What Is The Christian Church?

“What is the Christian Church?”

Introduction:

A lot of people have the mindset that it does not matter where they go to church, as long as they are going. I do not think that this is the truth. First of all, the church is not a building, and many places that have the word church on their building are not the Church of the Bible. Secondly, if we say it does not matter what church we go to we are also saying it does not matter what is taught. We need to be concerned about the truth being taught wherever you go to church. Always check to see if what is being taught is truth like the Bereans did of Paul. Surprisingly, people can be wrong about things. I believe several factors should come into play when you choose which church you attend. One, that Christ is glorified. Secondly, that the Truth is taught. Third that they are seeking to fulfill the great command to love man and the great commission to reach the lost. I believe it does matter where we go to church because one church is not as good as another.

I hear people often ask, “What type of church is this?” “What is the Christian Church?” Well, this morning I want to talk about what type of church this is.

In this part of the country you do not see a whole lot of Christian Churches, but the Christian Church is a movement comprised of over 2 Million people in over 7,000 congregations. The Christian Church is the fastest growing Christian Movement in the United States.

Most people have some knowledge of Church history, and most people are aware of the efforts of men like Martin Luther and John Calvin to reform the church. During their time they stood up to a church that was corrupt and that was teaching that you must earn your salvation. They looked at the Scriptures and saw that Scripture teaches that we are saved by grace, not by works. A few hundred years after these men came along many different people came along and saw that there were still many problems with the church. These Christians broke out of denominationalism, announcing their intention to follow the Bible only. The Christian Church began from many people’s desire to bring unity and truth back to the Church as a whole. These people not only wanted to reform the Church they wanted to Restore it to it’s New Testament pattern.

Now, I want to clarify a few things before I get into this message. I do not believe that everybody is wrong and I do not believe that the Christian Church is the only church that is going to Heaven. I do believe that there are some ideals and principles that all Christians should follow. This message is simply aimed to explain the plea and the message of the Christian Church, which I do not believe anyone can find fault in.

Again, this message is informational for all those hear, to show what the Christian Church is and what the message is. Secondly, it has application for all Christians. I do not believe that you must go to a Christian Church to go to Heaven, but I do believe that you need to be a Christian, and I do believe that truth matters and that we need to grow and mature. I do believe it matters that you fin d a church that teaches the truth, I do believe that our loyalty is to Christ not any particular Church or institution.

Text: Ephesians 4:1-16

I. The Christian Church is Not a Denomination

A. A Non-Denominational Church

During election season a common question you here is, “what party are you?” More often than not people today are saying, I am neither, I just vote for the best candidate. I believe that shows something about our society, we do not like labels restricting us and rightly so.

A woman went to a village post office to ask for ten dollars worth of postage stamps. The clerk behind the counter asked her: "What denomination, Ma’am?"

She replied: "Well, I never thought I would see the day that I’d have to state my religious affiliation before I could buy some postage stamps!

People often times ask what religion I am; I tell them I am a Christian. They usually respond by saying, “I mean are you Baptist, Methodist, Catholic.” I then tell them, “I am none of those, and I am a Christian and a Christian only.”

We live in a world in which there are hundreds of different Christian denominations, Christianity has become the most divided religion in the world. If you drive down the road a distance you are likely to see many different type of Churches. The word denomination means to divide or split. I think that it is a shame that Christians are known for being divided.