Well friends, welcome to Theology Tuesday here on Let's Talk I'm Rocky Stevenson, pastor of Benoni Bible Church, and today we're going to be looking at really, again, ecclesiology, which we've been looking at the last two weeks. Let me remind you of the statement that we are looking at, and that is the following. We believe that the church is the whole company of those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, reconciled to the Father, and thereby to each other. that this church is the people of God, the body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit, through whom God's purpose in history is made known. That the local church, and this is the section we're going to be looking at today, this next little piece, that the local church, as a manifestation of the universal church, is a community of believers in a particular place where God's Word is preached and practiced, and the two ordinances are observed, and church discipline is exercised." And that's as far as we get with that piece, but then the next part of the statement says this, that in the local church both men and women are called to serve equally, and male headship should be advanced. evidenced, and that each local church is ruled by Jesus Christ, governed by its members, led by its shepherds, and served by its deacons. What an important doctrine ecclesiology is. I gave a bit of an advert for it yesterday on Memorable Monday. Really what we see is the heart of ecclesiology here, the study of the church. Understanding the nature of the church is absolutely foundational to our Christian walk, impacting both our personal faith as well as our collective journey as believers. I do think that often in our culture, and even in the South African culture, we become sometimes so isolated from one another and it has become so individualistic. It is me, my, and I. when you find actually scripturally it is thy, thou, our. We even see when it comes to the Lord's Prayer how Lord Jesus said our Father which art in heaven. I think some people have begun to think that Christianity is my Father that is in heaven. and people begin to think that the local church is not so important anymore or that somehow we have grown above the need for community and being one with one another and having Christ be the head and we've often even replaced the local church for sports clubs or for golf clubs or for some kind of thing that we do on a Sunday apart from the gathering together and the assembling together of the saints. So there's such an importance when it comes to ecclesiology. Ecclesiology in a nutshell is crucial for several reasons. First and foremost, it provides a biblical framework. And let me repeat what I've just said there. It is a biblical framework because to have the local church is something which is biblical. It is New Testament theology. It is a biblical framework for comprehending the church as a divine institution established by Christ. It is Jesus who is the one that has instituted the church, universal and local. And the New Testament, particularly in passages like Matthew 16, 18 and Ephesians 1, 22 to 23, emphasize the centrality of the church in God's redemptive plan in Matthew 16 18 Jesus says this and I say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church now he's talking about the confession of Peter regarding Christ being the Lord Jesus Christ and the Savior of the world and the one who's the Messiah In Ephesians 1 verse 22 to 23, this is what Paul says, he says, And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Even as you think about the New Testament, most of it was written to local churches that represented universal churches those books like Ephesians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians when you think of Titus written to Titus at Crete or 1st and 2nd Timothy written to Timothy at Ephesus when you think about the seven churches of Revelation in the book of Revelation we find that local church is so incredibly in the spotlight in the New Testament So if we think about the importance of the local church for a moment, if we zoom in on the local church, we find it to be a tangible manifestation of the universal church. In Acts 2 verse 42, giving us a glimpse into that early church practice, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And here we witness the local expression of believers. Now even though they met in the top of somebody's house this was not a house church it was the church meeting in a house when they were underneath the authority of the leaders that God had ordained now we also know that the church would spread from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth and that showed itself in local representations of that universal church of the Lord Jesus they were local churches not local bodies of believers that made up the church but it was local churches with local leadership with local endeavors like the church at Antioch that was even such a missionary minded church that would send Paul and Barnabas out to plant local churches. Paul would even in his writing to Titus be seeking to establish the local churches on the island of Crete, where Titus was, to appoint faithful men to the office of elders within the local churches. So here we witness even the local expression of believers that were committed to God's Word, to fellowship, to observance of the ordinances and to communion. That's what we see in Acts 2 verse 42. Now the local church is not a mere convenience. It's not just something that we pick because we want to get some kind of an entertainment or we want a consumeristic mindset. We want a place that is going to cater to our children and sing nice songs and have a preacher that preaches a nice message that makes us feel good. No, not at all. It is a divine design for believers to assemble, to grow and to live out their faith in the community of a priesthood of every believer living out the giftedness that they have received by God at salvation where where all, even inside of this, all of the one another passages of the New Testament can be lived out. Love can become so tangible. We can tangibly witness to the world around us that we are in Christ through our love for one another. It's a place where God's word is not only preached, but God's word is practiced. And where the ordinances of baptism and communion are faithfully observed. where church discipline can also be biblically played out, where we can see God's word, hear God's word, pray God's word, sing God's word, and have God's word played out in practice. Now the relationship between the local and the universal church is important. If we address a crucial truth, one can be a part of a local church without being a part of the universal church. It's possible that you can go and you can be at Benoni Bible Church on Sunday coming and actually not be a part of the universal church. You might even be able to take up membership and you might be able to answer all the questions and you might be able to adhere to the statement of faith of the body of believers while actually not being saved. and been deceived thinking that somehow through your good works or your good actions or your good behavior that you can appease God and that you can earn your way into heaven and you might find yourself being one of those individuals that's put to the left of Jesus where he says get away from me for I never knew you you worker of lawlessness thinking that somehow you can please God apart from Christ. So it's possible to be a part of a local church without being a part of the universal church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But one cannot be a part of the universal church without being or becoming part of a local church. Because otherwise you would just be being disobedient to Jesus. Part of the reason of why you would be baptized through full immersion is to show and signify that you as an individual have now become a part of the whole of the body of believers. That you are submitting yourself underneath Jesus who is the head of the church. If we consider a passage like 1 Corinthians 12 27 where Paul describes believers being collectively the body of Christ This unity is expressed not only in the universal sense, but also in the local assembly. The local church, as a microcosm of the universal church, is where individual believers contribute to the body, exercising their gifts for the common good and the upliftment of the body. while also immediately integrated into the local church, an immediate integration into the local church might actually be something quite difficult and maybe not even possible immediately, but living out our Christian faith necessitates a connection to a local body. And Hebrews 10 verse 25 urges the following, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some. but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. So there's such a necessity to this. The local church is not a mere optional accessory to the Christian life. It's a fundamental necessity. It's not just something you add on to being a Christian. It's part of the very essence of being a Christian. Ephesians 4, 11-16 says this, And he himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, so that we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful schemes, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects to Him who is the Head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. And so we have this vivid picture of the local church as the body of Christ, each member contributing to the growth and the maturity of the whole. The local church serves as a training ground for believers equipping them for works of ministry and service and fostering unity in the faith. Without this communal setting, believers actually risk stunting their spiritual growth. lacking the necessity or the necessary support and accountability for their journey as Christians. I did prepare a couple of common objections. I'm not going to have the time to go into them. Maybe next week we'll look at that. But may the Lord bless you as you think through these thoughts. Let me add two other verses for you to reference and look at Galatians 6 2 which says bear one another's burdens and Hebrews 3 verse 13 which exhorts we are exhorted to exhort one another daily. We need to be a part of the local body of believers where we can grow as Christians. May the Lord bless you and may you be one who's diligent to be found in the body of Christ. Amen.