Essence of Church

Bolognese

How do you make bolognaise sauce for your spaghetti bolognaise?

I suspect that for each of you here that actually do the cooking at home, you would all make it slightly different.

Some would be creamy. Some would have some special secret herbs that give it that special flavour. A bet many would try to sneak in lots of vegetables. In our house we throw in some lentils as well, to add some more variety to our diet.

But while there is a lot of variation, there are some elements of a bolognaise that are at the essence of what a bolognaise is.

I’d argue that the bolognaise has to have some sort of tomato base and include minced meat, probably minced beef, although other types of meat could be substituted. I’d probably also suggest that some sort of herbs are also essential to a bolognaise. But I think it’s the tomatoes which make it. If there is not some kind of tomato-y base, then I don’t think it can be called a bolognaise.

Now stay with me on this one, but church is a bit like a bolognaise.

Every expression of church out there is slightly different. The variations between them can actually be quite stark. Now there are some churches that have lost the essence of what church is, but if we leave them aside for the moment, there is an essence to all churches - and I’m going to argue that it is very good.

You know, one of the favourite activities of many people today is church bashing - and I’d include many Christians in that too.

People love to highlight the failings of many churches, whether it be the abuse in churches, or an unhealthy focus on money, or terrible attitudes towards women.

I’m not going to deny that those failings do exist, but when churches have the essential ingredients that we are going to explore today, then we’ll actually find the most amazing thing that you can find in this world.

Unfortunately, in the wider narrative that is told today, it’s the failings of the church that dominate the conversation, however, even today, the church is still an overwhelming positive force in this world.

This morning, we’re going to continue our series as we move towards a vision for our church here.

As we move towards this discussion, hopefully, we’re going to find lots of unique things about what God is doing here in our specific situation, however, before we move to our unique situation, it’s worth reminding ourselves the essence of what it means to be a church.

Because whatever we discuss, it must include this essence that we are about to explore.

What is the church

So let’s start by asking what is the church?

It’s a word that can carry a lot of different meanings. Sometimes we’ll use the word ‘church’ to refer to the building. At times, that might be an acceptable use of the word, but let’s be clear, when we talk about the church in the context of today’s message, I’m not talking about the building.

We can also talk about individual churches as the church. But as we’ll explore, there is actually only one real church. There are lots of expressions of that one true church, but expression that has the essence that we’re about to explore is part of a larger whole.

Church can also be thought of as just another human institution. Now while it might meet the definition of an institution, I’m going to be arguing that it is far from a human invention.

Ekklesia

The Greek word which is usually translated as the english word Church is Ekklesia. It’s a word that just meant assembly or gathering, however, we see the New Testament writers giving it a very distinct meaning.

The first time the word is used in this way is in Matthew 16 when Jesus is talking with his disciples. Jesus has already spent considerable time with his disciples, and he asks them who people say he is. It is at this point that Peter makes the great confession that Jesus is the Messiah - the one that has long been promised.

Long story short - Jesus turns to Peter and declares that Peter, a name which means rock, will be the rock on which his Ekklesia (his church) will be built.

He declares that not even the gates of Hades will be able to overcome it.

If we are to understand what the church really is, we really need to understand this. You’ll find people talking about the death of the church - but let me assure you, if the gates of Hades can’t overcome it, it’s hardly going to fall over just because the flavour of the day has changed.

This is a supernatural organisation that has been instituted for God’s own purposes. It will always survive because God intends it to.

Ephesians

Okay, well, let’s dig deeper, because we’re going to see the understanding of what the church is, becomes thoroughly enmeshed in the gospel story.

There are a number of places we could have gone in the Paul’s letters to explore this, but this morning I want to take you to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

The church in Ephesus was a church that Paul was very familiar with. He spent considerable time there in both his second and third missionary trips.

The letter in many ways is just one big encouragement for this church to take hold of the wonderful truths of the gospel, and in the process know what it means to be the church.

The opening chapter is rich in theology. Paul just can’t stop praising and thanking God for the way that he chose these people and transformed them to be the people of God.

The start of the second chapter, just before the section that was read earlier, we get a good summary of salvation.

It’s the truth that each of us start in a place where we are dead in our transgressions. That is bible speak for saying that our self-centeredness and anti-God tendencies are so strong, that we have completely lost all connection with the source of all life.

But in God’s mercy, he has made us alive with Christ, not by works, but by faith alone and in Christ alone.

The dividing wall

Right, well this then leads us to the passage that we’re looking at this morning.

And it’s going to start by reminding us that there is a separation between us and God.

Actually, as we explore this, we’re actually going to see there is a double separation.

Now what do I mean by that?

Well, we’re separated from God - this is the problem of sin that I just described when I briefly touched on the first half of chapter 2.

But I’ve called it a double separation because we were also separated from the people of God.

Now this one might be slightly harder to get our heads around, particularly if we don’t fully have our head around how the Old Testament and New Testament fit together.

You see, in the Old Testament, God raised up the nation of Israel from one faithful man - Abraham. These were his chosen people, and what you notice is that God makes a point of setting them aside. They’re set aside from other nations so that God can mould them the way he intends them to. They need to be different because through them they will be a blessing to other nations.

But here’s the things… by setting them aside, and by making them different, a barrier is set.

As I mentioned, we don’t often grasp the full significance of this because we live 2000 odd years since this dividing wall has come down - but this is actually a big deal.

Their was a very significant dividing wall between God’s chosen people and everyone else.

Not only were we separated from God because of sin, we were also separated from connecting with the people of God.

Not only was this dividing wall between us and God was torn down, the dividing wall allowing us to become members of the people of God was also torn down.

We can enter into this identity as the people of God, because God has destroyed the barrier. That’s exactly what it says in verse 14 - even calling it a dividing wall of hostility.

By entering the people of God, we therefore become the people that the blessing of God now flows through.

This has huge significance for what it means to be the church.

The church is the vessel that passes on God’s blessing to the whole world.

But there’s something we need to realise.

If we are going to be this blessing - if we are going to take hold of this essence of what it means to be the church, then we need to recognise that in the breaking down of the wall, we have unity.

This unity is a big theme that Paul will take up again in the fourth chapter of this letter. In this chapter he’ll urge the readers of this letter to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”.

This means making unity from our church to all of the other churches that are part of the body of Christ, but also unity within our church.

This can sometimes be hard, particularly when different personalities clash.

It’s a sad indictment when people look at the church and what they see is unfortunately the same divisive spirit that exists everywhere else.

But when this dividing wall of hostility came crashing down, we should realise that the implications of this go well beyond us moving to Christ - it needs to also change how we see other people.

To be the church, we need to recognise, that while there are many expressions, we are joined because Jesus has destroyed the barriers.

Members of God’s Family

So let’s move to verse 19 - Ephesians 2:19 “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,”

I think it is easy to miss how extraordinary this is. This verse is mixing two metaphors, but in many ways, this just adds to the extraordinary nature of what it is saying.

It mixes both a kingdom image and a household image.

The kingdom image reminds us of the vastness of what we are a part of.

The household image reminds us of the intimacy of it.

You see, being part of the kingdom is huge. We are part of something that is expanding throughout the world. It is everywhere.

It is a kingdom that transcends every culture, every nation, every people group.

But also as a member of God’s household, we’re reminded that we are not just some extra in a big picture, we are individuals that are specifically loved by God, known by name, and treated as an heir - because that is what we are.

Being part of the church should reflect both this universal aspect, and the warmth and intimacy that only God truly provides.

Temple

Well, with both the image of a kingdom and household being offered in verse 19, the last three verses offer another lasting image to help us think about what the church is.

It’s the image of a temple - but it is a vastly different image of a temple than we are used to.

Let’s just step back and think about how the whole theme of the temple is developed throughout the Bible.

The temple theme actually starts as a tabernacle theme early in the period when Israel were wandering in the wilderness after they left Egypt.

It was to be their central place of worship. More than that, it was the place where God dwelt.

Now just to be clear, I’m not suggesting that God was limited in size and place at this time. He has always been omnipresent - that is to say, everywhere.

Rather, it was the focal point at this point in time, where God’s activity happened.

Ans so it is extraordinarily important.

This temple was essentially a really elaborate tent, and it stayed that way all the way till David and his son Solomon were kings of Israel. Then, under the kingship of Solomon, a more permanent temple was built.

We now had a permanent structure in which God dwelt. A place where true worship of God should focus.

This temple was torn down when Israel went into exile after they were defeated by Babylon - however, about 70 years later, it was rebuilt. This was a momentous occasion for the Jews, because they could once again worship in the prescribed way.

Something amazing happened, however, when Jesus died on the cross.

You see, one thing I haven’t mentioned about the temple is that right in the center of it all, there was a room called the Holy of holies. There were very strict rules about entering this. In fact, only the high priest would enter, and even for him, it was very rare things to do.

It was divided with a very heavy set curtain - again, another dividing wall like we’ve already been discussing.

Well, when Jesus died on the cross, we’re told that this curtain was torn in two from top to bottom.

Jesus also predicted a further toppling of the temple - something we know happened in AD 70, and it still remains toppled, some 2000 years later.

But let’s get back to Ephesians. You see, with all of this development of the theme of the temple throughout the Bible, you’d expect it to be something that would always continue. The worship of God is important, and him dwelling on earth is also super important.

However, it takes a big twist - and that is, rather than a physical building, Paul describes the temple in vastly different terms.

We are the temple.

In verse 22, after describing the temple, it says that in him, you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

But there are some very important attributes about this temple.

First the foundation - you see, just because we are the temple doesn’t mean we can do whatever we like - rather, the foundation is described in verse 20 as being made of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Although the word apostle is sometimes used in a more generic sense to mean people who pioneer new work for God, I think there is reason to believe that in this verse, the words apostles refers to the 12 disciples of Jesus, along with Paul and Jesus’ brother James.

In other words, for us, it is what we have recorded for us in scripture.

This is the foundation - and even more than that, Jesus is described as being the cornerstone.

This new look temple then becomes the place that God dwells - in other words, God dwells in his church.

Again - please don’t hear me wrong… I’m not suggesting that God is limited to church buildings. I will maintain that God is omnipresent, that is, he is everywhere.

But just like the Old Testament represented a special place for God to dwell, so does the church of today.

If we follow this logic, we really see how important the church is for us today.

It becomes so easy for us to knock the church today, but the church is the temple - the church is the place where people can come and worship the maker and sustainer of all things.

Conclusion

So what does all of this mean for us as we move towards thinking about our vision as a church?

Well, firstly, it must mean that we should take it seriously.

I know this is something I need to work on personally. For those who know me reasonably well, you’ll know that generally speaking, I’m a fairly laid back kind of person. It’s easy for me to think - she’ll be right.

But the church is such an instrumental part of our Christian lives. It’s something that we should take seriously. We need to constantly be reassessing how we’re doing, and making sure that we are heading in the direction that God wants for us.

But let’s just go back over what we’ve just looked at...

If the church is the place that is the result of the dividing walls of hostility have been broken down, then we need to do everything that we possibly can to make sure we don’t build new walls in their place.

Sadly, there are so many walls we like to build. Walls around theological interpretations. Walls around political views. Walls around race and gender. Or even walls around silly trivial things.

We can never let that happen. Because we’ve been saved, not by our political views, but by a crucified Christ, who rose again that we can have new life.

So the church needs to value unity.

But then with the dual images of kingdom and household, we see that the church is a special place of belonging.

And with the image of a temple, the church is the place where God dwells.

These become some of the essence of what the church is.

We might come up with all sorts of ideas when we come to Vision Sunday in a fortnight. But it is so important that at the heart of it all, we remember what Jesus has done for us.

We keep him as the focus and the reason for our existence.

The church is a beautiful place. It may get knocked around by people today, but never forget what it truly is.

Let me pray...