What is the Church

Introduction

So folks we are on our last message in this series called Back to the Basics. We’ve talked about who Jesus is, what the Bible is, what Prayer looks like and we’re going to finish our series looking at What the church is?

You might be sitting there today not sure what the church is. You might think the church is a building. There might have been a situation or circumstance that has framed how you view church. When I was in High School I always had this view that church was a building that people met in to hear about Jesus from someone who stood up front like me. But as I’ve spent time in the church I’ve found that this is just one element to what The Church is. And so we’re going to talk just of a few things that I’ve learned about the church during my time in it.

I’d like to use a verse in the bible to help frame these thoughts on what the bible is. This verse is in the book of , “19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.”

19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

1. Church is first and foremost not just a building.

What this verse is telling us is that the church is the people who are in the building. It’s the group of believers who come together to do life together. To share with one another and to do this all around this guy named Jesus. This is an important thing that I’ve had to learn and I think many people might need to learn. That this building is a place where the church meets but it isn’t the church. It’s a common location where people meet. Martin Luther, a bible scholar who lived a long time ago said, “Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in him unless he knew where his believers are?”

The church is a group of people who gather here to talk about, sing about and hear about Jesus. It is a group of people who are glued together, figuratively, and who want to learn, grow and to live lives which are centred around Jesus. This means that because the church is the people that it must meet together, which is why we’ve constructed places like this to meet. I love what it says in , “24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” This is encouraging the church to be meeting together and to not neglect doing this because this is the way in which the church is able to grow and encourage one another.

24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.

2. The church is a place to hear about Jesus and for those of us who believe in Jesus to tell others about him.

This is an an important element of church. The reason why the church meets together is to talk about Jesus. To talk about the things in the bible and what it means for us many years later. To talk about the impact of what it says on our lives and how we can understand what it means against the context of how we live today. And an important part of this is that the church is called to go out into the world and to tell other people about Jesus. Not in a pushy way but to share the good news of how God has changed their life. Jesus says it pretty great when he says in , “15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”

15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.

3. The church is a place to learn and grow.

3. The church is a place to learn and grow.

Not just to hear about Jesus but to allow the words of the bible to change us and allow the wisdom to guide our lives.

Church is place that people can go to learn more about who Jesus is. And you’ll find time and time again the church doing things just like we are doing tonight. Talking about the bible and what it should mean in our lives. The people in church are to spend time learning together in order to understand what the bible says. says, “8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” This verse it telling the church to spend time learning and putting into practice what is in the bible. For it to be a useful tool to help a believer grow and live better.

8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.

4. The church is a place for broken people.

It’s a place where you and I can go when we need a place to go.

A church or a group of people who love Jesus is a place where people go when they are hurting or when they just don’t know where to go. You see the church is not a place full of perfect people, although sometimes people do present this image. Everyone goes through stuff, hard times, moments where they feel like they don’t measure up. The church is a place where people like this can go and have community.

5. A place people can feel loved.

We live in a world that is sometimes not very loving. But the church also exists to love people. And love all types of people, not just people who we want. There are times where people in the church do not always do this, but we will talk about that in a second. The bible says in , “12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” People in the church are called in verses like this one to love people. To sacrifice our own desires and wants for other people, our friends. This isn’t an easy proposition. I know for myself it’s sometimes hard to do this, to love people who annoy me or who are different than I am, or who don’t agree with me. But I’m stopped in my tracks time and time again by this verse to love people because of who Jesus is and what he’s done.

12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.

6. A place people can go to be helped.

The church is a helping organization. It’s a place that takes care of people. You see one of the desires that is placed in the heart of a believer is to go out and help others. And so that makes the church a place where people can go to get help with anything. I’ve seen the church around the world step up and help in situations of natural disasters. The bible says in , “11 There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.”

11 There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.”

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.

As I spend time in the leadership of a church I’ve seen time and time again where the church has stepped in to help someone who needs a meal, to help them keep their lights on, to help pay for medicine or a procedure. The church exists to come alongside people to help them in their time of need. says, “16 And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.” In the church I was last at we stepped up to help this lady who had her entire home destroyed in a hurricane. She lived in Texas and we were in Bermuda and the church raised over $40k and sent some people over to help her to rebuild her home and to clean up the mess on her property. And this story isn’t unique. The church steps in time and time again to help people who are hurting, who need help.

16 And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.”

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.

7. Sometimes people in the church mess up.

This is something that we don’t always like to talk about but it’s real. Sometimes people in the church do things that hurt other people. They might add in their own personal opinions or preferences which hurt people. This is something that hits close to me. My mother was hurt a long time ago by people in the church. This hurt has caused her to have a very tough time with the church and that’s not because of what the church is but what people in the church have made it out to be.

What I want to make sure that you know is the church isn’t anyone person. People do dumb stuff, we’ve established that together, and we can’t always let one person frame for us what the church really is.

Conclusion

A guy named N.T. Wright sums up the idea of what church is pretty good when he says, “The church exists primarily for two closely correlated purposes: to worship God and to work for his kingdom in the world ... The church also exists for a third purpose, which serves the other two: to encourage one another, to build one another up in faith, to pray with and for one another, to learn from one another and teach one another, and to set one another examples to follow, challenges to take up, and urgent tasks to perform. This is all part of what is known loosely as fellowship.”