Ohio Independent Baptist, February 1968

An illu trrution wiU help u to sec thi . . A man ha a flock of heep numbering J00,000. He pu,ts them on ten farms , each farm divided init 10 flocks wi·th 1,000 jn each flock. He then places a s!i.epherd over each flock. This man has a flock of 100,000, but each under shepherd has a flock of 1,000. The man can refer to the 100,000 as his f.lock , the 10,000 on ea,ch farm as his flock , or the 1,000 in each field as hi flock. This ,is a good jllustration of God's flock - the church. The 100,000 represent t h e universal church, The 10,000 on one farm represent the church in a ci1ty, as we shall see later. The 10 flocks on one farm represent ithe churches in a city, as we shall see J.a,ter. We have seen that Christ, Hi body, His church, and His flock are one and the same thing. We have also seen that the one flock wiith i1ts one Shepherd is broken down into many flocks with many shepherds. Now we want to tak,e a closer look at this flock , or church, as il,lustrated before, and see iit: in three senses. THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH "For as the body is one, and hath many members - so also is Christ" one, and hath many members. "For in one Spirit are we all bap– tized into one body. . ." (I Cor. 12: 12, 13) It is evident thait Paul was speak– ing of the universal churoh becau e he included himself in that body by using the word "we." In verse 27 where he referred to the ohurch at Corinth he used the word "ye." Paul included himself in the body with the Roman (Rom. 12:4, 5), with t:he Corinthians (I Cor. 10: 16, 17) , a nd with the Ephesians (Eph . 4 :25) . He must have had in mind the universal church in these .refer– ·ences, otherwi se how oould he have been affiU ated with all 6ree of those groups? In Rom. 12 :4, 5 Paul shows how it is t hat "WE, being many are ON body." It is because we are "in hni st." Thus all in hri st are mem– bers of one body. In I or. 10 : 16, 17 P aul peak in a figurative en e and how thait since "W are all par,takers of that ON bread ," we "are one loaf," be– cau e we are what we eat. In ,ph . 4 :25 P,aul . hows thail hrL ti ans in a neighhorho d are memher. one of another. Thi . could on1ly he hecause they belong to lhc same body. THE HURCH IN A CITY "Now ye are the body of Chrisit, and m mbers in par.ticul,ar" (l Cor. l2 :27) . Remember it:he iHustrat:ion of the flock of sheep. Here we see Paul referring to all the Chnistiians in a cirty as 1the body (or flock) of Chri rt. The Bible never refers to more than one church in a ciity (Aots 8:1; 13 : l ; I Cor. 1:2; Rev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18 ; 3:1 , 7, 14). As the univ,er ,a] church (or flock) i broken down inJto flocks, o also ·is the flock in a city - as we shall now see. THE CHURCHES IN A CITY "Let your women keep sHent in the churches..." (I Cor. 14:34) Here we £ind P.aul te11ing the chur,ch (1 :2) at Corinth it:o leit the women keep si.lent in the churches at Corinth. In other words, ,the church at Corinth was divided into ohurches . The church in a dty usua,Uy became too large to meet under one roof, so they divided into ohurches, yet they were recognized by God as one flock . By dividing, tihe smaller flock could meet together in one house. See for instance, Romans 16:5; Colossi.ans 4:15 and Philemon 2. The church at Jerus,alem (Aots 15:4, 22) i re– ferred to as a multiitude (Acts 15:12). If that church were not divided into smaller groups, one could well won– der how and where they melt for worship. I think this explains why there were a plura]i,ty of elders in a city where the church was spoken of in ,the singular. Perh aps every little group had ait least one elder - pastor. Perhaps the reason some oan on]y see a looa,J ohurch in ,the Bible i because of a wrong meaning of the Greek word for church. Some think i,t means an assembl y. In hi concordance, Young says ,the Greek word Jior church mean " th at which is called out." lit is true that the "caiHed out" in a giiven lo– cal,ity assembl e for wor hip. However, a person who h as been "called out" by the Lord is a pant .f the "called ou t" befiore he ha an opportunity to asscmhlc wi 1h ot!ler, who have been "call ed out. " If we woul d think of the word. "call ed out" wherever the wo rd church appears, 1 think it would make good sense. Then we could think of the "oalled out" in ,the world, the "called out" in a ciity and the "oalled out" in a hou e. We must depend on the context to know which o ne is in mind. For in tance, I Cor. 1 :2 h as re– ferrnnce to the "cal,led out" in a city. I Cor. 14:34 has r·eference to the "caUed out" in houses . It is true that ithe Greek word for church i•s transLaited assembl y in some pJ.aces. However, there is a sense in which God has assembled all the "called out" inito one body whether we ever meet together on earth or not. If we hold thait ,tJhe Lord's c!mrch only means a local assembly, i,t will create some real problems. Can you imagine the 120 and the 3000 saved on the day of Penteoo t belonging to one loca,1 assembly and trave,Jing hundreds of miles to meet together on the Lord's Day? You don't have thait problem with the words "caiUed out." The "called out" at Jerusalem must have numbered at one time 25 or 30 thousand or more (Aots 4:4: 5: 14) . Can you imagine ,them be– longi n,g to one Jooal assembly and meeting on t.he Lord's Day in one house? HOW DOES ONE OF GOD'S "CALLED OUT" BECOME AFFILIATED WITH A LOCAL FLOCK? It is a matter of dootrine ( II John J 0) . John aid , "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doc– trine, receive him not into your house." The hou e mu t mean the church that meets in the hou e ; otherwise we would h ave to question every man concerning hi doctrine befor,e letting him into our home for any bu iness. We hould not receive into our fe ~low hip t!lo e who !have not been born again by faiith in the on of God , or th e who refus to be bap:~ized as a t t ,imo.ny of tih ir faith , etc. We are " to ke p the u l1li ty of the pi ri,t in the bond of peia " ( ph . 4 : 3-6) . To do ithi w mu it "all peak 1he same th ing" (I or. 1 : 10). A One Year Subscription for $2.00 Three One-Year Subscriptions For $5.00 THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTI ST FEBRUA RY, 1968 PAGE 5