What is the Church?
Notes
Transcript
Little league sports - t shirt
Movie: Miracle - 2004 US olympic hokey team win over soviet union
Scene in that movie where He notices that they are all playing for themselves and not as a team
So, after a game the Coach Herb Brooks makes them do extra conditioning - a lot
And he says this “When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates. And the name on the front is a heck of alot more important than the one on the back!”
The idea being the team is more important than the individual - any good sports team knows this!
My question: do we as a church understand this?
What if our mentality was similar, out job as a church is more about others than ourselves!
We are going to be talking about the church this week and next week and the importance of one another
The word for “church” is always the word “ekklesia” in the Greek
The word Ekklesia literally means an “assembly” or “gathering of people”
So, anytime that you see the Word church in your english new testament it is always a translation of the greek word for ekklesia
There is not a single instance of the work ekklesia referring to a building, but a gathering of people
Some of us are pretty familiar with
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 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. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
And so, Jesus says that the rock on which He will build His church is the declaration that He is the Messiah!
So, the foundation of the church is Christ!
The concept of Christ being the foundation of the church is reiterated a few times:
11 Jesus is “ ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
The idea of Jesus being the cornerstone is quite evident
Interestingly enough the word used for cornerstone is the greek word for kephale which literally means “head” as in
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
Or…
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
Christ is the foundation, the chief cornerstone or the head of the body, the church, the church is built upon Him and by Him and for Him!
This is really important as we start talking about the church!
The church was not built around you or around me!
It was built around Christ!
And so, when we are looking at what we should do or not do in church, it is not about us!
We should not look at it from our perspective, but from His perspective!
The church should not function in the way that I want it to function, it should function in the way that He wants it to function.
Maybe rather than asking the question: what do I want in church, rather, ask the question: what does Jesus want in church?
Now, as we ask this question, there are specific commands in scripture, we call these prescriptive passages, meaning what is prescribed or commanded
And, we can look at descriptive passage that seem to be blessed by God! Meaning, what did the early church do that God blessed?
So, we have both of these in scripture, and we are going to look at some of these passages
As I have started thinking about what the church is and how the church has functioned, I feel like God has led me to 4 pillars of the church.
There may be more that this or you could potentially combine a couple here, but this will at least give us a good framework to start with
So, here is the 4 that I have come up with that we will look at and see what scripture supports these
As you can see, Christ is the foundation, the main cornerstone that supports the pillars, which supports the church
As we look at these 4 pillars, they aren’t necessarily in an order of importance, though one could possible be made
Evangelism
Discipleship
Worship
Community
So, let’s start by talking about Evangelism
Evangelism, though not specifically mentioned in scripture comes from the word evangelist, which literally means to share the good news
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Romans explains the importance of the church sharing the gospel
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Our job, as we talked about last is to multiply - to share Jesus with others!
So, the one pillar as a church, a group of people, is to evangelize - to share the gospel
What are some ways that we do this as a church?
Worship Service - gospel presentation
Support Missions Financially
Bible Camp
Programming - JAM, YG, College, Sm Groups
Be thinking this week about some other ways that our church could share the gospel!
And what ways can you, as an individual, share the gospel?
Present the gospel, Dorn’s come up - baptism, dedications
