1) 1 Cor. 2:13 says God has used “spiritual terms” to communicate “spiritual truths.”
2) If we are going to know God and know what is right, there are some words we need to know.
3) One of the words on God’s vocabulary list is the word “church.”
4) This is the word we want to think about this morning. What is the church?
5) The church is a “spiritual body.”
a) The world often understands the word “church” as a physical structure.
b) People “go to church” to worship.
6) The church is not a place where go; the church is a body of people.
7) The church is a group of people that is closely connected to Jesus Christ.
a) One might think that if Jesus is the head of the church, there will not be any problems.
b) If the head (Christ) is perfect, will not the body (the church) be perfect? No.
c) In 1 Cor. 11:18 Paul said the Corinthians were gathering “in the church.”
8) Archaeology suggests that church buildings as we know them were built about 100 years after Acts 2.
9) As we look at Corinth, we see the word “church” being used in the sense of a local congregation.
10) There was the church at Thessalonica, the churches of Galatia, the church at Philippi, etc.
11) In addition to describing a local congregation, the word “church” is used in some other ways.
a) Sometimes this term describes all the saved.
b) Listen to what Paul said in Eph. 5:23 – READ
c) Jesus is the “savior of the church.”
12) This point is not well understood by the world.
a) The world often struggles with knowing who is in the church and who is not.
b) At funerals it is common to hear a preacher to speak of a non-religious person in a favorable way.
c) Eph. 5 tells us that Jesus is the savior of the church (those who are in Jesus’ spiritual body).
13) Someone might say, “How do I come to Christ and this thing called the church?
14) We first have to be taught.
a) This is what we see in Acts 2, a place that mentions the church.
b) Acts 2:22.
c) Peter said, “hear these words.” What words, Peter? “Jesus of Nazareth.”
15) A time came when Jesus died – verse 23 – READ
a) Acts 20:28 adds that Christ “purchased the church with His blood.”
b) In Acts 20 church and Christ go together, just as we find in Acts 2.
16) Verse 32 in this chapter – READ
17) Jesus has been “raised up.” What is the Lord doing now since He is no longer in the grave?
18) We heard one of His activities earlier from Eph. 5 – He is now the head of His church.
19) This information was shocking news for these people on the Day of Pentecost.
20) Verse 37 – READ
21) Earlier it was noted how we must come to Christ. Verse 38 – READ
22) These people wanted to do what was right – let’s see what these believers did – verse 41 – READ
23) Christ was preached; do we see the church in this chapter?
24) Verse 47 – READ
25) The “Lord” (Jesus) “added to them.”
26) What would Jesus be adding people to? What institution is Jesus in charge of?
27) We have already answered this question from Eph. 5—it is the church.