Thinking about Church …

The Scripture’s praise of life together under the Word is captured beautifully in Psalm 133:

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!”

Psalm 133:1 (ESV)

Here’s what Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in his book Life Together about what binds us together in community:

“ … we can rightly interpret the words “in unity” and say, ‘for brethren to dwell together through Christ.’ For Jesus alone is our unity … Through him alone do we have access to one another, joy in one another, and fellowship with one another.”

One of the things this quote tells us is that church by its very nature is not a personal experience; it’s a corporate one and to help us understand this, the Bible uses a wide variety of metaphors and images to describe to us the corporate nature of our gathering.

For example, there are several family images: Paul views the church as a family; elsewhere he refers to the church as the bride of Christ where the relationship between a husband and wife is a picture of the larger eternal relationship between Jesus and his church (Eph. 5:32). The church is seen as a new temple not built with literal stones but built with Christian people who are “living stones” built on Christ Jesus who is the “cornerstone”. The church is also a new group of priests, holy priesthood that can offer “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God (1 Pet 2:5). Scripture also compares the church to branches on a vine (Jn. 15:5), an olive tree, a field of crops (1 Cor. 3:6-9), a body (Eph. 4:11-16) and a harvest (Mt. 13:1-30).

Each of these metaphors used can help us to appreciate more of the richness of privilege that God has given us by incorporating us into the church. They also help us think practically about what that means. So, the fact that the church is like a family should increase our love and fellowship with each other. The thought that the church is Christ’s bride should stimulate us to strive for greater purity and holiness, and also greater love for Jesus. The image of the church as branches in a vine should cause us to rest in him more fully. The idea of an agricultural crop should encourage us to continue growing in the Christian life and obtaining for ourselves and our brothers and sisters the proper spiritual nutrients for growth. The concept of the church as a priesthood should help us to see more clearly the delight God has in the sacrifices of praise and good deeds we offer him (Heb. 13:15-16). The metaphor of the body of Christ should increase our appreciation of the diversity of gifts within the body.
In fact when God's people are encouraged and equipped "for works of service for the building up of the body, it's then that God's people are able to 'build out' and show the church as compelling Christian community.

This term I’m really looking forward to exploring with you what church is and what it looks like to be a Church member. Our journey will take us from the desert of Sinai to many of Paul’s letters and the heavenly gathering itself. Our hope is that we’ll get to see why church should be as relevant as the gym is to the boxer, or as basic training is to the soldier. May our love for our church, this body of Christ in which God has placed us, be (re)kindled.