Church

Ephesians 3:1-5

Now we enter the church age, the “Dispensation of Grace.”  What is a dispensation?  It is a time period.  In the Bible it is a specific period of time during which God administers His rule over the world in a certain way.  And over the years God has dealt with man differently in different time periods.

Ephesians 3:1-3
¹ For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, ² If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: ³ How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery...that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

The Bible calls the church age a mystery that no one knew about.  God stuck in this extra dispensation in-between Israel’s failure and their coming judgment.  It was like a valley in between distant mountain peaks and the OT prophets couldn’t see it.  But we ARE it!

In every age or dispensation God gives man a responsibility, man fails, and then judgment comes.  So what is our responsibility in the church age?  To be saved!

Ill.—after WWII a cathedral in England which had been bombed was rebuilt.  They found a marble statue of Jesus in pieces...they pieced it back together.  They found all the pieces but the hands.  They thought about fashioning new hands but were afraid they couldn’t match the work.  Then they thought about discarding the statue but didn’t.  They made another choice, which was to put this inscription on the statue which remains today:  “He has no hands but ours.”

The church is the body of Christ, of which Christ is the head.  We are His hands, His feet, His voice.  We are the mechanism He chooses to use in this dispensation.

The only Jesus people will see in this age is in you and me, the church!

What is the purpose of the church?  It’s 3 fold:

• To magnify the Lord thru worship and the Word.
• To move believers to maturity and ministry.
• To make Jesus known to our neighbors and the nations.

To know Him and to make Him known.

When is the birthday of the church?  The day of Pentecost.  [Acts 2]

The dispensation of Israel was put on pause, and the church age began.  Pentecost means 50.  It happened 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead.  It is named for the Jewish feast which happened 50 days after the feast of firstfruits [of their crops].  And Jesus’ resurrection was the firstfruits of our resurrection He has made possible for us.  They would make 2 loaves of bread and sacrifice 10 animals.

In Acts 2 the day of Pentecost was ‘fully come.’ 

Let me ask, when was Israel born as a nation?  When is Israel’s birthday?  When were they officially recognized and established as a nation?  Not Gen. 12 when God called Abraham...that’s when the Jewish race was established.  But they officially became a nation at the foot of Mt. Sinai when God gave them their law.

The Jews were no nation when they were enslaved in Egypt.  God raised up Moses to deliver them, and the 10 plagues were helpful tools in doing so.  The final one was at Passover, when the death angel passed over and looked for the application of the blood on the wood doorposts.  It was 50 days later they found themselves at the base of Mt. Sinai.

So the birthday of Israel and the birthday of the church are one in the same!  Now I’m not a covenant theology guy who tries to apply everything about Israel to the church.  In fact, that’s the point of dispensationalism, that God deals differently in different ages.

But notice that on Israel’s birthday 3,000 people were slain, as they worshipped the golden calf.

Exodus 32:28
... and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

But on the birthday of the church 3,000 were saved!

Acts 2:41
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

On Israel’s birthday it was announced in a mighty way.

Exodus 19:16
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

Here’s the church’s birthday, also announced similarly:

Acts 2:2-3
² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. ³ And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

The book of Acts reveals to us the transitional time period from Israel to the church.  This is very important to realize Acts is a bridge between the 2 periods.  You cannot build your doctrine solely off of this book.

Many churches try to repeat the day of Pentecost.  Now I’m all for power, and we should seek it.  But how should we do this?  Some  churches actually call themselves Pentecost, making it their main focus.  I’m not here to minimize Pentecost or offend anyone, but Pentecost wasn’t meant to be repeated.

Pentecost shouldn’t be repeated any more than Bethlehem, Calvary, or the resurrection is meant to be repeated.  There can only be one of each of these.  Now these are sincere people, but I believe misguided.  Imagine going into a church that calls themselves “Bethlehemites.”  They are praying for another Bethlehem, and watching out the window for a star or angels.  Now that’s silly, but it makes the point that these events are not to be repeated.  Remembered?  Yes!  Just like we remember Passover and the cross.  And we should remember Pentecost and seek the power of the Spirit, but not the actual experience.  Here  we don’t seek the sounds, sights, and speech of that day.

Pentecost was all about God’s people finding supernatural power to carry out God’s mission.  I’m all for it!

Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The word for power there is ‘dunamis’ or dynamite.  And it’s inside of you!  When the church age began God moved out of the temple and into the body of you the believer, a house not made with hands!  This building is not the church, you are.

At Bethelehem we had God with us, at Calvary we had God for us, and at Pentecost we had God IN us!

So why the rushing mighty wind?  Because it’s a picture of the Holy Spirit.

John 3:8
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Ill.—One day a preacher wanted to preach about the wind.  He asked a sea captain for his thoughts.  He said, I can’t see it, and know little about it.  But one thing I know, and that’s how to set my sails to catch the wind!

So why the fire above their heads?  Again, it’s an emblem of the Holy Spirit, which purifies and burns out the dross, warms and fills us!  A cold dead church will we warmed, illuminated, and enlightened!  The Holy Spirit wrote the Bible and it takes the Holy Spirit to illuminate and bring its truth to light.  Plus, the Holy Spirit energizes, like a firing engine!

So why the speaking in tongues?  For a sign!

1 Corinthians 14:21-22
²¹ In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. ²² Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.

And I believe tongues ceased just as the Bible said they would. 

On the day of Pentecost the power of God was visualized, vocalized, and all that was incidental.  The big thing about that day was that the power of God was vitalized!  They were all filled w/ the Holy Ghost!  That God came to live in us and work thru us!

Then God spoke thru Paul to give 13 books specifically to the church, and that’s where we get doctrine for our dispensation...Romans thru Philemon.  There’s plenty of good in Acts as well, don’t discard it!

How much longer will this Church age go on?  We don’t know, but the signs say it cannot be much longer.  Christ’s return is imminent.  It may not be immediate, or maybe it will be!  All the signs are in place.  No prophecies remain unfulfilled.

I’m not looking for antichrist but for Jesus Christ.  I’m not looking for signs, I’m listening for sounds!