Simple Theology: Church

What is church? Is it a building (“the church is on the corner”), a service (“let’s go to church on Sunday”), or an organization (“I love my church”)? Yes and no. But there’s one word that the Bible uses to describe church more than any other.

Transcript

DEFINING CHURCH

Defining “church” can be tough.

• It’s a building – “We’re the church on the corner.”

• It’s an organization – “I’m a member of this church.”

• It’s an event – “I go to church on Sundays.”

What is it, really? It’s all of these, but it’s also a lot more.

Scripture even has multiple metaphors for church.

• It’s the bride of Christ.

• It’s the family of God.

• It’s a flock of sheep.

So far, that’s 6 different word pictures. No wonder there’s so much confusion about what the church really is. Let’s see if we can simplify it.

How would I define “church” in one word? Body. The Church is the Body of Christ.

This metaphor is used often by Paul, and today’s reading from 1 Corinthians 12 & 13 is one of the best examples of it. In this section, we see three things:

• The INTERDEPENDENCE of the body

• The OBJECTIONS to the body

• The LOVE of the body

INDIVIDUALISM IN THE CHURCH

But before we can dive into these ideas of the Church as a body, we must talk about an alternative definition that is far more prevalent: the Church as an individual.

I would argue that many of you have a very individualistic view of church. I’ll come when I’m available, give when I can, and serve if I want. I want songs that I enjoy, sermons that apply to my life, and donuts that I like.

When the primary lens through which you view church is you, your individualism weakens the church as a body of Christ.

Let’s see how all this plays out.

THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF THE BODY

First, let’s talk about the interdependence of the body.

In just a couple of paragraphs, Paul weaves a picture of the unity and diversity inherent in Christ’s body, the church. I’ve added some parentheses for clarity.

“12 Just as a [human] body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one [human] body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one [church] body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-14)

When you believe in Jesus, you are not a separated, isolated individual. You are part of a whole. We have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Spirit.

This union is not just about a common mission or shared theology. It’s about literally existing together. Individual body parts might have unique functions but only have life in connection to the rest of the body.

The church is an interdependent body of Christ. But individualism destroys interdependence. Individualism undermines unity because you make it too much about you. And individualism undermines diversity because you make it not enough about others.

THE OBJECTIONS TO THE BODY

But I can hear some of you saying:

• “If I don’t show up, it doesn’t matter.”

• “I don’t really know anyone here.”

• “I don’t feel connected here.”

Ideas like these reveal hurt, isolation, and disappointment, but they are also objections to the idea of the church as a body. But I believe that understanding this simple theology can help you bring some healing if you’ve been feeling this.

Objections like this aren’t new. Even Paul’s congregation had them. In verse 15, he wrote:

“15 Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.”

If you call RiverLife your church and you’re not here on Sunday, you don’t stop being part of the body. All it means is that we’re missing a body part—you! And that feeling you get when you skip church for a few weeks, that’s phantom limb syndrome—you’re not really attached, but you know you should be because you are interconnected to this church body.

Paul says to the Corinthians the same thing he says to you,

“18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”

God has placed you exactly where he wants you to be. The only question is whether you’re there or not.

Then in verse 21, he raises another objection:

“21 The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’”

The modern, individualistic version of that is “I don’t need to be there.” As it turns out, we need each other. You need to be here as much as we need you to be here.

Paul responds to this objection by saying,

“Its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:25-26)

We need you. Because we are better with you than without you. And if we’re doing church right, we hurt when you hurt. And when you rejoice, we rejoice with you. But we can’t do that if you’re not here.

THE LOVE OF THE BODY

There is one more essential component to the church body – love. It’s not coincidental that Paul immediately follows his description of the church as a body with his famous treatise on love

1 If I speak in the languages of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Without love for others, our unity becomes uniformity, and our diversity becomes division.

Without love for others, our objections become love for self.

Without love for others, nothing else matters.

• My preaching doesn’t matter.

• Your attendance doesn’t matter.

• Our community service doesn’t matter.

• Deliverance doesn’t matter.

• Worship doesn’t matter.

Nothing else matters more than love. And the more individualistically you see church, the less you actually love other people. And the less loving we are as a community.

CLOSING

Why does this all matter? Because RiverLife’s flourishing depends on you seeing us as the interconnected body of Jesus Christ. We aren’t a place you attend; we are something you’re attached to. We aren’t a collection of individuals; we’re a single body with many parts.

Our effectiveness in the kingdom of God and your thriving as a child of God is completely dependent on you… Rejecting the individualism that drives you to make church about yourself

And, in exchange… See how you fit into the interdependence of this body. Listen to God’s promises over your objections. Do everything, and I mean everything, out of generous, abundant, self-sacrificing love.

That will create a church that brings supernatural hope, healing, and growth to next-gen Hmong and beyond.