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THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church

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Page 1: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

THEOLOGY 101

Session Four: The Church

Page 2: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church

Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government

Sacraments

Worship

Page 3: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Reflection on the Church

What is your perspective on the value of the church?

What is her value in your life?

What is her value to society?

Page 4: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church: General Description

ekklesia, “gathering or assembly, church”; Prior to NT used almost exclusively for secular

assemblies From ek (out of) and kaleo (call) Focus is on the gathered body, not the act of

coming out The calling out of citizens to attend to the

discussion of public business

Page 5: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Jesus Christ is Lord of the Church

“He is the head of the body, the church…” Colossians 1.18

“And God has put all things under his [Christ’s] feet and has made him the head over all things for the church.” Ephesians 1.22

Page 6: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church: Purpose

The Purpose of the Church: Worship: ministry to God: Nurture: ministry to believers: Evangelism and Mercy: ministry to the world

“All three purposes of the church are commanded by the Lord in Scripture; therefore all three are important and none can be neglected.” Grudem, ST, 868

Page 7: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church: Distinctives

Militant and Triumphant

Visible and Invisible

Organism and Organization

Page 8: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church: Visible and Invisible (1)

Basic meanings: The Visible Church –

Local gathering of believers and their children,

Collective number of professing Christians and their children,

The Invisible Church – Sum total of all who are in union with Christ,

Page 9: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church: Visible and Invisible (2)

An organized mass of believers: Acts 8:3, “But Saul was ravaging the church, and

entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”

I Cor. 15:9, “ For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

Gal. 1:13, “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.”

Page 10: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church: Organism and Organization

Organism: it is visible in the communal life of believers and in their opposition to the world

Organization: Offices, administration of the Word and the Sacraments, and church government

Page 11: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church: Characteristics (Marks)

Preaching of the Word

Administration of the Sacraments

Exercise of Discipline and the Disciplines

Page 12: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Preaching of the Word

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction (2 Timothy 4:2)

Everyone who does not remain true to the teaching of the Messiah, but goes beyond it, does not have God. The person who remains true to the teaching of the Messiah has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1:9)

Page 13: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Administration of the Sacraments

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper He that believes and is baptized shall be saved;

but he that disbelieves shall be condemned. (Mark 16:16)

They continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42)

Page 14: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Exercise of Discipline and the Disciplines (1)

God is not [a God] of confusion, but of peace… let all things be done decently and in order. (1 Corinthians 14:33-40)

Whatever things you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 18:18)

Page 15: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Exercise of Discipline and the Disciplines (2)

Spiritual disciplines: habits or regular patterns in your life that repeatedly brings you back to God and opens you up to what God is saying to you.

Inward Outward Corporate Prayer Simplicity Confession

Meditation Solitude Worship Fasting Submission Guidance Study Service Celebration

Page 16: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church Government:Roles & Responsibilities

Elders Membership matters

Profession of Faith, transfer, reaffirmation Place on inactive / dropped list Determine special needs among people Oversee sacraments along with pastor(s) Discipline

Deacons Service Mercy Outreach

Page 17: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church Government: Plurality of Elders (1)

Acts 14:23, “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

Acts 20:17, “Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.”

Page 18: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church Government: Plurality of Elders (2)

The titles Bishop and Elder appear to distinguish the same office and the same order of persons

“This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you . . . For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach..” (Titus 1:5,7 See also, Phil. 1:1, James 5:14

Page 19: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Deacons, diakonoi: service or ministry RCA: mercy, service, and outreach

Phil. 1:1, “… To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons”

I Tim. 3:8-10,12, “Deacons likewise must be dignified… deacons if they prove themselves blameless. . . .” (See also Acts 6:1-6)

Church Government: Deacons

Page 20: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Forms of Church Government

Episcopal From Greek episkopos “Overseer” Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic

Congregational One person, one vote Baptist, Congregational, United Church of

Christ

Page 21: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Forms of Church Government

Presbyterian From Greek presbyteros, “elder” A type of representative democracy BUT elders, deacons and pastors always

accountable to Jesus Christ first and foremost. RCA, CRC, PC(USA), PCA Believe this to be the most biblical

Page 22: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Characteristics of Reformed Polity

Scriptural: derived from the Bible Church is the Body of Christ

Ephesians 1.23; 1 Cor. 12.12 All authority belongs to Christ

Ephesians 1.22; Colossians 1.18

Corporate: in regards to decision making Consistory, Classis, Synod

Reformed and reformingNo Hierarchy Parity among pastors, elders & deacons

Page 23: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Roles & Responsibilities

Consistory Combines functions of elders, deacons and

pastors Whole body acts as representative of the

congregation

Pastors Ordained according to the Word of God Equal in authority “Stewards of the mysteries of God”

Page 24: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church

Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government

Sacraments

Worship

Page 25: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Reflection: Sacraments

What have been your experiences with baptism and the Lord’s Supper?

What is it that you wonder about?

Would changes would you make if you could?

Page 26: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Sacraments: Defined

Sacramentum is Latin translation Greek musthrionmysterion, which we transliterate as “mystery,” a mystery, unknown until revealed.Augustine defined sacrament: An “outward sign of an inward (or invisible) grace.” Or, a sacrament is a “visible word.”

Donald Bloesch defines sacraments as “the visible Word or the visible form of the Word. Yet . . .

there can be no sacrament apart from the proclaimed and read word of Scripture. The sacrament is a supplement to the Word but not a substitute for it.” Evangelical Theology, 2:89.

Page 27: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Sacraments: Reformed

Sacraments were directly instituted by God to represent Christ and his benefits Baptism:, “Go therefore and make disciples

of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Matt. 28:19

Lord’s Supper, “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,” I Cor. 11:23

Page 28: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Sacraments: The Lord’s Supper

The sacrament is explained in terms of communion with Christ in the past, present, and future.

“It is often noted that the Lord’s Supper gathers together the three tenses of our human existence—past, present and future.” Introducing the Reformed Faith, D. McKim

Page 29: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Lord’s Supper

Remembrance (past) Jesus is sent by God; fully obedient Jn 3.16-17;Phlp 2.1-11; 2 Cor 5.19

Communion (present) Christ is with us in bread & cup John 6.35; 15.5

Hope (future) Jesus will return—to earth Isaiah 25.6; Revelation 21.1-5

Page 30: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Lord’s Supper

Calvin… taught the spiritual presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper… He saw in it a seal and pledge of what God does for believers rather than a pledge of their consecration to God. The virtues and effects of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross are present and actually conveyed to believers by the power of the Holy Spirit.

(Berkhof, Summary)

Page 31: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Baptism

Christ instituted baptism after the resurrection, Matt. 28:19, Mark 16:16.

He charged His disciples to baptize those who were made disciples "into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,"

On Pentecost those that received the word of Peter were baptized, Acts 2:41; cf. also Acts 8:37; 16:31-34.

Page 32: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Infant Baptism

In the OT, children shared in the blessings of the covenant, received the sign of circumcision, and were reckoned as part of the people of God 2 Chron. 20:13; Joel 2:16 In the New Testament baptism is substituted for circumcision as the sign and seal of entrance into the covenant, Acts 2:39; Col. 2:11-12. The "new covenant" is represented in Scripture as more gracious than the old, Isa. 54:13; Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:11, and therefore could hardly exclude children. (Berkhof, Summary)

Page 33: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Sacraments: Roman Catholic

Expands the two sacraments of Scripture into a total of seven (7) sacraments Baptism Eucharist Confirmation Penance Matrimony Holy Orders Anointing of the Sick (formerly, Extreme Unction)

Denzinger, Enchirdion Symbolorum, 1601.

Page 34: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Church

Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government

Sacraments

Worship

Page 35: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Reflection: Worship

What is a “really good” worship experience for you?

How have church worship services changed in your lifetime? What changes have you enjoyed? What changes have been difficult?

Page 36: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Worship

The obligation of God's creation to give to God all honor, praise, adoration, and glory due God as the holy and divine creator.

Worship is to be given to God only (Exodus 20:3; Matt. 4:10).

Jesus, being God in flesh (John 1:1,14 ; Col. 2:9), is worshipped (Matt. 2:2,11; 14:33; John 9:35-38; Heb. 1:6).

adapted from http://www.carm.org/dictionary/dic_u-z.htm#Worship

Page 37: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Liturgy: Structure of Worship Services

The Approach to GodCall to Worship; Prayers of Confession, Words

of Assurance; Passing the Peace The Word of God

Scripture, Sermon, Sacraments The Response to God

Thanksgiving, Song, Benediction

Page 38: THEOLOGY 101 Session Four: The Church. Church Church: Purpose Distinctives Marks Government Sacraments Worship

Next Class Session:The Church

Last things: Intermediate state, second coming of Christ, views of the Millennium, resurrection, last judgment, final state

TULIP

Cultural Mandate

Creeds and Confessions