Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Psalm 87:1-7 NKJV

1 His foundation is in the holy mountains.
2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God! Selah
4 “I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to those who know Me;
Behold, O Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia:
‘This one was born there.’ ”
5 And of Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her;
And the Most High Himself shall establish her.”
6 The LORD will record,
When He registers the peoples:
“This one was born there.” Selah
7 Both the singers and the players on instruments say,
“All my springs are in you.”

It is a sad fact of our day that Christians have lost their love for the church both in the abstract and the particular.

The church is a fact of our existence. She exists as the beloved of God, the embodiment of the elect, and the bride of Christ. It is this church of which Christ is the head. It is this church which expects and will welcome Jesus’ return. It has no national boundaries and cannot be defined in terms of any particular culture.

The question which must be answered is ‘how is the church known?’. Or ‘what is its particular representative?’. It is that church on any spot, on any corner, in any meeting place where the Gospel is preached and believed. This is the absolute minimum requirement. The sacraments and discipline may be added. Government is a requirement for the church. Even if these features are there without the Gospel believed and preached it is not a true church.

The presence of this church in its stated meetings for worship, Christian growth, and evangelism are statements to the world that there is a church of God which continues. Psalm 87 informs us of some important features of this church.

A. Vs 1-2 God has founded and loves this church. The origin of the church is determined. The church universal, and in each of members, is the result of God’s purpose and receives His love. I Peter 2:3-4, 9

B. Vs 4c, 6b All the rights and privileges of the church universal and particular belong only to those who have been “born anew”. This is a matter of first concern to John as he establishes the importance of it and gives us a clear understanding in it. John 1:1-13, 3:1-7

There are three important results of this birth.

1. Vs 4 The people who are exposed to this church recognize that those who compose its community have a unique origin. The church can account for her weak testimony to this present age by admitting it has given up her supernatural birthright.

2. Vs 5 The church’s primary distinction is her supernatural birthright and her supernatural continuance. As the church particular has laid aside its supernatural provision for the cheap armament of humanism or unbelief or the spirit of this age it has to the same degree lost the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

Let the church weep and beat its breast. Let it cry for revival and God’s knowledgeable presence. These are not found in the brilliance of human talent or administration. This church that gives up the supernatural is like Samson with his hair cut, “He wist not the Spirit had departed.”

3. Vs 7 “All my springs are in you”. There is given to the church in both its forms the provision to satisfy a need that is in every born-again member of her society.

Man is created with a need for community. God has given the citizens of His kingdom a particular place to fulfill that need. It is in what we call the local church.

Please do not make the mistake of thinking you have a pleasing fellowship with God outside this church. If you were born there; if you have your strength there; if your neighbors are to recognize your birthright there; then you must put yourself there.

This is both necessary and desirable. In Vs 7 Those who praise God without exception declare their complete dependence on this source as the unfailing supply.