Identity of the Church

Text: Matthew 16:18

Series: Restoration Sermons

Date:

Speaker: Ed Rangel

Location: Waupaca Church of Christ

Bible Version: NASB 1995

Sermon Type: Expository

Learning Objectives

By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:

1. Establish that Jesus built one church and that it still exists.
2. List the identifying marks by which the Lord's church can be recognized.
3. Apply those marks to tell the Lord's church from the churches of men.

Thesis

Jesus established one church; it has never ceased; and because it was established at a definite time, place, and foundation, with definite terms and marks, it can still be identified today — and any body established otherwise cannot be it.

Burden

Hundreds of different churches all claim to be churches of Christ, and an honest seeker is entitled to ask: are they? Can they all be, when they contradict one another? If Jesus built one church, then there is a way to tell it from the imitations — and finding it is not a matter of preference but of evidence. This lesson hands the seeker a measuring line: not "which church do I like?" but "which one did Jesus build?"

Introduction

The question is fair and answerable. The outline frames it in three steps: a known fact, how we may know the church, and which one is the church of Christ.

I. A Known Fact (Matt. 16:18; Col. 1:18)

Begin with what is certain:

1. Jesus established a church — "I will build My church" (Matt. 16:18).
2. He established only one — "there are many members, but one body" (1 Cor. 12:20); He is "head of the body, the church" (Col. 1:18).
3. Is that one still in existence? Did it cease, go down in defeat, and disappear? Either it perished or it still stands.
4. Christ promised that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18); so it did not perish. It still exists.
5. Then the only remaining question is: which one is it?

That question has an answer, because the Lord's church has identifying marks.

II. How We May Know It (Acts 2)

If a thing can be identified, you can tell when you have found it. The church Jesus built bears definite marks:

1. It had a certain foundation — Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:11).
2. It began at a certain time — Pentecost (Acts 2).
3. It began at a certain place — Jerusalem (Luke 24:47; Acts 2:5).
4. It was established by a certain person — Jesus.
5. Its terms of admission were faith, repentance, and baptism (Acts 2:38).
6. Its members lived a certain type of life — holy, separated, devoted (Acts 2:42).
7. They wore certain names — disciples, Christians, the church of God, churches of Christ (Acts 11:26; Rom. 16:16).
8. Therefore any church established at another time, in another place, on another foundation, with other terms, is not the church of Christ. The marks rule the imitations out.

This is not arrogance; it is identification. A thing is known by its marks.

III. Which Is the Church of Christ? (Eph. 5:23)

Put the marks together and the answer narrows to the body that:

1. has Jesus as its head (Eph. 5:23) — and He is not the head of any rival body men have built;
2. wears His name, honoring Him rather than a human founder;
3. fills His mission — preaching His gospel, doing His work His way;
4. is filled with His Spirit — governed by the word the Spirit gave, bearing the Spirit's fruit.

Where you find Christ as Head, His name worn, His mission carried out, and His Spirit's word obeyed, you have found the church He built.

Application

This lesson gives you a test, so use it — first on the question of where you stand. Do not ask which church suits you; ask which one matches the marks Jesus left. Measure any church — including the one you attend — by the foundation, the terms of entrance, the manner of life, the name, and the Head. The marks are public; anyone willing to read the New Testament can apply them. And once you find the body that bears them, give yourself to it on the Lord's terms, not to the one that merely pleases you.

Conclusion

Jesus built one church; it never fell; and it can still be identified by the foundation, time, place, person, terms, life, and names the New Testament records. The churches of men differ from it in those very marks. Find the one Jesus built, and be content to be simply a member of it.

Invitation

You enter the Lord's church the way its first members did — by the terms He set: hear the gospel, believe that Jesus is the Christ, repent, confess Him, and be baptized for the remission of your sins, and the Lord adds you to His church (Acts 2:38, 47). You need not "choose a church"; you need only obey the Lord, and He places you in the one He built. Come and do that today. Come while we sing.

Word Study

Scripture Interlock Table

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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 23. Doctrinal audit: core-framework (one church, identifiable by foundation/time/place/terms/life/names; established Pentecost in Jerusalem; Christ the Head; entrance by faith-repentance-baptism). No correction. Style audit: heavy OCR cleanup ("KN Oi 1\IN"→known; "huncli'ecls"→hundreds; spacing throughout). No source text line; primary text Matt. 16:18 supplied from the outline's governing reference.