9/6 Ignite- All Greek to Me: Ekklesia (Church)

Devotion- Jared Graves

Intro

• What do you think a definition of church would be?
• What do you think a definition of church should be?

Devotion

• Today’s word is “ekklesia” or “church”. We have really screwed up the original idea of church. We have made a local selection of believers.
• There is a misconception that church means to be “called out”. That is not what ekklesia means. FJA Hort points out that ekkelsia means “summoned out”. People are summoned out of their homes to come and meet with God. Now, the summons is not for a selective number of individuals either. It is a summon for every man to come and listen to and act out the word of God.
• William Barclay- “The Church…is a body of people, not so much assembling because they have chosen to come together but assembling because God called them to himself; not so much assembling to share their own thoughts and opinions, but assembling to listen to the voice of God”

Application

• With this in mind, how does it change your view of “church”?
• You are going to explore some aspects of the church in your M&M time. I pray that today, you come away with a greater sense of “Church” and what it truly means.

M&M Discussion

William Barclay says this: “Any group of Roman citizens, meeting anywhere throughout the world, would be called “an assembly of Roman citizens.” Wherever they were meeting, they were a part of the great conception of Rome. They had no meaning apart from Rome; they were part of a great unity.”

Please note that throughout the NT, “ekklesia” is NEVER used to describe a building!

Relate this to the church. How should we view what we do here at BGCC and how we view our local church?

Three relationships in the New Testament church: 1) Human relationships- 1 Thessalonians 1:1- Men & women are the bricks out of which the edifice of the church is built. 2) “The Church of God”- 1 Corinthians 1:2- The Church belongs to God and comes from God. 3) “The Church of Christ”- Christ is the head of the Church- Ephesians 5:23-24, The Church is the Body of Christ- Colossians 1:24

An Indian once described the Church as “The Church which carries on the life of Christ." Do you think that we do that?

Since “Church” does not describe a building, then Church happens everywhere, even in your homes. How can you make your home a Church?