“The Benefits of Belonging"
God made you to be loved by Him. But God did not made you just to know and love Him, He also made you to know and love His family—the Church. The word for “church” in the Bible is the Greek word ecclesia. It comes from the word kaleo which means “called.” We’ve talked about five callings on your life. Ecclesia means you’re called out. So the word “church” literally means the group of people who are called by God. The called out. Ecclesia. Called by God. Christianity is based on God’s Word and God’s Word says the church is the called out. In other words church isn’t an event. It isn’t a program. It isn’t a building. If I asked most people, “What do you think church is?” They’d think of a building. Or they think it’s something you go to—“I’m going to church.” Church is not something you go to. Church is something you belong to. It is not an event and it’s not a location. Church is a relationship. We worship here, we have a place here. But the church is the people of God. It’s our relationship. Because God designed his family, the church, to meet your five deepest needs. In fact the church is the only thing that can meet your five deepest needs. God created the entire universe because he wanted a family. And God doesn’t want his children to be orphans. He doesn’t want his children to be street kids. He puts them in the family. That family is called the church. There are many metaphors used in the Bible to refer to the church. Today we will look into five of them, and each metaphor actually has great implications in your life. The Church is called a family, a temple [building], a body, a flock and a garden. Click here to listen to this weeks Sermon.
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