What About The Church?

What About the
Church?
Bible readings:
Acts 20:7-12 Page 788
Matthew 16:5-20 Page 694
Tuesday, 23 June 2015

• ‘Church’ in the English language has
different meanings:
• A place of worship
• A building used for worship
• A religious organisation
(denomination )
• In the New Testament church
occurs more than 60 times.
• “And I also say to you that you are
Peter, and on this rock I will build My
church, and the gates of Hades shall
not prevail against it.”
(Matthew 16:18, NKJV)

• After Pentecost, that the ﬁrst
believers were “praising God and
having favour with all the people.And
the Lord added to the church daily
those who were being saved.”
(Acts 2:47, NKJV)
• “A person who speaks in tongues is
strengthened personally, but one who
speaks a word of prophecy
strengthens the entire church.”
(1 Corinthians 14:4, NLT)
• “To the angel of the church in Ephesus
write:‘The words of Him Who holds
the seven stars in His right hand,Who
walks among the seven golden
lampstands” (Revelation 2:1, ESV)

• “church” is the English translation
for the Greek word ἐκκλησία
ĕkklēsia which simply means
"assembly of people".
• In the N.T. ekklesia or church
came to mean the people, who
believed in Jesus, assembled to
worship and break bread together.
• For the ﬁrst 300 years the
believers met in private homes.
They were “house churches”.
There were no special buildings.

• In 325 AD the Roman Emperor
Constantine made Christianity the
ofﬁcial religion of the empire.
• Many pagan temples were converted
into places of Christian worship and
the custom of meeting in a dedicated
building for worship began.
• But in the NT the word "church" or
"churches" refers to the house groups
that met regularly in people's houses.
• “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow
workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their
necks for my life, to whom not only I give
thanks but all the churches of the
Gentiles give thanks as well.”
(Romans 16:3–4, ESV)

• "and on this rock I will build My
church".
• Jesus is uses "ecclesia" to refer
to all the believers who will
believe in Him in every part of
the world who are united by
their belief in Him as the Son of
God.
• Jesus saw this as a supernatural
body of people ﬁlled with the
power of the Holy Spirit which
will overcome the all powers of
darkness.

• The actual context of Matthew
16:13 is very meaningful and
important. Jesus took His
disciples to Ceasarea Philippi
and asked them to tell Him
who they thought He was.
• Ceasarea Philippi was a pagan
city outside Israel.
• It was famous centre of pagan
worship.

The Gates of Hades, Caesarea Phillipi, Northern Israel

The Gates of Hades, Caesarea Phillipi, 30 AD

• Jesus deliberately chose this place to ask
His disciples who they believed He was.
• Peter cried out “You are the Messiah the
Son of God”.
• Jesus said that this was the faith that was
going to be the foundation of "My
church".
• The rock was the the gate of Hades that
was the centre of pagan worship.
• He declared that the assembly which
was created and united by their belief in
Jesus as the Son of God was going to
overcome all the pagan idolatry and false
belief symbolised by the rock they were
facing.

• “The human body has many parts,
but the many parts make up one
whole body. So it is with the body of
Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are
Gentiles, some are slaves, and some
are free. But we have all been
baptized into one body by one Spirit,
and we all share the same Spirit.”
(1 Corinthians 12:12–13, NLT)
• In a human body the head controls
all the rest of the body.The
believers are united by their love
and obedience to Jeus Christ and
by their love for each other.

• The purpose of the church, is to
carry on the work of Jesus of
proclaiming the good news of the
forgiveness of sin, healing the sick,
casting out evil spirits and push back
Satan's rule of darkness on the
earth.
• “ His intent was that now, through the
church, the manifold wisdom of God
should be made known to the rulers
and authorities in the heavenly realms,
according to His eternal purpose which
He accomplished in Christ Jesus our
Lord.” (Ephesians 3:8–11, NIV84)

• Jesus ﬁnal instructions to His
followers
• “And Jesus came and spoke to them,
saying,“All authority has been given to
Me in heaven and on earth. 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.” (Matthew 28:18–20, NKJV)
• First make known the good news "Go
therefore and make disciples of all the
nations."
• Second the church must baptize new
disciples and teach them all that Jesus
taught.

• Baptism is a public declaration
that you believe in Jesus and now
belong to His body.
• “For by one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body—whether
Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or
free—and have all been made to
drink into one Spirit.”
(1 Corinthians 12:13, NKJV)
• By and through baptism in water
you become a member of the
Body of Christ.

• “For as we have many members
in one body, but all the members
do not have the same function, so
we, being many, are one body in
Christ, and individually members
of one another.” (Romans 12:4–5,
NKJV)
• Belonging means caring, loving
fellowship.
• Every believer should belong to a
small group a house group:
• meet and eat together.
• learn from God's word.
• experience the joy of true
Christian fellowship.

• Two important practical applications
• A believer must meet regularly with
a church in which there is
fellowship.This is a life or death
issue.
• We must as members of Christ
Body make every effort to reach
out to other believers and seekers
with God's care and love to draw
them into the body of Christ that
they too may enjoy the fellowship of
all believers united under our
glorious Head Jesus Christ.

What About The Church?

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