Church. Besides ‘Jesus and politics’, this one word has the ability to conjure up more opinions in people than much else. I knew of a friend who had a shirt made that said, “I survived organized religion,” or the bumper sticker I saw the other day that said, “God protect me from your followers.” I am sure that is not a ringing endorsement for the mystery of the church, the body of Christ that Paul is writing about in His epistles. Think of your experiences; some good, some bad, some encouraging, some discouraging. Bottom line, where imperfect, sinful people are involved, even the best ideas can sometimes go astray.
Some people are passionate for church, some are passionate against church. Most can point to a bad experience they have had in church. Many have stories about Sunday School, cookies and juice, vacation Bible school, baptism, communion, comin’ forward and much more. Church is intensely personal, and getting it right all the time seems near impossible. So what is the true purpose of the church? Is your church following the Biblical model that was put forward by Paul? What is your role in the church?
One of the parts of the mystery was that believers are united with Christ through the church. This is what Paul calls in Ephesians 5:32 a great mystery, “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”
First, let’s learn all we can about the church from Ephesians 5:
23, “Christ also is the head of the church”
24, “the church is subject to Christ”
25, “Christ loved the church, and gave Himself up for her”
26, “sanctify her, having cleansed her”
27, “present Himself, the church in all her glory…that she should be holy and blameless”
29-30, “nourishes it, just as Christ also does the church because we are member of His body”
Colossians 1:25-26, “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the word of God, the mystery…”
Ephesians 1:22-23, “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
The Greek word for church as Paul uses it in the New Testament is Ekklesia. This literally means to call out. It can have a two-fold meaning, “all who call on Christ for their salvation…world wide” and “a local assembly of believers.” Context provides the clues in each case. When Paul used it in the above verses I believe he means the world wide church. However, most of our experience with church will be local, and even if your local assembly gets things right all the time, think of how many national and international denominational rifts have risen in the last 2000+ years.
In the following weeks I will look closely at the locally, called out assembly of believers as we try to, dive into the purpose, the composition, the product, how long it will last, and the behavior of the church. I think if we can understand the essentials for the church, the body of Christ, we may be one step closer to understand God’s purposes and how we can be a part of them. This is going to be quite a journey, but I know one I will learn much from.
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