Friday, June 26, 2009

Why is There a Local Church

This month, I've begun a new sermon series in our church on the local church. I wanted to share some of the things I've been preaching. First, I assume you have some concept of the church. You know that the church isn't a building or a denomination. The church is made up of a redeemed people. The word church comes from a compound word in Greek, ecclesia. It is composed of the prefix ek, meaning out of, and klesia, meaning called. Together they render called out. The church is a group of people called out by God.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The church is a spiritual entity that Jesus Himself is building by calling out people from the world to be His. He used a little play on words here. In Greek, the word for Peter is a word for a small stone, while the word for rock is a word describing bedrock. The church is not built on Peter, the pebble, but upon the bedrock of his confession of faith in Matthew 16:16 that Jesus is, "the Christ, the Son of the Living God," a confession of faith unto salvation.

Jesus is building His church worldwide. He's building it in unlikely places as far away as China and Iran - in places like South America and Africa - places where now great revivals are happening. He's not just at work in North America. As a matter of fact, it seems like He is doing greater work building His church elsewhere. The church of Jesus Christ is worldwide.

It also spans time. Jesus began His church dramatically on the day of Pentecost with miraculous signs: the sounds of a mighty, rushing wind, the Spirit of God descending as tongues of fire to rest upon each disciple, and the gift of tongues as each apostle arose and speaking in his own language was understood in the native language of each hearer. And they preached the Word of God clearly and forcefully. They proclaimed the Gospel message in power. And people were saved. Peter preached, according to Acts 2:21, "And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." That very day, 3,000 souls repented of their sin, trusted Jesus Christ for salvation, called on His name, and were added to the church.

The church is still being built today as each of us fulfills the Great Commission of Jesus in Matthew 29:19-20:
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen."

So what is the church of Jesus Christ? It is a spiritual entity made up of every person born again into the Family of God through faith in Jesus Christ, living or dead, no matter where they live and worship and in any age since the day of Pentecost until today.

It is described in many ways in Scripture using many relationships we can understand. The church is called the bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:23-32 and Revelation 21:9. In Ephesians 1:22-23, it is called the body of Christ whose head is Jesus. There are many other descriptions, but the one I like best is when the church is called a family - the family of God. It is called this in Ephesians 3:15. As in a family, you enter the family by being born into it, just as we are born-again into the family of God. So may I ask you, have you been born again into the family of God through repentant faith in Jesus Christ? Are you part of this family? If not, I urge you to do so today and join the best family on earth - the family of God.

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