Church Begins At Home Pt. 3
True church life begins when we become the church. It’s one thing to attend a church service; it’s another to truly be part of the Body of Christ. Just as you cannot join a family without being born into it, you cannot join the Body of Christ unless you are born of God (John 1:13; 1 Peter 2:3). Being a member of a church’s roll doesn’t equate to belonging to the mystical Body of Christ. To belong to Christ, you must be baptized into His Body.
As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” The true Church of Christ is not merely an organization, but a living organism. While many may join church organizations, few, and I emphasize few, are actually part of the living Body of Christ. As Jesus said, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).
No one can truly belong to the Body of Christ unless they belong to Christ Himself (Eph. 2:13-15), acknowledging Him as their Savior and confessing Him as Lord (Romans 10:9), possessing His Spirit (Romans 8:9), and being controlled by that Spirit (Romans 8:14). Becoming sons of God (John 1:12) and living by the faith of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20) are vital aspects of belonging to His Body.
The Church takes its identity from Christ. The Body must resemble the Head—it must represent Him, and exist for Him. There is no true understanding of the Church without understanding Christ—who He is, His mission, His passion, and His desires. The truth about the Church is the revelation of who Jesus is (Matthew 16:16-18).
The Church is built on the foundation of Christ, with His purpose and mission at the core. To live as the Church, we must know our Messiah, understand His message, and be driven by His mission.
The Church represents the new man of God in Christ. Just as God created mankind in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26), so the Church, the collective body of all born-again believers and disciples of Christ, is created in the image of Christ.
There can be no “doing church” without truly being the Church, without being in Christ. The Church, as His Body, is connected to Him, and exists as the fulfillment of His earthly mission.
As Ephesians 4:15-16 reminds us: “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
~ Toby Osuobeni
