C.H.U.R.C.H.
Matthew 16:13-19
Introduction: When you think of the word church what comes into your mind? Jesus Christ told Peter, “I will build my Church.” But what does that church look like? A man was answering questions for a national poll. When asked for his church preference, he responded, "Red brick." While we might laugh at his response, do we really understand what a church is? Today I want you to see not only what the church is but what it should be.
I. C – The church is a congregation
A. The primary definition of a congregation is “an assembly of persons met for worship and religious instruction.
B. Many people today understand the church as a building or a denomination. The church is not a building; it is people, people with a purpose.
C. Church is derived from the Middle English word kirke. The biblical Greek word which was translated by use of the word church is ecclesia (Ecc – Out; Kaleo – Call), a called out assembly or a congregation. It is not some mystical invisible body.
D. The church is a called out body of people who having trusted Christ as Savior assemble together for worship, instruction, service, observance of the ordinances, the proclamation of the Gospel, and whatsoever the Lord directs.
E. Chuck Colson wrote “membership in a confessing body is fundamental to the faithful Christian life. Failure to do so defies the explicit warning not to forsake "our assembling together." His understanding of this prompted Martin Luther to say, "Apart from the church, salvation is impossible." Not that the church provides salvation; God does. But because the "saved" one can't fulfill what it means to be a Christian apart from the church, membership becomes the indispensable mark of salvation.” - Charles W. Colson, The Body, 1992, Word Publishing, p. 70.
F. Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
II. H – The church is a hospital
A. The church is a hospital for spiritual healing and restoration.
B. Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
C. Christ’s mission should be our mission. Someone has said, “Churches should all be about the business of heart care because it seems that Jesus was always about the business of heart care.”
D. In Philip Yancey’s story, What’s So Amazing About Grace, a desperate, drug-addicted prostitute is asked if she’s gone to a church for help. She replies that she feels bad enough already. Going to a church, she says, will only make her feel worse. Sadly that is how many feel about the church.
E. One person said the church “is for the broken and battered, the disillusioned and depressed. It is for the blind and the lame. It is for those who seem to walk with a limp and speak with a lisp. It is for those who have lost their ability to hear or their desire to listen if they could. It is for those who long for something more, something better, and something real… The Church is where all of these people …come for healing and restoration.
F. The Church is to be a hospital for those who are hurting, therefore we must be in the business of healing. The Church is not to be a courtroom filled with both judge and jury r but a place for restoration and reclamation.
G. Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who [are] spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”
H. "The best prescription for depression and discouragement is PRAISE." -Michael Youssef
III. U – The church is a unified body
A. John 17:20-21 “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
B. “You may notice that during this time of the year that many of our men around the country are glued to the football games on television. College football is such a great part of American tradition. It all builds up to the bowl games at the end. That is what people are waiting for, to win the big bowl game. There may not be another bowl game more prestigious than the Rose Bowl. College players will dream of making it to the Rose Bowl to play under this great college football tradition. One man who actually lived out that college dream was named Roy Regal. He made it to the Rose Bowl and was able to play in this great game. He did more than just play. He got his hands on the football and he ran. He ran all the way down the field almost the full one hundred yards, making it almost all the way across the goal line before he was finally tackled. He lived out the dream. Yet this dream was not the dream he thought it was. There were two problems with the run that Roy Regal made. One is he was going the wrong direction and secondly he was tackled by his own player.
This is a picture of disunity. The team normally goes one way together across the goal line. Can you imagine if in a church there is this kind of disunity? A church where someone is running in the wrong direction and being tackled by their own teammate! Church unity is so important.” – Brad Beaman, Prescription for Church Unity
C. Philippians 1:27 “Only let your conversation be as it becomes the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel”
D. 1 Corinthians 12:12 “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.”
E. Church unity does not mean uniformity. We do not all have to look alike but we all have to work together in the same direction.
IV. R – The church is a redemption center
A. Luke 14:23 "Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel [them] to come in, that my house may be filled.”
B. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (NLT) “And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
C. 1000 church attendees were asked the question, "Why does the church exist?" 89% said that the church's purpose was 'to take care of MY family's and MY spiritual needs.' Only 11% said that the purpose of the church was 'to win the world for Jesus Christ.' - Source: Spirit of Revival & Awakening, June 1999, p. 27-28
D. A church without evangelism is a contradiction in terms, just as a fire that does not burn is a contradiction.
E. Our church ought to be a church where people encounter God, experience life transformation through the saving blood of the Lord Jesus Christ with each member fulfilling their call to be fishers of men.
V. C – The church is a community
A. Community – a group of people with a common interest interacting together and provide mutual encourage, counsel, and support.
B. The church is to be comprised of individuals from different backgrounds, races, and life experiences who help each other take the next step to victorious living in Christ.
C. Life is pretty tough when we try to "go it alone." We all need each other.
D. Ephesians 4:11-16 “And He Himself gave some [to be] apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head -- Christ - from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
E. 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 “That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
VI. H – The church is home
A. Ephesians 2:19 “So then, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,”
1. What is home>? To some it is...
2. "Safe familiar place"
3. "Home is where the heart is"
4. " a place where I Feel a sense of belonging and security"
5. "Somewhere I can be myself"
6. "Home is somewhere I can open up"
7. “Home is where I am loved”
B. The church is our home away from home
C. We chuckle at the ditty, “To dwell above with saints we love, oh that will be glory, but to dwell below with saints we know, well, that’s another story.” But until the Lord returns the nearest thing to being at home in heaven is being a part of a local the local church.
D. Home is a place of safety, security, acceptance, belonging, familiarity and care. It is not a building with four walls. It is you and I being the family God intends for us to be.
E. 1 Peter 3:8-9a “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called…”
F. The songwriter penned, “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love; the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.”
