We are the church

Ephesians 2: 19-22

19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.



When we think of the Church, we think of Sunday, and the service, the building that we go to, the sermon, and the music. However today, we all seem to lose sight on just hat the church is. It is not a building, it is in us. Each and every one of us. You are the church, and it does not matter what your location is. Wherever you are, there is part of the church. Verse 22 reads, “in him you too are being built to become a dwelling in which God lives. Jesus Christ is the corner stone, but you are the building.

Yes, when we all come together as a group of believers, at one location, we are at “church”, but as individuals we are each a holy temple to the Lord! I wrote last week about having faith in yourself, this just continues the same concept. As Christ tells us in John chapter 15:5"I am the vine; you are the branches……" The point being that we each are vital to God. A vine without branches cannot bear fruit. Each of us has to work to bear the fruit of the Lord. While we might have strength in numbers on Sunday, each one of us is the Church when we are away form the “church building” Monday thru Saturday.

Luke 9:6 reads “So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.” There was not a church building at every town they stopped at. Even more to the point, sometimes there were not even buildings of any type in the area. The Church was in them, and they were the church. Wherever they went they had the church with them.

I am not trying to trivialize going to church on Sunday. As my Mother used to tell me, “God comes to our house 6 days a week, all he asks is that we go to his one”. What I do want to drive home is the fact that we each have an individual responsibility to be the church. We are the Temple that God resides in. The Lord does not need a building to complete the concept of him. He is larger than the walls of any building. He shines like a beacon of Hope, and salvation, not through the stained glass windows of a church, but from the hearts, and souls of each person that accepts him as their savior.


Peace,
Rev. T