What Is the Church?

Matthew 16:13–18 Restoration Church | Sunday Sermon | Week 1 of 2 – The Church Series

Opening & Welcome (3 minutes)

Good afternoon. Happy Sunday, and happy new month!

If you’re joining us online—hello and welcome. We look forward to seeing you in person soon.

Today, we’re beginning a new series on the Church. For the next two weeks, we’ll explore two key questions:

What is the Church?

2. What is the mission of the Church?

Introduction (7 minutes)

Jab 1: The Club

At what age did you go to your first club party?

I was 17, just a month into college, and I couldn’t wait. I had my fresh cut, fresh kicks, and my $15 entry fee. This was the moment I had been waiting for all summer—my official entry into adulthood, the freedom to make my own decisions.

And in deciding to go to this party, I didn’t go alone. I went with my newly found boys. 

Jab 2: People We Like

You probably went to parties with your friends too. We naturally prefer doing things we enjoy with people we enjoy.

We sin with people we like. We spend with people we like. We eat and party with people we like.

Life’s just better when we enjoy it with people who matter to us.

I love watching a good TV series—but I love it more when I get to watch it with my wife.

Jab 3: Privatizing Faith

So, why is it that some people choose to privatize the most important thing in their lives—their faith in Jesus?

Why do so many Christians say,

“My relationship with Jesus is just between me and Him”?

Why do we so often neglect the role of the Church in our walk with God?

Right Hook: The Big Question

Today, we’re answering the question: What is the Church?

Some see the Church as a building.

Others treat it like a spiritual vending machine—go in, get what you need from God, and leave.

For some, church is a place of gossip—where your business spreads like ashes in the wind.

For others, it’s a place of judgment, manipulation, or even abuse.

Some see it as full of hypocrites.

And some… just don’t care about it at all.

But here’s the question that matters most:

What did God have in mind when He established the Church?

To help answer that, we’ll look at two parts:

The Church in the Old Testament

The Church in the New Testament

Let’s turn to our anchor passage: Matthew 16:13–18. (Read Scripture. Pray.)

Explanation (15 minutes)

A Working Definition

What is the Church?

Scripture calls it the temple, the body, and the bride of Christ. All true.

But let’s put it in simple terms:

The Church is a people set apart by God to be a light of righteousness—together.

Not a building. Not individuals doing their own thing. But people doing the thing—together.

To understand this, we need to go back to the very beginning.

The Blueprint in Genesis

While the Church is birthed at Pentecost in Acts 2, its blueprint was laid in the Garden of Eden.

There are three key moments in the Old Testament where God creates a people marked by love for Him—called to be a light of righteousness:

In the Garden with Adam and Eve

After the flood with Noah and his family

Through the covenant with Abraham, forming the nation of Israel

Adam & Eve

In Genesis 1-2, Adam and Eve were given instructions to work, have babies, care for creation, and be on a diet.  

You’ll notice that God didn’t create one person, he created a community of two.  

God never intended for us to love Him in isolation.

Genesis 1:28 says:

“God blessed them, and said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. and subdue it”

If you are familiar with the story, then you know just like us, it didn’t take long for them to break the diet God put them on.

They chose disobedience over devotion, and their sin introduced a disease—death—that affected all generations.

The first community failed to be a light of righteousness.

Noah

Fast forward—sin spreads, and God sends a flood. Only Noah and his family are spared.

In Genesis 9:1, after the flood, they receive the same command God gave to Adam and Eve:

“Be fruitful and multiply.”

God desires the earth to be filled with people who shine as lights of righteousness. People who will love him by obeying his commands.

But again, failure follows.

Noah gave in to the temptation of his appetite like his predecessor. He gets drunk and naked. His son mocks him. And instead of God doing the cursing like in Eden, Noah takes the place of God and curses his own son.

Another dysfunctional family. Another failed community.

Abraham

But God presses forward. He makes a covenant with Abraham—to create a nation ruled by God’s commands and designed to be a light to the world.

Do you notice the progression?

Couple → Family → Nation

Genesis 17:8 says:

“I will give to you and your offspring… all the land of Canaan… and I will be their God.”

That nation, Israel, inherits the land. But again, like those before them, they disobey God.

The people who were supposed to shine the light of righteousness to the world become swallowed in the darkness around them.

Enter Jesus

I hope you can see now that God does care about the church. The church means so much to him. And it’s a shame that so many of us easily dismiss it or think less of it. It’s a shame that many have misrepresented it and used it for their own gain.  

God cares deeply about the Church. So much so, He sends His only Son.

The only way to form a people who would not fail is for God Himself to take on flesh—live sinlessly—die sacrificially—and impute His righteousness into those who trust Him.

The reason why God can look at you and I and embrace us is because when he sees us he sees the righteousness of Jesus.  

Matthew 16: Jesus Builds the Church

Jesus tells Peter and the rest of the disciples in Matthew 16:

“On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overpower it.”

The rock is Peter’s confession:

“You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

That confession is the foundation.

Jesus is the builder of the Church.

He builds the church on that confession and Satan will not overpower it because the church is grounded on what Jesus has accomplished.   He’s the one who changes hearts, who calls people out, and forms this new people.

The New Testament Church doesn’t replace Israel—just like Noah didn’t replace Adam and Eve.

Instead, it is the greater fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham—that his generations will be like the stars of the sky.

But the new family is not built on genetics—but on faith.

Not defined by ethnicity. Not defined by geography. Not defined by gender or family lines.

But defined by faith in Jesus.

The progression has now gone from Couple - Family - Nation - World

You Are Part of Something Special

You are part of a holy people, called to live lives marked by love and obedience to Jesus.

And you were not saved alone.

That’s why Scripture calls the Church:

A bride

A family

A body

You need brothers and sisters who will:

Hold you down

Encourage you

Challenge you

Support you

Why the Local Church Matters

This is why the local church—and church membership—matters.

It’s how you link arms with fellow believers and live out that life of obedience in community.

Just as our party adventures weren’t privatized—neither can our faith.

The Church is a community, not a crowd of individuals doing their own thing.

You won’t flourish in your walk with God if you neglect His Church.

Application (5 minutes)

So, what does it look like to live this out with your brothers and sisters?

It looks like:

Loving one another with brotherly affection (Romans 12:10, 1 Peter 1:22)

Living in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16)

Encouraging and building each other up (1 Thess. 5:11)

Bearing each other’s burdens (Gal. 6:2)

Serving and forgiving one another (Gal. 5:13, Col. 3:13)

Praying and confessing to one another (James 5:16)

Closing Challenge

Jesus died to make the Church a reality.

If He loves her that deeply, why wouldn’t you?

Church is more than Sunday attendance. It’s about living in a way where the life of the Church impacts your life.

I love having you here at Restoration. But Restoration doesn’t own you—Jesus does.

If one day this isn’t your church anymore, that’s okay—just be rooted in a faithful local community.

Jesus didn’t die for isolated individuals. He died for a people. A body. A bride. You’re not just saved from something—you’re saved into something. Into a family. Into the Church.

Final Exhortation

Don’t date the Church from a distance—commit. Don’t spectate—participate. Don’t just believe in Jesus—belong to His people.

Reflection Question (1 minute)

What could you do this week, this month, this year to strengthen your commitment to your brothers and sisters in this local church?

That’s what God called you into—a life of obedience with other people He has also called.

Amen.