Who is the Church?

Those who place their faith in Jesus Christ are the body.  Those who know that God loves them, they can see it through His creation, His Word, His church.  Those who know that they have fallen short of the standard of perfection and sinlessness that a Holy God sets are the church.  Those who believe that out of love God sent Jesus to this earth becoming fully God and fully man so that He could live up to God’s standard of sinlessness.  Those who believe that Jesus willingly hung on a cross and shed His sinless blood so that we could be saved are the church.  Those who place their faith in that shed blood as their only hope of ever crossing over from death to life.  Those who believe that Christ was buried in the ground for three days and because God saw His punishment as enough to forgive our sins He rose Him from the dead.  Those who believe He walked and talked among us for 40 days and then He was raised to heaven where He sits at the right hand of God waiting to come back for His body these are the church.

Just to be sure we understand, if we believe, there is no distinction between denomination, communion type, baptism, creed or color.  Ephesians, 2:13-16, “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.”  The body should be a unified, powerful extension of Christ himself.  Instead we weaken ourselves with petty differences of how a service should be run rather than focusing on the mystery of the gospel as Paul lays out in His epistles.  In the weeks to follow we will examine what this body should do, how it should act, but if we don’t understand what it is these will all be meaningless.

Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  What a powerful verse especially if we would trade out some of the nouns.  There is neither traditional nor contemporary, there is neither young nor old, there is neither pretribulation nor midtribulation, there is neither infant nor immersion baptism; for you are all one in Christ Jesus if you believe!

What is the Church?

The church is the body of Christ.  What does that mean?  How does that look, and does it affect how we “do” church today?  As I pointed out in the previous blog, Ephesians has much to say about the relationship between Christ and the church.  Keeping in mind, Paul calls this relationship a mystery, so if you are not completely clear after this blog don’t feel alone.  When I think of Christ being the head, I think of the president of a company.  The president sets the vision, states the goals and the workers do their jobs to see to it that the goal is accomplished.  I think many people see Christ and the church in that way because a lot of churches structures look like corporations with boards, committees, budgets, and meetings.  While this might be a valid way to look at this relationship, I think we could go a few steps further. 

The head has the vision, sets the course, but the head can’t go anywhere without the body.  The two are forever tied together.  If you remove the head, the body is no more, if you remove the body, the head fails to work.  A president can fire workers or walk away completely, but Christ does not have this freedom.  Once you are in the body, there is no “being let go.”  It is a life decision you are forever a part of the body of Christ.  Now, you could totally go dormant in your relationship, but that does not mean you are gone.  However, if that is the case, now you go from someone who could contribute to someone the body has to carry along, dead weight.  Worse yet, you could make a choice to do things that bring distraction and a bad reputation to the body you belong to.  Now, instead of carrying you along, we have to over compensate for the reputation you left behind.  Don’t get me wrong; what I am talking about is not accidental.  This is sabotage, meant to damage.  Perhaps your expectations weren’t met in church, perhaps your feelings were hurt in church, or maybe choosing sin for a season is more appealing at this time.  Whatever your reason, you chose it and you hope the body gets hurt along the way.   

Christ is the head, but guess what, the head can’t go where the body won’t take it.  We have a huge responsibility as the body.  The head can’t turn without the neck moving.  The head can’t see without the eyes looking.  The head can’t hear without the ears listening.  Are you a part of the body of Christ?  Are you taking Christ where He needs to go?  Are you seeing and hearing the things He wants you to see?  Are you moving in the direction He wants to take?  Guess what, He has no other body and we have no other head.  One cannot be separated from the other.  Ephesians 4:15-16, “but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”  What kind of member are you going to be?  Willing?  Dead?  Detrimental?