What is a Church?

The church is a body of people, chosen by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to build each other up and to testify about Jesus in the world. 

1. The church is a body of people.

Notice what the church is not. It is not an event to be attended. It is not a product to be consumed. It is a body.

There are three analogies used in the New Testament to describe the church which I want to cover this morning.

First, the church is body, it is an organism.

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

1 Corinthians 12:12-20 (NIV)

Second, the church is a household or family.

14 Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, 15 if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

1 Timothy 3:14-15 (NIV)

And third, the church is an army.

Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 2:3 (NIV)

2. The church is a body of people, chosen by God.

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)

But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.

1 Corinthians 12:18 (NIV)

To be a Christian, is to be chosen. We are not only chosen as individuals to belong to God, we are chosen for a church body.

We are chosen by grace, for the glory of God.

6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:6-10 (NIV)

3. The church is a body of people, chosen by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

I believe that the Holy Spirit is the defining mark of the local church. What makes us different than any other gathering of people? Is it a shared belief system? An agreed upon moral code? Faith and religious feelings? All of these things are significant, but the one quality which distinguishes a church is the presence of the Holy Spirit.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Acts 1:8 (NIV)

The moment the church began was the moment the Holy Spirit came upon the first believers in the upper room in Jerusalem.

The Spirit provided those early believers with supernatural power, boldness and direction.

11 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

Luke 12:11-12 (NIV)

With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all.

Acts 4:33 (NIV)

The Spirit empowers members of the church body with unique gifts.

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (NIV)

The Spirit empowers members of the church body with the fruits of the character of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

4. The church is a body of people, chosen by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to build one another up.

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it . . . 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:7-13 (NIV)

5. The church is a body of people, chosen by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to build one another up and testify about Jesus in the world.

When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.

John 15:26 (NIV)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Acts 1:8 (NIV)

How do we testify about Jesus in the world?

We reveal Jesus to the world with our love for one another, with our good deeds and most importantly, with our proclamation of the gospel of Jesus.

6. The church is the most powerful force in the world.

There is nothing like the adventure of serving in love and unity with a local church that is empowered by the Spirit and changing lives for eternity.

To be filled with the Spirit, a church must be available, surrendered and dependent.