What is the Church?

Dr. Charles Stanley: He says there is one body and many members so that the presence of the body of Christ here on this earth is made up of you and me. Each one of us is a part, a living, vital extension of the life of Jesus Christ on earth. Friend, that makes you and me very, very significant and important and unique in a world that is anti-God and anti-Christ.
Guest (Male): If you were asked if you belong to the church, it's common to respond with the name of a local fellowship. But the truth you'll hear today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, is that the church established by Jesus is far bigger than any single location. Stay with us to begin a series of messages identifying believers as uniquely a people of God.
Dr. Charles Stanley: Would you turn to Matthew chapter 16? Today, I want to begin a series on the church. In the 16th chapter of Matthew, you'll recall this is where Jesus asks his apostles, "Whom do the men say that I am?" They began to give some answers. Some said Elijah, some Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Then he said to them, "But whom say ye that I am?" In verse 16, we get Simon Peter's answer. Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God." Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." So, what I'd like to do in this message is just answer one question, and that is: what is the church? If you looked in a Greek New Testament and saw the word "church," the word would be *Ekklesia*. *Ek*, which means "out of," and *klesia*, "called ones." So, the New Testament word for church means those who have been called out of something. What have they been called out of? I want you to look at a couple of verses. First of all, in Colossians chapter 1, verse 13. Here, he tells us what every single believer has been called out of. He says, "For he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son." The church is made up of a group of people whose faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has resulted in their being baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Lord Jesus Christ. His having delivered them out of their previous abode, which was the kingdom of darkness, God has now placed us into his kingdom, which is the kingdom of light. Therefore, those who make up the church are a peculiar kind of people because they have been called out of something. They are not where they used to be. They are now in a different citizenship. In 1 Peter chapter 2, he describes this. He says, beginning in verse 9, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession." That means that every single church member who has been born again, who is a saved person, is a unique possession of God. He has chosen to separate you from your previous inhabitants, and now you are a part of the kingdom of God. With that in mind, I want you to understand what almighty God says about the church. He says it all in four words. The first word that describes the church is the word "body." Paul says in Colossians chapter 1, verse 18, "He is also the head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might come to have place and preeminence in everything." Paul says that the church is the body of Christ. Let me explain what that means. Let's go back to look at the church for a moment. In this particular passage in Matthew, this is the crucial point in Jesus' life where he begins for the first time to warn his disciples that he's going to suffer death. He asked them, "Whom do men say that I am?" When Peter gave the answer, he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus responded by saying, "You didn't paint that up. That was revealed to you by my Father. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." That did not mean that he would build his church upon the person of Peter, but upon that confession that Peter made: that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the Son of God. Upon that truth and that truth alone is and would the church be built. Now, Jesus said, "I will build my church." You'll recall in the 14th chapter of John, before he left, he was up in the upper room talking with them. He said to them, "It is expedient for you that I go away. If I go not away, the Comforter will not come. But if I go away, I will send him. He'll be in you, with you, and upon you." He says, "Fear not, I will come unto you." The next day, Jesus was crucified, giving his life for your sins and mine, making it possible for us to be saved. Before this time, the Holy Spirit worked in people's lives in this manner: he would come upon someone for a particular work and then he would depart. But at Pentecost, 50 days after the Passover, the Bible says in Acts chapter 2 that the Holy Spirit came upon the 120 with the sound of a mighty rushing wind and cloven tongues of fire upon their heads. They began to speak in tongues, which was a different foreign language, so that the people who were there began to understand all of their different languages and understood the gospel of Jesus Christ. On that day, in that moment, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ was born. If you look in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13, "For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body." Therefore, on the day that the Holy Spirit came upon that group of 120 and those who believed, the Holy Spirit baptized that group into Christ once and for all. Every single person who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior is, at that moment, baptized, grafted into, and made a part of the body of Jesus Christ. The body of Christ is the extension of the life of Christ on earth at this given time. Jesus has ascended to the Father. He is seated at the Father's right hand. Jesus Christ is the head of the church. We're the body. When you were saved, you were made a part of the body of Christ. We are Jesus Christ's hands and feet, lips and eyes, and ears here on this earth. That makes you and me very, very significant and important and unique in a world that is anti-God and anti-Christ. We are not church members; we are the extension of the life of Christ on this earth because he has chosen to indwell each and every one of us. In Ephesians chapter 2, he uses another likeness. He says, beginning in verse 19, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of God's household, that is God's building, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord." First of all, we are the body of Christ, a living extension of Christ here on earth. Secondly, he says we are a building. You and I are like stones in the temple of God. The temple of God on this earth is the coming together of God's people. If you are a baptized, born-again church member, you are a unique person who has been called out by God out of the world into the life of Jesus Christ. We are the building of God. Your life and my life together are part of the temple of God here on earth. The body speaks of the extension of the life of Jesus Christ in heaven here on earth. The temple of God speaks of the presence of almighty God in this world. When people criticize the church, remember this: they are doing nothing but attacking the person of Jesus Christ because he's living within you and me. Thirdly, in John chapter 15, verse 1, Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vineyard keeper. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it that it may bring forth more fruit." Verse 5, Jesus said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit. Apart from me, ye can do nothing." When you and I received the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit baptized us or grafted us into the vine. Each time, he is speaking of Christ in us and us in Christ. He says we are a part of the body of Christ. Here he says we are a part of the vine; we are the branch. A branch disconnected from the vine has no life. It is the sap that runs in the vine that runs in the branch that produces the fruit. If the body of Christ, if the church is to produce fruit, if we are to be profitable for God, the branch must be grafted into that vine. It is the life in the vine that runs in the branch that produces the fruit. Therefore, in the body of Christ, it is the Holy Spirit of the living God living in and through you and me, producing the fruit of the spirit and causing the church of the Lord Jesus Christ to progress. Apart from me, ye can do nothing. If a church attempts to carry on its own work apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from depending upon him, he says you're going to fail. You can name the name of Jesus Christ, but if you've never been born again, and if you're part of a church where the gospel is not being preached, where nobody cares whether you're saved or not, that church can't produce because it is not a part of the vine. There has to be the living life of Jesus Christ filling and overflowing in the life of those people. We are the stones of the temple of God. We're the branches living in the vine, and he intends to produce through you and me his very life. So, the church is the life of Christ here on earth, functioning and coordinating together in a sense of interdependence with each other in order that Jesus Christ might be glorified right before the ungodly and unbelievers. There is one other word that he describes the church with, and that is when he calls the church the "bride." Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 that the church is like the bride of Christ. "I betrothed you," he says, "to one husband, that to Christ I may present you a pure virgin." So, the church is like unto the bride. The church is the bride of Christ. Revelation chapter 21, verse 9 says, "One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me saying, 'Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.'" Ephesians chapter 5 is the most beautiful one that describes it all. Paul says, "Husbands love your wives, like Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he may present to himself the church in all of her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and blameless." He says the body of Christ is the bride of Christ. When he comes as the bridegroom and raptures us out, he says that's like the bridegroom coming for the bride. He wants to present this body holy, sanctified, without spot, cleansed, without blemish, without wrinkle, holy before the Lord. You know what that means? Think about that. First of all, you're the body, the extension of the life of Christ. Secondly, you're the building. You're the temple. You're a stone in the temple of God worshipping him. You're the branch in the vine, and we are fruit bearers. He says you're the bride of Christ. Here we speak of the sacrificial love that he has for his church, that Jesus Christ so loved the church he gave himself for it. Now, if to be a church member means you have been called out of a life of darkness and sin into a life of righteousness with him, Christ Jesus indwelling you, then you've become a part of some local body. Friend, you aren't just a church member; you are God's unique possession. When the Holy Spirit came into your life, he sealed you as his body, as his temple, as his branch, and as his bride forever and ever. There is only one way to get into the church. You can join some organizations, but there's only one way to get into God's church. That is by faith and repentance of your sin, acknowledging Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your life. The moment you're willing to do that, then you become a part of the body of Christ. Give your life to Jesus Christ. Let him fulfill his perfect purpose and will for your life.
Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. You may attend worship services at a specific location, but you can only become a member of the church through faith in Jesus Christ. To learn more about the gift of salvation, visit intouch.org. Follow the link to "Today on Radio" to hear this message again. If you'd like to have a copy of this complete message, you can order it online at our store. The title is "What is the Church?", and it's part of the series titled "Uniquely a People of God." Our web address once more is intouch.org. Call or text to 1-800-IN-TOUCH. If you prefer, you can write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.