What is "Church"?

If you asked that question on the street today you will get many different answers.

According to the Holy Bible the definition of “Church” is a group of people who are Saved by Grace (from God) and have given Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, His rightful place in their lives. The Bible refers to this group of people as “The Church” because they have, of their own free will, verbally invited Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. So “The Church” today, according to Biblical definition is the complete body of Born Again believers of Christ, who have received the free gift of salvation, by verbally calling on the name of Jesus Christ as their Savior.

For most people today “Church” is a sacred building. But let me tell you this, there is nothing sacred about a building classified as a“Church” especially if the people inside it haven’t believed and verbally confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord.

Worst yet there are millions of people who think that “Church” or “Church Attendance” will make them right with God. Nothing could be further from the truth. To put this in perspective let’s look at what some folks have said about “Church”.

• I know I’m all right with God because I belong to the Catholic Church.
• I know that I will enter heaven when I die because I have faithfully attended “Church” every Sunday.
• Membership in our “Church” is the only means to salvation.
• I know that couple’s life will be blessed because they were married in our “Church”.
• I make my children go to “Church” every week so they will learn the truth about God.

Now as far as God is concerned the “Church” (as a building) is no more sacred than a hardware store. What God considers as sacred are the Born Again followers of Christ, so let us look at all those statements above in a different light, without belief in Christ as the focal point.

• I know I’m all right with God because I belong to the Catholic hardware store.
• I know that I will enter heaven when I die because I have faithfully attended the hardware store every Sunday.
• Membership in our hardware store is the only means to salvation.
• I know that couple’s life will be blessed because they were married in our hardware store.
• I make my children go to the hardware store every week so they will learn the truth about God.

As you can see from this illustration if your view of “Church” is distorted, “Church” will be of no more value than the local hardware store. But now let’s look at the same statements using God’s definition of “Church” in the text.

• I know I’m all right with God because I belong to the Catholic group of people who have verbally accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
• I know that I will enter heaven when I die because I have faithfully fellowshipped with a group of people who have verbally accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior every Sunday and have followed their example.
• Membership in our group of people who have verbally accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, is the only means to salvation.
• I know that couple’s life will be blessed because they were married within our group of people who have verbally accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and have followed our example.
• I make my children meet with the group of people who have verbally accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior every week so they will learn the truth about God.

In this context the word “Church” makes perfect sense. God intended for a gathering of all the Born Again believers in Jesus Christ to be called His “Church”, not a building.

If you look at the very first mention of “Church” in the Bible you will see that the Lord was referring to a group of believers who confessed Him as the Son of the Living God as His “Church”

Jesus ask His disciples in Matthew 16:13 ….“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock (confession of faith) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Many years ago the whole meaning of “Church” in this scripture was distorted by man and therefore many assumed that Peter was “the rock” on which buildings called churches should be built. In reality “the rock” was actually Peter’s confession of faith in Jesus as the Son of the Living God. So in other words what the Lord was saying is, “the Rock” on which he will build his Church (group of people who have verbally accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior) is their verbal confession of Him as the Son of the Living God. Therefore the “Rock” is Jesus Christ, himself, not Peter.

This is just another example of how “religion” can even mess up our view of “Church”.

Church is a beautiful experience when an entire group of Born Again believers come together to honor and worship our merciful and loving God. God loves to hear words of praise and songs of hope from His faithful followers. Church in its proper context is awesome. We no longer need “buildings” like they did in the Old Testament where the Living Spirit (Holy Spirit) of God would enter there to be with the people. Now , since Christ died for us and rose again to eternal life, we have the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) living within our earthly vessels (our bodies) and therefore, wherever we go physically, the Spirit of God goes with us if you are a Born Again Believer. The Church we enjoy now is to come together as a group of people who gather to build one another up and enjoy fellowship for the common purposes of giving Glory, Honor and Praise to God and to hear the Word (the Holy Scriptures from the Bible – God inspired Words to His people) that never returns to God void, but generates life and is living to fill us up to overflowing.