YOU ARE THE CHURCH.

By Frank Walton.

Have you ever heard the statement: “You don’t go to church, you are the church.” This is only partially true, as we will show from Scripture.

There is confusion as to what exactly is the Lord’s church. Someone will see a building where Christians assemble for worship and call the building the church, which is the 1st definition in an English dictionary.  However, the New Testament never uses the term “church” to refer to a building. It’s good to clearly understand how the New Testament uses the word “church.” Jesus made a grand promise, which is our hope today, that “I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18).

The English word “church” comes from the Middle English chirche that was derived from the Greek kuriakon, meaning the ‘Lord's (house). The real concept is found in the original word used by the Holy Spirit underlying “church,” which is ekklesia, meaning “the called out (group of people). It is used 115 times in the New Testament. It is used in Acts 19:32, 39 to describe an unruly “assembly” starting a riot against Paul. Also,  ekklesia refers to the “lawful assembly” (Acts 19:41), a group of citizens who come together to deliberate civic affairs. So, this “called out” assembly refers to a distinct group of people, called out of the ordinary affairs of life, to come together for some purpose (even being an unruly mob in Acts 19:39). So, ekklesia (church) refers to a distinct group of people with a purpose.

This group concept of "church" is used in 4 ways in the New Testament (it is never used to describe a human denomination, which did not exist in the New Testament):

1. The church as the one universal body of the saved. Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18), which is built on the confession of truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  Our Lord is building His church when He adds saved people, people who obey the gospel and are born again of the Spirit, into a right relationship with God as members of His body (1 Cor. 12:13, Eph. 1:22-23, Jn 3:5). The people of God (the one true church) are viewed as a spiritual temple (Eph. 2:19-22, 1 Cor. 3:16), Christ’s spiritual body of which Jesus is Head (Col. 1:18).  There is only “one body” (Eph. 4:4) of truly saved people in Christ, who are “the faithful ones in Christ” (Eph. 1:1). The one flock follows the Good Shepherd’s Word (Jn. 10:16, 27). This emphasizes a right, vertical, personal relationship with the Lord in loyalty and love (Col. 2:19, Jn 15:14), to “remain true to the Lord” (Acts 11:23).

2. The church in the people of God in an area. “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase” (Acts 9:31). “The church” (Gr. ekklesia) doesn’t refer to all Christians everywhere, but rather is used collectively of Christians in Judea, Galilee and Samaria. There were some Christians elsewhere in regions beyond (Acts 8:4, 39). We might similarly talk of “the church” by saying “the church in south Alabama,” referring to faithful brethren in south Alabama.

3. The local church as a team of saints working and worshipping together. In the first century, there were “churches of Christ” (Rom. 16:16) all over the Roman Empire. These “churches of the saints” (1 Cor. 14:33) were a team of saints, that came together to do together what the Lord wants done collectively, in “striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27). Fellowship in the local church is supposed to be edification in a loving household, as well as dedication to the pattern of truth (1 Tim. 3:15, 2 Tim. 1:13).

The collective organization of the Lord’s church begins and ends of the local church (Acts 14:23, 1 Pet. 5:2, Rev. 2-3). The work of the church is to: (1) teach the gospel to save the lost and then teach and build up the saved (Acts 2:42, Eph. 4:11-16, Matt. 28:18-19, 1Thess 1:8, 1 Cor. 14:3, 1 Tim. 3:15), (2) worship God in Spirit and truth by listening to preaching from Scripture, taking the Lord’s Supper weekly, prayers together in Jesus’ name, fellowship in giving, and heart-felt singing (Acts 2:42-47, 4:24-32, 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:19ff, 2 Cor. 8-9, Eph. 5:19 et al), (3) financially support from the treasury gospel preachers and preaching (Phil. 4:15-18), as well relieve the benevolent needs of poor saints (1 Cor. 16:1-2) and (4) corrective discipline in marking and withdrawing from impenitent, erring members (1 Cor. 5, Matt. 18:15-17). The Lord has given us great work do together for His glory and our good. Fellowship in a local church isn’t optional (Heb. 10:24-25).

4. The church in the assembly in one place. In a special sense, “the church” refers to the assembly of the local congregation physically assembled, “when you come together as a church (Gr. ekklesia)” (1 Cor. 11:18). This is coming “together as a church” means we understand the importance of the assembly.  All things should be done “decently and in order” and “all things done for edification” (1 Cor. 14:40, 26).

We are members of the universal church always, a team member of the local church, but then the assembly is “the church” formally assembled to worship God and listen to His word. Women are to be submissively silent in this assembly or church, so as to not indicate they are usurping male leadership in the assembly (1 Cor. 14:34-35, 1 Tim. 2:11-14). In this solemn assembly of the church, impenitent members are marked as unfaithful, until they repent (1 Cor. 5:4). It is spiritually vital what we do in the assembly together as the church.

The church assembles and edifies itself to each member can become the best Christian possible, to help fit us for heaven, to help us feel loved and encouraged, and to hold one another accountable to do right.