Slideshow image

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

~ Matthew 16:15-18

Scripture teaches that the Church is Christ’s universally distinct people (community) expressed in local church bodies comprised of both Jews and Gentiles who have been saved by faith. Two distinct groups that had once been both enemies of God and of one another, have now been made “fellow citizens…and members of the household of God,” (Eph. 2:19). By the work of the Gospel, God has reconciled the previously irreconcilable both to Himself as children and to one another as brothers and sisters.

Now, how do we operate within this new family and body that God has brought us into?

Well, as Pastor Danny explained, God’s design for His Church requires His people to hold His multi-layered design for the Church very carefully. Yes, we are individuals who are individually brought by faith into this family and body, but once in the family, we are required to see ourselves less as individuals and more as members of a people. Yes, we do have a responsibility to the universal Church, but the Scriptures make it clear that this should and will primarily express itself in and through our local body.  We hold these truths in a certain tension as God, by his Spirit, molds our identity, priority, and responsibilities within the context of this people that He has made.

What does this require of you and me as it relates to our connection to the Body of Christ and Family of God?  Well, there are a number of things, but here are some specific ways I am being pressed in conviction this week:

  1. Do not give into the great temptation of individualism both from within and from without, but instead discipline our minds to consider ourselves as members of the Body of Christ and the Family of God.
  2. Rightly balance our relation to both the universal Church and our local body.         

- Allow the summation of God’s people (the Universal Church) to stir us to humility in recognizing that Anchor Baptist Church is not the only local church that is “in” or “has it right.”

- Remember that our relation to our local church (in our case, Anchor) is the means by and through which we gather and stir one another up (Heb. 10:24-25), live out Ephesians 2 type reconciliation with one another, and relate to one another as brothers and sisters like we will do for the rest of eternity!