Day 5: The Church

What Is the Church?

• We know the verse “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20) very well, it’s time we start believing it.
• This is the last radical idea we’ll present this week: What is the church to you?
• Reflecting on the previous devotional, we see that the church strengthened when the deacons were scattered. To be scattered doesn’t mean they had a landing spot. It definitely doesn’t mean they had a building to minister in or out of. They were scattered.
• “Those early believers did not have buildings to focus their lifestyle around. They did not see themselves as people who went to church; they believed they were the church everywhere they went (emphasis added). For them, church was not a destination but a journey. For them, church was not a facility but an action. They did more church in streets and in homes than they did in sanctuaries.” (Stan Gleason, Follow to Lead)

Who Is the Church?

• Do you believe that you go to church or do you believe that you are the church?
• God desires to dwell in you, not a place.

Where Is the Church?

• Is church a weekend, and sometimes mid-week, destination for you or is it a journey which you intimately identify with? Is church a location in Kentwood or an action you live out every day?

Final Thoughts

In the Old Testament God’s spirit dwelt in Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19), the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25), the Tabernacle (2 Samuel 7) and the Temple (Isaiah 6). But God did not want to simply dwell in nature or a man-made edifice. God says we are his temple. He died for us so that he could dwell in us. He didn’t give his only begotten son just so we could put him back into a building. He didn’t die for us so our service could remain in a single location. What changes in your mindset would you need to experience in order to transform how you view the church?

Biblical Devotion

Acts 2:42-47  And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  (43)  And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.  (44)  And all who believed were together and had all things in common.  (45)  And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.  (46)  And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,  (47)  praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 7:44-49  “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen.  (45)  Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David,  (46)  who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.  (47)  But it was Solomon who built a house for him.  (48)  Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,  (49)  “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,  (20)  for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Matthew 28:18-20  And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (19)  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20)  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Acts 8:4  Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.