Is There Only One True Church?

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Transcript:

00:00
You know, several religions claim to be the one true church or the exclusive path to heaven. But what does the Bible say? Is there really only one true church? And if not, then do all roads lead to heaven? These are the questions we’re going to be exploring today as we’re in the second part of our unboxing series. Last time we talked about, you know, how good is good enough for God. I hope you…

00:27
I hope you listened to that episode. If you didn’t check that one out first. Today we’re going to answer the question, is there only one true church? Now I think it’s probably good for us to start by defining our terms. Before we can answer the question about whether or not there is one true church, we should probably make sure we’re all on the same page about what the church, quote unquote, church is and what it isn’t. So first of all, the church isn’t a building. Now I know sometimes in our vernacular, that’s what we say, hey, I’ll meet you at church

00:56
We’re going to church kids, but actually the church is not a building. Also, the church isn’t an organization. It’s not an institution. Maybe when you think about the church, you’re thinking about, you know, the organizational church, the institutional church. That’s not what we’re talking about biblically. And that means it’s also not a denomination. You think about all the Christian denominations in particular, denominations like Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran.

01:26
Presbyterian, Assemblies of God, just to name a few. In fact, by some counts, some of the experts, when they try to include all the different denominations and in split offs and independent churches and all that kind of stuff, a lot of religious experts believe that there are, this is crazy, that there are more than 30,000 Christian denominations worldwide.

01:55
Wow, 30,000. Let me just list 10 for you. Just thinking about the Baptists, okay? If you just think about the Baptists, there are hundreds of Baptist denominations and fellowships and split offs, right? So like the SBC Southern Baptist, that’s the biggest one. The American Baptist churches, the ABC USA, the Conservative Baptist Association of America, CBAA.

02:25
or the National Baptist Convention USA, or how about the National Baptist Convention of America? That’s actually different. You’ve got the Baptist Union of Great Britain, you’ve got the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada, you’ve got the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, you’ve got the National Baptist Convention of Nigeria. Again, I’m just giving you a few examples. Or one of my favorites, the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, the G-A-R-B-C. I mean, this is just

02:54
to name 10 of the Baptist churches. We’re not even talking about all the other denominations. So it’s actually not hard to believe that there are over 30,000 Christian denominations worldwide. But here’s my point, this is not what we’re talking about when we use the word church. We’re not talking about institutions or organizations or even denominations. In fact, I wanna give a definition from our Sistio.

03:22
series lesson number 10. If you haven’t checked out Sis Theo, check it out. It’s really valuable. It’s really helpful to learn systematic theology and lesson 10 was all about the church. Here’s how we defined it in that series. The church is neither a building nor an organization. It is a people, the community of all those who stand in a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I want to read that again. I think it’s really important.

03:51
to get on the same page about this as we’re answering our question today. The church isn’t a building, it’s not an organization, it’s a people. It is the community of all of those who stand in a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The Greek word for this in the New Testament is the word ekklesia, and it literally means the assembly of the called out ones, those who’ve been called out of the world.

04:19
by the proclamation of the gospel to gather around Christ, those who have placed their faith in Jesus. So when we say the church, or if I say I’m a member of the church, we’re talking about this, we’re talking about those who have responded to the gospel call, those who have responded to the free offer of salvation in Jesus. In fact, Jesus said it like this, John 10 verse nine. He said, yes, I am the gate, those who come in through me,

04:48
will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. So Jesus is talking about, He’s like inviting people to be a part of this movement, to be a part of this people. In fact, in the Old Testament, several times in the Old Testament, God is saying this to the Israelites. He’s saying, I just, I want to be your God and I want you to be my people. Now, the Old Testament doesn’t use the word ekklesia.

05:16
But by the time Jesus comes and dies and rises again and then, you know, commissions his disciples to start the ecclesia, to start the church, this is what he’s talking about. It’s a fulfillment of this heart cry of God from the Old Testament. I want to be your God and I want you to be my people. He’s calling a people out to be his children from among the world. He’s calling people out to say, you are my treasured possession.

05:44
So let’s go back to the question for today. Is there only one true church? So if the church is a people called out by God, it’s not an institution, it’s not a denomination, then in one sense, the answer is yes. In the capital C sense of the global community of true believers,

06:09
Everyone who’s responded to Christ, in one sense, yes, there is one true church. But in another sense, I would say no. There’s not one true church in the sense that there’s only one institution or there’s only one denomination that gets it right. In fact, literally just yesterday I had a conversation with someone who listens to our podcast. He was debating with me on baptism. He basically is part of a church.

06:37
where they believe that you have to be baptized to be saved. And as we were talking through this, and he was being kind in his words to me, but he was very firm, he was very opinionated, and I got the idea that he’s part of a certain denomination, I’m not gonna name it right now, but he’s probably part of a certain denomination that teaches that you have to be baptized in their church to be saved. So I asked him this question. I said,

07:03
Do you believe that your denomination is the one true church?” And I appreciated his honesty. He said, yes, yes I do. So basically he was saying, if you’re not baptized in my denomination, if you’re not baptized in my church, then you aren’t part of the capital C church. So I think that that’s incorrect. I don’t think that that’s biblically true.

07:30
I don’t think there’s one organization or one institution or one denomination that gets it all right. I don’t think that you need to be baptized into one particular denomination. So the answer to the question is there’s only one true church in that sense, institutionally, organizationally, denominationally, I would say no, there’s not. But in the sense that Jesus calls us and invites us to follow Him and to be a part of His people,

07:59
His capital C church, I would say yes, that you might be in denomination A or B or C, one of the 30,000 plus denominations, and you can be a part of the capital C church if you’ve trusted in Jesus for salvation. But you can also go to any one of those churches and not be a part of the capital C church because I think there are people…

08:27
sitting in our churches, even in my own church, there are people sitting in our churches who have never trusted Jesus for salvation. So just because they go to a church building on a Sunday morning, just because they might even be a member of that church, maybe they were even baptized in that church, if they haven’t trusted Jesus for salvation, if they haven’t gone through the gate, John 10, if they, like Jesus said, those who come in through me will be saved. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. So it’s only those who have.

08:56
come to Jesus through faith that are part of the capital C church. So by the way, this is a good warning to everyone who’s listening. I really encourage you to examine and to see if you are in the faith. Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ? Because if you haven’t, then you are not a part of his people. You are not a part of the church.

09:22
And Jesus has invited you into that. Jesus wants you to be part of His church. Whatever denomination you choose, whatever local church you worship in, Jesus really cares about this global movement. And when I say global movement, it’s not just, you know, every nation, every tribe, every tongue, it’s also spanning all these generations from the early church until now, even into the Old Testament, all of God’s people, you know, like Abraham, for example.

09:50
He wasn’t a part of any particular denomination, but Abraham was called by God. He responded in faith to the promises of God. And so it was credited to him as righteousness. He is a part of the capital C church, as is Moses, as is David, as is Paul, as is Peter, as is James and John, and people like St. Augustine and Martin Luther. I mean, just think about all these people throughout history who have trusted in Jesus for salvation,

10:20
denomination they’re a part of, if they have come in through the gate, then they’re a part of the church, and that means that you are a part of that church as well if you have come in through the same gate. And Jesus prayed for all of us in John 17, verses 20 and 21. He’s praying to the Father, you know, He’s getting ready to go to the cross, and here’s what He says. He says,

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I’m praying not only for these disciples, the 12 disciples who are with them, he says, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will be one, just as you and I are one. Remember, he’s praying to the Father. As you are in me, Father, and I am in you, and may they be in us, so that the world will believe you sent me.

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Isn’t it cool that Jesus is praying for the capital C church right there? He’s praying for the disciples in real time, and he’s praying for you and for me, for anyone who has believed in the message of Jesus, anyone who has come in through the gate. And then Paul said this in Ephesians chapter four, writing to the church in Ephesus, verses three to seven, he says, make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit.

11:41
binding yourselves together with peace, for there is one body and one spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all. However, He has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. And so,

12:09
Paul is saying this, I mean, think about this, he’s speaking to the church in Ephesus. This was back in the time when there were no denominations. Now I don’t think that means that denominations are necessarily wrong. Some people think, some people teach that denominations are wrong, that denominations are proof that there’s not unity. I think that that’s not true. I think denominations, Christian denominations show us that though we might have differences on the fringes.

12:39
There is unity, there is oneness when it comes to who we worship. As long as we’re worshiping the same Jesus, we have the same faith, we believe in the same kind of baptism. So it doesn’t matter if you’re baptized in a Southern Baptist Church, a Methodist Church, a non-denominational church, an Assemblies of God church, if you’ve trusted in the one Lord, the Jesus of the Bible, then that’s one baptism. That’s the same God and Father that we worship. So the denominations might be structured different.

13:08
in terms of polity. Maybe there’s a difference in terms of worship style. There might be a difference in terms of leadership structure. There’s all kinds of things, what I would say, on the fringes, and that’s fine, but there’s still unity. Jesus prayed for all of us. Paul in Ephesians 4 is saying that we all worship the same Lord. Now we can…

13:37
miss out on the core fundamental doctrines. I think there are certain doctrines that every Christian church believes and puts forward. Let me just list a few off, and I’ll put a link to this in our show notes today. We have a topic at Pursue God called Five Doctrines That Every Christian Believes, and today I want to talk about it in terms of every Christian church believes. Now, there are more than five doctrines that Christian churches believe, but

14:06
But these are five great ones to start with. In fact, think about the church that you go to and make sure that your church is an agreement with these core fundamental doctrines. Again, there might be a disagreement, some divergence on the fringes, but in the fundamentals, we all believe at least these five things. Number one, the Bible is God’s word. So Christians believe that the Bible is infallible.

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It’s sufficient for all we need to live the Christian life. 2 Timothy 3 verses 16 and 17 says, “‘All scripture is inspired by God. “‘It’s useful to teach us what’s true “‘and to make us realize what’s wrong in our lives. “‘It corrects us when we’re wrong “‘and it teaches us to do what is right.'” I hope that you’re a part of a church that has a high view of scripture, that you see that scripture is authoritative in our lives. That…

15:03
If you go to a church that takes a low view of Scripture, in other words, maybe the pastor gets up there and says, well, this is what the Bible says, but I don’t think that’s really true anymore. That’s not a church that’s healthy and biblical. I would look for a different church if your church doesn’t believe that the Bible is God’s work. Number two, Christian churches for centuries have believed that God is three in one. Now, the word for this is the Trinity.

15:32
And we don’t find the word Trinity in Scripture, but the concept of Trinity is all over Scripture. And here’s what that means, that God exists eternally as three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and all three persons are equal and eternal. So there’s one God in being, in essence, but He exists in three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. If you want to learn more about

16:00
the Doctrine of the Trinity, you can check out our Trinity series at PursueGod.org. I would really encourage you to go to a church that teaches this. Because if you don’t believe, and this really is related to the third doctrine, that Jesus is fully God, right? If you don’t believe that Jesus is fully God, then the object of your faith, we’re saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, the object of your faith matters. So if you believe that Jesus is like,

16:28
you know, like a demigod or a JV god, it wasn’t fully God, then I don’t think you have the Jesus of the Bible. Christian churches for millennia have believed that Jesus is fully God. That’s the third doctrine. Doctrine number four, I mentioned already that we’re saved by faith in Jesus Christ, that we’re all broken by sin, that we’re all in need of salvation, we’re saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.

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God saved you by His grace. When you believe you can’t take credit for this, it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we’ve done, so none of us can boast about it. We talked about this last week, how good is good enough for God? Go back to that. That is a fundamental teaching of every solid Capital C, well, not Capital C church, of every solid local church that’s part of the Capital C church, if you are a part of a church that teaches something different, and actually that’s the guy that I talked to yesterday.

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His denomination is, I would say, is on the fringe, it’s cultish. His denomination teaches that you have to be baptized to be saved. That is so dangerous. Baptism doesn’t save you. Faith in Jesus saves you. We’re saved by grace through faith alone. Baptism is something that we do in obedience to the message of Jesus. If you go to a church that teaches something else, I really encourage you to prayerfully consider.

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finding a more biblical church. Okay, one more doctrine. Every Christian church believes that there’s life after death. Part of the fundamental teaching of the early church is that we will be resurrected just as Christ was resurrected, that he was the first one to be resurrected and we will too be resurrected. Those who have put our faith in him, we will be resurrected to eternal life. Now, how does that actually work out, you know, in terms of

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the end times, pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib, you know, pre-millennial, all millennial, post-millennial. We get into this, we’ve got some series on this at pursuegod.org. Those are fringe issues. Those are, that’s where denominations can differ. But every biblical church believes that there is life after death. And so those are just five doctrines that every Christian church believes. And again, here’s the point. There might be differences.

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doctrinally in terms of fringe matters, that these core doctrines, like what we believe about God’s word or God’s nature or Jesus himself, or how we’re saved or eschatology, what happens at the end of everything, like all of these things are fundamental core beliefs that every Christian church believes. And so if you’re a part of a denomination or a local church that believes these fundamentals, whatever, whatever your church teaches on the fringe issues is not as important.

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If you believe these fundamental core doctrines, then you are part of the capital C church. So there’s one true church in the sense of the capital C church, but there’s not one true denomination, there’s not one true institution or organization that gets it all right. Honestly, the truth is every single church, every single denomination, I’m sure gets something wrong on the fringe. My denomination, we have core beliefs and we have other…

19:54
other beliefs that maybe would be distinctives on the fringe, I’m sure that we don’t have it all perfectly right. I’m sure we don’t. And I’m sure whatever your church is, I’m sure you don’t either. So I think we need to have grace on the fringes, but I think we need to really stand strong on these core fundamental beliefs. Not just…

20:18
institutionally and denominationally the church you go to, but individually, I think you need to make sure that you believe the core doctrines that Christians have always believed, and that you give grace on those distinctives, on those fringe issues. Now, I want to finish the episode today by just sharing with you three analogies that are used in the Bible to describe the church. Each of these word pictures helps us to understand

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the importance of the church and the importance of being part of the church. Because here’s the thing, I don’t want you to get the idea that, you know, that because there’s not one right denomination or one right organization or institution, I don’t want you to lower your view of the church or the value of the church. I think it’s important for us to respect the role of the church and our involvement in it. So, number one.

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According to the Bible, the church is the bride of Christ. Talks about this in Ephesians 5 verses 22 all the way to 33 even. And here’s what I take away from that analogy. You know, I don’t think we should talk smack on Christ’s bride. If you saw my wife at church and you started just bashing her, I would have something to say to that. I would not be okay with that. That’s my bride. Is she perfect? No.

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She’s not perfect. But for you to talk smack about my wife is going to cause a problem between us. And here’s the thing. I think there are a lot of Christians who, and even non-Christians, but I’m talking to Christians first. I think there are Christians and non-Christians who speak ill of the bride of Christ, and I don’t think Jesus is okay with that. He knows his church is imperfect. He knows that there’s not…

22:13
one denomination, there’s not one local fellowship that’s perfect. And the reason is because you go there or I go there or humans go there, and humans are imperfect. We’re all sinners. And remember, the church is a people. It’s a people who have been saved by grace, but people who have been saved by grace are still imperfect. We still make mistakes. So the church is imperfect. But I still think we need to respect and speak highly of the church and the role of the church.

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Jesus loves His bride. He loves His ecclesia, the called out ones. This is what He did, He called us out. He set us apart from the rest of the world. We are His treasured possession. If you’re part of the capital C church, you are part of His treasured possession. The local fellowship you’re a part of, if it is a part of the capital C church, is a part of His treasured possession. So let us…

23:11
Let’s treat the bride of Christ with respect. That’s the first thing. Now, the church is also the body. Ephesians chapter four, verses 15 and 16, it says, instead, we will speak the truth and love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church, okay? He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body, see that word again, the whole body,

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is healthy and growing and full of love. So the church isn’t just the bride of Christ, the church is the body of Christ. He’s the head, we’re the body. And here’s the main takeaway with this analogy. That means that you need to be a part of the local church. This is talking about the local church. You know, in Ephesians four and in other places in Paul’s writings, he’s talking to specific local churches and what he’s saying is, look,

24:10
You shouldn’t just go to church on Sunday, check the box and go home. You should be a part of the body of Christ. I want to say that again to all of our listeners. You should be a part of the body of Christ. You should find a local body of believers and you should get involved. You should serve there. You should get involved in a small group there. You should be willing and ready to disciple people there. You should invite people.

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to your church services, and then you should be ready to disciple those people as you share the message of Jesus. I meet people all the time who say, I don’t really go to church, the mountains are my church, or nature is my church. I feel closest to God when I’m out there in the mountains or out in the ocean or something like that. Look, I think that’s good that you feel close to God in nature. You should. You should, because God created that.

25:09
You should worship God in nature when you’re on a hike, when you’re out there on the ocean or on the river or something like that. That’s awesome. That’s wonderful. But hear this, the mountains are not Ecclesia. The rivers, the ocean, that is not Ecclesia. You going on a nice long walk is not Ecclesia. The called-out ones, and there are local believers everywhere around the world, and there always will be.

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The called out ones are intended to come together and to support one another and to be a part of the body. God has given you gifts to use for the building up of the church. You might not think your role is important. You might feel like the church doesn’t need you or you don’t need the church. That is a lie. You are a part of the body of Christ and you should become a part of one.

26:07
and function in that. That’s what God wants for you. Now there’s one more analogy that God’s Word uses when it talks about the church, and it’s this concept of a family. Ephesians 2, 19, it says, So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners, you’re citizens, along with all God’s holy people, you are members of God’s family.

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in the New Testament church, you know, Christianity started out of Judaism. You know, for the first eight chapters, nine chapters of the book of Acts, Christianity was almost like a sect within Judaism. It was like a Bible study within Judaism. And at some point, you read about this in Acts chapter 10, all of a sudden Christianity broke open to the gentiles, to the non-Jewish people.

27:05
And this is a pretty important theme all throughout the New Testament. That’s why it says here in Ephesians 2 that you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You’re citizens along with all of God’s holy people. What Paul is saying here is that being the treasured possession, you know, this concept from the Old Testament, you know, I want to be your God, I want you to be my people. The Jewish people thought that that was talking about the nation of Israel. And now in light of the New Testament, in light of the Ecclesia,

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we realize that this is actually for everybody. This isn’t just for Jewish believers in Jesus, it’s for Gentile believers in Jesus. And this was a radical statement that Paul is making. He used to be a Pharisee. He’s saying, you Gentiles are no different than Jewish believers. Whether you grew up with Jewish background or Jewish religion or not, it doesn’t matter because we’ve all come.

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into this new family. There’s this new family of God that’s made up of Jews and Gentiles and really so much more than that, right? It’s made up of white people and black people and brown people and you name it. It’s made up of all people from every tribe and tongue all around the world, all throughout history. This is what it means to be part of the capital C church. It means that you’ve been adopted into a new family. Now, that doesn’t mean that you’re

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Earthly family is unimportant. It’s still important, but your new family is more important. Do you think about it that way? Your eternal family, you are a part of a new family. I hope your earthly family is a part of that too. But this new family is what we’re called to as members of the capital C church. We now have brothers and sisters all around the world. Why?

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because we’re united through faith, through faith in Jesus. And so, I guess maybe the last question to answer for today is, how can you become a part of the capital C church? And I’ll just go right back to John 10, verse 9, Jesus’ words. He said, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.

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If you’re listening to this and you have never come in through the gate, you haven’t come in through Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible. I invite you to do that even today to come to Him and say, Jesus, I recognize I’m broken. I recognize I’m a sinner. I recognize that I’ve wandered from you and I want to do things my own way. And today I want to put my faith in you. I want to put my trust in you. Jesus, today I confess my need for you.

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The Bible says that the moment you do that, that you will be saved. I mean, Jesus says that here, you’re gonna be able to come in and find new pasture. Like, it’s gonna change your whole life. It’s gonna change everything for you when you become a part of the capital C church. And you can only do that by faith. If you wanna learn more about that or how to become a follower of Jesus.

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I encourage you to check out our Pursuit series. You can find it online, pursuegod.org forward slash go. We talk through in that 12 week series, we talk through all the basics of, of biblical Christianity and how to deal with your sin problem through Jesus, how to trust in Jesus for salvation and what baptism means and how that does fit in and spiritual disciplines and how to, how to become

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a part of the church and be on mission with Jesus and His other disciples. We talk about all of that in this series. So again, I encourage you to go through it with a friend or a mentor or a family or a small group. Find it all, pursuegod.org forward slash go.