The role of the Church is to be the body of Christ in our world as He walks with and guides us to learn and do His will.
To summarize Jesus’ teachings on the Church, using just these two passages, we learn the following. First, that the Church is to be grounded on God’s revelation, through Scripture, through prayer and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit (who will use prayer and the Bible to reveal God to us). Second, The Church has a responsibility to be faithful to God’s revelation and to protect the integrity of the message coming from God. Third, the Church is the place where Jesus will most prominently make His presence known in this world.
What Else Does Jesus say about the Church?
While the two preceding passages are the only two places where Jesus mentions the Church specifically, we can learn about His expectations from other passages of the Gospel accounts. Primarily, Jesus’ expectations are found in His teachings on how individual church members relate to their world.
In the Great Commission, found in Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus tells us He expects the Church to make disciples of others in our world. This passage takes place after the resurrection in the area of Galilee. It’s interesting that Matthew notes those who gathered with Jesus, but some doubted. That’s consistent with the Church today. And we’ll come back to that shortly. In the commission, Jesus tells them that He has absolute and final authority over all things. Put it another way, Jesus assures us that He is in control. Because of that, He expects us to go out into the world in our daily lives with confidence and, as we are living our lives, we are to make disciples. He talks about baptism (in His day, a way of pledging oneself to follow the teaching of the one in whose name one is baptized) and of obedience to His teachings. Implied in this is that the disciple-makers are also to be obedient disciples to His commands. And finally, the assurance that He is with us to the very end of the age.
So the role of the Church is to expand the kingdom by making disciples of others who are currently not believers. The way we do that is through being faithful disciples ourselves.
Jesus also taught us that the Church will have an influence on society. “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Luke 13:20-21). Jesus understood that the Church’s influence might not completely change society, just as yeast does not completely transform flour into yeast. But, just as yeast changes the flour and improves it, so the Church would have a positive influence in our world.
Having taught us that the Church was to have a positive influence, He also noted that the Church would be bitterly opposed by the world. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:18-20a). There will always be conflict between the Church and the world in which we live, but Jesus tells us that the gates of Hades will not stand against the Church.
The Role of the Church Beyond the Gospels
It doesn’t take long in the reading of Acts to realize that the Church’s role in our world is to be the voice of Christ in our world. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was sent to the Church, God spoke a message through Peter that minced no words. Through Peter, God tells the gathered people that Christ was accredited by God Himself, but that the people chose instead to crucify Him. Toward the end of his rather short sermon, Peter says, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are witnesses of this fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. . . Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:32-34,36).
As a result of this message, about 3000 were added to the Church. We then read that the new church in Jerusalem devoted itself to the apostles’ teachings, to fellowship and to prayer. “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people” (Acts 2:46-47).
Acts 5 lets us know that the local congregation also had the responsibility of church discipline (vs. 1-11) while also experiencing persecution (vs. 17-42). The church also elected for themselves administrators who served the needs of ministering to others (Acts 6:1-7).
Acts also speaks of the spreading of the message of Christ from the Jewish community to the Samaritans and then to the Gentile world, with the establishment of local churches in the various communities where the gospel was preached and took root.
A reading of Paul’s letters, as well as the letters of James, Peter, John and Jude and the letter to the Hebrews lets us know that the Church had responsibilities and a duty to be faithful to Christ and so influence the world through the ministry and the preaching of the Word.
In short, there is no doubt that the New Testament is very clear that the Church, while a part of society, was to be an influence on society, not the other way around. While a reading of the various letters of the New Testament lets us know that each local church was influenced to some degree or another by the community in which it was located, there can be no doubt that the writers of each letter expected the church to influence society far more than society was to influence the churches.
What About Those Who Doubted?
Going back to when the risen Christ gathered His disciples together at Galilee and proclaimed the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20), we are reminded that there were some who doubted. The most notable doubter about the resurrection was Thomas, who proclaimed that he wouldn’t believe unless he placed his hands in the wounds that Jesus incurred on the cross. Later, when Thomas was offered that opportunity, his doubts vanished and he proclaimed Christ to be his Lord and his God. So, it’s doubtful that Thomas was the one being thought of in the passage. More than likely, it was others who still couldn’t wrap their head around the idea of someone—anyone—coming back from the dead.
Jesus had mentioned in an earlier parable that the kingdom of heaven was like a field of wheat where an enemy comes along and plants tares amid the wheat. The result is that the harvest will be ruined. The farmer had to wait for the crop to grow so he could separate the wheat from the tares, and that the tares were to be cast away into a fire. The point of the parable is that there are always going to be those in the Church who claim to be of the faith but are not. They are the ones who are mostly likely going to be more affected by society than other members of the church. However, any good church is going to be aware of this and will take steps to be true to the mission of the church.
In other words, there are always going to be those who doubt the validity of the message of Christ. That should not hinder us from still proclaiming that message and seeking to make a difference in the world. We are still called to be influencers of the world, not the other way around.
Conclusion
Jesus’ messages to the churches in Revelation are a telling message of what Jesus expected of His churches in their local settings. He was quick to praise them for their doctrinal integrity and warned against letting the message be diluted by false teachings. He warned the Ephesian church about forgetting their first love, and His message to the Laodicean church is one that we all need to be aware of so we can guard against it.
To the Laodiceans, Jesus told them that they had become a wishy-washy church, so influenced by their culture that they no longer had a valid message. He called them lukewarm and the result was that it was a church that made Him sick to his stomach. The church there had become so comfortable in its culture that Jesus had to sternly discipline them. “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:19-20).
Perhaps the question we should be asking is, “Is today’s Church having more of an influence on society, or is society having more influence over the Church?” Is today’s Church waning in influence, and if so, what can be done to turn it around? How well is the Church’s message being heard in today’s America?
I firmly believe that as long as God has a Church, He will be heard and He will make a difference. But that doesn’t mean His influence is still strong everywhere He has a Church. We need only look at the Middle East, the birthplace of the Church, and Europe, where the Church took root and blossomed, to see that the influence has waned.
The Church needs to take a stand on the entire message of God’s Word. Without our rededication to God and to His message, we risk more than influence.
Let the Church hear and do His words, and so overcome the world.
© 2018 Glynn Beaty