Sermon Transcript Tone Analysis

Hey man, this is God's word.

You may be seated.

Want to consider with you this morning, the question, what is the church?

It's very important question to consider as a Christian.

But certainly, as we begin as a church, what is the church?

What, what is this?

That we are now a part of In this particular place and I think Paul in one verse in chapter two skews me and verse two of chapter 1, First Corinthians 1, I think Paul sums up wonderfully for us.

Some very important aspects of the church and it's just in his greeting.

That's how Paul.

Just naturally talks to the church in, Corinth are what he has to say to them, how he speaks about them.

That will really direct our thoughts for this morning.

There are many things that the New Testament, say about the church, 1st Corinthians 12, we see that the church is the body of Christ, that imagery of Christ's body, right?

Talkin about hands and feet and all the rest that were part of him, and he is our head.

So that image of the body of Christ is all throughout Paul's writings, and we see, it talked about it.

Many other places in the New Testament, we're also described as the bride of Christ in Ephesians 5.

The bride of Christ that Christ is our bridegroom.

We are married to him as his bride and we await the day when we will see our bridegroom's face and we will gather at the marriage, supper of the lamb and have a meal, that will be far better than this because we will sit with him until this bride of Christ that he has laid down his life for his bride and one us and purchased us.

He cares for us, he nourishes us and so on.

We're also described in 1st Peter 2 and a fusions to, as this spiritual house that Likens itself to this idea of the temple for the Tabernacle throughout scripture, this place where God, dwells and 1st Peter 2 is so powerful there, right?

As it calls us, living stones that were built into this spiritual house, to be a place that worships God, that we ourselves are built into this house where God can do well, and where God can be worship and so not just individually for us as individual Christians.

But God actually has in mind to do something with us.

Together corporately as a body, right?

And so this idea of a spiritual house, also in Acts 20 verse 28, we're told that the church are those whom Christ obtained with his own blood, Those whom Christ, obtained, with his own blood and so he bought us a purchased us shedding his blood for his bride for his church.

So we are purchased at a high price and that price of course is price on blood.

He obtained us with that blood 1st.

Peter 2 also tells us that we are God's special people And that Peter uses interesting Lee enough.

In 1st, Peter 2, there to use some Old Testament ideas about God, Special People Israel.

And he says those same things are true of you church, but he says, in 1st Peter 2 and so we are now brought into being God's special people as the church and lastly connected to Dad and Romans 9, Romans 11, Galatians 6.

We are now part of true Israel for grafted in is Paul says in Romans 9:4 brought into what is true.

Israel.

And Paul says in Romans 9 there that not all Israel is true Israel.

Just because you can trace their lineage back to Abraham doesn't make you part of true Israel as Paul says, but that you are essentially now is he will talk about in Christ in the Messiah and of course we are as a jerk as many more things I could say about what the church is recording the New Testament but I wanted to give some indication Pictures of that and those are all kind of connected to what Paul says in verse 2 in our texts.

But those are rich themes that are throughout the scriptures that should help us.

As we even read the Bible ourselves to think about, what does God have to say about who we are as his people.

What does it mean to be part of the church?

Is this just a place that you're now sitting for an hour and a half on Sunday mornings in a YMCA.

I know that this is not a church building and so apparently the church can exist whether it's in a church building or not, right?

We can do this out in the field, we can do this in a barn as many of our brothers and sisters have done in the past.

Thankfully, we don't have to do it in a bar.

I was reading about our, our Baptist friends, back in England, during the 18th century and one of my heroes Andrew Fuller at his church and initially met in a bar.

And at night.

So we set this up last evening.

So at night on Saturday, night's the farmers would come and clean out the barn in preparation for Sunday mornings to worship.

And so, thankfully, we didn't have to clean out stalls on Saturday night to prepare for worship, but we could Point is clearly the church is us right?

You know, that old little thing.

I forget how it goes with the fingers and all the rest inside their the people, right.

It's not exactly right.

Because actually you're not, this is the church that the people inside the stapler, the church, right?

And so we want to be clear about that especially as we begin because some will find this to be a bit of a stumbling block, we're sitting at a gym and there's Dad fan that's going to be our friend for the next hour long.

We're here and we can't shut it off.

That's always going to happen.

So, just get used to that white noise.

It's kind of soothing really after a while.

So some will find this to be a bit of a stumbling block.

But what we need to do as a congregation is help them.

See this is the church, this is who the church is.

This is what the what the church is.

It's these people.

It's us when we're calling people to come and be a part of this, this is what we're calling him to be a part of this.

And we want them to come and join us in this way, because think, about some of those themes, write the body, the bride, the spiritual house, it's not even a real house.

It's a spiritual house, right?

And so, we want to take ourselves away from maybe some of the connections that we have to a place.

We are located in a place but we are the church gathered just as much as we are the church scattered.

So when we're done here in a bit that clock is not working but when we're done here in a bit will still be the church.

We're still be Reformation Bible Church as our scattered.

I know some of these are very Elementary things but it's very important that we as a church plant really understand what a church is, right?

It's just as if a gardener went to plant a plant and he didn't know what he was planting how ridiculous would that be sometimes.

I feel like that when we planted home we have help from my mother-in-law to plant some of our Flowers.

Cuz I don't I know that you're supposed to water them.

That's about as far as I go and I don't really do that very well.

But how ridiculous would it be if we planted a church but we had no idea what a church even was.

What are we planting?

I don't know.

We're just supposed to do these things right?

We don't want to do that.

We want to be very clear about what a church is and the scriptures are not quiet for us.

Thankfully in that way to break down verse 2. To help us see how Paul talks about the church and we'll just kind of do it phrase by phrase and you'll see what I mean, how helpful Paul is inverse to their?

He says, to the Church of God right away, we see Who's it is?

The Church of God, right?

So he was writing to a church that the Corinthian Church but he acknowledges and helps them.

Even to see this is God's, this is God's Church to the Church of God right now.

And he wants to acknowledge that and help them to understand that this is God's Church the Church of God.

But look at the rest of the phrase there that is in Lawrence.

And so this is helpful to say that God's church is everywhere.

Thankfully by his grace, all across the world today, right?

Believers are gathering and doing the same things were doing and doing the same things that Believers have been doing for the last two thousand years.

But there's a particular specialness that even a word about this gathering in the bar, right?

That sets us apart from every other Gathering that's Gathering today.

We love them and so far as they love Jesus, and they're preaching the gospel, right?

But we are gathered in the Name of Christ, as a local church, a local body here in the bar and so that sets us apart.

So it's the Church of God that is in Corinth, right?

That's the particular place where it is.

He goes on to those Sanctified in Christ.

Jesus, we're so used to thinking about sanctification, as the ongoing process of are becoming more like Jesus, right?

That is what sanctification is.

It is a lifelong process of our being made wholly, of our being made more and more like Christ that will happen for the rest of your lives until you see the Lord.

But notice little grammar.

Time for us this morning that's a past tense.

Sending Sanctified right to those Sanctified in Christ Jesus.

Now, we'll see in this sentence, two parts of sanctification, those Sanctified, past tense, and Christ Jesus.