And he (God) put all things under his (Jesus) feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1:22
“The church” is not the building we attend on Sunday mornings BUT RATHER an -
1577 ekklēsía(from 1537 /ek, "out from and to" and 2564 /kaléō, "to call") – properly, people called out from the world and to God, the outcome being the Church (the mystical body of Christ) – i.e. the universal (total) body of believers whom God calls out from the world and into His eternal kingdom.
[The English word "church" comes from the Greek word kyriakos, "belonging to the Lord" (kyrios). 1577 /ekklēsía ("church") is the root of the terms "ecclesiology" and “ecclesiastical."]
HELPS WORD STUDY DICTIONARY
The first New Testament reference to this Greek word, ekklesia, is found in the words of Jesus from Matthew 16:18, where, following Peter’s revelation, Jesus says he will build ‘my church’ and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
I believe if we hold a right biblical mindset about what ‘his church’ actually is, we would align our expectations with what is required of us as His body corporate and members individually. Throughout the coming weeks, I would like to examine with you some biblical realities of His church so we could, knowing and believing, become something greater than mere men and women.
This week, let us simply note the Greek word for church again -
ekklēsía(from 1537 /ek, "out from and to" and 2564 /kaléō, "to call") – properly, people called out from the world and to God.
From Colossians 1:13 we actually see the reality of ‘out from and into’
He has delivered us from darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son….
From Colossians chapter one we learn all things were created through him and for him, (speaking of Jesus). He is before all things and in him all things are held together. He is the head of the body, the church and his creative and redemptive work has given him the right to be preeminent in everything.
Jesus is the head of his body, the church, and we become the ekklesia as members individually of his body, called out from the world and into His kingdom.
We did not choose him, but he chose us; Ephesians 1:4, John 15:16, and our decision to acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour gave us entrance into His family. Under his leadership and direction, Jesus begins building his church.
We are the living stones Peter writes about in 1 PETER 2: that are being built into a spiritual house. We have become the temple of the living God who desires to live in and among us, expressing His life and nature into the world through us. Just as Jesus physical body was the express image of God as he walked on the earth, ‘the church’ now has this role and responsibility.
Romans 12:1 reminds us therefore, to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and and acceptable to God which is our reasonable service or true spiritual worship.
Being born again is the first step we take ‘out from’ and ‘into” Him. The next steps begin a lifetime of becoming sons and daughters conformed to His image and growing up into Him in all things.
Next week -
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
1 Timothy 3:14