What is Your Church? I. Introduction A. What is your church? B. The question might seem rather odd 1. How can we have a church? 2. Wouldn't that church just be "the" church anyway? 3. What does it mean? C. As we will see, the question is quite relevant for us, and the answer not necessarily obvious D. Let us consider what the question means, and how we shall answer! II. The Question A. What do we mean by even asking the question? B. The main issue: what is the "church" under discussion? C. What is the "church", anyway? 1. It is not a building 2. It is not a denominational organization 3. "The" church is the group of people who are in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 5:23-33) 4. The "church," then, refers to people D. How is "the church" supposed to function? 1. As a body-- 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 2. People part of each other’s lives, working together to build up the Kingdom 3. People who rejoice and suffer along with their rejoicing and suffering brethren E. Therefore, what is your "church"? 1. One of the meanings of the Greek word ekklesia, which is translated in our Bibles as "church," is "a group of people with a shared identity" 2. One's "church," therefore, may not have anything to do with religion! 3. With whom do you associate? There is where you find your "church"! E. We must not assume the proof 1. The question is not, "do you know that the church should be your church?" 2. The question asks what our church actually is F. Therefore, what is your church? III. Who is in Your Church? A. One of the often forgotten but quite true realities about life is that we all do have a set of people with whom we associate, whether we admit it or not! 1. Few are the true "loners" in life-- most people have some circle of friends or associates with whom they interact! 2. Genesis 2:18 is quite true: it is not good for man to be alone! 3. Man was not designed to be an entirely solitary creature-- he is quite social! 4. Where, in the Scriptures, do we find one who was a true loner? 5. Mark 5:3-16: the man with the legion of demons was a loner, but you can see why! B. This gives tacit assent to God's truth: man cannot go it alone! 1. Jeremiah 10:23 2. Even if we do not recognize that it is not within man to even direct the way of his friends, we at least know that we rely on others for their advice and guidance! 3. We all have circles of persons who influence us! C. Since this is the case, we must ask ourselves: who are these people who influence us in our lives? To whom do we go to seek advice or guidance? 1. If we seek guidance or advice from a person, we put our confidence in them and their opinions! 2. We believe that they have our best interest at heart, and do not expect to get intentionally bad advice! D. The matter of closeness also applies 1. With whom are we open about our struggles and our feelings? 2. Who is it that knows us the best? 3. Who knows us as well as or better than we know ourselves? E. These are the ones who comprise our "church" 1. These are the ones, rightly or wrongly, who fulfill the role of the "church" in our lives! 2. Our lives are enmeshed with theirs, and we jointly participate in many endeavors F. So who are these persons? Who should they be? IV. Our Church and Jesus' Goals A. We have seen that "our church" represents the people with whom we associate, who know us, and to whom we open up B. Who are they? C. For many, such people are family—blood relations! 1. Not out of the ordinary 2. God's intention always was for the family to be the basic unit (Genesis 2:24, 1 Timothy 5) 3. But is that connection always a good thing? D. Friends also represent part of people’s churches 1. This, also, is natural 2. You choose friends that are somewhat like you, and since the relationship is "optional," there has to be something substantively behind it 3. Friendships can have their benefits (Proverbs 17:17, 18:24) 4. But are friends always good influences? E. Other people could be considered: workplace associates, school acquaintances, and so forth F. Yet what is Jesus’ goal for "our church"? G. Matthew 6:33, Matthew 10:34-39, Jeremiah 10:23, 1 John 2:1-6 1. These verses all paint the same portrait 2. "Our church", fundamentally, must be headed up by Him 3. Family, friends, and everyone else must only come after Jesus, for He is the only one who can truly guide us to eternal life F. “The church” should be "our church"! 1. Romans 12:5: we are to be members of Christ and also members of one another! 2. Our greatest circle of influence should be within "the church"! 3. If blood relatives/family are in the church, well and good; same with friends! 4. We must always prize our spiritual family as greater than any other connection (Matthew 10:34-39)! V. Is "the Church" our Church? A. We must soberly consider: what is our church? Is it "the church"? Or is it another group? B. The need for our deepest associations and relationships to be in "the church” may not be obvious to some C. After all, if family is so important to God, why can't we just be close to our family members? 1. It's hard for a lot of people anymore-- schedules are so busy, and family time is scarce 2. Why shouldn't we just take time to spend with family as opposed to the church? 3. Matthew 10:34-39: if we consider our family to be of greater priority than Jesus, we are not worthy of Him! 4. In Christ, we should be working to have our earthly families more deeply connected to the spiritual family of the church (Ephesians 5:23-6:4)! 5. We must have our priorities in the proper place! D. Our friends may understand us better than fellow Christians! 1. Friends can be a double-edged sword 2. They may provide necessary support and encouragement, but to what end? 3. Sure, there are friends that stick together and are loyal, but friends often seek approval in what they do, even if it is wrong 4. 1 Corinthians 15:33 is true in the abstract and in practice! 5. Perhaps our friends understand us better because we are more open to them than we are to the brethren? 6. Perhaps if we devoted the same time and energy into relationships with brethren, they might be as close as that of our friends? E. The principle of Matthew 6:19-24 applies 1. We really cannot be two people at once! 2. We can try to put on appearances, but in the end, we are either more like those in "our church" or more like those in "the church" 3. God is not deceived! F. It is therefore quite important for "our church" to be "the church"! 1. The consequences are grave! 2. 1 Corinthians 12:25: we are either part of the body, open to its members and enjoying association with there, or divided and apart from that body 3. We are well aware of what will happen to us if we are separated from Christ's body on the final day (Revelation 21:27, 22:15) G. Does this mean that we cannot have any association with those outside? 1. No one is making any such statement! 2. The issue must always be about priority! 3. We cannot depart from the world (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:10) 4. We must be sensible, maintaining association only with those who do not drag us down 5. In all matters our greatest priorities should be Christ and His people! VI. Conclusion A. We have considered this odd question—what is your church? B. We have seen that our church represents the people with whom we have the closest association C. They may be family and friends, or associates at work, or other such persons D. We have seen that "our church" must be Christ and "the church"! E. Are we willing to consider this? Are we willing to open up and make "the church" our church? F. That is something we must establish for ourselves-- but the only way that we and the church will live up to its intention is when we decide to make "the church" our church! G. Let us strive to make each other our church! H. Invitation/songbook