[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], June 2020]
Before we all rush back to our church buildings, let take some time out to think about what church is, and what it isn’t.
The government announced yesterday that they’re going to allow churches to reopen, not just for prayer but actually for services and weddings and things like that and I thought, what would be good before we all rush back to our buildings would be to consider what church actually is. So this is part one of two, maybe more, parts where we’re just going to look at defining what church is and also what it isn’t.
[00:42] I was going to look at a passage in the Bible from Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18. The context of this passage is that Jesus has been doing some pretty amazing things, some miracles, some preaching, some teaching and Jesus sits downs with his close group of friends and asks the question “Who do people say I am?” Some people say “Elijah or you’re a prophet or Moses” but Peter looks at Jesus and says “You are the Christ, you are the Messiah, you’re the one that we have been waiting for.” Jesus says these words “And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church”. It’s a bit of a play on words because Peter’s name means rock but Jesus is saying is that “on your confession, on what you are saying about me; that is going to be the foundation of a church that I’m going to build”.
[01:45] This is the first occurrence of the word ‘Church’ in the Bible, in the New Testament. Actually it’s not a direct translation. The Greek word that this is a translation of is ‘ecclesia’. Ecclesia means a gathering of people with a singular purpose, a singular intention. It was people who came together because something united them and this was a word that didn’t just apply to Christians. It is a word applied to all sorts of people who were gathering but as Christianity became more established, certainly as it became the state religion for the Roman Empire then it was no longer about gathering people. It became about places of worship. For the Romans that would have been the basilica but a word that became very popular was Gothic, an old German word karika (if that’s how it’s pronounced) but later in modern German that became kirche (which I’m probably pronouncing wrongly as well) and that’s where we get the word Church. So the word ‘Church’ is actually a reference to a place of worship, the house of the Lord. It was never meant to refer to a group of people so the word church is not a translation of ecclesia, it’s merely a modern take on the word.
[03:19] Let’s just explore what difference that makes. See, if the church is a place where we go to, a place where we worship, well there’s some positives in that certainly. It becomes a place of refuge, it becomes a place that’s unchanging and you can find security in there. It also becomes a place which is static, it’s a place that is stationary, it’s a place where you say “come hither” rather than going outwards. It is a place we say “find us” rather than us seeking the lost. It’s a passive place rather than an active place and it causes, unfortunately, the people of Jesus to be hidden rather than to shine brightly.
[04:11] A movement on the other hand is not stationary. It moves and it evolves, it adapts, it changes, it spreads, it’s vibrant, it’s full of light, and the movement that Jesus was asking his followers to join was a movement that offered life and love and hope. It’s a movement that stood for freedom and justice and rescue. How popular do you think that sort of movements would be, then 2,000 years ago but also in the here-and-now. As long as we see ourselves as a location or a place we lose that momentum that Jesus said in that latter part of verse 18 even the gates of Hell will not be able to stand against. We need to be on the offensive, not the defensive. We’re to be out there, not hiding in our churches. In this time of lock-down when our churches have been shut I am in no hurry to rush back into our buildings because this gives us a unique opportunity to break those habits of hiding in our buildings. Instead, realise that we are scattered in our communities where we can truly shine and make a difference, where we can bring life and love and hope and where we can stand for justice and freedom.
So let’s get out there and be good news.
[1] YouTube link: What is the Church? Part 1
Bible references: Matthew 16 v18
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Contributed by Martin Shorey; © the Author
