INSTITUTIONS OF THE CHURCH

The word Church is from the Greek word EKKLESIA. EK- (Out of) and KLESIS – (a calling), meaning the called-out people, i.e., the gathering of the people that are called out of the world. Therefore, the CHURCH can be defined in any of the following ways:

• An assembly of the people that have been called out from the system of the world, philosophy of the world, world’s arrangements and fashion into newness of life in Christ Jesus, with the objective of making the world its disciples (John 17). John 17:14-18 KJV
  “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.”
• A group of people called out of the world for the glory of God under the Headship of Jesus Christ to save the whole world through the process of making disciples as recorded in Matthew 28:19-20 KJV
  “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
• The gathering of people that have been called out from the world and are separated unto God for divine purpose as seen in 1 Peter 2:9-10 KJV
  “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”
• The gathering of Christians, that is, people that believe in Jesus Christ, live Christ-like lives, believe in Biblical doctrines and have the Spirit of Christ in them (Acts 11:26; Romans 8:9).
  “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” – Acts 11:26 KJV
  “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” – Romans 8:9 KJV
• A new dispensation of grace where people of different nationalities, tribes, and ethnicities that believe in Jesus Christ and His work of salvation are co-opted as joint-heirs with Christ (Ephesians 2:11-13; Colossians 3:11).
  “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” – Ephesians 2:11-13 KJV :
  Colossians 3:11 (KJV); “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”

It is not unusual to hear people say that they are going to the Church, whereas in actual fact they are going for a Church meeting or to the Church auditorium. A lot of Christians believe that the Church is the building where believers gather to fellowship, whereas it is the believers themselves that constitute the Church and not the building where they worship.

The idea of a building as a place of worship for Christians is one of the inherited cultures that was introduced by Emperor Constantine in 349 AD, when places of idol worship were converted to Christian worship centres and named after saints. Over the years, Christians began to see Church buildings as the Church and the only major place for worship, instead of the very believers that gathered to fellowship.

However, Jesus corrected the notion of temple worship in His dialogue with the Samaritan woman in John 4:20 – 24, when He shed light on the mode of worshipping God, that it is not the place of worship that matters but spirituality and truth in the worship.

John 4:20 – 24 KJV
“Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.”

He further said in Matthew 18:20:

Matthew 18:20 KJV
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

And not necessarily a mega gathering. God can be worshipped anywhere at any time because He is Omnipresent.

• Church is not a denomination as against the general notion of some people. Denomination is one of the Devil’s strategies to dismember the body of Christ so that it will no longer be one, thereby reducing its spiritual efficacy.
• Church is not Israel. Israel is just the TYPE and Church the ANTI-TYPE. In the Old Testament, God chose a homogeneous group (the Israelites); in the New Testament, He has chosen people He had predestined unto adoption as recorded in Romans 8:28 – 30 KJV
  “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
• Church is not a business organization, an entertainment house or an empire, as some unscrupulous religious organizations or individuals turn it to be. Jesus reacted negatively to merchandising in the Temple as seen in John 2:14 – 16 KJV
  “And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
  And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”
• Church is not headed by man. Today many founders claim ownership, but Jesus Christ is the true head of the Church.
• Church is not a place for class distinction or band formation as recorded in Galatians 3:28 KJV “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” and Colossians 3:11 KJV
  “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”
• Church is not a place for worldly standards as recorded in 1 John 2:15–17 KJV “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
• James 4:4 KJV: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
• Romans 12:2 KJV: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

To be continued in the next series.