Church-Week 1

A ‘Church’ is the body of Christ - to itself and to the world

We can say this phrase ‘we are the body of Christ’, but that means a couple things that we need to really value.

Firstly - that we identify with Jesus. And that one may seem obvious - but is it?

STORY - Paul persecuting the church.

Acts 9:4–5 NIV

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

Paul wasn’t chasing Jesus around. He was chasing his disciples. But Jesus says - you’re persecuting ME.

Ephesians 1:13 (NIV)

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit

How often do we hold this value towards each other? How often do we say or think - ‘the words or thoughts that I have towards another believer, I’m really having towards Jesus’?

But this idea of us being the body of Christ - it also extends out to the world.

Galatians 2:20 NIV

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This word body, it doesn’t just mean unity. It also means function.

We aren’t simply Jesus’ fan club. We are supposed to be his workers. What Jesus did in the flesh on earth, we do in the body.

Paul meant for us to see this in an incredibly practical way. When Jesus stretches out his hand to comfort the lost - it’s us he moves. When he bends his ear to hear the cries of the oppressed - he leans us towards them.

Part of being in the church is a deep conviction - the conviction that ‘we are the instruments through which God reaches and changes the rest of the world’.

A ‘Church’ is both universal and local - but not individual

This idea of the church of Christ is an incredibly big concept.

It can’t be defined by a single style, or sound, or culture.

And the truth is - it’s actually harmful for us to try.

1 Corinthians 1:17 NIV

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Paul says - if our gospel depends on our style, then the cross loses it’s power.

If anything, the church is the opposite - it can only express itself in many different fashions, languages, times, and styles.

Revelation 7:9 NIV

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

The victory of the church is found in this giant crowd of people from every nation, tribe, people, and language.

This is how you can tell that your church is looking more like the body of Christ - when it’s not a room full of very similar people.

But see, there’s ‘real’ diversity, and ‘fake’ diversity.

Fake diversity says, I’ll allow SOME difference, so long as you act like me in all the ways that matter to me.

Real diversity says, ‘I will take JOY in the fact that you’re markedly different than I am’.

And real diversity is the key. Because what shows people that we are in Christ? Our style? Our volume? Our clothes?

John 13:35 NIV

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Our care and compassion for each other. And even Jesus pointed out - it’s EASY to love people that look like you and love you back.

But it’s also a very local concept.

All through the book of acts, the local churches were incredibly engaged, every single one of them, in the care of and ministry to the community around them.

Acts 5 said the local church was ‘highly regarded by the people’.

Acts 4:32 NIV

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.

Being ‘the church’ in the new testament meant a group of people close to each other and dedicated to the work of the Lord.

But there’s one thing the church isn’t - and that’s individual.

The concept of the body of Christ doesn’t exist apart from other people.

To say, ‘I am a Christ follower’, is to say, ‘I’m a member of a greater group of believers’.

A ‘Church’ is here and now - but focused on later

Hebrews 10:24–25 NIV

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Paul says - we need to be challenging each other to love and good deeds - and ALL THE MORE as we see ‘the day’ approaching.

Philippians 3:20–21 NIV

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Even Jesus recognized this in His prayers:

John 17:16 NIV

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

We define our efforts by here and now. We define our identity by then.

Sometimes, we get this backwards. We define ourselves by how ‘here and now’ looks.

But God meant for the church to have an incredible impact HERE and NOW.

This is meant to be incredibly freeing.

If our faith, and value, and meaning, doesn’t come from our clothes, or our stuff, or our stature in the world, or our position of authority - if it comes from our relationship with Jesus, and our status as HIS children - then how can anything on THIS side of eternity really do anything to us?

Or to put it in bible terms,

Romans 8:31 NIV

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Now, don’t get this wrong. It doesn’t mean, god backs our agenda. It means - that God is fighting FOR us rather than against us.

And if God is on one side of the battle for our souls, what else could possibly be on the other side that we’d have to worry about?

Next week, we’re talking about the incredible power of Unity and Community in the life of the church. But we want to leave you with this challenge:

Let’s walk in what it REALLY means to be the church

To be the body of Christ that makes a real and lasting impact on the world around us - because we know that whatever we miss or lose, we have so much more waiting for us later.