Jesus told Peter, "I will build my church"
Jesus built his church not of wood and stone, but of people. Peter was one of them, a part of the church's "foundation of the apostles and prophets"
Jesus did not say to Peter, "I will build your church". He said, "I will build my church". It is not "the church of Saint Peter". It is the church of Christ. Jesus is the true rock, and the church has "no other foundation" and no other founder.
Only the church that Jesus built was "purchased with his own blood"
The church, as S.J.Stone wrote, is Christ's "new creation by water and the word"
Some people talk about "the church of your choice". They think of the church like ice cream that comes in various forms and flavours. You can choose any flavour you like. You can give it up when you are tired of it and feel like trying another sort of ice cream. But when it comes to choosing a church, what shall we choose? We can either "be tossed about by every wind of doctrine", or "build on the rock" of Christ's truth in love
The Bible confines itself to three of those meanings (B,C,E). It certainly never uses the word "church" to mean a sect, denomination, schism or ism. The Bible thus simplifies the ideas wrapped up in the word "church" and it is wise for us to untangle ourselves from the confusion of other uses. Referring to the chapel as the church is relatively harmless since it is only a metonym. However it is just as easy to call it a chapel or a "church house" as many do. Referring to a denomination, sect, schism, or ism as a "church" is misleading and confusing and is certainly not speaking
If you had asked Christians in Bible times, "Which church do you belong to?" they would have answered with place names, not with the name of a denomination. Today, when you ask that question, you nearly always get the name of a denomination. Do a survey and see. That just shows you how much things have changed. There were plenty of "isms" even then, but the early Christians never spoke of the "ism" they followed as their "church". A similar kind of distortion has happened to the word "faith" and people speak of different "faiths" referring to different isms, when clearly "there is one faith"
The word "church" is commonly used to translate the Greek word ekklesia except in a couple of cases where ekklesia refers to a non-Christian assembly. The ek~ means "out" or "from" and the ~klesia comes from kaleo to call. So ekklesia simply means the "called out" people
The main point that I have been hammering in discussing the meaning of the word church is that it does not mean "denomination". In our next lesson I'd like to look at another point of confusion and distortion in thinking and talking about "the church" today. This has to do with the church transcendant, not viewed as a number of local congregations but as one great body composed of all
We conclude and sum up this lesson by briefly looking at the statement of Jesus,
The first word of the statement is "I". This marks the Lordship of Christ. Nobody else is in a position to say what follows this "I". Jesus is the only rightful founder and head of the church, not you or me or someone else no matter how eminent. It's the same "I" as in "I am the way the truth and the life"
When Jesus says "will", he expresses his authority. His will is supreme except for the will of his Father. Again I shall speak somewhat harshly, yet I hope appropriately. It is surprising how many believers in Christ proceed according to what pleases them, without bothering to ask if it pleases Christ and seeking their Master's authority. We have his authority to build nothing in his name, save that which he would build. When was it ever his will to build a denomination? Whatever is not according to his will
When Jesus says "build", he expresses his work. Promoting a denomination is not the work of Christ. Only in building the church Christ died for are we doing Christ's work. In building a denomination, we are working for somebody else and doing somebody else's work,
When Jesus says "my" he expresses his ownership. The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. There is no other foundation
When Jesus says "church", he expresses his call to the world. Jesus calls everyone into his one true church the "called out" people (ekklesia). Jesus calls nobody into any denomination.
In every word of the statement "I will build my church" we find are brought to the realization that Christ's church is what we should be restoring and establishing in the world. We should not replace it with anything else nor join ourselves to a "church" that someone else has founded. Let's work together in going back to the one true church of Christ.
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