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CHURCH
AS THE BODY OF CHRIST
Ephesians 4:1-16
In the Scripture, the Church is described in several different ways such
as a Bride, City, Family, Household of Faith, Candlestick, and a Body just to
name a few of the Biblical illustrations. This
morning, we want to focus on the characteristic of the Church being the Body of
Christ.
In order to best understand this description of the
Church, we must better understand the definition of the word for Church.
First of all, we should define the Greek word for our English word Church
which is ekklesia with ek meaning out of; kaleo meaning to call.
In the context of the Greek culture, this word described Greek citizens
summons from their homes and/or businesses to
come together to make decisions.
Jesus used this specific word ekklesia every time He described His Church.
There were other words he could have used such as sunago=synagogue,
a coming together; kyrios= belonging to the Lord; hiaron=Temple,
sacred edifice; suneimi= to gather, to assemble together.
When the King James translators chose the English word Kirke as a
transliteration rather than translating ekklesia as “the called out ones”. To this day it has caused a misunderstanding of the meaning
of Church.
Today, if you were to ask anyone in the community, where a particular
“church” is located, their answer is sure to be the location of a building.
But the ekklesia is not a building or a location.
Nor is the ekklesia an organization or an institution.
In fact Jesus said to the woman at the well in the 4th chapter
of John, “Ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem
worship the Father. True
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the
Father seeketh such to worship Him. God
is spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
Thus Jesus’ choice of the Greek word ekklesia gives linguistic weight to
definition as the Lord’s called out ones, from darkness into light, coming
together, having been gathered by Her Lord for the purpose of Kingdom decisions
and the keys Christ gave to unlock the very doors of Hades and as
Jesus best described in Matthew 16 , “the Church triumphantly marches
through these gates and storms Hades itself!”
The ekklesia in her smallest expression is described by Jesus in Matthew
18 as “where two or three are gathered together(have been gathered)in my Name,
there am I in the midst of them”. In
the ekklesia’s broadest sense, Jesus in Matthew 16, makes inference to His
Church as being made up of all saints of all the ages both in heaven and on
earth. However, in most Scriptural
references, the word ekklesia is used in a local sense of a single Body of
believers within a city/town/village or in a local sense of a Body of believers
within a given territory or region as churches plural.
To best understand the simplicity of the meaning of the ekklesia which
Jesus intended, one must look at His example of gathering His disciples as he
walked with them in the New Testament times.
He gathered them less frequently as a large group, i.e., the feeding of
the thousands or 500 on the day of His ascension. Most often, He gathered them in small groups of 70, 12, 11,
10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And
Jesus did this “gathering” of the ekklesia everywhere He went: road &
paths, market place, houses, lakes & seas, mountains & hills, villages
and cities. Remember to Jesus, His
ekklesia was not a place or location. It
was wherever He gathered with His people to share His Life with them.
Jesus disciples learned well from their Master so much so that when He
ascended back to the Father and after they were endued with power from on High,
they continued to assemble as the ekklesia “wherever” Jesus gathered them:
Solomon’s Porch, house to house, or wherever and whenever the Lord called them
together, He stood in their midst.
I.
Christ is the Head!
A. Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:20, 4:15,
5:23; Colossians 1:18, 24
II.
Church is the Body!
A.
Romans 12:4-5; I Corinthians 12:12, 27; Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:16,
4:12, 5:23; Colossians 1:18, 24, 3:15
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