We not only live in Christ, but He lives in us. So what is the Church and how do we live in it?
First of all the Church in not an organization like a parish. Of course a parsh is nacessary, but it does not constitute the essence of the Church. If we remember what Christ did on earth, we see that although He healed and taught the people, He did not create a human organization. Rather He offered Himself as a sacrifice, suffering His Body on the Cross. It is true there was at first a small band of disciples, then later the twelve, then the seventy and finally several hundreds. Yet when Our Lord is crucified there are no disciples to be seen. It would seem that this small organization had collapsed!. Their master and leader is excuted and the small band of His followers hide for fear of the Jews. But was this the end of Christ’s ministry? Was this a setback? No. Christ came not to establish an organization but to give His Body to those people who would accept Him, who were willing to become part of Him and thereby receive salvation.
The church is the called out body of Christ, not any buildings, but those who follow Christ and his teachings.
My Greek transliteration is terrible but it is the Greek word Eclesea which means the called out. The word church literally means the called out.
BB
Oh sorry. I thought I’d come to Yahoo Answers. I somehow made a wrong turn and arrived at Yahoo Sermons.
is there a question in that preaching???
sounds to me, like you think you have all the answers already, so why ask the question, whatever it is.
I’m trying to figure out if this is a question or a preaching. It seems a tad like the latter of the two to me… If that’s the case, I’m sorry I read this…
Are you asking a question or preaching?
Your paragraph was so long and boring I fell asleep reading it half way through.
break in at night with a camping stove and a sleeping bag then claim squatters rights.
you can then live it up on communion wine and those weird biscuit things.
smiles all round.
you could hold parish cocktail parties….
first of all, Christ gave himself for the church. Second of all, Christ commisioned 12, sent about 58 others, and kept probably 50 others close by… I’d say he set up a human institution. Third of all, a church is a called out assembly. This is why the new testiment letters were written to churches and why in Acts there was such an emphasis on starting churches. The church operates as a body to get the job done according to the apostle paul. The church is the bride of christ according to the beloved deciple John. The church was to be kept holy as annanias and saphira found out. The church is a local assembly of called out believers who work together to fofill Christ’s great commision "evangelize, baptize, catacize"
Can you explain what your question actually is please?
The words “church” and “churches” occur over 110 times in the King James Version. Other translations also use these terms. The Greek word translated “church” literally means “a calling forth,” or, in other words, a gathering of people. For example, Acts 7:38, in the King James Version, tells of Moses being “in the church in the wilderness,” that is, among the congregated nation of Israel. In another instance the Scriptures state that “a bitter persecution started against the church,” referring to the community of Christians in Jerusalem. (Acts 8:1, The Jerusalem Bible) In one of his letters, Paul greets “the church in [Philemon’s] house,” the local congregation that met there.—Philemon 2, Revised Standard Version.
Clearly, the term “church” as used in the Bible designates, not a place of worship, but rather a group of worshipers. Acknowledging this, Clement of Alexandria, a second-century religious teacher, wrote: “Not the place, but the congregation of the elect, I call the Church.” Still, must Christians be present at a specific location or building in order for their worship to be acceptable to God?
What? Your sermon really had nothing to do with the posed question.
Eww, get him out of me! I don’t swing that way!
We ARE the church!
The church is a body of believers.
Seems to me that you already know this part.
According to the scriptures, the apostles could not do all the things commanded of them by Jesus, so they set up decons to take care of the widows. decons meant servent and still should but in some church bodies you will find that they act as anything other than servents, but that is for God to take care of , not us.
The point is, that heirarchy was set up in the early church, but was set up as a body of servents to the church body, mainly orphans and widows.
When you find a church body that still practices this early heirarchy, you find a church body where God is still very much present and accounted for!
When Christ was crucified John a disciple was there. Jesus wanted Christians to meet together and had His disciples form many house churches. God the Father loves worship and fellowship and this is part of what a Church is. Peter was instructed to found the church. So church is important but not near as important as having Christ live in us.