What is a church?
“Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:1-3)
We face the age in which we cannot help but to ask, “What is a church?” When we look at the church these days, we cannot but question “Is this the church that God is talking about in the Bible?” Even in the eyes of us Christians, there are so many disputes, conflicts, and sinful things going on in the church. Can you imagine how the non-Christians see the church? We have to nothing to say. We must be reproved and rebuked by the Word of God. And we must be conscience-stricken when we hear the words of rebuke (Acts 2:37). And we must repent (v. 38). We must not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2). In order to do so, we must humbly listen to the Word of God. And I think one of the words of God that we must listen to is the Book of First Corinthians. The reason is because the present church is similar to the Corinthian church, where there were conflicts and sinful things. And among the words of First Corinthians, I want to think about what the Bible says about the church based on 1 Corinthians 1:1-3. The reason is because we have to know what church is in order for the church can be true church.
There are three important things about the Corinthian city that we should know first (Park Yun-sun):
(1) There were ports in the city of Corinth, where many different peoples lived together, as trade was active there. Thus, lots of Jews also lived there.
(2) There were many shrines for Egyptian idols in the city of Corinth. The reason is that there were lots of ships coming to this port by trade car from the port of Alexandria in Egypt and they imported idols.
(3) As there was trade in Corinth, there were many rich people, as well as many slaves and poor people. And as this city was so wicked and corrupted, it gave the nickname “corinthians” to those who committed adultery.
Apostle Paul came to this city of Corinth for the first time around the end of AD 51, during his second missionary journey. He then spent 18 months there in preaching the gospel and made great progress (Acts 18:1-11). And Paul left Corinth around AD 53 and preached the gospel everywhere. And he wrote this book of First Corinthians in the spring of AD 57 while he was staying in Ephesus.
In 1 Corinthians 1:1-3, Apostle Paul gives greetings to the Corinthian church saints. This Paul's greeting gives us an outline in three parts:
First, the verse 1 introduces the writer who was writing the letter of First Corinthians.
Look at 1 Corinthians 1:1 – “Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother.” The one who wrote 1 Corinthians is Apostle Paul. He introduced himself as “an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God (v. 1). And “Sosthenes” in verse 1 is probably Paul's secretary. Scholars presumed that Sosthene, who had previously been a leader in the Corinthian synagogue, now believed in Jesus and became a brother in Jesus (MacArthur).
Second, the verse 2 introduces the recipient who was receiving the letter of First Corinthians.
Look at 1 Corinthians 1:2 – “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” The recipients of the letter of First Corinthians can be divided into two categories: the Corinthian church and all those Christians everywhere.
Third, the verse 3 introduces the Paul’s greetings.
Look at 1 Corinthians 1:3 – “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” This Paul's greeting is something we find in the other letters of Apostle Paul: “grace” refers to God's saving grace, and “peace” refers to the peace of the soul through God's saving grace (MacArthur). The reason why we who believe in Jesus can truly enjoy the peace of the soul is because we who have been sinners have received grace to be reconciled to God because of the death of Jesus on the cross (Park).
I would like to meditate on three things about the Corinthian church, the recipient of the letter of First Corinthians, and all the Christians everywhere, based on Paul’s greetings. In the meantime, I want to know and learn more clearly what the church is, and what church our church should be. In doing so, I hope and pray that we will live out according to the lessons and become the true and ecclesial church that the Bible speaks of, and the triumphant community that shines the light of the Lord, the Head of the Church.
What is the church in the Bible? Three things are said in 1 Corinthians 1:2:
First, the church is “the church of God.”
Look at 1 Corinthians 1:2a – “To the church of God which is at Corinth ….” These days, when I hear bad news about such large churches through internet news, somehow the church looks like the church of a single pastor, the church of elders, or even the church of the family of the flesh. For example, when I looked at a Christian website last week, the news said that a senior pastor paid more than $ 1.8 million in salaries to 23 family members a year before a large church in California went into bankruptcy (Internet). Another example is the people in Westboro, Baptist Church of Kansas, who protested at the funeral of the youngest 9-year-old Christina Greene of six people who died in an Arizona shooting that happened some time ago. It was a church that was founded by Pastor Fred Phelps and his children, and descendants played the pivotal role in that church. This church had previously protested at a funeral service for a Iraq's war soldier with the picket saying ‘Thank God for the dead soldier’ and ‘God hates homosexuals.’ At the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Senator John Edwards, who was a vice-president of the Democratic Party in the United States in 2010, they held a protest with a picket saying ‘God, thank you for bringing down breast cancer’ (Internet). Are these true Christians who said these kinds of things at the other people's funerals? Is this the true church where such people gather to worship God? I remember the words of Pastor Dwight Linton, an American missionary who came to our church a long time ago and led a revival meeting. He said that 'There is so much humanism in the Korean church.' Now it seems that rotten smell is stronger than Jesus’ aroma in our Korean churches. Isn’t that why such book like ‘77 Reasons why I Don't Want to Go to Church’ came out? Here are some of the 77 reasons: (1) For young people without church experience: ‘There is no quiet church,’ “I hate the lie that if I believe in Jesus, I will be rich,’ ‘I saw a religious fanatic who destroyed a family,’ ‘A church is a pressure group without concessions.’ (2) For young people with church experience: ‘I hate the incongruity of the corporatized church,’ ‘I have not seen a real believer in the church,’ ‘I hate many hypocrites,’ ‘I like Jesus but I hate church. ‘
In 1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul told the Corinthian church saints, the Christians everywhere, and us that the church is “the church of God.” What does it mean by “the church of God”? It means that the church is not a church that belongs to people and established by them but the church that belongs to God and established only by God (Park). Then what kind of church is the church that is established only by God? God who caused His only begotten Son Jesus to die on the cross and enables those whom He loves and chose before the creation to believe in Jesus who was crucified and risen from dead, called them from this sinful world and make them to be His children are the church of God. According to Acts 20:28, the church of God is ‘the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.’ The church of God is the people who have been bought with the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, who have been forgiven of their sins and become precious children of God. What is the characteristic of this church of God? It is unity. In other words, the church of God is one church as the Holy Trinity God is one (Jn. 17:22). Hence, Apostle Paul refers to the church of God as ‘one body of Christ’ (1 Cor. 12:12, 27). Although there are various members in one body, it is the church that is one body that is made up of many parts – on body of Christ (v. 12). But the characteristic of the people's church is quarrels (1:10, 11) and divisions (12:25).
This morning I had a conversation with Pastor Victor Gomez, who is in charge of the Hispanic Ministry (HM) at our church. And I heard the story of a new sister in Christ in Hispanic Ministry through Pastor Gomez. When she first came to our church and attended the first joint worship, the Korean Ministry (KM), the English Ministry (EM), and the Hispanic Ministry (HM), and she experienced God’s presence and the church was in harmony. When I heard this, I thought that the Lord was faithfully fulfilling His promise of Matthew 16:18, ‘I will build My church.’ And I thanked the Lord. Our church is the Lord’s church. It belongs to the Lord and the church that the Lord has purchased with His precious blood.
Second, the church is “those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy.”
Look at 1 Corinthians 1:2ab – “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, ….” The church is being defiled now. The church is now polluted with all kinds of sinful things. The church is now lost its holiness due to greed, greed, desire, pride, falsehood, conflict, quarrel, sexual depravity, and so on. When I thought about what caused it, I remembered Numbers 11:4 and the book of Judges. When we look at Numbers 11:4, the reason why the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat!” was because the rabble who were among them had greedy desires. What does it mean? Why is the church, God's holy people, lost its holiness and defiled? What is the cause? It is because of those who have greedy desires among us. In other words, the church is being polluted because we who live in the world are being badly influenced by the worldly people who do not believe in Jesus. A similar word is found in the book of Judges. In Judges 1, the Israelites who entered the land of Canaan violated the word of God, and they didn’t drive out the Canaanites completely (Jdg. 1:19, 21, 27, 28, 29, 30 31, 32, 33). As a result, the Canaanites became as “thorns” in the Israelites’ sides and the Canaanites’ gods became their snare (2:3). Although we must live as holy people of God as we live in this filthy, ugly, sinful world, we are not. Although we must cast out all evil, ugly, and evil, and seek the holiness of God, we are not. Rather, the church is now polluted by the dirty and ugly sins of the world. As a result, the church now is being criticized and ridiculed by the people in this world because we are not living a life distinct from the world and not taking the role of light and salt of the world. What is the problem? In a word, the problem is that the church is not separate from the world. The true church of God should be separated from the world. But now the church is in harmony with the world, and there is endless disharmony in the church. This is the Satan's work. Now Satan is exchanging everything upside down (Rom. 1:23). Satan is making the church divided and harmonized with the world.
The church must be holy. The church, the congregation of saints sanctified in Christ Jesus, must be holy. The church has a holy name that God cherishes. Why should the church be holy? What is the reason? The reason is that it is God's will that the church to be holy (1 Thess. 4:3). In other words, our church must be holy because the Lord who is the Head of the Church is holy. This is God's will. Then what is “holy”? The word “holy” means “set apart,” or ‘separate, or distinguish.’ For example, in the tenth plague of Exodus, as God distinguished the Israelites who put sheep’s blood on their doorposts from the Egyptians, God separated the church from the world and sin by the precious blood of Jesus. I remember Exodus 33:14-15 that I meditated on the early Morning Prayer meeting. When we look at that passage, we see Moses praying to God. Moses asked God not to send him and the Israelites up from the place where they were to Canaan unless God Himself will go with them. Why did Moses pray to God like this? Why did he want God to go with them? In verse 16 we find the answer: “… What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” What distinguish the church from the world is because God is with us, the church, and goes with us. This distinctive holy people of God are “saints”. Therefore, the Bible calls us “saints”.
Then how should the life of the saints be?
(1) The saints must love God (life of love).
Look at Psalms 31:23a – “Love the LORD, all his saints! ….” The saint who loves God endures the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Look at Revelation 14:12 – “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”
(2) The saints must fear God (holy life).
Look at Psalms 34:9 – “Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.” The saints who fear God hate evil. Therefore, they obey Ephesians 5:3 – “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.” In a word, the saints do right. Look at Revelation 19:8 – “It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”
(3) The saints must praise God and thank God (life of worship).
Look at Psalm 30:4 – “Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name.” We, as saints, are to present our bodies to God as holy living sacrifices to God. This is the spiritual worship that we should offer to God (Rom. 12:1).
Third and last, the church is all who call on the name of Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at 1 Corinthians 1:2 – “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:” Here, “all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” refers to those who believe in Jesus everywhere, that is the Christians everywhere (Park). Apostle Paul wrote this First Corinthians not only to the Corinthian church saints, but also to all the Christians everywhere. What is the reason? The reason is because the church is one. In other words, Paul wrote this First Corinthians not only to the Corinthian church saints, but also to all the Christians everywhere, because he wanted to emphasize that all of them are one in Jesus. The church is one. Although there are many local churches here and there where believers in Jesus are gathered, the church is one in Jesus Christ. Although there are many different members in the church, the church is the one body of Christ. When I think of this, I wondered why Apostle Paul's Corinthian letter was written not only for the Corinthian church saints, but also for all Christians everywhere. The reason is to teach the Corinthian church saints who were in conflict that the church is one in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, by setting the Corinthian church as an example, Paul wanted to encourage all the churches in everywhere not to be in conflict and be divisive but keep the unity of the one body of Jesus Christ.
These days’ churches seem to have expanded its churchism. The local churches became more inclined to think only of their own churches. The care for other churches was gradually lost. As a result, this idea is prevalent that if our church is fine, it doesn’t matter what happens to other churches. The churches tend to be as if a large market enters a small city and thus all the small shops around it lose their customers, causing the store to suffer and even close. As the larger church continues to grow and expands its local churches with the same name, the small churches around the larger church are struggling. In the midst of this, the small churches seem like actively seeking to bring each other’s church members to their own churches. By doing so, the churches are busy filling up the number of church members in the chapel rather than loving and nurturing one soul with the love of Christ, and raising each soul as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. What do you think? Is it important to fill the chapel with the number of members, or is it important to love one soul with the love of Christ, raise him/her as the Lord-centered leader and send him/her to expand the kingdom of God? We must guard local churchism. And we must not forget that all who believe in Jesus are one body of Christ in the Lord. Although there are many churches, all who believe in Jesus are one in the Lord. Therefore, we should not quarrel, not be in conflicts and fight with each other. Rather, we must love one another with the Lord's love. And we must ask God for the unity of the church, as Jesus prayed in John 17. We must pray to God, 'Lord, may You make all churches one.' We must not show the world that the churches in fights, quarrels, and strife. Rather, we must now strive to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit, believing that all the believers Jesus calls are already one in the Lord (Eph. 4:3). Therefore, we must be the church that shines the light of Jesus in this dark world.
We learned three things about what the church is: (1) The church is the church of God, (2) The church is those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, and (3) The church is all who call on the name of Lord Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that our church will be the Lord’s church that keeps the unity of the Holy Spirit, believing that we are already one in Christ with every believer in every place, as those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy and as those who call on the name of Lord Jesus Christ – the church of God.