The Church: What is the Church? (Series Intro)

Article:
https://expedition44.com/2022/07/11/the-church-series-pt1-introduction/


Matt's Sermon on the Church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:
https://subspla.sh/r8zp4j5 


We have spent our lives trying to be good Christians that “go to
church”. However, you would be hard pressed to find anything that
looks like modern day American church anywhere in the pages of
the Bible. It might even surprise you to know that the word
“church” isn’t in the Bible. We have created the traditional
concept of what we call church. In this series we’ll be looking
at whether the text of scripture affirms the western form of
church and what might a better way be?


We are happy to support anything that seeks after God but what we
do here on x44 is look at what is biblical and Jesus’ ideals and
then try to align our lives with that.


Ekklesia


The reason the word ekklēsía is (rightly) used is because it
meant “the called-out ones.”  It is an invitation,
particularly focused on God’s provision of salvation (which in
Hebrew is better described as an exodus or rescue).  To be
part of the body that was summoned and invited by the sovereign
God for the purpose of rescue from immediate danger.


Revelation


The reason we want to start our series with revelation is that
it’s about 7 churches living in the midst of empire (Roman) and
the religious (Jewish) world as called out ones. It gives some
practical things to watch out for in the churches and also things
we need to strive for to be a healthy church body. Revelation is
a prophecy, apocalypse, and a “pastoral” letter to 7 actual
churches in Asia Minor


How did we get here?


Like most things the church became institutionalized by merging
with the world. In the 5th century Christianity became the
national religion of the Roman empire under Constantine. This led
to a lot of problems.


professional clergy


Clergy/Laity hierarchy


Buildings


Handcuffing of gifts in the body


Institutional mindset


Back to the Start


The 2 major metaphors for the church in the Bible are the body
and the family. This explains why the word adelphoi, translated
“brethren,” appears 346 times in the New Testament. It appears
134 times in Paul’s epistles all the Christians in a local
assembly. In most places, this word is Paul’s shorthand way of
referring to all the believers in the church—both women and men.
By contrast, the


word “elders” appears only five times in Paul’s letters.
“Overseers” appears only four times. And “pastors” appears only
once. (346 to 10)


The stress of the New Testament, then, is upon corporate
responsibility. It’s the believing community that is called to
carry out pastoral functions.


The big idea is that the church is not an institution … it’s an
organism (it’s organic)!


Throughout this series we’re going to be looking at what could be
a better picture of the church. Invested in relationships rather
than rituals, being a living organism rather than an institution,
having all the giftings of Christ on display rather than a few
gifts by a few people, making disciples rather than converts.