“Where do you go to church?” is a common question within the conversations of cultural Christianity.
An answer that includes a physical address, a large immaculate facility, and a denominational distinctive is usually what is expected (and is usually what is given).
If you are a Christian, the biblical answer is: “I am the church.”
The greek word for church in the New Testament is “Ekklesia.” Far from representing brick and mortar, “ekklesia” primarily means, “called out or called forth.” In the context of the gospel, the church is people who have been “called out” of darkness by God and into His light and new life (1 Peter 2:9). The key is not a building or a geographical location, but believers “called out” by God from eternity past for his glory (2 Timothy 1:9).
In the Old Covenant, the Temple was the center of life and worship for the nation of Israel. It signified the very presence of God and His promise to make Israel a great nation (Exodus 25:8). One of the overarching concerns for King David and his son Solomon during their respective reigns was the building and establishing of a Temple for God’s glory to dwell (1 Kings 8:12-13).
The Temple was such a staple in the religious and cultural life of the Jew that during Jesus’ day there was even a law protecting it against blasphemy. Blasphemy against the temple had just as serious repercussions as blasphemy against God; these were the very charges the Jews made against Stephen, Christianity’s first martyr (Acts 6:13). God and the temple in Jerusalem were inextricably linked in the mind of the Jew.
At Passover, and both Jewish and non-Jewish pilgrims alike from all over the world would come to Jerusalem to seek after God at the Temple. On a yearly basis, millions of pilgrims (according to Josephus) would flock to Jerusalem to appease the God of Israel and offer a sacrifice that would perhaps please Him at His temple. The temple was a crucial national treasure to the Jew that displayed God’s faithfulness to the physical nation of Israel. This makes the radical New Covenant words of Jesus in John 2:18-21 all the more shocking:
Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
The reason your jaw isn’t dropped open right now is because you are not a first century Jew. A Middle Eastern Carpenter’s son just said in effect, “Kill me and I will raise myself up to become the new global meeting place for God.” It’s not incredibly surprising that these words went right over the heads and hearts of the listeners. A common Palestinian under Roman subjection could not be equating himself with the holy Temple of God. Right? In hindsight, the implications of this astonishing statement are clear: Jesus is the meeting place of God for all peoples of all times. Man must flock to Him now in order to appease God. The flawless life, obedience, blood, and resurrection of Christ are now the only way for sinful man to access the holy One of Israel.
Jesus also makes it perfectly apparent to the woman at the well. Location is moot regarding worship of God (John 4:21-24). Not in Jerusalem, not on a mountain, not towards Mecca, and not in a brick building. The over-riding factor in worship is no longer a physical location, but whether it is in Spirit and Truth. “There is coming a time,” says Christ, “when you will not be able to confine God’s glory and presence to a hollow edifice. That time is now with the New Covenant.” Not a pretty building, but a perfect body. Not the paltry sacrifice of goats and doves man may bring, but the perfect sacrifice God brought in the person and work of His Son. That is the only sufficient place for mankind to encounter the King.
But this is not the only awe-inspiring reality of the New Covenant temple. The church is not merely “called out” of death and darkness, but also called into something greater. Now the redeemed have a position of being “in Christ” and apart of His body (Eph 1:22-23). What Christ is and has purchased with His blood He has in return freely given to us. He’s The Temple. But that’s not all. He has also made us temples (1 Cor 3:16-17). Through the Holy Spirit He has made our body/temple the New Covenant dwelling place of God’s presence. Through the redemption of Christ God has given us the indescribable, undeserved privilege of being the holy temple.
Those who meet at the true Temple of God (Jesus Christ) are transformed into mobile representative temples on His behalf.
This is a profound mystery. As with all gospel truths it is a mystery worth claiming and proclaiming whether we feel it or see it or know it as we think we should.
This divine truth exposes how absurd it is when we reduce the church to the geographical stained glass structure we happen to convene at every Sunday. This truth does not negate the reality of the local assembly as part of the ekklesia (1 Thessalonians 1:1), but it does illuminate to us that the ekklesia is gloriously more than just the local assembly (though not less!). We are now the dwelling place of God’s holy presence. We are now the blessed carrier of God’s glory into the world. We are the ones “called out” of a sure deserving death and called into a glorious life in Christ.
We don’t just go to church. We are the church.
Bryan
That’s a solid answer to anyone thinking that Christianity solely resides in what we do on Sunday mornings with pews and offering plates. But I wouldn’t be quick to overgeneralize and take away emphasis from the “assembly” of Christians. For one thing, in the ESV at least, they try to use ‘assembly’ only when talking about general crowds that are not Christian (e.g., meetings of the Pharisees or Jewish elders), but there is at least one time, in Hebrews 12:23, where the “assembly” definitely refers to believers who are in heaven, effectively the universal ekklesia, but that’s minor. A slightly less minor point is that the writers often differentiate between a singular church/ekklesia and plural churches/ekklesiai (e.g., the church in Corinth, and the churches throughout Asia). We are all called out individually by God, yes, but we are also called out corporately into fellowships and bodies wherever we may gather, and I think that is something we can be proud of when asked about “where do we go to church?” in the context of what Christ has done for us. Also, that’d be a bit snarky if somebody new to your city asked you about where to find a good church, and you said, “oh well I am my own church. aren’t you?”
Stephen,
good points! I always enjoy the greek background you bring to the blog.
I probably will modify the “assembly” comment. I didn’t want to communicate that ekklesia could never mean a local assembly, that would be wrong as you assert.
For the record, I wouldn’t recommend responding in that way to anyone either (I don’t!) given the accepted meaning of “church” as it is today.
My main point was our propensity to “under”spiritualize the meaning of church and make it mainly about location (locations sure change for the underground church and did for the early church for that matter); I don’t think it is an overgeneralization to say it is our natural tendency to err towards “doing” rather than “being” regarding the church.
“Church” is such a complex word in our culture, isn’t it! I suppose that, in my limited knowledge and experience, my running “ideal” use of the word would be to refer to our bodies of believers, whenever and wherever we come together (“where two or more or gathered,” as in Matt 18, but that’s probably another blog post as to how that verse is decontextualized!), but not in reference to the beauty of the building but the beauty of our relationships together. I read from a dechurched agnostic once, affirming John 17 in a weird way, “Most atheists and some agnostics have come to a place where they’re comfortable with the fact that they won’t go on forever. So, you [Christians] need to offer them something they can see. The only asset you really have is your community.” One of my favorite passages has to be Ephesians 4. One of the verses that is kinda stuck in the middle of all the grand passages about the unity of God, the purpose of pastors, the darkness of the unsaved, and random stuff like grieving the Holy Spirit, is Ephesians 4:25 (the Beck paraphrase): “don’t lie to each other, because you’re of the same body.” He gets a lot more specific in chapter 5 and 6 how we should relate to each other, but that verse always packed enough punch on its own for me – we are all members together of one body; how much disrespect for Christ, the cross, and the Temple that is in all our brothers do we show when we do not respect each other enough to give basic decencies like telling the truth? … …. Thanks for the great blog post!
I am……..Hiland Park Baptist Church.
Love ya Bryan! =)
stu your comments bring so much to this blog….thanks for your input
Anthony, I could call you a bunch of names in Greek, but I am going to take the high road. I enjoyed seeing you at Ekklesia last night, by the way.