As a kid, going to church just didn’t make sense to me (Josh). About the most I got out of it was putting fifty cents in the offering basket and taking a dollar out. To me, the sermons were boring. Sitting for 45 minutes or so listening to a preacher saying things that didn’t much relate to me seemed like a waste of time.
A lot of people today feel like that about church. Of course, if Jesus were literally the pastor of the church, it would make a big difference. I suppose he would be healing people left and right, feeding the hungry, and launching his eternal kingdom on earth to bring peace and joy to the whole world. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that kind of a church? Well, that is what the disciples of Jesus thought too.
It had been a great month. The crowds were bigger than ever. The Messiah was displaying his power, and the sick were being healed instantly. “The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking around, and those who had been blind could see again!” (Matthew 15:31)
Four thousand men, not counting women and children, had been Jesus’ outdoor congregation for three days, and they were getting hungry. Jesus asked how much food the disciples had. They told him they had seven loaves and a few small fish. So again, Jesus did the seemingly impossible. He prayed over the seven loaves and the few fish and told his disciples to distribute them to the crowd. After everyone ate all they wanted the disciples gathered up the leftovers—seven large baskets full!
Jesus sent the masses home with full bellies and continued with his ministry of healing and spreading the kingdom message. When he had his small band of disciples alone he asked a central question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13). They told him some thought he was Elijah, others thought he was Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. Then came the penetrating question—the question that really mattered. “‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you…Now I say to you that you are Peter [which means “rock”], and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it’” (Matthew 16:15-18).
There it was! The declaration that the disciples were looking for. Jesus said, “I will build my church.” Now he would really launch his kingdom. With him healing the sick and feeding the people, the disciples would be guaranteed a megachurch in their first week of operation. This had to be great news to them. In fact, six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John on an excursion up a mountain that further reinforced this church notion. Suddenly “Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light” (Matthew 17:2 NLT). And to their amazement Moses and Elijah appeared and started talking with Jesus.
This had to be it. Who could ask for anything better? Jesus would be the kingdom pastor of the great church on the mountain and Moses and Elijah would be his two associate pastors. This would be the perfect location for “Jesus’ Kingdom Central”! So Peter blurted out, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Matthew 17:4).
But no sooner did Peter get his great idea out of his mouth than a bright light flashed and a voice came booming down from a cloud, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him” (Matthew 17:5 NLT). The disciples were so shocked that they fell face down on the ground. Jesus came over and told them not to be afraid. When they looked up Moses and Elijah were gone. And to top it off Jesus told them they must not tell anyone what they had seen until “the Son of Man has been raised from the dead” (Matthew 17:9 NLT).
This had to be confusing and frustrating to Peter, James, and John. Even if Jesus wasn’t going to defeat the Romans and rule the nation politically, he could at least stick around after his resurrection and be pastor of the Kingdom Church on the Mount. What better way to spread the kingdom worldview than having King Jesus preach every week? And when new technologies were created he could be televised globally, launch the Jesus Facebook, and answer all questions and solve all problems online.
But there was, and is, a better way. Jesus’ idea of the church wasn’t about a building that would serve as “Kingdom Central.” Yes, Jesus told Peter he would build the church on the declaration that he was the Messiah, the true Son of God. But when he said “church,” he didn’t mean a building. His word choice was ekklesia, which meant a gathering of people. In the culture of that time the word ekklesia was clearly understood to mean a public assembly of citizens. Its Hebrew counterpart meant an assembly before the Lord. Whether in Greek or Hebrew, church meant “the people of God,” not a building.
With Jesus as head of his church, the kingdom would go viral—through the power of the Holy Spirit lived out in the community of his followers—and eventually every corner of the earth would be reached.
In today’s culture, church is most often thought of as a building or an organization. But that is far from what the disciples and apostles understood after Pentecost. Once the Holy Spirit filled them they understood the concept—the church was God’s people. The church was Christ’s agent to spread the kingdom message. The church was the visible representation of Christ himself.
When Jesus told his disciples to “go and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19) he was delivering that command to his people, the church that would shortly be established. That church was given a mission, which was part of a greater mission of redemption and restoration of all things. Christ’s initial step in that mission was to give his life as a ransom. He completed that through his death on the cross, but he would accomplish the rest of his mission through another means. With Jesus as head of his church, the kingdom would go viral—through the power of the Holy Spirit lived out in the community of his followers—and eventually every corner of the earth would be reached.
Jesus’ new church wouldn’t be a static organization, but a living organism. It wouldn’t be about building an institution or a memorial, but about spreading a message and transforming the hearts of people. The New Testament uses at least six images to describe the church, none of which are about organizations, institutions, or physical buildings.
1. The church is the new people of God. The apostle Paul explained to the churches of Galatia that it didn’t matter any longer whether the Jewish law of circumcision was performed. “What counts,” Paul said, “is whether we really have been changed into new and different people. May God’s mercy and peace be upon all those who live by this principle. They are the new people of God” (Galatians 6:15-16). God had named the Jewish nation of people as his chosen people in the past, but as Paul said to the churches at Ephesus, now “Jews and Gentiles are joined together in his church. This was his plan from all eternity, and it has now been carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:10-11). Jesus launched his church as a community of hope for all the nations of the world.
2. The church is God’s family. Paul explained that Gentiles are no longer strangers. He said, “You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Jesus Christ himself” (Ephesians 2:19-20). As Christians we are adopted into God’s family, his church. We become his children—sons and daughters of God (see Romans 8:14-17).
3. The church is the body of Christ. “The church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence” (Ephesians 2:23). “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body…And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others” (Romans 12:4-5).
4. The church is a holy temple where God lives. “We who believe,” Paul stated, “are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22). “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
5. The church is Christ’s pure bride. Paul tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church. “He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean…He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27).
6. The church is Christ’s agent to fulfill his mission to redeem the lost. The apostle Peter said, “You are a kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God” (1 Peter 2:9). Paul told the church in Corinth and the Christians throughout Greece that “God has given us the task of reconciling people to him…We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you” (2 Corinthians 5:18,20).
We believe the truth that the church is Christ’s visible representation on earth, in which each transformed follower of Jesus is made part of his living body to individually and collectively fulfill God’s redemptive purpose.
When you become a transformed follower of Jesus you do not receive a personal, private relationship between just “Jesus and you.” Each of us is made part of a community of Jesus-followers—the family, Christ’s body, a holy temple where the Spirit of God lives, the bride of Christ, and the agency through which Christ is reaching out to the lost world. We the church “have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and there is only one God and Father, who is over us all and in us all and living through us all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). We are a part of his church, and that church is still alive and well in the twenty-first century.