Sermon Tone Analysis

Who Needs the Church?

Topic - Church

Title - Who needs the church?

Introduce Subjec

Text - , ,

Points

I need the church

You need the church

Our communities need the church

Doubting your Doubts Intro

Hook

Introduce Subject

Introduce Subject

- The Church

Define Subject - The Church

Before we dive into Who needs the church let’s define what the church is?

- The Church is a congregation of saints, in which the gospel is rightly taught and the sacraments are rightly administered" - Augsburg Confession

Wherever we find the word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ; there, it is not to be doubted, is a Church of God: for his promise can never deceive: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

JOHN CALVIN

So in other words the church is a gathered group of people where the good news of Jesus is communicated correctly and where baptisms, the Lord’s supper and other means of grace (like these baby dedications here today) happen.

So in other words the church is a gathered group of people where the good news of Jesus is communicated correctly and where baptisms, the Lord’s supper and other means of grace (like these baby dedications here today) happen.

Another person said that the

- The Church is the community of faithful believers, of whom Jesus Christ is the head.

Church.

A group or assembly of persons called together for a particular purpose.

A group or assembly of persons called together for a particular purpose.

Church.

A group or assembly of persons called together for a particular purpose.

The

Jesus used the word church in

So Jesus tells Peter after he has the revelation from the Holy Spirit that God was going to build his church.

So there is a lot going on in this verse and in the context of this Scripture.

I don’t want to get bogged down in the different interpretations of this verse but I think it is important to see two things we can learn about the church.

Church comes from the Greek word Ekklesia.

Can y’all say ekklesia.

Usually I don’t talk about Greek in my sermons because I feel like so often there is a such a disconnect between what the original language is and what that means to us practically here today but there are some really key things in properly understanding church found in the meaning of the Greek word Ekklesia.

Jesus said the church was his - The Bible says that Jesus is the head of the church and this Scripture tells us that the church belongs to him.

He owns it and he is in charge.

He promised to build the church - This is an exciting thought; Jesus wants to builds his church and as matter of fact he is building right now even as we speak.

He is equipping, developing, birthing drawing; God is at work in the Church, Amen and he is calling us to come to Jesus so he can build us both individually and corporately to be the church he is calling us to be.

He promised that the gates of hell will not overcome it - This is an encouraging thought especially in our 21st Century post-Christian Canadian culture.

When there are so many things that come against the witness of Jesus and against his church we can be assured that come what may we will not be overcome by all the power of the evil one.

That word Jesus uses here in “Church” comes from the Greek word Ekklesia.

Can y’all say ekklesia.

Usually I don’t talk about Greek in my sermons because I feel like so often there is a such a disconnect between what the original language is and what that means to us practically here today but there are some really key things in properly understanding church found in the meaning of the Greek word Ekklesia.

Church comes from the Greek word Ekklesia.

Can y’all say ekklesia.

Usually I don’t talk about Greek in my sermons because I feel like so often there is a such a disconnect between what the original language is and what that means to us practically here today but there are some really key things in properly understanding church found in the meaning of the Greek word Ekklesia.

Understanding Ekklessia (Church)

Connotes the idea of being called out

The role of the herald

Called to assemble

God calls us out

God calls us out of sin, out dysfunction, out of our circumstances and for me God called me out of my community, out of lifestyle contrary to God.

Part of us becoming the church involves God calling us out.

Ekklesia connotes the idea of being set apart

The Old Testament people were called to gather for a particular purpose and were set apart for a particular purpose

Levites etc.

After God calls us out he begins to set us apart and makes us into the people he wants us to be

The New Testament picks up on this idea and at Pentecost the Holy Spirit sends the Ekklessia - the called out and now set apart - into the world by the transforming power of the Spirit.

The church is called to praise and glorify God, to establish Jesus Christ’s kingdom, and to proclaim the gospel throughout the world.

In this new community the traditional barriers of race, social standing, and sex—barriers that divided people from one another and categorized them into inferior and superior classes—are seen to be shattered: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28 NIV).

The Word of God gives us a bunch of different images or descriptions of what the church is like to help us better understand what the church is and how it functions.

The New Testament never once names the “place” of assembly—a “church.”

The Church in were characterized by four fundamental things: apostolic teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread—probably a picture of the Lord’s Table—and prayer.

The church can be understood in at least three major categories

The Community of the Spirit - If you want an amazing picture of what the church is called to look like just read through the book of Acts.

Acts teaches so much about how the church ought to function and how the church functions out of the ministry of the Holy Spirit

The Body of Christ - This a beautiful picture given to us in some of Paul’s letters and specifically in :11-16 and , .

The Temple of God - Both Ephesians and Corinthians also speak as the church as the Temple of the Holy Ghost; corporately we make up the temple of the Holy Spirit where God dwells.

Community of the Spirit.

The two-volume work of Luke the Evangelist, Luke-Acts, presents the church as that community of people in which and through which the Spirit of God is working.

Body of Christ.

Paul is alone among NT writers in speaking of the church as “the body of Christ” (1 Cor 12:27; Rom 12:5; Eph 1:22, 23; 4:12; see also 1 Cor 10:16, 17; 12:12, 13), or as “the body” of which Christ is the “head” (Eph 4:15; Col 1:18).

Body of Christ.

Paul is alone among NT writers in speaking of the church as “the body of Christ” (1 Cor 12:27; Rom 12:5; Eph 1:22, 23; 4:12; see also 1 Cor 10:16, 17; 12:12, 13), or as “the body” of which Christ is the “head” (Eph 4:15; Col 1:18).

The

Temple of God.

In his attempt to overcome the divisions within the church at Corinth, Paul pictures the church not only as the body of Christ, but also as God’s temple, as the dwelling place of God’s Spirit (1 Cor 3:16, 17).

Other images of the church are

The Bride of Christ

The People of God

Bride of Christ.

Several times the church is pictured as the bride and Christ as the groom/husband (2 Cor 11:2, 3; Eph 5:22–31; Rv 19:7, 8; 21:2–14).

People of God.

It is a common strand of Israel’s faith that it became the people of God because he chose it to be his own possession (Ex 6:6, 7; 19:5; Dt 7:6; 14:2; 26:18).

FALLEN CONDITION FOCUS

So I hope this quick synopsis has give you a clear picture of what the church is.

But maybe you are here this morning and you are hearing how amazing this church is and you’re like well that’s nice but who really needs the church?

For the skeptic here or listening online you might be like I don’t really need the body of Christ.

The skeptic might say that for a couple different reasons.

Don’t believe in God and therefore the purpose of the church is meaningless

I would say to you, you’re right.

We are basing our whole existence on the fact that God sent Jesus to come and die on the cross and that he resurrected and sent His Holy Spirit to dwell with us now.

We base our whole existence as a church on that.

But if you don’t believe that truth and you are that skeptic then the church has no real purpose - we are just a meaningless gathering of people who huddle around a false hope and eat good food together

But for the skeptic who has been hurt by the church or finds the gathering of believers distasteful but still believes in God you might say I don’t need the church because me and God do our own thing

I’m doing a fantastic class at Acadia Divinity College called Christian Spiritual Formation and one of the things the Prof, Dr. Harry Gardner has been driving home the past few weeks is that when we become baptized we are not just baptized into Christ.

PAUSE We are also baptized into the body of Christ.

We are going to be doing some BAPTISMS next Sunday November 4th and so if you know of someone who is ready and willing to make a public decision to follow Jesus with their lifestyle let me know because we are going to do some baptisms here.