Someone made a comment to me, "Church isn't really my thing but that doesn't mean I don't love God." How do you respond to a comment like that? I was really bummed. How could you not love going to church. I couldn't quite grasp the concept so I asked him, "Why isn't church your thing?" He said that he just doesn't like people. I didn't know what to say to that but it has been bugging me. "He just doesn't understand what church is," I thought. As I tried forming ways to explain what church is I found that I couldn't really explain it. To better understand I asked myself a few questions and sought for the answers. Can you answer these?
- What is Church?
- Why do we have Church?
- Is Church really necessary?
What is Church?
I think a better question is who is Church?
In Mathew 16 Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" and they reply saying that some think it is John the Baptist, some Elijah and others Jeremiah. Then Jesus asks, "But who do you say that I am?" Now here comes the answer to our question.
Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." and Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Mathew 16:16-18
It's this confession of faith that is the foundation on which the Church was built and everyone who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord is a part of the Church. We are his people. We are the Church!
I found this quote by Canon Ernest Southcott- "The holiest moment of the church service is the moment when Gods people, strengthened by preaching and sacrament- go out of the church door into the world to be the church. We don't go to church; we are the church."
So we can conclude here that church is not a place, it's not a building, it's not a location and it's not a denomination. We_ God's people who are in Christ Jesus_ are the church.
Ask yourself:
- What does that mean for us children of God?
- What does being the church look like?
- What, as God's children are we called to do?
Why Do We Have Church?
In Ephesians 4 Paul urges us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we've been called. To walk in humility and gentleness, with patience and bearing with one another in love. We are to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit. We are given spiritual gifts for a reason. To use in ministry and building up the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:13-16 continues "until we attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."
The church (God's people) assemble to help each other grow in spiritual maturity, to encourage each other. If we are part of Christ's body, we will recognize our need to fit into the body of believers. Church is the place where we come together to encourage one another as members of Christ's body. Together we fulfill an important purpose on the Earth.
Hebrews 10:25
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
It is actually for our own good that God has us in fellowship with other believers. We need each other to grow up in the faith, to learn to serve, to love one another, and to practice forgiveness. Though we are individuals, we still belong to one another.
Romans 12:5
... so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
When we give up the passage of Church, not only are we hindering the unity of the body as a whole, we also are forfeiting spiritual growth through relationships God designed for our personal enjoyment. When we don't have relationships built into Christ we run the risk of falling into a pattern of life that would neglect Christ and better display things that God would not have us partake in. It is so easy to blend in with this world because of our natural sin nature. So relationships in Christ are meant to help encourage us to keep pressing on for God's glory and his forever kingdom.
1 Corinthians 12:12 & 14-23
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.
The church is the body of Christ, his heart, his mouth, his hands and feet, reaching the world. Each one of us are important. We are all different and play different roles but when we work together we are unified. So the reason we assemble is to unite ourselves in Christ to live out the purpose in which God called us; to make disciples of all nations. (Mathew 28:19) The church is the means in which God carries out his purposes on earth.
Church (in the service sense and the body) is natural when you have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ because you
are the church. When you are adopted into God's family the Holy Spirit washes over you and compels you towards God and his purposes.
With church and the seeking of unity within our body we are better equipped to go out into all the nations and proclaim the glory of God which is the center of our relationship and the call God has for all of us as his children.
How are you being God's church?
How are you his hands and his feet?
Are you concerned with how you walk within the body of Christ?
Do your answers to these questions concern you?
My best friend has been married half of an entire year already! I look back on her special day very often and wish I could've expressed my gratitude for her better than I did. It is well known that I am a woman of few words. I am quiet and it is difficult for me to express myself verbally. My speech wasn't what I hoped it to be, though Bethel says she loved it. I feel the desire to finish the speech I started and fully express my complete gratitude for Bethel and my excitement for her marriage with Timmy!
I couldn't be happier to share my Best Friend status with Timmy. I know God is going to continue his beautiful work in your life with him by your side too. Your relationship is firmly planted in Christ and nothing can shake that. Our loving, gracious, almighty, strong, good and magnificent God that brought you guys together will keep you together until his work is complete. I love you guys so much and I look forward to being a witness of the continuing, never failing work of God!
