The Christian…and The Church

(from 2005)



Introduction
You will often hear people of denominations state, “This Sunday I’m going to church.” Or “When I go to church on Sunday, I’ll pray for you and your family.” Why do you have to wait until Sunday? And why do you have to go to a building before you pray for someone?
The denominations believe that the church building is where God lives and considers it holy ground (we’ll discuss that in another article). They don’t really understand what the church actually is.
Since I became a Christian, I stopped going to church. I still attend worship services but I don’t go to church.  I don’t forsake the assembling of the saints (Heb. 10:25) but at the same time I don’t go to church.  Confused?
        For most people this statement sounds absurd. It sounds like I’m contradicting myself; saying one thing and then reversing it in the very next breath. So how can a believer in God, who follows the Bible, not go to Church? 




What is The Church?
The answer is that no matter where I am or what I am doing, I’ll always be in the church. I once mentioned this to a co-worker saying, “Right now, while we’re talking in the break room, I’m in the church.  When I go home, when I eat, when I sleep, even when I’m in the shower, I am in the church.” His response was, “Yeah, I feel that way too.” But it’s not a feeling, it’s a fact!
        In Matt. 16:18 Jesus said, “I will build my church”. In verse 19 he told Peter that he would give him the “keys of the kingdom of heaven”. This means that Peter and the apostles will be those who help establish the church (Acts 2:14-42). Jesus built only one church (Eph. 4:5) and the apostles built upon that foundation (1 Cor. 3:10-15)
The church is the body of Christ of which He is the head (Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:18). It is not the building, but the people of the congregation. Those who are called Christians are the church; also referred to as the “Called Out” (1 Pet. 2:9; 2 Cor. 6:17). If the building were to be destroyed, the church would still be there; as those who are members could assemble somewhere else. You cannot destroy God’s church!
       



How do you become part of the church?
        When a person is baptized, it is then they become a Christian and are added to the church. (Acts 2:41, 47).  An individual is born into God’s family as Jesus states in John 3:5, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (NKJV)
You do not join the church by walking into the building a requesting to place membership. You do that after you become a Christian and want to join a local congregation. It’s all in the wording.


SOME FACTS ABOUT THE CHURCH

1) Belongs to God – 1 Tim. 3: 15
2) The body of Christ – Eph. 1:23; Col. 1:24
3) Christ, the foundation-stone of – Mt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 3:11
4) Christ, the head and Savior of – Eph. 1:22, 5:23
5) Loved by Christ – Eph. 5:25
6) Purchased by the blood of Christ - Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:25
7) Sanctified and cleansed by Christ – Eph. 5:26, 27
8) Subject to Christ – Eph. 5:24
9) The object of the grace of God – 2 Cor. 8:1
10) Displays the wisdom of God – Eph. 3:10
11) God defends – Mt. 16:18; Rom. 8:31-39
12) God provides for it – Eph. 4:11, 12
13) Glory to be ascribed to God by – Eph. 3:21
14) Elect – 1 Pet. 2:9
15) Glorious – Eph. 5:27
16) Unity of – Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 1:10, 12:12; Eph. 4:3-4
17) Baptized into – 1 Cor. 12: 13
18) Added to by the Lord - Acts 2: 47
19) Is edified by the word – 1 Cor. 14:4; Eph. 4:15, 16
20) The wicked persecute - Acts 8:1-3; Mt. 5:10-12; 1 Thess. 2:14, 15
21) Not to be despised – 1 Cor. 11:22
22) Defiling of, will be punished – 1 Cor. 3:17
23) Extent of, predicted – Isa. 2:2; Dan. 2:34, 35, 44

Conclusion
        As was stated before, the church is NOT the building. If you are a Christian, you are always in the church therefore; you do not have to wait until Sunday, and go to a building, to pray for someone; you can do it right then and there.
If someone were to come along and destroy the building, people would say that the church was destroyed. Not true. The members of that congregation, if they weren’t in the building at the time, would meet at another location and continue to worship there. God’s church cannot be destroyed! (Heb. 12:28; 1:8; Lk. 1:33) The church is the kingdom and the kingdom is the church.

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