The Church

“A solid building cannot be constructed when all the materials are faulty; a blessed

society cannot be formed out of men who are still under the curse of sin.”

- J. Gresham Machen.

What is the church?

It is more than a building, it is the people inside. The foundation of the church is the

work of Christ found in the gospel. The mission of the church is to nurture and help

believers to grow and spread the gospel to the lost world. Regular meetings of

believers gives Christians, new and old, a community of love.

In his book, Christianity and Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen says, “the Church is

the highest Christian answer to the social needs of man” (135). The church should

be a place of healing that helps bring restoration to those hurting and seeking truth.

However, the church is only as solid as those within.

Machen states in his book that one of the issues that faces the Christian church is

that we are under attack, not from the outside as we may think, but from the inside.

He argues that this is due to the fact that the faith common in the church is no longer

Christian. In some cases the very pastors of the church do not lead the congregation

to the truth of the gospel.

We see this occurring more and more as the health and wealth gospel is spread

across America. Instead of preaching the truth of salvation, pastors tell their

congregation that if they follow Jesus they will be happy and have an easy life. This

does not at all align with what we have been learning over the past few weeks. We

are not saved to be happy, we are saved from our sin which would otherwise condemn

us to life apart from God. While the health and wealth gospel claims humanity is

basically and can almost save itself, we have learned that this is false. Humanity is

condemned to life apart from God. Without some form of sacrificial mediation there is

a rift between the created and their Creator. That sacrifice came through Jesus. As

we have learned, he is the only way to eternal life with God. Despite the claims of

the health and wealth gospel, we are not remotely good enough to save ourselves.

This is why we, the church of Christ, must foster truth in our midst. Go back and

read the quote at the beginning of this post. The church is only as strong as those

that make it up. Our focus can’t be on the numbers within our church, but the true

transformation of lives. In Judges 7 we see how Gideon was able to defeat the army

of Midian with only three hundred men. The number of people within the church

doesn’t matter. Our focus can’t be on bringing large numbers of people to church,

but rather genuinely bringing people to Christ.

This is how the church can make a difference in the world. The leadership in our

churches should encourage true growth instead of leading the congregation astray.

The true gospel transforms lives. It doesn’t make life objectively better but rather

gives us a hope and a future.