Ephesians 2²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The church is called a lot of things.  We are referred to as a building.  You know, the one up the hill from First Baptist, the brick church with the steeple.  We are referred to as an institution.  You know, that organization with committees, teams, boards and budgets.

Both of those images miss the mark.  We are the Body of Christ.  We are the community begun by Jesus Christ.  We are, as we are joined together through faith in Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit, the dwelling place of God.  We are the front line of God’s continued work of the Word becoming flesh in the redemptive work of the Gospel.  We are a family united in God’s adoption of us by his grace.  We are Church.

We meet in a building.  We have structure and organization.  But we are not those things.  We are the people of God.  We, as a community, are God’s ambassadors on earth.  We function together or we don’t function at all.  Look in the book of Acts for places where Christians struck out on their own.  You will find very few.  God has put us together to build one another up and encourage one another.  Take a moment and do that today.  Remember who we are when you invite a friend to church.  Really invite them to church.



See you Sunday!