From the moment of His conception, Jesus' mission was
tied to our spiritual recovery. An angel told Joseph that
the child that Mary was carrying was conceived by the
Holy Spirit. The child was to be named Jesus "because
He will save his people from their sins." (Matthew
1:21)
This redemptive theme was echoed by Jesus throughout
his public ministry. He said he had come "'to seek
and to save what was lost" and "to give his
life as a ransom for many" (Luke 19:10; Matthew 20:28).
The mission of Jesus involved securing forgiveness of
sins through the sacrifice of Himself upon the cross.
"Didn't Jesus come to build His church?" you
might ask (Matthew 16:18). Yes. Is the church, then, something
in addition to Christ's redemptive mission? No. The Greek
word for church is ekklesia, which literally means "called
out". Jesus would build His church by calling people
to be His disciples, forgiving their sins and reconciling
them to God and to each other by His death and resurrection.
When Scripture is compared with Scripture, a picture
emerges of the church as a community of people whom Jesus
has saved. For example, Paul says that Jesus bought the
"church of God" "with His own blood"
(Acts 20:28). John says that Jesus bought individuals
"... with your blood you purchased men for God from
every tribe and language and people and nation" (Revelation
5:9). What then is the church? The church is people whose
sins have been forgiven. The definition is as simple as
that.
We can fine-tune our picture of the church by looking
at the activities of Saul of Tarsus, later to become the
great apostle Paul. Before his conversion to Jesus, Paul
gave the church a rough time. In persecuting the church,
Paul did not vandalise holy buildings. Instead, he persecuted
holy people: "Saul began to destroy the church. Going
from house to house, he dragged off men and women and
put them in prison." (Acts 8:3) Later he recalled
that those he persecuted were people who had come to believe
in Jesus and had called upon the Lord for their salvation.
This was the church that Paul had persecuted. (Acts 22:4,19;
Galatians 1:13)
Putting all this together we see that the church does
not include all people, not even all religious people.
The church is specifically for those people whose sins
have been forgiven, whose faith rests in Jesus alone for
salvation, people who have a new relationship with the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the true church of Christ which
Jesus came to establish.
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