On the Church

Google defines the word ‘church’ in the following order of priority:

• A building used for public Christian worship.
• A particular Christian organisation, usually with clergy and buildings.
• Institutionalised religion as a political or social force.
• The body of all Christians.

This is sad, because when we look at how the original language describes the church, we see that the true meaning of church is the last one.

Although things have rather got lost in translation along the way, when we look back at the New Testament, most of the time the word used for church is Ekklesia, which roughly translates as a “gathering of those summoned”.

In other words, the church is a community of believers who meet together.

This is how the church is described in the Bible, as God’s people living in community.

We need to see that it is God’s people who make up the church, and that is it.

If we think about church as made up of buildings or organizations or denominations, then we miss the point, and are not talking about the same thing that the New Testament authors were referring to.

So, lets ask two age old questions:

How we should behave in church?

               

God’s people seek Christ.  We should be looking for Christ, not only with our eyes, but with our hearts. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, so that’s where we need to look to find him.

If we turn up to church and expect to find Jesus confined to a building, then we are going to be disappointed. Similarly, if we come into a building thinking that it holds all the answers to life’s problems, we are going to be equally disappointed.

Being part of the church is not about the music, the seats, the heating, the tea and coffee, or even the speaker, but it is about setting our hearts on Jesus. He is the only one who can answer our questions, and though all the earthly things that we do in church may find that opening our hearts to Jesus becomes easier, and it definitely does when you are part of a group of likeminded people, those things should not distract us from our goal:

The church sets its heart on Jesus.

God’s people reject their earthly nature. Why is it, as a church, we find it OK to live one life outside church, and another as soon as we get through the door? Are we afraid of what the Vicar is going to say? Are we saving face in front of other Christians?

What happens to God? Does he only see what we are doing on a Sunday morning?

Of course not – he sees us all the time, and sees right through our deceptions. Thankfully, rather than having to live a life where we are constantly looking over our shoulder to see if someone is watching, we can rest assured that Jesus is changing us from the inside.

There was only one perfect human, and that was Jesus. And that’s our encouragement. Our new clothes we put on are spotless because Jesus has made them so. He says that everyone can have these new clothes because of his sacrifice. All we need to do is believe in him and allow him complete control of our lives.

If we do that, then we will soon find him working in our lives, making them better from the inside out.

And so to the second question:

What does the church actually do?

What the church does as a community is more important than sitting in pews on a Sunday morning. People watch the church. They expect us to be whiter than white. People expect us to model good moral behaviour. And so when they see us bickering and arguing with each other, all too soon our message becomes meaningless.

I don’t know why, because we are just a group of sinners in a confined space – surely we are going to have issues!

God’s people model themselves on Christ. We are Christ’s representatives on earth, so we need to be showing him off to the best of our ability. People are very quick to pick up on hypocrisy, you only have to watch 5 minutes of a political debate to see that much. If we say one thing and act another, people will pick it up.

Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Gentleness, Patience, Forgiveness and Love are all virtues of Christian living.

Why?

Because God is in the binding business. Love is the most important thing a Christian can possess, because it unites everyone together in perfect unity. Love draws people together.

But its more than just loving other people, its recognising our need to be loved too. Jesus recognised that he needed the love of his Father, and so we too, need to recognise that we need love.

God’s people do everything in the name of Jesus. Have you ever considered the strength of the name of Jesus Christ? Philippians 2:9-11 says this:

“God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus’ name is so powerful, yet we often misuse and abuse it. The apostles in the early church would drive out demons and perform miracles using the name of Jesus. Praying in the name of Jesus makes things happen. Why? Because nothing can prevail against it.

There will come a day when everyone will bow down before Jesus whether they have believed in him or not.

So what does that mean?

Well, first of all it means that we should be asking the Holy Spirit to lead our lives, and through learning scripture we can teach and encourage one another. Secondly, we should be joyfully worshipping and praying to our God. And most of all, we should be doing the same thing in the church building as we do everywhere else.

We should do everything in the name of Christ, as Christ would have done it.