What Is The Church?
Sermon Notes
Intro
Today we’re starting a new 7 wk teaching series called Saturate, and it’s about how to live as instruments of grace. It’s about how to live as instruments of grace in our relationships and city. We’ve been calling 2021 our Year of Multiplication, and to multiply we need to live as instruments of grace in our city. We believe God has uniquely gifted, called, and sent each of us to bring much hope and joy to the people in our city. We want to help you discover what that looks like for you. We want to help you discover what it looks like for you to live as an instrument of grace in your everyday relationships, and in our city.
Now we want to give credit to Jeff Vanderstelt, because some of the concepts we’ll be teaching come from a book he wrote and a study guide our small groups are doing called Saturate. So we want to give him credit for the concepts in this series, and today we’re talking specifically about what is the church?...What is the church? What’s our understanding of the church?...A skeptic might define the church as a place full of hypocrites and judgmental people, especially if they’ve been hurt by judgmental Christians. A believer might define the church as a building, as a place we meet on Sundays to sing music, listen to sermons, participate in a few potlucks and programs. It’s just a building, a place where Christians meet. But what about you?... What’s your understanding of the church?...How would you describe and define the church?... Today we’re talking about what is the church, and what’s the purpose of the church? So let’s turn to 1stPeter 2:9-10 and get into it. You’ll find 1st Peter in the last quarter part of your bible, and we’ll be in 1st Peter 2:9-10. The title of today’s message is “What is the Church, and here’s the big idea. We don’t go to church, we are the church!...We don’t go to church, we are the church!
Context:
Here’s your context. Peter’s one of the strongest Christian leaders in history and he writes this letter to Christians being persecuted for their faith in Jesus. They’re suffering even to the point of being kicked out of their homelands. So they’re literally living as exiles in foreign lands, and in ch 2 Peter doesn’t tell them to go to church, he tells them to be the church in these foreign lands. He tells them to live as everyday ministers, with an everyday ministry. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
1st Peter 2:9-10 states, “But you are a chosen race...” Peter’s talking about the church here. He’s saying the church is a chosen race, a people group, and when he says this he isn’t talking about skin color. He’s talking about people who've been saved by Jesus and are being transformed by Jesus into a new race, a new humanity that’ll be more loving like Jesus. Peter’s saying if you’re a follower of Jesus then you’re a part of this chosen race, and it isn’t because you’re better than everybody else. Jesus didn’t choose to save us because we’re better than everybody else, or because we’re good people who do good things. I mean Peter of all people knows that isn’t true. He constantly stumbled in his faith, put his foot in his mouth, shanked a guy’s ear off for coming after Jesus, and even denied his friendship with Jesus 3 times. Peter of all people knows we’ll sometimes fail miserably at reflecting the love of Jesus to others. Jesus doesn’t choose to save us because we’re good, he chooses to save us because he’s good! He chooses to save us and welcome us into his family through faith in him and his grace on the cross. That family he invites us into is the family of God, that family is the church. So what’s the church? It’s a chosen race, a people group, a community of believers who’ve been gathered not by ethnicity, nationality, or any other affinity except by the grace of Jesus. It’s a people group, a community of believers who’ve been gathered by the grace of Jesus. The bible also teaches us...
ï Jesus loves the church = Ephesians 5:25, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
ï Jesus will build his church = Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overpower it.”
ï The church is local, but also global = Romans 16:5, “Greet also the church that meets in their home.” The church can be a small local meeting in a home, but it’s also massive and globally connected to all the other Christian churches in the world.
ï The church is viewed as a family in 1st Timothy 5.
ï The church is viewed as a marriage, as the bride of Christ in Ephesians 5.
ï The church is viewed as a body with many parts and gifts in 1st Corinthians 12.
ï The purpose of the church is to worship God...(Colossians 3)
ï The purpose of the church is to equip and minister to believers...(Ephesians 4)
ï The purpose of the church is to minister to non-believers, making disciples of all nations...(Matthew 28).
The bible has a lot of things to say about the church, but the one thing it doesn’t say is the church is a building. In fact the Greek word for church is ekklesia which means a gathering or assembly. It’s a gathering or assembly of people! The church isn’t a building, it’s a people. Too many people think the church is a building you go to, but it isn’t. I mean if we suddenly couldn’t rent this building anymore that doesn’t mean we’d stop being a church. We’d just find another facility. It’s because the church isn’t tied to a building, it’s a community of believers who are tied to Jesus. The church isn’t a building, it’s a people. When Ephesians 5 says Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, it isn’t saying he loved a building, he gave his life up for a building. It’s saying he loved people and gave his life up for people! When Romans 16 says to greet the church that meets in a home, it isn’t saying greet the building! “Hey building, how’s your day going?...Wow, no response...It’s like I’m talking to a wall...” It isn’t saying to greet a building, it’s saying to greet the people that are in the building. The church isn’t a building, it’s a people. We don’t go to church, we are the church!...We don’t go to church, we are the church!...
Again vs. 9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood...” What Peter’s saying here is that every believer, every follower of Jesus is a minister. That doesn’t mean every believer is called to be a pastor of a church, it means every believer is called to do ministry in the world. Jesus has scattered his followers into many different professions and empowers us all to live as ministers in those professions. It doesn’t matter if you’re a doctor, nurse, or first responder...It doesn’t matter if you’re a builder, engineer, or sit in a cubicle...It doesn’t matter if you’re a teacher, student, home schooling mom, or retiree. Every believer is a minister, and we’re to view everyday life as an opportunity to minister to others. We’re to live as everyday ministers who declare and display the greatness of Jesus in our city, which Peter mentions next.
Again vs. 9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Peter’s saying Jesus didn’t just choose us so we can receive mercy, he also chose us to extend his mercy. He chose us to proclaim, to declare, to display his greatness in our city. We’re to live as everyday ministers using the things we do in everyday life, as opportunities to declare and display praiseworthy things about Jesus. You’re to live as an everyday minister as you shop for groceries, walk around your block, go to the gym. You’re to live as an everyday minister as you do recreational activities, coach sports, sit on the sidelines watching your kids play sports. You’re to live as an everyday minister as you hang with your family, hang with your friends, hang with others in our city. We’ll give specifics on how to do this in upcoming weeks, but today’s about laying a foundation that every believer’s a minister. It’s about laying a foundation that the church isn’t a place to come and sit, it’s a people who come and go. We don’t go to church, we are the church! We’re a people, a community of believers gathered and sent by the grace of Jesus, for the transformation of the world!
Jeff Vanderstelt states, “Jesus wants us to live all of life fully for his glory in the world, in every part, in every person. Jesus didn’t live, serve, suffer, and die so we could just attend a Christian event. He lived and died so we could become his people who are sent into every part of the world on his behalf.” Jesus doesn’t want us to be cul-de-sac Christians hiding in our holy huddles. He wants us to go beyond the cul-de-sac and holy huddles to reflect his mercy and greatness to others. He wants us to reflect his mercy and greatness in our everyday lives, just like he did with the normal everyday activities of his life. I mean think about it for a second. Jesus spent the first 30 yrs of his life doing normal everyday activities like us. He ate, played, worked a blue collar job as a carpenter, went on vacations with his parents and siblings to attend festivals. Jesus, our God who chose to incarnate himself into our world, moved into the neighborhood, and did normal everyday activities like us for 30 yrs. The difference is Jesus did everything without sin, he’s the perfect display of God’s love, mercy, and greatness. He didn’t just declare good news, he lived out the good news! He lived a good news life and brought joy to people while doing his normal everyday activities of life. I’ll give you an example of this in John 2:1-11.
John 2:1-11 states, “On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’s mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well.” So that’s a normal activity that’s happening. A wedding isn’t an everyday activity, but it is a normal activity people come to celebrate. Weddings were a big deal back then like they are today, except it was a massive celebration, a massive party that lasted an entire week. So the people in the text are celebrating, partying, having a good time, and notice Jesus was invited too. Jesus was invited to the wedding party too! You know what this tells us about Jesus? It tells us he wasn’t a hermit cul-de-sac Christian...He wasn’t a hermit cul-de-sac Christian, hiding in holy huddles trying to avoid people. Jesus was very social, likeable, fun to be around. People enjoyed being around him so much, they’d invite him to social gatherings like this wedding party in Cana. Professor and Theologian Dr. Fredrick Bruner states, “We can highlight Jesus’ frequent presence in social settings in all four gospels. Jesus was clearly not a recluse, a hermit, or an unnaturally religious person. He was invited to meals and parties, and he attended a number of them.” Jesus was very enjoyable to be around. People invited him to their social gatherings and he attended many of them like he’s doing at this wedding. He participated in normal everyday activities just like us.
Vs. 3, “When the wine ran out, Jesus’s mother told him, ‘They don’t have any wine.’” Now that’s a problem. It isn’t that big of a problem for us today, but it’s a huge problem for bride and groom back then. It’s because the groom was financially responsible for the wedding, and wine expressed celebration and prosperity. The groom was supposed to show he’s financially able to provide for his bride, and would often bless the bride’s family with gifts and money for giving her away in marriage. In fact the bride’s family could’ve sued the groom for not providing in this situation, because the wine running out implied he couldn’t provide for their daughter like he promised. So this is more than just an embarrassing moment for the groom, it’s a shameful moment that has the potential to be socially devastating for him and his entire family lineage! But Jesus decides to do something about it. In vs. 4-8 we learn he decides to help his mother and the wedding party. He tells the waiters to fill 6 stone jars to the brim with about 180 gallons of water. He then miraculously turns the water into wine, and listen to what happens next.
Vs. 9, “When the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom 10 and told him, ‘Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.’” The headwaiter didn’t marvel over the quantity of the wine, he marveled over the quality of the wine! He marveled over the wine being so good! Now some Christians have a hard time with the thought of Jesus providing wine at a party, so they try softening the text. They’re like, “Well it wasn’t really wine it was just strong grape juice.” But let’s be real, nobody gets this excited over grape juice! A child might get excited over sparkling grape juice, but nobody at a wedding party’s getting this excited over 180 gallons of grape juice...This is real wine, it’s fantastic wine, it’s fine wine, and it’s an amazing wedding gift to the bride and groom. It’s an amazing wedding gift that fixes a socially, shameful, disastrous situation for this family. Jesus helped restore joy to the party. But why? Why does Jesus do this?
Vs. 11, “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.” There’s the reason Jesus showed up at the party...There’s the reason he showed up, the reason he helped the bride and groom, the reason he restored joy to the party. It was to display his glory, and lead others to believe he’s our God who came to restore joy to our hurting world. It’s the very reason we’re to live as everyday ministers. It’s to help restore joy in the lives of others in our city, so they’ll believe in Jesus and bring him glory too. Jesus used everyday life as an opportunity to do ministry. He did ministry in a boat, on a seashore, in the mountains, in the marketplace, in people’s homes, even while chilling at a wedding. Jesus used everyday life as an opportunity to do ministry, to show he’s our Lord and Savior who came to live, die, and rise again for our sins. He came to turn our hurting hearts into laughing again, just like he did at the wedding. This is what Jesus wants for our world, and he invites you to be a part of it. He invites you to use your normal everyday activities, to turn hearts into laughing again.
The Big Idea:
The big idea is we don’t go to church, we are the church!...We don’t go to church, we are the church!...The church isn’t a building, and ministry isn’t only for the professionally trained. The church is a people and every believer is a minister...If you aren’t a follower of Jesus then repent of your sins, believe Jesus died for your sins, and he’ll turn your heart into laughing again. If you’re a believer, then live this week as an everyday minister who’s empowered by Jesus, to turn hearts in our city to laughing again. Remember you’re chosen, you’re sent, you are the church! The mission of Jesus is yours to participate in. The question is, will you participate in it?