Church the word church brings to mind so many concepts.

I can say that I grew up and got married at this and that Church. Now I am part of the Harvester Reformational church. I can also say that I will meet you at church next week. This morning I want to look at the concept and benefits of the “church”.

Listen to this sermonFoundation
I suppose the first thing that one looks at is the foundation of the church.

1 Cor 3:11
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

That I believe is the essence of the foundation. Jesus Christ died for you and me yes. He also died to establish His church. Establishing His church was part of the salvation plan. I firmly believe that the church was part of the plan and not just a by product.

Yet is there more to this foundation than this? Is there more to the foundation than we might think? I believe that there is.

One can define the church as a group of people get together once a week or so and go through the routine of a Sunday service in what ever format they deem to be correct. Beyond that you can say that it has to do with you membership to the particular church which is much akin to your membership at any club. For the most the church is an invisible body. It is a concept that we use and talk about, but never quite understand. This morning I believe that I we are going to come to a new understanding regarding the church.

How does one become part of this body called the church how do we enter into the church? I believe the answer lies in Simon Peters exchange with Jesus after He asks His disciples “who they say I am”

Matthew 16:13-18 (NKJV)

13When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Now we can look at this scripture from many angles, but I want focus on one aspect. One part of Jesus’ answer to Peter, “and on that rock I will build My church”. What is Jesus saying in all of this? We can get into a word study, but that is not the point the point here is Peter’s revelation of whom Jesus is. It is this revelationary knowledge of who Jesus is that is the foundation of the church. I believe that the entrance point into the church is when each one of us has a revelation of who Jesus is to us. I can tell you that I believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. Yet until it has been revealed to you by the Holy Spirit it is not revelationary knowledge to you.

There is an interesting scripture in Deut 29:29 which says
Deuteronomy 29:29 (NKJV)
29“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Once this truth has been revealed to us no one can take it away. I believe that this is the reason why the gates of Hell cannot prevail against the church. Because if we now redefine the church as a group of people who have had this revelation, and this revelation and truth cannot be taken from them then the gates of hell will never prevail. I am more convinced today of the nature and Lordship of Jesus than I have ever being. No one, no circumstances, no nothing can take away who Jesus is to me.

It is people who stand with me that believe what I believe with a firm strong conviction that is the church of Jesus Christ the Church of the first born I firmly believe that.

Why the church?
I read a Christian living today survey where they ask some people “do you need to belong to a local body?” All except one said “yes”, but none of them gave the correct answer as to why.

So we all believe in Jesus Christ as our lord and saviour, and have the revelational knowledge of who Jesus is, so I belong to the church at large, so why is it important to belong to a local body?

A couple of years ago I ran my own little software company. It was me myself and I, all three of me doing everything. I would go to the client hear what he wants then come back and program away then take the software back and forth. That was one problem, the other problem was that I had no one to teach me more about software development. What I longed for was a team of developers, some seniors, some juniors where I could learn and develop my programming skills. The need for interaction with other developers was one of my motivating factors for closing down the business and going to work for a development team.

One the way back from London on my last trip I watched a documentary called Sophia town. It was about the people of the suburb called Sophia town which the apartheid government destroyed and build white houses and renamed it “Triumph” It was a sad indictment against South Africa. Yet it told the story of many of the musicians living and working in Sophia town, namely Miriam Makeba, Hugh Musakela, and others. Even our ex-President Madiba worked in Sophia town as a lawyer.

What they said was that before the evictions it was a hot bed of musical expression. There where nights when the musicians would play together and learn, encourage and develop there musical skill and expressions together. As they worked and played together out of those “jam” session’s new music was birthed. This was lost after the evictions, this ability to create together. This creativity was destroyed, not only that, but many musicians where destroy along with it, as they had no place to work and no group to work in. They become alcoholics and dropouts.

I want to share a revelation that I have had about the church, the local body.

John 15:1-8 (NKJV)
1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

I want to go through this backwards it says in verse 4, that we cannot bear fruit unless we abide in the vine. Now I am going to read a scripture and I want to ask you how you abide in the vine?

Romans 12:4-5 (NKJV)
4For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

I have always thought of abiding as spending time in the word and in