The Birth of the Church | Ep40

Transcript

Birth in animals or humans is amazing. In theory, I know how it all works, how it all happens, but I’m still amazed that it happens. Today I want to tell you about the birth of the church that Jesus established.

This is Wayne Berger. Let’s meditate on the word.

Birth has culminated in what has happened before it. The events had to happen before the birth actually took place. I might say the same thing with regard to the birth of a nation. Think about what this nation had to go through in order to be born as this nation, and here it is.

We’re about ready to celebrate 250 years of life as the birth of this nation. As great a birth as was the birth of this nation, the birth of a spiritual nation was even greater. That spiritual nation is the birth of the church that Jesus established.

The record of that church being born or established is found in Acts the second chapter. First off, things had to happen before Acts 2. For example, in Ephesians 3, 10, and 11, we learned that the church was in the mind of God even before eternity, but time on earth began. It was not an accident.

It was something that was well planned and prepared and developed before it really was established or born. Paul writes in Ephesians 3, 10, and 11, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Notice this, the manifold wisdom of God. The church is the culmination and manifestation of the wisdom of God which he carried out in Christ Jesus, and you notice what it says in verse 11. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus.

So the birth of the church began before time on earth was here. Preparations had to be made to bring it about. It was made known through the prophets some of the attributes and characteristics in the time of this birth that was going to take place.

For example, in Isaiah 2, 2 through 4, speaking 700 years before the birth of the church, Isaiah said that the church is going to come to pass in the latter days, and that it’s going to be established in the city of Jerusalem in Mount Zion, and that all nations would flow into it. That was said 700 years before the church really was born in actuality. Daniel, in Daniel 2, interprets a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had about a huge stature.

That head of that stature was gold, breasts and arms were silver, the belly and thighs were bronze, the legs were iron, and the feet part iron and part clay. And he also saw in that vision a little stone that was cut out of the mountains without hands, and he came down and struck that image in the feet, and that little stone became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. That little stone is the church, and he said when it came and struck the image in the feet, each of those metals represented a world empire.

Gold was the Babylonian Empire. The silver represents the Medes and the Persians who conquered the Babylonians. The bronze represents the Greek Empire who conquered the Medes and the Persians, and the iron represents the Roman Empire.

And Daniel said in Daniel 2, 44 and 45, in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. Neither shall the sovereignty of it be left on other people, but it shall break in pieces and shall consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. He said that little stone that struck the image, grew and became a great mountain.

He said it’s going to happen in the time when the Romans are ruling the world, and that that little stone is going to consume the bronze, the iron, the silver, the gold. In other words, people from all nations are going to flow into that little stone that became a great mountain. That was foretelling the birth of the nation, the church, Jesus’s new nation.

And of course there had to be preparation in terms of what was going to happen and getting it ready for it to happen. Jeremiah, 600 years before the birth of the church, said that there’s going to become a new covenant. He said it was not going to be like that old covenant, which was the old law, the law of Moses.

But he said it’s going to be this new birth of this new nation, this church, is going to be governed by a new covenant. He said it’s not going to be written on stone like the law of Moses was. He said it’s going to be written in our heart, and that that would take place when that church was established.

And then, of course, it came close to time for that happening, and God sent John the Baptist, as recorded in John 1, verse 6, and he came and preached repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In Matthew’s account, the church is always spoken of as the kingdom of heaven, till he does finally say that word, the church. Then, of course, Jesus came on the scene in his personal ministry, and he said, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Mark, in his gospel, uses the term kingdom of God. Matthew, in his book, calls it the kingdom of heaven, because it is where God is. It is the kingdom of God, because he established it.

He’s the one that is bringing it about. He is the head over it. Ephesians 1, 22 and 23, says about Jesus Christ.

And so preparation had to be made. Finally, in Jesus’ earthly ministry, he challenged his apostles with a question. He said, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, oh, Isaiah or Jeremiah, one of the prophets, they were saying, this is what people are saying about you.

And Jesus answered and said, but who do you say that I am? And Peter said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said to him, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, for my Father is in heaven. And I say unto you, upon this rock I’ll build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against me.

So there, he says, I will build my church. When was that going to happen? You see, it hadn’t happened again. Preparations were being made, had been made from eternity, and then revealed a little by little by the prophets.

And then in the earthly ministry of John and of Jesus, things were getting close. It was at hand, they said, and now then Jesus said, I will build my church. When did that happen? Acts 2 is the record of that church being born.

Acts 2, of course, records the events in the city of Jerusalem. That was the place that Isaiah said it would happen. It happened about 30 AD.

That’s the time when the Romans were ruling the world. And so we are going to see in Acts 2 the fulfillment of what the prophets had been saying about this coming birth of this church. Jerusalem was the place.

It was fulfilled there, just like Isaiah said. Daniel said it would happen in the days the Romans ruling the world. That’s who’s ruling the world.

Jeremiah says, of course, there’s going to be a new law, going to be written on our hearts. Beginning at that time in Acts 2, the law went into effect. When Jesus died on the cross, he not only died shedding his blood to cover our sins, he also died to remove the old law.

That’s found in Ephesians 2. He removed that law and brought in his law. That old law was written on stone. He says this one, Jeremiah says, I want it now to be written on your heart.

And the Hebrew writer in Hebrews 8 quotes what Jeremiah said, you know, it is significant that Christ’s law is written on the heart, not just on a stone. We have his law in the Bible. That really is not the covenant.

The covenant is God’s law written in our heart. I believe it is significant that it’s written on our heart. You know, if something is written only on a page, only on a stone, we can figure out some way to get around it.

But if a law is written on our heart, we don’t have to have that physical sign. It’s there. I’m going to abide by it.

Writing it on our heart is crucial if we’re going to be God’s people. One time I heard Hugo McCord say that he was driving too fast through a school zone, and a child stepped out between two cars. He didn’t hit the child, but he said from then on, he never needed a sign that said school zone because he said that was written on his heart.

That’s where God wants his law written today. We’re fortunate to be able to have Bibles where it tells us of that. He wants us to take that information in the Bible and put it in our heart.

That was what was happening, and that’s what occurred in Acts the second chapter. That was the birth of the church. As we saw and see in Acts 2, it was in the city where Romans were ruling the world, as Daniel had said.

It also was begun by the outpouring of the Spirit. Joel, in 800 years before the birth of Christ, had foretold that when this day comes, God said, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons, your daughters, who prophesy, your old men who dream dreams, and your young men to see visions.

And that happened. Acts 2 begins with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, where the apostles are baptized in the Holy Spirit. And it says there in Acts 2, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were altogether one accord in one place.

And there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind, and they filled all the house where they were sitting. And they peered to them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. There was the outpouring of the Spirit that Joel had said would happen.

And when Peter begins to preach that day, beginning in Acts 2 28, he says, this is that which was spoken of by the Prophet Joel. So you see, the birth of the church took place in 30 AD in the city of Jerusalem. While the Romans are ruling, it began by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to empower the apostles, to be able to remember everything that Jesus had taught them, and to reveal the will that could be written down on pages, but really written down in our heart.

As we stop and think about those things, there have been many man-made churches established since that time in various cities of the world. But the church Jesus established occurred in Acts 2 in the We look around us today, and we see many groups who call themselves churches. Jesus said he was going to establish his church.

His church had a certain pattern about it. It was organized in a certain way with elders overseeing the flock, and those elders were also the pastors overseeing the flock. God intended for there to be a plurality of men overseeing the church, not one man who is designated as a pastor of that church.

Jesus also, the Bible also teaches that there’s just one body which is the church. He teaches that in Acts that they came together on the first day of the week to partake of communion. They came together to sing praises to God, to study God’s Word.

Today there are lots of groups who call themselves churches. But what we need to think about is, is that church really the church that Jesus established or that was born on Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection, as is recorded in Acts 2? If the church that you’re a part of does not conform to the church that we read about in the New Testament, is it really Christ’s church? Or does it really belong to some man? You see, these things really matter. Another interesting point is that we do not join the church.

God adds us to the church. When Peter preached that sermon in Acts 2 chapter and talked about the birth of the church and convinced these people that they had killed the Christ, he closed that out by saying that all the house Israel know surely. God had made that same Jesus and mucus without both Lord and Christ.

And he also closed that out by saying, therefore he is at the right hand of God, ruling. And the people were convicted of their sins. And they said, what have we got to do? Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

That’s verse 38. In verse 42 of chapter 2, it says, then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them three thousand souls. Notice that word, they were added.

When one obeys the gospel, when one submits to Christ, he doesn’t join the church. God adds him to the church. That’s the reason, even in the King James Version down in verse 47.

It says, praising God and having faith with all the people, and the Lord was added to the church daily, such as should be saved. You see, we don’t join God’s church. He adds us.

He adds us when we do what the people did in Acts 2, when they were believing in Jesus, when they repented of their sins, and when they were immersed, they were forgiven of their sins, and God added them to his church. Are you part of that church? Is the church you’re a part of doing things just like the New Testament church did? If not, it cannot be the church. A lot of people say, well, it really doesn’t matter.

Yes, friends, it does matter. Jesus said, every plant which my Heavenly Father did not plant, could be uprooted, Matthew 15 13. He wasn’t talking about pine trees and oak trees.

He was talking about every organization, every denomination, every philosophy that did not come from Christ, that is manifested in the church, will be uprooted that day. Please consider and examine to see if you’re part of the Church of Christ. Thanks for joining us this week and spending time in God’s Word.

Special thanks to Matt Graham, John Kachelman, and LightWay Media for recording, producing, and making this podcast possible. If you’re ever in the Littleton, New Hampshire area, we’d love to have you join us for worship and Bible study on Sunday afternoons at four at the Senior Center. You’re always welcome.

For more information about this podcast, visit lightweightmedia.com slash meditating on the Word. You can find the link there to email me to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter with more information you can use in your personal Bible study. Be sure to like, subscribe, and follow us on your favorite podcast app so that you never miss an episode.

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“Meditating On The Word” is hosted by Wayne Burger, recorded by Mac Graham, and produced by John Kachelman III and LightWay Media. Follow us on social media to get updates and information when available.

If you’re ever in the Littleton, New Hampshire area, please join Wayne and Mac for worship and Bible study on Sundays at 4 PM at the Senior Center. You’re always welcome! You can get more information on their work online at www.littletonnhchurchofchrist.org.

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