The Chuch: Who & What

Is the church important? Maybe a better question is, “Is the church important to you?”

I hear a lot about the church from people. Things like:I can be saved without the church.
Answer: NO!

Romans 10:14-15
How can people have faith in the Lord and ask Him to save them, if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear, unless someone tells them? And how can anyone tell them without being sent by the Lord? The Scriptures say it is a beautiful sight to see even the feet of someone coming to preach the good news.

Paul asks how can a person be saved unless they hear about Jesus. Well, they can’t. Who are the people who will tell others - the church. Paul also asks how will anyone tell them without being sent by the Lord. And how will the Lord send them. Biblical He will do it through the church. So without hearing about Jesus you can not be saved and it will be the church, the people of God who will do the telling.
I can be a Christian without the church.
Answer: NO!

Acts 2:41
Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized. God brought about three thousand people into the community on that day.

The people who accepted Peter’s message were baptized into what? - the church. The community they became a part of that day was the church. There is no concept anywhere in the New Testament of a person being a Christian without the church.

Imagine with me a newborn baby and a day after he or she is born that baby is then left to fend for themselves in the world. What would happen to that baby? The baby would die. God does not birth people into the Kingdom and not provide a community, a family to love and support them. He doesn’t do that because He knows without the church Christians would not survive.
I can follow Jesus without the church.
Answer: NO!

Ephesians 5:23
The husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the Head of the church. It is His body, and He is its savior.

Trying to follow Jesus without involvement in His church is like trying to follow a disembodied head. We are members of the Body of Christ. As a hand or foot or ear or nose need all the other parts because without them we can’t follow the Head, Jesus.

God’s Ideal for the Church                          Our Actual Practice
Church is a spiritual necessity                     Church is optional
Interdependence valued                              Individualism valued
Spirituality happens in community               Religion is private
Active involvement in the culture                 Aloof from the real world
All people accepted                                     Segregation practiced
Authentic behavior                                       Hypocrisy

Our calling is not to transform the church. Our calling is to live as the transformed church.

Who is the church?

Ephesians 1:22-23
And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as Head over all thing to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

The church is the Body of Christ. The hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouth, lungs, kidneys, liver, spleen, and heart of Jesus in the world today.

Being the Body of Christ shows the unity of the church in its diversity.

John 10:16
There are other sheep which belong to me that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them too; they will listen to My voice, and they will become one flock with one Shepherd.



The church is God‘s Sheep. Sheep depend on the shepherd to care for them and protect them.

The church as the Sheep of God show that we are dependent on Jesus, our Shepherd.

John 1:12
But to all who have received Him - those who believe in His name - He has given the right to become God’s children.

The church is the Children of God.

We surrender ourselves as slaves to God and He elevates us to be His precious children.

The church being the Children of God shows the position we have with the Father and the Son. We are dearly loved children, but God is always the sole authority in our lives. It also shows the fact that the church, as God’s children, need to grow. We need to mature and multiply.

1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.

The church as the Building of God is joined together by Jesus.

Paul shares that truth with us in Ephesians 2:21. He says, “In Him the whole structure is joined (bound, welded) together harmoniously, and it continues to raise (grow, increase) into a holy temple in the Lord [a sanctuary dedicated, consecrated, and sacred to the presence of the Lord].”

The church as the Building of God reflects the strength we have in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 11:2
I am as concerned about you as God is. You were like a virgin bride I had chosen only for Christ.

The church is the Bride of Christ.

God wants His church, His bride to be holy, clean, radiant, stainless, with no wrinkles or blemishes.

Paul expresses this truth in Ephesians 5:26-27. He says, “To make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without satin or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

The church being the Bride of Christ shows the intimacy that we have in our relationship with Jesus.

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Peter, the rock, confesses that Jesus is God and on the truth of that confession Jesus will build His church, the boulder, and nothing, not even the powers of hell will be able to overcome it.

Notice Jesus does not say that individual Christians could not be overcome by the powers of hell, Jesus said His Church would be overcome by any power.

The Greek word translated church in the New Testament is Ekklesia. It means the Called Out Ones. This is a word reflecting community. The church is a community of people who have been called and who have said yes to following Jesus. They are different, set apart. Their set-apartnes is not because they are so good, talented or holy, but because of the One who did the calling - Jesus. He is good, perfect, and holy. The church is the Called Out Ones because Jesus has called us into a relationship with the Father.

One of the marks of the church is to be fellowship. Acts 2:42 says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

The Greek word for fellowship in the New Testament is kiononia. It means participating in community. The church is to be a community that participates and relates with each other and the world.

Following Jesus is personal (no can do it for you), but it is not private. Following Jesus is to be done in community and the community that Jesus has established to do that is the church.

Among church people (people who go to church) I hear this statement alot: I love my church.

Then here is what we as “church going” people need to do, prove our love for the church.

Love is shown by involvement. If we love the church we will be participating in community to share the love of Jesus with each other and the world.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is not about going to church. It is about Being The Church.

With and As the Church Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe