Who is the church?
I am!!
You are!!
We are!!
The church is the body of Christ.
WHO IS THE BODY OF CHRIST?
• Your personal spiritual growth depends on your being in the body of Christ.
o There should be no “Lone Ranger” Christians in God’s family.
o Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ is an act of commitment to Jesus, to you, and to others who have also vowed to follow Him forever.
o Why is it important not to be alone?
o Accountability, support, and fellowship.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NLT)
9 Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get a better return for their labor. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble. 11 And on a cold night, two under the same blanket can gain warmth from each other. But how can one be warm alone? 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
• This never changes.
o No matter how long you’ve been a Christian—no matter what your “spiritual age” is; you never outgrow your need for the family of God for your survival in the world and for your continued spiritual growth.
o The idea of being a Christian with out going to church is like being race car driver without a car. You may know all the rules and know how to do it, but if you are not there in the action you are just a watcher, a fan, an observer.
o Some would say “but I don’t like those other people or I don’t need them”.
What if we all wanted to play the same position on a sports team?
It would not be a very effective team would it?
Ladies what if your entire make up collection wanted to be the same?
What if it was all the same color?
Romans 12:4-5 (NLT)
4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.
•
Paul states one central truth about the family of God (the church):
o Many Members = One Body
o This teaches us about the “oneness” of the church
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (NLT)
12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into Christ’s body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit.
WHO IS THE BODY OF CHRIST?
• When you became a Christian, the Holy Spirit made you part of the one body of Christ. There is only 1.
o “Church” (ekklesia) means “called out ones”
o In Jesus’ day, the word ekklesia [ekklesia /ek•klay•see•ah/] was used to describe a group of citizens who had been called apart for a special meeting or assembly.
• Before you became a Christian, you generally lived the way you wanted to live and followed your own desires.
o Then Christ called you: “Follow me! Separate yourself from others who live by their personal desires. Be my disciple!”
o You heard, responded in faith and became a Christian—part of the “called-out-ones”, the church.
1 PETER 2:9-10
A. As the “called-out-ones” we are to proclaim the One who has called us out.
1. The Message says it best when it says that we are to, “speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you…”
B. Titles of the “called-out-ones”
1. “chosen people”, “chosen generation”, “elect race” (v.9)
2. “royal priesthood” (v.9)
3. “holy nation” (v.9)
4. “people belonging to God”, “God’s own special people”, “a peculiar people” (v.9)
5. “people of God”, “God’s own” (v.10)
C. No matter which translation you use it is clear that because we are Christians…
1. We are “the people of God”.
We are the Body of Christ.
WHO IS THE BODY OF CHRIST?
2. We are “God’s own people” whom He has “called out of darkness into His wonderful light”.
WHO IS THE BODY OF CHRIST?
Three things will dictate what kind of a team player you will be.
1. You need to be familiar with the Holy Spirit.
You need to know Him intimately so you will recognize His voice when He speaks.
You know Him intimately by spending time with Him.
In quiet time, in worship, and in everyday life.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV)
17 pray continually;
2. You have to be open to the leading to the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:26-38 (NLT)
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
26 As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he did, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”
30 Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah; so he asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 The man replied, “How can I, when there is no one to instruct me?” And he begged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him. 32 The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this: Isaiah 53:7, 8
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.
And as a lamb is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
33 He was humiliated and received no justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Was Isaiah talking about himself or someone else?” 35 So Philip began with this same Scripture and then used many others to tell him the Good News about Jesus.
36 As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?” 38 He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
Let’s ask ourselves some questions about Philip.
• Why did he do what he was told?
o He knew the voice of the Lord.
o He used the opportunity provided to him.
• What if he had not?
o The eunuch would not have understood.
o He would not have been saved.
o He would not have been baptized.
Do you want that on your conscience?
3. You need to be obedient to the Holy Spirit.
• Who benefited from his actions?
• The eunuch
• Philip
• Everyone in the caravan saw what he did
• Our actions are louder than our words
Story about Kinla moving
• Have you benefited from the actions of an obedient person?
o Our pastor
o The person that first invited us to church
o The person who witnessed to us
What would have been the penalty for disobedience?
James 4:17 (NLT)
Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
We have a duty, a responsibility to the rest of the body as well as the unsaved.
Romans 12:4-5 (NLT)
4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.
Coming to church for the first time should be a very comfortable experience.
Whose job is it for this to happen?
WHO IS THE BODY OF CHRIST?
In the book of Revelation in the 2nd and 3rd chapters John, under the inspiration of Jesus, wrote letters to 7 churches either encouraging or rebuking them for their actions and attitudes.
The Message to the Church in Ephesus
hard work
patient endurance
you don’t tolerate evil people
You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not.
You have discovered they are liars
You have patiently suffered for me without quitting
But I have this complaint against you.
You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!
Look how far you have fallen from your first love!
Turn back to me again and work as you did at first.
The Message to the Church in Smyrna
your suffering and
your poverty—but you are rich!
The Message to the Church in Pergamum
you have remained loyal to me
you refused to deny me
And yet I have a few complaints against you.
You tolerate some among you who are like Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to worship idols by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin.
The Message to the Church in Thyatira
your love,
your faith,
your service, and
your patient endurance
your constant improvement in all these things.
20 But I have this complaint against you.
You are permitting that woman—that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet—to lead my servants astray.
The Message to the Church in Sardis
“I know all the things you do
you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.
Your deeds are far from right in the sight of God.
Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to me again.
4 “Yet even in Sardis there are some who have not soiled their garments with evil deeds. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.
The Message to the Church in Philadelphia
I have opened a door for you that no one can shut.
You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.
I will force those who belong to Satan—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet.
They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.
I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come
I will write my God’s name on them, and they will be citizens in the city of my God they will have my new name inscribed upon them.
The Message to the Church in Laodicea
you are neither hot nor cold.
I wish you were one or the other! 16 But since you are like lukewarm water,
I will spit you out of my mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
What if Jesus was to write a letter to the church in the United States?
What about the church of Georgia?
Or the church of Gwinnett?
Or the church of Lawrenceville?
Or the church of WHAG?
Or the church of your name?
What would be in that letter?
Would it be a letter of encouragement or would it be a letter of things He was holding against you?
