“I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together! All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes we’re the church together!”
That song is what I think of when I ponder the question of what is the church. (Can you tell I spent a number of years helping my mom teach kindergarten Sunday school?) It is a very simplistic song taught to young children, but its meaning does hold true.
While we have a tendency to refer to the church as the building where Christians gather on Sunday mornings, it really is so much more than that. The church is made up of people - you and me and many, many others. Specifically, those people in the church are those who follow Jesus, and anyone around the world can be a part of it. The Greek word that we translate as church is ekklesia. It means a community of people or an assembly. This makes it clear that the church is not a place but a group of people.
Many believe that Jesus established the concept of church in Matthew 16. In Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus has a conversation with his disciples about who people say He is:
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Did you see what happened there? Immediately after Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God, Jesus declares that He will build His church upon that rock. The rock Jesus is speaking of is what Peter just confessed. The church is not built on Peter; the church is not built upon institutions or traditions; the church is built on his confession of Jesus as Lord and Messiah. This is the purpose of the church - to preach Christ and his gospel, that is how all people throughout the world may have salvation through Him.
If you and I believe this, then we truly are the church together!
2 comments:
But Katie, the name he gives Simon (Peter) translates to "rock," double entendre on Jesus' part?
I would absolutely agree, NightWatcher, and I think you bring up a good point. However, the very next passage in that Matthew Scripture is the one in which Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!" Peter was not yet ready to believe at that point that Jesus would have to suffer and die, so he essentially tried to overrule Jesus! So my thought would be that if Jesus had only been referring to Peter as the rock, that would be one shaky foundation!
Thankfully, Peter's confession is the "rock" because it was the first of its kind. From that point forward, even when Peter was a shaky foundation in his humanity, his confession was still ROCK-solid! The same is true for us.
Great comment and thanks for reading our blogs! ~ Logan
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