So what is 'church' really?

Ekklesia and Christ

A flower blooming in your garden is a unique expression of many different ingredients such as the sun, water and earth. Although it is a beautiful expression of these qualities, the whole ecosystem that made this flower possible is infinitely greater than just this flower. The flower will soon fade and die, but creation continues.

When we speak about church, we have to look far beyond the local assembly, limited to time and space, that many refer to as church, before we can truly understand this. The local assembly is spoken of in scripture, but much more is said about the infinitely greater realities of which the local assembly is simply an expression.

We will therefore first look at the realities regarding ekklesia (church), beyond its temporal expression in a local assembly. Once these truths are grasped our expression of them will be much more accurate and beautiful. Trying to emulate the local assemblies we see in the N.T. without appreciating the realities that birthed these assemblies will leave us with lifeless, meaningless yet biblically correct assemblies! By this I mean the form will be there, but not the life. The appearance might be correct but the fruit will be missing as per the fig tree that Jesus cursed.

‘Ekklesia’ is the Greek word most often translated as ‘church’ in the New Testament. In plain usage it meant an assembly. Interestingly it is made up of two root words, the first being:
ek, ex
A primary preposition denoting origin (the point whence motion or action proceeds), from, out
And the second part being:
kal-eh'-o
to “call” (properly aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise): - bid, call (forth), (whose, whose sur-) name (was [called]).

It implies being named by our origin. From our origin proceeds a call; from our creator comes a claim upon our existence. Our Father names us and what He calls us is more valid than any other name or identity we might have adopted. Eph 3:15 reveals that all families/races/nations of man are named by the Father. The same words are used namely ‘ek’ (from whom) and the word named.
Eph 3:15 “Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named”

Firstly we have to say, based on this and many other scriptures, that The father’s call is for every person; his claim is upon all mankind for He knows their true identity; He is the origin from whom this call proceeds.
It then follows that those who respond to His call, those who acknowledge their true identity in Him become the manifested form of this ekklesia.

Jesus had a few things to say about ekklesia.

Mat 16:13-18 When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?"
They replied, "Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets."
He pressed them, "And how about you? Who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter said, "You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Jesus came back, "God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn't get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I'm going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.

Can you see how the true identity of Jesus and the true identity of man is the revelation upon which Jesus builds His church. The Father revealed to Simon that the Son of Man is indeed the Son of God. He, however, only saw its significance in relation to Jesus. Jesus does not leave this here, but takes the revelation a step further. This is not only a revelation regarding the identity of Jesus, but also a revelation regarding the identity of man.
Jesus speaks very specifically to Peter regarding his identity. He starts by referring to him as “Simon, son of Jonah” With this Jesus confirms that he too is a son of man. But the he draws him into a deeper understanding of his identity. “You are Peter” ‘Peter’ meaning a piece of a rock. Jesus uses a different word the second time He refers to rock. He does not use the word ‘piece of rock’ but refers to the actual big rock from which the piece came. Isa 51:1 "Listen to me, all you who are serious about right living and committed to seeking GOD. Ponder the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were dug.” Deut 32:3,4 respond to the greatness of our God! The Rock: His works are perfect.
Jesus challenges Peter to consider his own origin beyond his natural birth and come to the same conclusion concerning himself as the conclusion he came to concerning Christ, namely: the son of man (son of Jonah in this case) is also the son of God!

“Upon this rock” – the rock from which you were cut – your origin, I will build my church - the call of man’s origin. Whatever literal place is meant with the word Hades, there is also a very significant meaning beyond this. For the word is made of two words that mean ‘to see’ and the negative form of it. So figuratively it means ‘not to see’ or ignorance!
John 1:4,5 In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Jesus came and lived a life as an open display of who and what man originally was intended to be. This open manifestation of life as it was intended, appeals to every man’s conscience because there remained in man a divine spark despite the fall. This same appeal is extended through those who responded to this call and so Paul writes concerning his life “but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God” (2Cor 4:2).

When Paul writes about this ekklesia in the letter to the Ephesians, he uses the picture of a body of which Christ is the Head. What he describes is not just a local assembly. He does not start with the form or the method through which these truths are expressed, but rather with the bigger picture of what it is really about.
God desires to express Himself! God wants a body! Your body is not some remote controlled object apart from your head. You are one. In this same way the Father planned, and took pleasure in this plan, and He chose man as the ideal container for Himself. Verse 18 reveals that God has an inheritance and that inheritance is in man! He designed us as the ultimate expression of Himself. How big, varied, deep, wide, broad and long is God’s expression of Himself? Can you measure Him? This must bring us to the conclusion that we should never seek to control, limit or define how God is to express Himself through the church, lest we make it an expression of ourselves rather than an expression of Him. The head, Christ, alone directs and inspires each individual part to do whatever He desires. How often have we tried to displace Christ with methods of our own making.

Ekklesia is so much more than the final expression of it in a local body. We will look at the local body later, but first let us see deeper into what ekklesia really is.
1Co 12:12 Even as the body is one, and has many members, but all the members of the one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

Christ is no longer an individual! Read 1Cor12:12 again and again until you see it. Christ now consists of many members, making one body. You are a part of what makes Christ, Christ. It is for this reason that we should never dishonour Christ by equating Him with an organisation. Only ‘that’ which is made in His likeness and image is able of expressing His likeness and image. When we speak of church we speak of Christ or at least a part of Christ and Christ is not an event or a program or an organisation made by human hands. He is a person in whom the fullness of the godhead dwells in bodily form.

Ekklesia from God’s point of view is not a temporary arrangement. Eph 3:19-21 reveals that God purposes to manifest Himself through us in ways we have not imagined and that this demonstration of who He is will continue throughout all ages to come.

Eph 3:1921 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.

Church as a local body is a temporal manifestation of real church which is eternal. Heb 12:23 shows that ekklesia includes the assembly of the spirits of just men. So church as God knows it, is not limited to the here and now. His church is eternal.

By Andre Rabe
http://eclesia.blogspot.com