WE ARE THE CHURCH!

Friday, January 24, 2020

WE ARE THE CHURCH!

Eph 1:22-23

22 And hath put all things under his [Jesus’] feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

           Driving home from Christmas vacation, I received a cell phone call from our head deacon telling me that a heavy snow, yes, in Texas, had weakened the roof on our church building. It was a Friday and Sunday was fast approaching. The people of the church quickly transformed our fellowship hall into a worship center.

           On October 15^th 2012, the demolition and rebuilding of our church sanctuary began. Strangely enough, Ours was the fourth church in our small town to either rebuild or experience a major remodel. As I drove by those churches, I saw some things I liked and some things that I didn’t like. It was easy to become envious. But none of those buildings is the church.

           The church is a collection of saved sinners, believing the same thing, and meeting together for the common purpose of worshipping the God who saved them and growing both in knowledge and grace. The word “church” in the New Testament is a combination of two Greek words which can be most clearly translated as “assembly.” So, the church is wherever an organized group of believers meet together.

           I well remember our final baptism in our old auditorium. We snuck upstirs to use the baptistry before the construction made it impossible. The sight was a bit sad because large cross buck braces held up the ceiling. The pews had been removed along with the sound system and everything that might get in the way of the workers who would arrive the next morning to rip off the roof. The true church stood, as if at the side of a river, to watch five precious ones follow their Lord in believer’s baptism. The building is not the church!

           Hanging on my office wall is a picture of a western wagon train circled for the night. Around a central campfire all the people stood listening to the preaching of one man in black holding an old black book. These people were in transition. They had not yet reached their destination and their homes were temporary. Every time I look at this picture I am reminded that the center of worship is that book and the man holding it.

Matt 16:18

18 …upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Dear Lord, thank you for the collection of people that I call my church. AMEN