What Is the Church All About? I. Introduction A. Let us consider a question that many ask, one whose answer is quite important for everyone B. What is the church all about? C. Let us consider how people in society would answer the question and where God places the emphasis in Scripture II. What Many Think the Church Is All About A. When most people are asked what they think of when they think about "church" or "the church," what comes to mind? 1. "Church" evokes, to many, a building 2. "The church" tends to be associated with the Roman Catholic church; for those who are part of a given denomination/church, their own group will come to mind 3. People may think of an assembly or a "worship service" 4. An institution/organization may come to mind for some 5. Others may think about some dogmas or doctrines of a particular church 6. A sanctified social club is how some see it B. For many, this is the sum of what the church is about 1. Since none of these pictures really evokes any strong attachment on their own, people have become rather dismissive of the church 2. They have voted with their feet: overall attendance at assemblies across denominational lines has declined over the past 50 years 3. This is not just a story of people losing faith, for belief in Jesus remains robust 4. Indeed, many declare that they like Jesus...but not the church! 5. What shall we say to these views of the church? C. "Church" in the New Testament has never had anything to do with a structure! 1. The Greek word ekklesia has never referred to a building, but a group of people 2. The New Testament never uses the word in reference to a building 3. The pervasive idea of the church as a building comes from Roman Catholicism importing the OT Temple concept onto the structures they were building 4. Hence a "sanctuary" in the building-- a "set apart" place, a "holy" place 5. To this day, many feel uncomfortable being themselves in the auditorium of a church building because of the effects of this mentality! 6. The NT temple is the believer and the church (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19-20), not an edifice! D. "Church" in the New Testament had nothing to do with an organization/institution, either! 1. One of the more subtle, pervasive, and damaging alterations in the nature of the church has been to turn it from a group of people into a hierarchical organization 2. Roman Catholicism was so successful with this that people are led to believe that "it" exists independently of any of its constituent members, that somehow the church can be a "mother" of sorts to its members 3. Other denominations, while perhaps not going to the same extent, still maintain bureaucracy and all kinds of structure 4. Yet, in the New Testament, the church was people-- without the people there was no church! 5. There was no structure above and beyond the members-- Christ the head/cornerstone, the Apostles and prophets the foundation, and the structure-- the body-- is the people of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 12:12-28, Ephesians 2:20-22, 1 Peter 2:4-5)! 6. It is easy for people to feel as if they are not part of a church if they see the church as some kind of organization/ structure above and beyond them! E. While the church does represent a group of people, it should be more than a social club 1. It is easy for people to come into an assembly and get the impression that they are visiting a spiritual social club 2. If all they see are people dressed in similar ways and all putting on a show of sorts, and it seems divorced from reality, what else will they think? 3. As we will see, the church is supposed to be much more than this F. A church is defined by dogma/doctrine, but should again be much more 1. All sorts of churches are defined, at least in part, by their particular beliefs and ideologies 2. The church is to be the "pillar and support of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15)-- the sustainer of the true doctrine 3. Jude 1:3: Christians are to contend for "the faith" delivered once for all-- "the faith" consists of the message of Jesus the Christ, Him crucified and raised, and the truth regarding His Kingdom 4. Doctrine, while being that which is promoted by Christians in the church, does not represent the whole of Christianity or the church 5. Doctrine indicates how believers are to conduct themselves, but it remains for Christians within the church to actually do that which has been taught! G. But what of the assembly? And what does Scripture indicate that the church is all about? III. The Assembly and the Church A. The assembly is a critical component of the church 1. The word ekklesia, after all, means "assembly"! 2. Implicit in the word is the expectation that those who comprise the assembly come together 3. We see such things in the early church (Acts 2:42, 20:7, 1 Corinthians 11:18), and it is a matter encouraged in the early church (Hebrews 10:24-25) B. But is the assembly to be the sum of the church? 1. In the eyes (and actions) of a lot of people, one can all but equate the assembly and the church 2. Their attitude and actions betray a view that Christianity is a "Sunday only" affair 3. Such is also the way that a lot of those outside the church look at the church 4. They look at a church and judge it only on the level of its assemblies 5. How many go "church shopping" in some way or another, using only what is done in the assembly as the arbiter for the congregation? C. Such is why "doing church" seems so irrelevant to people today 1. Think about it: if you thought that Christianity was only about wearing uncomfortable clothing, going to a building to sit down and be lectured/preached at for two to three hours with other equally uncomfortable people around, and that is all, would it be attractive to you? 2. It is little wonder that so many are abandoning churches if this is their view of things! D. Some perceive this challenge and conclude that it is the assembly that needs changing 1. Recently we have seen the proliferation of attempts to make the assembly less "boring" and more "relevant" 2. Some religious organizations go to great extent and expense to have entertainment-industry-grade presentations and bands and such like 3. Church services are turned into another entertainment venue 4. Such are misguided, but not just because they go beyond what the Bible authorizes for the assembly 5. It assumes that the problem is in the assembly as opposed to the perception of what the church is to be all about! E. So what is the church all about according to Scripture? 1. Consider passages like the following 2. 1 Corinthians 12:12-28: church as body, members having different functions and roles, some more public, others more private; all rejoice and mourn 3. Ephesians 4:11-16: church as a place to grow into the fullness of Jesus Christ; builds itself up in love 4. Ephesians 5:23-32: church as submissive to Christ, church as body of Christ-- spiritual union of Christ and church akin to husband and wife 5. 1 Timothy 3:15: church as household of God F. What is the church all about? Spiritual growth and strengthening of all of its constituent members in Christ! G. The church, therefore, is more like an organism and a family than an organization or a social club! 1. It is not as if there are no social connections within the church, or that there is no structure 2. But the connections and structure are not artificially imposed-- they are natural outgrowths of the joint walk in Christ (cf. 1 John 1:7) 3. Different people work together to accomplish the shared goal of promoting God's purposes-- just like parts of a body work to accomplish the shared goal of life (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:12-28)! H. The assembly has its role in facilitating this growth and strengthening, but such work is not limited to the assembly! 1. To understand the church only in terms of the assembly is to miss the "behind the scenes" work of serving, encouraging and strengthening of souls! 2. The real work of showing love for one another may not be as evident in the assembly, nor does it have to be! 3. Trying to make the assembly fancier or more professional looking is not going to contribute one whit to the actual substantive work of strengthening the souls of one another! 4. We cannot make the assembly the sum of Christianity and succeed; instead, we must show the world that the church assembles but does much more than just to assemble! I. The church, then, is something greater than ourselves, but yet is nothing beyond us 1. Consider 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, Hebrews 12:1 2. The church has always been the group of people who seek to serve God 3. We meet with fellow Christians in our area, but our bond in Christ is there also with Christians whom we may never even meet in other locations! J. Thus, the church is about encouraging people and their relationships in Christ-- within and without the assembly 1. We are built up by coming together to do the things God commanded us to do 2. But we also build each other up when showing hospitality to one another, bearing one another's burdens, and loving one another at all times (1 Peter 4:9, Galatians 6:2, John 13:35) IV. Conclusion A. What is the church all about? 1. People often think of what is public and evident-- structures, organizations, assemblies 2. The church, however, is people 3. Those people come together, absolutely, but they also work among one another at other opportunities! B. The church is about being part of the household of God: loving one another, strengthening one another, proclaiming God's truth in our lives C. Let us do our part in the work of the church and be functioning members of God's family! D. Invitation/songbook