We are starting today in a series called Church Matters. It'll be seven messages. Church Matters actually has a double meaning. We're going to be talking about matters of the church and we're going to be arguing that church does really matter in the sense that it is important.

So, what is the church and why is the church important? How is the church to function? What does it do? What are we supposed to do as part of the church?

These are the kind of questions we will be dealing with. Now, one issue as we get started with this is the whole word “church.” What is the meaning of church? So often we talk about the word church as though it's a building. So we say, “well, I'll meet you at the church” and what we mean is the building in which we meet. Or sometimes we talk about church as the service. Did you go to church today? Meaning, did you attend the service today? And we call that church. And other times we understand that it's a gathering of believers, which it is. Sometimes we talk about the church, the capital C church, which is the gathering of believers worldwide. So everyone in the world who is a believer in Christ is part of the capital C church. And some people kind of have dropped the church and they say things like, well my church is on the golf course on Sunday morning. So, it's fun to say that's really not your church.

Okay, that's something else entirely. What is church? Well, there's a word, the Greek word for church is “ecclesia.” It literally means “called out ones.” That's the literal meaning of two words put together there. It means assembly or congregation, gathering of believers in one place. That is what the church is, a gathering or an assembly. And that goes back to the Old Testament as well.

The assembly of the people of God, and that word is used in that way, as well. So we're going to start this morning at the beginning and say that the gospel creates the church. The good news is that God has been and God is active and engaged in the world, and God is calling people to himself, and God is transforming lives. God is at work, and because he's at work, there is a church. The church is not our idea.

The church is not established in a human way. It is God's idea, and God has established the church. So today we see that God's grace in the person and the work of Jesus Christ is the power that establishes and maintains the people of God.

It's the grace of God. It's God's power that brings the life-changing conversion in our hearts and draws people together as the church. It's God's power that does that. And we'll consider how this grace, the power of grace works in our present lives, both in our collective body as the church and also individually as well. And we'll consider how we can access the power of God's grace.

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