The Church What Is It?
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
When one reads, studies, and absorbs the word of God, especially in the New Testament, they find the Lord’s church described in various ways.
We certainly see it described by different names that all point to it’s owner.
Church of Christ
16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
Church of God/Christ
28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
This name obviously reflects the ownership of Christ.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it.
In the same way we see the church described in different ways.
Each of these ways gives us insight into God’s expectation of the his Son’s church.
With that in mind let’s look at our first point.
What is the church?
It Is A Body
It Is A Body
The Church’s Head Is Christ
The Church’s Head Is Christ
Throughout the scriptures we see this clearly stated over and over.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ
What does this say about the church?
It says that…
The Church Must Obey The Head
The Church Must Obey The Head
This means Christ has all authority over it.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The church must obey the head means Christ leads it where it is to go.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
Summary
Summary
Man has had a tendency over the years try and direct the steps of the church instead of letting it’s head, Jesus the Christ, do so.
He is the preeminent one, he is the head, he is the leader of the church.
It doesn’t matter what I say or any other man says about “his church” if it does not line up with what Christ says about “his church.”
Not only do we see that the church is a “body” but we also can see about the church that…
It Is A Building
It Is A Building
The House Of God
The House Of God
Again, throughout the New Testament we find the church described and said to be the “house of God.”
15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
The significance of this description about the church is that
The Church Is Built By God Not Man
The Church Is Built By God Not Man
The church is the house of God because it is built upon Christ and the word of God.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
The church is the house of God because it is the temple of God.
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Summary
Summary
This is important to recognize and realize what God has done here calling Christ’s church, the house of God.
God has demanded, by describing the church as his home, that he only dwells in that house.
Many men have developed various doctrines, churches, and religions, but only the house of God is where God can actually be found to dwell.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Lastly, we find about the church that…
It Is A Bride
It Is A Bride
The Church Is Married To Christ
The Church Is Married To Christ
Again we find within the pages of God’s word in the new covenant that Christ’s church is his bride.
2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
This means that…
The Church Fulfills The Marriage Role
The Church Fulfills The Marriage Role
The church submits to her husband.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
The church is a helper to her husband.
This means the church has the respect and confidence of her husband.
The church does not cheat on her husband.
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
The church represents her husband in word and deed.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
The church works hard to please her husband.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Summary
Summary
The church is the wife of Christ.
There is no more intimate a relationship than that of a husband and wife.
Christ wants that close relationship with his church!!!
Conclusion
Conclusion
What is the church?
The church is unique, not only in the fact that it is distinct in unity, worship, and the truth, but that it is…
The body of Christ.
The house of God.
The bride of Christ.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
32 Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
