The Holy Catholic Church

The Holy Catholic Church

Ephesians 2:18-22

Now let’s be clear, all who are in Christ and He is in them, are the Church, let us be well-defined on what the Church of Jesus Christ is and is not.  First, it is not your denomination it is much bigger than that.  As a young man Jan and I were talking with Major Ian Thomas and in that, we had returned from England, I was an expert on the Church in England, (joke,) but I did say the Church of England seems so dead.  The Major looked at me and said: “ Young man the Church of England is powerful and very small, it is not like the promotional Church in the U.S.A. that shows up on Sunday morning but is not seen Monday through Saturday.”  I was very much aware he had just told me off, and it stuck with me in that I can recall it after all these years.

So what is the Church, look at Ephesians 2:18-22, “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” 

This Scripture teaches us that the Church’s foundation is Jesus Christ and built on the apostles and prophets, and you and I are that holy temple in the Lord.  The Church is one Spirit and is one body.  The apostle Peter makes this insight in 1 Peter 2:9-10, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Now it took me years to believe God included me in the chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for his own possession, because of my performance, and feelings, not by the authority of Scriptures.  Jesus calls us a friend; have you entered into a friendship with Jesus?  The Father has a name for each of us we are His Children, and He knows our names.  We are of many races and backgrounds, but we are all one family, the Church, it has many members, but it is one body.

A quote from a great teacher; “Paul isn’t saying the church is a building made out of mortar and brick, but that we are the stones, the living stones, as 1 Peter 2:5 tells us. Each believer is part of this church just as each stone is part of a building. The church, the new temple, is still under construction. Every day, new stones are added. This new temple will not be finished until Jesus returns to consummate His kingdom. Christ is still building His church, not by adding cement but by adding people who are the stones that hold together in Him.” (R.C. Sproul)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice