The Church is to be Holy
“These excellent resources will grow your love for the church because they will grow your knowledge of the church—her nature, her authority, her purpose, and her worship. They will give you the knowledge you may lack, the knowledge you need, to understand why the church is central to God’s purposes in the world and, therefore, central to the Christian life.”
― Tim Challies on The Church
Dr. Jeffrey Johnson is the teaching pastor of Grace Bible Church, president of Grace Bible Theological Seminary, and author of The Church: Her Nature, Authority, Purpose, and Worship.
The Church: Her Nature, Authority, Purpose, and Worship is a multifaceted study of 2,000 years of church history across the world that includes a documentary, 12 video lessons, and an corresponding book including 12 chapters and weekly discussion questions on the church by Dr. Jeffrey Johnson. This study aims to aid its students in a deepening understanding of the nature of the church, how it is intended to function, and its beauty.
In “The Methodology of the Church,” chapter 8 of The Church: Her Nature, Authority, Purpose, and Worship, Dr. Johnson writes of the need for a holy church to reach an unholy world.
The chief and sole goal of the church is to bring glory to God. Yet, glorifying God cannot happen without holiness, and holiness cannot exist apart from the truth. It was for this purpose that the Lord established the church—to glorify God by being a means of evangelizing the lost and sanctifying the saints through the truth.
Since the church is God’s holy and united people who have been entrusted with the truth, positionally, it follows, then, that God is only asking the church to be what it is, practically. It would be out of step, for instance, for the church to seek to redefine itself in a desire to increase its influence and acceptability in the world. Instead, the church is called to be itself and live out its very nature in a dark, hostile, and unholy world. Practically speaking, the church is not to be influenced and shaped by the culture but to be a sanctifying influence on the culture.
It is at this very point—the way the church engages the culture—that the church is tempted to abandon its purpose. The Bible is clear that the church is holy and is called to be holy and the world is unholy and will always be unholy. The culture of the world is shaped by its values—the things of the flesh—while the culture of the church is shaped by its values—the things of the Spirit.
…It is not necessary for the church to repackage the gospel in secular wrapping paper to make the altogether lovely One become more appealing and acceptable to the secular culture. The distinguishing mark of every true church should not be its facilities, its age-related programs, its style of music, or any other secondary issue. Instead, the distinguishing mark of every true church should be the truth.
Reaching the culture is a good objective, but it should not become the main objective. When it does, the church cannot reach the culture effectively. A compromised witness is the last thing the world needs. Rather the Scripture teaches that the objective of the church should be the pursuit of a holy God. The harder and faster the church runs after God…the brighter its spiritual illumination will shine in this unholy and secular world. And only when the church is Christocentric and not ashamed of the whole counsel of God is it a true light in the world.