Does the Church Still Matter? – More than a Building

How many of you remember as a little kid, maybe in children’s church or Sunday school somewhere, folding your hands together, holding your index fingers up against one another, and repeating: “this is the church, this is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people”? While that was a cute little idea to pass along to kids, the actual lesson there is a bit mistaken. We need to understand that when we say “the church still matters,” what exactly are we talking about?

For many, what comes to mind when they hear the word church? A building. An institution. An organization. I don’t know about you, but I don’t find those definitions very compelling. We must turn to the Bible to see how the church is defined there.

In Matthew 16, Jesus is having a discussion with His disciples about who people say that He actually is. They give their answers, some say this, others this…but then Jesus turns the question towards them. “But what about you?” he asked, “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15) Peter gives a great answer in the next verse, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16) Jesus then uses this as an opportunity to talk about the church. Check out the back half of Matthew 16:18: “…on this rock I will build MY church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Emphasis added on the “MY” of Jesus)

First thing about the church we notice from this passage of Scripture? It is Jesus’ church. It isn’t our church. It isn’t our family’s church. It isn’t our pastor’s church or the leaders’ church or any of the other qualifiers we give to it. It belongs to Jesus and we should realize that more often than we probably do.

We need to understand that in any discussion about the church “still mattering” is that it definitely does to Jesus. The building doesn’t matter. The sound and lightning systems do not matter. Whether you sit in pews, chairs, theater seats, on the ground, or even stand the whole time doesn’t matter. It is the people who make up the church that matter to Jesus. If we had to do it right in that little illustration I began this post with, the church is actually not the folded hands and steeple…the church is what we see when we open the doors: it is all the people!

The people that Jesus purchased with His own blood.

The people that Jesus loved and gave His life for.

The people that Jesus is reconciling to the Father and one another, redeeming and forgiving from sin, and rescuing from destructive patterns of living that keep us from His intended best for us.

The second thing about the church we notice from this passage is the choice of the word Matthew assigns to Jesus: ekklesia (Greek). Literally, this word means those called out. If we go by this definition, what has the church (the people of Jesus) been called out of?

We’ve been called out of sin and into His righteousness.

We’ve been called out of darkness and into His light.

We’ve been called out of dead ways of living and into new life.

We’ve been called out of the world and into His Kingdom.

Taken like this, the church is greater than the space where the meet or the structures that govern them. The church is the called out, blood washed, born again people of God in this world sent to declare hope in Jesus, life in His name, and freedom to those held captive in sin and shame. That’s compelling. That’s life-changing. That matters today and will continue to matter until Jesus returns.