Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew

WHAT IS CHURCH LIFE TO YOU?

Some people come to church because they want certain privileges like priority registration into the church kindergarten. Others come to find a life partner or to build some business contacts. But there are those who come for more altruistic reasons such as seeking solace and comfort from God and His Holy Word, or to find the meaning of life, or to obey God’s command to keep the Lord’s Day holy.

What is your reason for coming to church?

The meaning of the word "church" is "called out ones." This word occurs 116 times in the entire NT, of which only three times the word was translated as "assembly" (cf. Acts 19:32, 39, 41) and the remaining 113 times was translated as "church". The question is: what and where are these called out of? In the biblical usage, it is a description of holy ones who are called out of sin and spiritual darkness, and out of the attractions of this world, in their way of life and thinking, even though they are still on this earth. These are believers of the Lord Jesus Christ who have been saved from their sins when they received Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour. The moment a sinner becomes a Christian, he becomes at the same time a saint, i.e. a holy one. This means that he is instantly transformed into a citizen of heaven, with holiness characterizing his entire being, from his mind to his heart and to all his desires. The only part of the saint that is not transformed is his earthly body that will still grow old and suffer the ravages of time on this earth like all human beings. This will not change until the climax of his salvation which is glorification. Some may be taken home to heaven soon after salvation. Others are left behind on this earth to do the work of God, bearing on their earthly body the image of Christ by their life of holiness since they are already holy internally. They need to be holy in their thinking, desires, motivation, words, conduct and life style.

Therefore, the church as used in the NT is not a building but a gathering of called out ones, i.e. saints!

The invisible church is the universal church -- There is the invisible church which is made up of only believers. They include believers from the time of Adam to the last believer in Christ in the Millennium. All of them believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour with all their heart. They are God's children. The other names used by God to describe these believers are the Bride of Christ and the Body of Christ. Each and every one of them is known by God, for they are His blood bought children. Only the truly born again believers will be found in His blessed and eternal company. There will be no mistake or error. Anyone who is not washed by the blood of Christ will not be part of the universal or invisible church.

It is called the invisible church because it cannot be seen with the naked eyes and does not have an address on the earth. It is not right for the Roman Catholic Church to call herself the universal church as if she is the only true church. The word "catholic" means "universal." The churches on earth are definitely not made up of all true believers even though they might want to think so. The churches on earth are far from perfect and are made up of sin and idolatry, more than of holiness. This being said, the universal church that is taught in the Bible is a combination of all believers who have died in Christ and are now in heaven and all the true believers who remain on the earth to do the work of God as witnesses for Christ. One day, all of them will be dwelling in heaven, for only the invisible church will be found in the new heaven and new earth for eternity. When that day comes, every one of the saints will have a glorified body that is eternal. The constituents of the heavenly body are described for us in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 (KJV), "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." Jesus' glorified body was made of flesh and bones as He testified in Luke 24:39 (KJV), "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."

The visible church is the local church -- These are churches found throughout the world from the time of the Pentecost to the present day. The local church replaced the nation of Israel as the visible witness on earth of the One living and true God. The local church is made up of both believers and unbelievers just like the nation of Israel in the Old Testament time. When the nation was godly and had a godly king, there would have been more believers than unbelievers in the nation of Israel. However, when the king was idolatrous and the nation was largely idolatrous, then there were probably more unbelievers than believers. There was not a time in the OT when the nation of Israel was made up of all believers or all unbelievers. This is also true of the local church today. There is no local church that is made up of all believers unless the church is made up of only a few people who know each other very well and are sure of each other's salvation. Other than that, most local churches are made up of a mixture of believers and unbelievers. If the pastor and the leadership are godly, then most likely the church will have mostly believers and fewer unbelievers. However, it has to be noted that in these last days, sadly there are many churches that are made up of only unbelievers because the pastors in these churches do not preach the gospel of Christ according to the Bible anymore. As such, the members in these churches have not been given the gospel of Christ and are not able to be saved. Such are the Charismatic churches, Roman Catholic Churches, neo-evangelical churches, cults, etc. The truly born again believers in these churches would and should leave once they see the light and the truth according to Holy Scriptures. These local churches are the only instrument God is using on earth to spread the gospel, to build up the faith of believers through Christian fellowship, defend His Word and to teach and preach His Word to help Christians grow in the Lord.

The believers in the local church -- Who the true believers are in all the local churches is known only to God. No one knows for a certainty who is and who is not truly born again in all the local churches of the world throughout the ages. We will never know on this side of eternity. Everyone must make sure of his/her own salvation. That we can know and God wants us to know. God has given to all believers more than enough clear evidence of someone who is born again in Christ while they remain on the earth to serve the LORD. One such evidence is his understanding and obedience to God's Word. Jesus says in Matthew 7:21 (KJV), "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." The will of the heavenly Father of Christ is found only in the Bible on the earth. No one can go up to heaven to find out this will of God. It is given to mankind from the beginning of the fall of man into sin in Genesis 3. God gave man the first good news of salvation in Genesis 3:15 (KJV), "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The child of God has a propensity that was not there before to understand the Word of God and live it out in his life every day. He reads the Bible and knows that it is the voice of Christ and God the Father. He loves to read, study, meditate and obey the Word of God because he knows in his heart that it is the milk and meat that will sustain his spiritual life. He knows that the Bible is the voice of Christ and he follows it always. Jesus reveals this truth to all believers in John 10:27-30 (KJV), "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and my Father are one."

Purpose of the local church -- The local church as a gathering of believers on earth is to bear the witness of the salvific work of Christ on the earth. It has a twofold purpose. The first is that when unbelievers come into the church they should observe a clear demarcation between how the world lives and how believers in the local church live. The latter’s ambition, attitudes toward work, material things, the Lord’s Day, promotions, vacations, recreation, dressing, conversation, etc are to be as different as light is from darkness. This marked difference is a manifestation that comes from within the heart. It is not a Pharisaical and legalistic external performance to impress. It is a true reflection of the inner working of the Holy Spirit who indwells the heart of every genuine believer. These unbelievers hear the gospel, observe the lives of believers, see the way they worship God on the Lord's Day and how they care and love one another in the Lord with all sincerity and void of any hypocrisy. They will also see how believers may hurt one another and then forgive one another in the Lord; they continue to live and love each other continuously. It is not a perfect church but a holy and loving one.

How believers can achieve this blessed testimony brings us to the second part of the purpose of the local church. All believers are to be humble and teachable, to pray without ceasing, possess a high regard for the Word of God, read and study and obey the Word of God, have fellowship with like-minded Christians and to make church life an integral part of their existence. This will help the young believers to mature in Christ. To believers, the local church must be their eternal home on earth away from home in heaven. The fellow believers in the local church are family. They will see each other for ever in heaven. Every believer is given at least one spiritual gift immediately after salvation to fulfill this task of building up each other’s faith. This is how Jesus describes believers in 1 Corinthians 3:9 (KJV), "For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." God uses every believer in the church to build up the faith of other believers in the church. They are called labourers together with God. At the same time, when they are the recipients of the labour of other believers, they become the husbandry (i.e. farm land that is to be cultivated) and the building to be built up. This mutual symbiotic relationship with fellow believers in Christ is what the church is all about. When believers experience this blessing, they become part of the local church in a very special way, far better than what he experiences at home with his family who are not believers in Christ. There is a spiritual bond that is eternal and that will strengthen their faith which nothing on earth can provide. That is why God commands all believers to come together as often as possible and not just on the Lord's Day. This is revealed to us in Hebrews 10:22-25, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.[HUMILITY, PRAYER AND WORSHIP] Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) [AN UNSHAKABLE TESTIMONY] And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching [CHURCH LIFE AN INTEGRAL PART OF BELIEVER’S EXISTENCE]." [Emphasis added]

The church is also a battle ground – Just as God has revealed to us how good and great a blessing the local church can be to believers as they serve and witness for God on earth, so has Satan. Satan sends his minions into churches by sowing seeds of discord to destroy the unity among believers and also to undermine believers’ faith and trust in God's holy and perfect Word. They enter in as angels of light, pretending to be believers, and work their way into the leadership to become deacons and elders and ultimately even as pastors to destroy the church. 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 (KJV), "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." To achieve their evil goal, they will dress and talk like Christians and behave Christ-like, pretending to be gentle, portraying a genial and helpful demeanour for all to see so that gullible and unsuspecting believers become enamored with them. They will flatter the existing leaders in order to achieve their goal of destroying the church from the top down. Once they are in leadership, they will wear down the leaders by their cunning devices and hypocrisy until they finally take over the leadership and the church becomes the citadel of Satan. The only way believers can protect themselves against these wily minions of Satan is to know the Bible well and always do what the Bible says no matter how "beholden" they might be to these evil men. Remember that as believers our loyalty is always to Christ first and last. He died on the cross for our sins. No matter what favours man can do for us on earth, it can never come close to what Christ did on the cross of Calvary!

Tragically, many churches did not do this and they have paid the ultimate price which is the spiritual death of the church. Many churches today still exist but they are just places of spiritual death that have all the external trappings of a church with their worship and Sunday School but the glory of God has departed long ago. People who still flock to these churches are probably goats rather than sheep because they cannot discern the errors preached from the pulpit that are killing their souls and blinding their eyes. These people are still bound for hell but they have been deceived into thinking that they are on their way to heaven. This is the condition of many churches today including not a few B-P churches.

No church is immune from this spiritual attack. Everyone in the church must be on guard all the time, especially the leaders. These are some Bible verses to warn us that these attacks will continue to come as long as Christ has not returned to rule the earth. Galatians 2:4 (KJV), "And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage." And Jude 1:4 (KJV), "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."

Conclusion -- So why do you come to church? It is a haven of rest for the strengthening and building up of your faith in Christ if you are a true believer. The church is also a place where the gospel must be preached faithfully and accurately so that sinners might come and be saved. This is the twofold purpose of the church that must not die. It must be sustained and this can only be done properly when all believers of Christ do their part by coming together to pray and to serve and to worship!

Will you not make church life an integral part of your life? God meant it to be so when He made the local church the New Testament His visible witness of the glory, grace and mercy of the One Living and True God to which every true believer belongs. Be a serving Christian. Parents, encourage your children to attend the many ministries and camps in the church. Attend the Sunday Bible Study, weekly and monthly Bible Studies, Fellowship and Prayer Meetings provided for you by the church. Church life is inextricably linked to every believer’s life. We are here to do God's business and we need one another to do it well for God's glory. Amen.