Christ - The Church - Or Both

I heard a preacher say as he preached a sermon in October 1996 the following: “You know what we need to take to the world? It’s NOT THE CHURCH, we need to take Christ to the world.”  May I point out some plain and simple facts if his statement is true.

Number One: You  CANNOT  take  the BLOOD OF CHRIST if his statement is correct. We read from the Bible where Paul said that some were “without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” (Eph.2:12-13). A question is now in order. Was the church, which he said needed not to be taken to the world, purchased with the blood of Christ or not? “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28). How do you purpose to take the blood of Christ to the world and leave out the church? That preacher should repent and retract his unscriptural statement.

Number Two: If you take Christ to the world and not the church, then you cannot take Christ as King! If Christ is King, then he is King over His Kingdom! Paul made it very clear when he stated to Timothy that Christ is “…..the King of kings….” (1 Tim.6:15). I wonder if this preacher would preach to the world that Christ is King over His Kingdom? Is not  the Kingdom and  the church one  and the same?  According  to  what Christ said in Matthew 16:18-19, the Kingdom and the church are the same. Why, I ask, is  that not  needed  today?  In my way of  thinking, this  ungodly remark should be repented of and a retraction is necessary.

Number Three: If  we take only Christ to the world and not the church, then, I insist you cannot take the Gospel and Reconciliation! Is there some scripture not to be preached?  Listen: “And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the  enmity  thereby.” (Eph.2:16).  Again,  the message  of  the  Bible,  of  which  we are commanded to preach to the whole world says that “Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom.” (Matt.4:23). If we are not to take the  church,  then  we  cannot  take  the  blood  of  Christ,  the  Gospel  of  Christ, and the reconciliation of Christ.  Without  these  important  truths  mankind  will  be  left  empty,  uninformed, without inspired instructions, and lost. What would we have left in the way of hope and salvation? Nothing. We not only should, we are commanded to take to the world both Christ and the Church!!! 

. . . . Fred  House