My Church
I understand what people mean when they use the phrase “my church.” I guess that you could say that the phrase is used in somewhat of an accommodative sense. They are basically talking about the people with whom they worship on a regular basis. At the same time, all of us might want to consider the fact that “my church” is found only one time in The New Testament.
As devoted to spreading the gospel as Paul was, he never used that expression. As close to Jesus as John was, neither did he. The same thing could be said about all of the men who were inspired to write the books found in The New Testament — with one interesting and important exception.
Matthew is the only New Testament author to use that phrase, but he quoting Jesus who said:
“…I will build my church…” (Matthew 16:18)
As we continue to read the New Testament, we can learn a lot of information about that church. Among those things are the following:
- Jesus paid for it with His blood (Acts 20:28)
- The church is the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23, 5:23; Col. 1:18)
- Jesus is the head of His body/church (Eph. 1:22-23, 5:23; Col. 1:18)
- He is the Savior of the body/church (Eph. 5:23)
While I can (and do) appreciate the people with whom I worship and work, I should (and do) understand that it does not belong to me – either in the local or universal sense. Because of God’s grace, all people have the opportunity to be a part of the church that Jesus has every right to claim as His.
Why would anybody want to claim otherwise? For that matter, why would anybody want to wear any name but His?
AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
