Matthew 16:18 is precious, but Matthew 18:17 is practical. A local church may not be as spiritual as it should be, but it is practical to us. The church in Los Angeles may not be as marvelous as that mentioned in Matthew 16:18, but we have it and we enjoy it! Hallelujah! It is a church to which I can go. I cannot go to the church mentioned in Matthew 16:18. It is so wonderful, but where is it?

Therefore, regardless of how poor and weak the church in Los Angeles may be, we do have a church here. It is better than something in the air. When we have a problem, we do have somewhere to go. This is something practical.

In fact, Matthew 16:18 is included in Matthew 18:17. If we have Matthew 18:17, we have Matthew 16:18. How could we have Matthew 16:18 without Matthew 18:17? We cannot have the church without the local church.

From Matthew 18 we go on to the following Gospels. Mark did not say anything about the church; neither did Luke or John. Then we come to the Book of Acts. Is there a verse in Acts that tells us something about the universal church? All the verses in Acts regarding the church refer to the local churches. They are the church mentioned in Matthew 18, which, as we have said, includes the one mentioned in Matthew 16.

The first verse mentioning the church in Acts is Acts 5:11. (In 2:47, there is not “the church” according to the Greek text. See A.S.V.) After the death of Ananias and Sapphira, fear came upon all the church. Undoubtedly, this is the local church at Jerusalem. The second and third times that the word “church” is used are in 8:1 and 3 (“The church” in 7:38 refers to the people of Israel), “the church which was at Jerusalem.” The fourth mentioning is in Acts 9:31, “Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria.” All these churches are local churches. The church mentioned in 11:22 is “the church which was in Jerusalem,” and that mentioned in 11:26 is the church at Antioch. The church mentioned in 12:1 and 5 is again the church at Jerusalem. Then in 13:1, we see “the church that was at Antioch.” In 14:23, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in every church. These, of course, are the local churches. In Acts 14:27, it is the church at Antioch again. In 15:3-4, it was the church at Antioch that brought Paul and Barnabas on their way and the church at Jerusalem that received them. In 15:22, it is the church at Jerusalem again. In 15:41 are the local churches of Syria and Cilicia. In 16:5 are the churches of the Gentile world (see 15:23). In 18:22, again we have the church at Jerusalem. In 20:17 and 28, it is the church at Ephesus.

Are all these churches in Acts the church in the heavens? No, they are all the local churches on the earth.

After Acts come the Epistles. In all these books, the local churches are mostly dealt with. Only somewhat more than ten verses, most of which are in Ephesians, deal with the universal church (1 Cor. 10:32; 12:28; Eph. 1:22; 3:10, 21; 5:23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32; Col. 1:18, 24). The Book of Romans was written to the church at Rome. First and 2 Corinthians were written to the church at Corinth. Nearly all the Epistles were written to local churches.

After the Epistles, we have the Book of Revelation, which is the conclusion of the New Testament. It was written to the seven local churches in Asia (1:4, 11) and reveals that the Lord Jesus is in the midst of the local churches. He is walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, which are seven local churches (1:13, 20; 2:1). It also reveals to us that the ultimate consummation of the church is the New Jerusalem, which is in eternity (22:1-5). But in time, while we are on this earth today, we must be in the local churches. Without the local churches, there is no practicality to us of the church. When the ultimate consummation comes, we will have the New Jerusalem. But before that day, all we have practically is the local church. If we do not have the local church today, practically speaking, we do not have the church. The local church is the practicality of the church. The church today is practically in the local churches.
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