Yeah, before we get going, last night, Carmen and I and some people from South Africa went to go watch the rugby South Africa played against Ireland, and we actually watched it in an Irish pub. And it was quite interesting. We sat next to a guy from England and he was there alone. I'm guessing he's in his 60s and he was just taking beer after beer after beer and you saw several people like this who were there alone. And I was just reminded last night as we were with a group of friends and it was really nice that we really live in a lonely world and the fact that we can come to a place to gather and meet together on a Sunday is a real blessing for us. And perhaps, you know, some of you guys throughout the week or in Norway, I know a lot of us are expats, feel lonely. This truly is our church, our home, and we would love it for you to feel like that. And so as we consider today what the church is and what it means to be the church, I was just really encouraged last night to be like, even though this is really nice, I never have to worry. Like every Sunday when we meet here, we're gathered as family, we have a meal together. And so there really is no excuse as it were to be lonely if you are part of the people of God. And so that was just a great encouragement. But as Matt said, I'll be preaching on the church and what it means to be the church. What do we speak about when we refer to the church? So when I say the church, what is the first picture that comes to mind? Perhaps you think it's a building. We move from the clarion to here, that's what it means to be the church. Perhaps you think of an organization, sort of a business, something that they get some money, they spend money. If Christians have a 10% at the end of the month, they maybe give something to an organization. But a recent US survey interestingly read that church attendance after COVID went down 34%. The average being much higher than that, went down 34%. And one of the big reasons for this is people just didn't feel that they needed to gather anymore. They said that the percentages keep on lowering every 10 years, and then after COVID, it just went down massively. But it's quite interestingly that they say that when they look at church attendance, they refer to church, synagogue, mosque, or temple in the past seven days. So at least from a worldly perspective, the church is just like any other religious gathering place. It's a place where you go when you're a Christian. It's a place just like a synagogue or a mosque or a temple. But as you remember last week, Matt used a word called ecclesia when he referred to the church, and this word means called out ones, essentially those called out from the world. And in the next two weeks I'll be focusing on what it means when we speak about the church. Now today will be a fundamental or foundational understanding of the church, and then next week we will look at the practical implications of the church, what it means and how it practically should look. But today I want to examine and explain the most fundamental part about the church. It's the fact that the church belongs to Christ. The church is not the property of the Pope, a pastor, a denomination, or anything else than Christ. The church is first and foremost the property of Christ, which is why the sermon title for today is The Lord's Bride, The Lord's Bride. Now in your worship folders, under notes, you'll see that I gave you a definition of the church. Now, I mean there are various definitions of the church, but I want you to use that definition as a sort of working definition for today's sermon and next week's sermon. The definition will become a lot more clear in the next two weeks. But the definition reads, the church is a holy Catholic Christian congregation consisting of believers who are united to Christ, their head, and to each other by a special bond. This work is done by the Holy Spirit who has called them through the word of God and separated them from the world. This work is manifested by their loving commitment to Christ and his bride and by striving side by side for his glory. So today we'll examine this first sentence, the fact that the church is a holy, Catholic, Christian congregation consisting of believers who are united to Christ, their head, and to each other by a special bond. So as I mentioned before, the word for church literally means called out ones. It means that the church is a group of people who have been called out. Called out from where? Called out from the world. Called out from perhaps Judaism or atheism or Islam. But it's a group of people who are called out from something or somewhere into a body, into Christ. Called out by him. And we call this a holy congregation because it is an assembly of those who are united to Christ. Those who are holy. Those who are set apart. The word holy means set apart so we are a holy a set apart congregation or meeting together of a people and so when we speak about the church we don't just speak about an organization even though the church operate somewhat as a business with business hours and budget sheets and timetables and such. And the church certainly isn't just a place even though we gather as a group of people in a place. But today I want to have us see that the church is fundamentally a people. A people who belong to Jesus. And this belonging will be seen in two points or two images as it were today. The first being that the church is the bride of Christ and the second that the church is the body of Christ. So these two images will be explained today and these are also our two main points. The church being the bride of Christ and the church being the body of Christ. So when we speak about the church as the bride of Christ in the New Testament, we actually find scriptures that refer to Jesus as the bridegroom before the church is even mentioned as the bride. Take, for example, John 3.29, where John the Baptist calls himself a friend of Jesus, saying, the one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. But John is not the only one who calls Jesus the bridegroom. Jesus himself calls him the bridegroom in Matthew 9, 15, when he calls himself the bridegroom, criticizing the Pharisees, saying, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. So it's clear, Jesus is the bridegroom, who is his bride. And what does this mean? As we read this morning in Ephesians 5, Jesus is the bridegroom of the church, who is the bride. And that imagery is the same as a husband and a wife. But what exactly does this mean? I mean, it's a metaphor used to explain their relationship. I mean, it's a beautiful idea. But what does it mean for Jesus to be the bridegroom and the church to be the bride? Well, firstly, I think it means that Jesus loves the church. I think it's quite clear in this Ephesians passage, at least, that it tells husbands to love their wives as Jesus loves the church. So I think, first and foremost, when we speak about Jesus being the bridegroom, we should view it as meaning that Jesus loves the church. And how does he love her? Well, we were told that he loved the church, that he gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water and the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So firstly, then, the love of Christ is seen in him giving his life for his bride. His love is seen in him giving his life for his bride. But verse 26 also speaks about a sort of sanctification that comes. So Paul moves away from how husbands are to love their wives in a self-loving way. He sort of leaves that completely behind and he brings the relationship of Jesus to his church in full sight, saying that Jesus is cleansing the church of her sins, of her wrinkles, of her spots, in order that she might be holy and blameless and be his own possession. You see, the reason Jesus has set apart the church for his own possession is that he might make her as he is, without spot or blemish. He set the church apart so that he might make the church as he is, holy, without defilement. And how does this look for the church? Well, we use this word regeneration, which means an inward change wrought by the Holy Spirit. So one of the ways in which Jesus cleanses the church is through this work of regeneration by the Spirit, where the Spirit cleanses us from our sins, making us holy, making us pure, that we might be presented to Christ. holy and blameless, and that he might present us as his people without spot or blemish. So in this passage, we do not only just see Jesus dying for the church, acquiring the church as his own possession, but we see his love also manifested that he doesn't leave the church as she is, but he regenerates this church. He cleanses her, he washes her, that she might be a spotless bride. I mean, any husband would do that. I mean, if your wife came home full of mud, dirty perhaps, playing outside with the children and she's just tired, any husband would then cleanse his wife, wash her feet, make sure that she's spotless. And we see this in the work of Christ as well. And I mean, if you think about it, all of the great love stories or movies that we watch echo this reality. A person laying down their life for somebody, not leaving them as they are trying to change them. Almost every rom-com has a sort of element of this. But it's because the world recognizes that self-sacrificial love is one of the primary ways in which love is shown. A love that serves and cleanses and presents and seeks to present the person you love as better than they were before is the way in which Christ loves his church. But we see While he gives himself and cleanses her, there are other ways in which Christ loves his church. One of them is that he doesn't leave the church alone. Matthew 28 tells us, Jesus sending the disciples saying that, I'm with you always to the end of this age. It means that Jesus doesn't just leave his church, but that he's always with her. That's why he gave us the Holy Spirit, that his church might never be alone. But he also supplies every need. of his bride. Philippians 4.19 we read that God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in the glory of Christ Jesus. So he's with his bride but he also supplies every need that she might want or need. And he also protects her as any good husband would. 2 Thessalonians 3.3 tells us that he the Lord will establish you and guard you against the evil one. So you see, when we speak about the church being the bride of Christ, Christ really does give us as husbands a model for how to love our wives, not only in the self-sacrificial love that we should, but also in protecting and guarding, providing, looking after her. And so it's clear, at least in the New Testament, And as we read in Isaiah and the Old Testament that Christ loves his church. And so I find it very strange when I hear people say, I really like Jesus, but I don't like Christians. I really like the bridegroom, but I don't like his bride. I mean, how would you like if somebody comes up to you and say, you know, you're a really great guy, but man, I hate your wife. Yeah, exactly. Nobody would stand for that, yet you hear so many people say that. Jesus is amazing, but I really don't like the church. How can you not love the church if Christ loves her? I mean, we are called to love the things that God loves and hate the things that God hates. And yet, so many people who call themselves Christians do not love the thing for which Christ gave his life for. Christ loved the church to the point of death, And we are just ignorant about his bride. You know, this is why I'm very hesitant to badmouth other churches. You know, yes, we should warn people about churches with bad doctrine and churches with perverted gospel practices. But I find it a very scary thing to badmouth a church which might form the bride of Christ for which he died. I mean, how would you respond to that? How would you respond to somebody badmouthing your wife? And so when we consider the church and Christ's love for her, we really should consider our thoughts and actions towards her. We really should consider how we speak about Christ's church and how we act and pray for her. So secondly then, the church firstly is seen as the bride of Christ in his love for her, but secondly, the church is seen as beautiful The church is seen as beautiful just as a glowing bride is dressed in a white gown on her wedding day. The church is portrayed as a bride, pure, splendid, radiantly beautiful because of the work of Christ. And though we are made up of sinful people, as Matt said, we're dirty and messy sheep, we see in scripture that God sees his church made whole. holy, glorious, and graciously freed from all the stains of sin that might entangle us currently. And we see this in the Old Testament, right? We see the people of God portrayed as a wife, an adulterous wife who just runs away, a prostitute wife, yet God as the ever-loving and ever-faithful husband is faithful to his wife who just runs away all the time. And, you know, we're reminded that even though we as individuals who form this body of Christ, even though we stumble in sin and cause spots and wrinkles on this bride of Christ, He is faithful to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So when we look at the Church, we really need to have a God perspective, as it were, about the Church who will be perfected in glory, because this is how Christ views her. The Church, in our experience, really falls short, doesn't it? I mean, the Church has many spots and wrinkles, we can all point them out. And this is something which C.S. Lewis actually picks up in his Screwtape Letters. I'm not sure if any of you have read it, but it's really an interesting book written as a dialogue between two demons. It's a letter written by an older demon to a younger demon. to explaining to him how to convince a newly converted Christian not to be a Christian anymore. So he sort of gives you a backdrop understanding of the work of demons and how they want to convince Christians that other Christians are bad or how they should fall. But in The Screwtape Letters, it's really interesting where the demon draws this contrast between the church, in C.S. Lewis's words, spread out through all time and space rooted in eternity, and the church in ordinary life. And I'm going to read you some of this because I really think it is, it's very profound, and it's certainly the experience of a lot of people. So, this is C.S. Lewis' words in the Screwtape Letters. It's, again, one demon writing to another demon. He writes, one of our great allies at present is the church. Do not misunderstand me, I do not mean the church as we see her spread out through all time and space, rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately, it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished sham Gothic building, and when he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with an oily expression on his face, bustling to give him one of a shiny book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and a shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics. They're mostly bad and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks around him, he sees a selection of his neighbors who he has hitherto avoided. You will want to lean pretty heavily on these neighbors. Make his mind flip to and fro between an expression like the body of Christ and the actual faces next to him in the pew. It matters very little, of course, what kind of people the next pew really contains. You may know one of them to be a great warrior on the enemy side. No matter, your patient, thanks to our father below, is a fool. Provided that one of these neighbors sing out of tune or have their boots squeak, have double chins or odd clothes, our patient will quickly believe that their religion must somehow be ridiculous. At this present stage, you see, our patient has an idea of Christians in his mind, which he supposes to be spiritual, but in fact is largely pictorial. His mind is full of togas and sandals and armor and bare legs. And the mere fact that the other people in the church wear normal clothes is, of course, an unconscious difficulty to him. Never let this come to the surface. Never let him ask what he is expected to look like. Keep everything hazy in mind. And you will have enough time to amuse him with a peculiar kind of clarity which hell affords. And this is where I want you to hear. He tells the demon, work hard then on the disappointment or anti-climax, which is certainly coming to the patient during his first few weeks as a churchman. I mean, how true is this of our society? How true is this of so many in our church who come to church for several weeks and you realize the other people in the pews are just as sinful as you? Or perhaps you get to know your pastor and you're like, oh wow, he's actually not perfect. And this is the cause of so many people leaving church. They expect everybody to be perfect around them. They expect the church of Christ to be spotless, only, you know, not them as much. But I think when we look at this contrast between how the church is portrayed in eternity and throughout space and time and our personal experience, it could really help us when we look at other church members, or better yet, when we look at ourselves. When we consider what Christ has done to such unpromising material, such as we, we can have a lot more grace for the people sitting around us, and especially for our pastors. Realizing that the day when Christ comes back, he's coming back for a glorified church. He's coming back in glory. And these people, according to Paul and the Lord in Ephesians 1, are a people that God chose before the foundation of the world. He's coming back for a people that he knows even before we knew ourselves. And even greater than this, Romans 5.8 tells us that he loved us while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So perhaps the next time when you sit next to somebody in the church and you're like, man, I heard they're really sinful, be reminded that Christ died for you while you were still a sinner. Christ viewed you as worthy to die for while you were still a sinner. This should give us a lot more grace for the people around us. And so we as believers really need to keep this tension of the already not yet in mind when we think about the church. Yes, the church as we experience it currently is full of sinful people. There are a lot of spots and wrinkles. But when we look at Revelation, we see what Christ will come back for. We see Revelation 19. It tells us about the glorious future that is to come. Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. The bride will be ready when Christ comes back. He will make sure of it. Revelation 21 verse 2 tells us about this glorious moment when the bride appears. And I saw a holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. All of this should remind us that Christ is currently preparing his bride for his return, and he sees her beauty. Perhaps we do not, and then we will fall in the trap set by the enemy and his demons by focusing on the broken parts of the church, the spots and wrinkles, the areas that irritate you, the areas that you feel uneasy about, and thereby not seeing things as Christ sees them. We continue to focus on the things that are wrong. We do not see things as Christ sees them. So to move on then to the second image for this morning, the first being the church being the bride of Christ. Secondly then, the church is also called the body of Christ. So in the Ephesians 5 passage that Matt read, We saw that Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. And we see this also in 1 Corinthians 12, where we read that the body has many parts, but all its many parts form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one spirit to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, and we were all given one spirit to drink. Even so, the body is not made up of one part, but many. Now, if the foot would say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not be for that reason to stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not, for that reason, stop being a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, Where would be the sense of smell? But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. And then jumping down to verse 27, Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you a part of it. And God has placed in the church, first of all, apostles, second, prophets, third, teachers, miracles, gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have the gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. So what does this mean? Jesus being the body and us forming parts of the body. I mean, this is a strange way of explaining, sort of eyes speaking to ears, feet speaking to hands. Well, I think first and foremost, it means that Christ is the head of the church. This means he determines how things work. It's quite simple. Christ determines how things work in his church. He determines how his bride should be governed. And so one of these ways, that we see in scripture is that the church is to have elders. There are three passages, Acts 14, 23. We see, and when they had appointed elders in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. So in the early church, in the book of Acts, we see elders being appointed in every church. And we see this in Titus 1, verse 5. This is why I left you in Creek, Paul speaking to Titus here. so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you." So again, Paul speaking to Titus, telling him, the reason I left you in Crete is that you might appoint elders. And in 1 Timothy 5 verse 17, we see that the elders who rule should be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. So we see that elders are to rule the church, they are to govern the church, and especially those who preach and teach. So there's a difference between those who just govern the church and we see there's a special function or a special office of elders in the church, those who preach and teach. And I would say this is sort of the second way in which Christ rules his church. It's by shepherds or through pastors. When we look at the word for pastor in the New Testament, Ephesians 4.11 tells us that he gave us apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastor-teachers. And many people would say that this position, pastor-teacher, is spiritual shepherd of a particular local church. So where do people get this idea? Where do people get this idea that we would have shepherds over us, or pastor-teachers? And I think when we look at John 21, Verse 15 to 17, we see Jesus actually asking this thing of Peter. After their breakfast, Jesus comes to Peter and he says, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Peter said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, 10, my sheep. Jesus said to Peter the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. It's clear therefore that Jesus expects the feeding of his sheep to be done at the hands of other shepherds. We can call him the head shepherd if you want, the chief operating shepherd. But he has under shepherds. He has under shepherds who are entrusted to feed his sheep, to tend his lamb. So why is this important? Well, because he is the head of the church and he determines how the church should be shepherded, he is the one who determines who should shepherd them as well. Perhaps you don't like your pastor. Perhaps you don't think that he should rule over the church. But the fact of the matter is, just as much as Christ appoints the rulers of countries, he appoints the rulers of churches. And so, like Calvin said, wicked rulers show the judgment of God on wicked nations. I would say that bad pastors who do not preach the gospel, who remain in positions over churches, are God's judgment on churches who do not preach and desire the gospel. but good pastors who do indeed shepherd his people and preach the word faithfully are due double honor according to the scriptures. But this comes with a great warning, both to us as church member and as pastors. Acts 20 verse 28 tells us that pastors should heed themselves to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. You shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. So this scripture shows us the reality of shepherds or pastors. It shows us that they are, A, appointed by the Holy Spirit. We've already seen this, right? God is the one who appoints the leaders of his churches, but this really should give us as church members caution. How many times have we critiqued or slandered Matt? or perhaps pastor of your own church back home, or perhaps the office saying, man, that guy's a real dictator, you know, I really cannot believe the way he rules the church. This is a person who was made overseer by the Holy Spirit, appointed by God. But when we look at the scripture, this would really give pastors, anybody who desires to be a pastor, a great fear of God in them, They are not only pastors of the church of Christ or a couple of people, they're pastors of the church of Christ whom he purchased with his own blood. Pastors therefore have the responsibility of looking after a people who belong to Christ, a people whom he purchased with his death. So the fact that Christ is the head of the church really should reorient both us as the congregation, but also as the pastor. For any pastor, thinking about Christ being the head of the church, it's important to be reminded that the church is Christ's first and foremost. It's his possession, it's not the pastor's possession. Even though pastors and staff members do a lot of work within the church, setting things up, getting funding, preparing sermons, doing discipleship, you know, gathering Christ's sheep who are messy and just wanna run away. But at the end of the day, the church is Christ's. And not only Christ, it's Christ's possession bought by His death. But as church members, we should really be reminded that because Christ is the head, He determines how things work. Perhaps you don't like how things work. But Christ remains the head and He remains the one who says how things are to operate. And so this essentially looks like how we spoke about in the last few weeks. It means as head he says we should gather physically and we should not neglect the gathering of the saints. It means that he has given his authority to elders and shepherds to oversee his people. And so submitting to elders means submitting to Christ. And rebelling and not submitting to your pastor means rebellion against God. So firstly, Christ as the head of the body means that he decides how things operate. Secondly then, if Christ is the head, it means there needs to be a body. So what does it mean for the church to be the body? Well, it means that while we're not radical individuals, we are not just floating around as individual Christians doing whatever we want. We are actually members of a body. It's a sad reality that I think many Christians today are really missing the point of what it means to be the church. What it means to be the body of Christ. As there are so many people just following Jesus all they want. Just so many people sitting at home watching church on Zoom or watching church on Christian TV. Just doing their own thing. It would be like a hand amputated lying on the ground by itself. There's no body part in our body that's autonomous. There's no body part that just works by itself. Even if you move your hand, your finger moves, your brain moves, everything moves as a career and all. There's no such thing as an autonomous body part. Yet so many Christians think there are autonomous body parts in the body of Christ. And so here we see that we're not only united to Christ the head, but we're also united to each other. The Spirit unites us to one another. And in the New Testament, we actually see that this is a good thing. Perhaps you don't view this as a good thing. Perhaps you're frustrated with the people around you. Perhaps you don't like the rest of the body that Christ has united to you or to one another. But we see that this is a good thing. Firstly, we see that's a good thing because of the source. The source of Christian unity is the Holy Spirit. We're told that in Ephesians 4 verse 3. Be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We also saw this in Ephesians 5, that the Spirit is the one who unites us. The Spirit is the great giver of unity. And if the source of unity is God, who is good, It means that the things he gives are good, which means Christian unity is a good thing. So perhaps you don't like being united to other believers. That's unfortunate. The Bible says it's a good thing. There's perhaps something we need to check in our own hearts if we do not value being united to other Christians in unity. But then secondly, Christian unity is a good thing when we look at the aims related to Christian unity. The first aim or the first purpose for Christian unity is that we might be a witness to this world. We're told that the way in which we love one another shows that we are Christ's disciples. Christian unity therefore includes an affectionate love. Not just a sacrificial love, not just laying your life down for somebody, not just making food for people when they're sick, but actually loving the people around you. And I think many times it's much easier to do sacrificial things because you know it's expected of you as a Christian to make food on a Sunday, or perhaps serve on the take team, or perhaps take food to the pastor and his family when they're sick. But do we actually love one another? affectionately love one another as Christ's body. And this is not something which comes naturally. This is truly something we need to pray for. If you struggle to love the people in this room affectionately, I would really encourage you to pray that Christ might implant his love for them in you because he loves them. Christ loves the people in this room and so should we. The second thing that stands out of our Christian unity is that Christian unity shows us the profound spiritual unity between the Father and the Son. We see this in John 17 6 where Jesus prays and he asks, I ask that they may all be one just as you, Father, are in me and I in you. That they might also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. So as we are in Christ, Christ prays to the Father that we might be one. Christian unity is something that we should strive for and pray for. But we see it's not just the people around us in this room that we are united with. We're called the Church Catholic. In the definition I gave, I said we're a holy Catholic Church. And I know it's an Apostle's Creed, and many times people just sort of kicks against that because, wow, Catholic, that means all the bells and whistles and the Pope and everything, right? Many times when we hear the word Catholic, we think about the Vatican or the Pope or everything that comes along with Roman Catholicism. But the word Catholic literally means according to the whole or universal. And so when we speak about Catholic, we're just speaking about all Christians. The Catholic Church are the Christians in Norway, the Christians in America, the Christians in South Africa, Australia, Estonia, wherever we might be. But not only the Christians of the present, but also the Christians of the past. The apostles, the church fathers, the Puritans, we're united to them as well. The Spirit brings us together. And it's interesting when we consider this, because we see this in Hebrews 12, for example, that we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. And because of their surrounding and watching us, we should run the race with endurance that's marked out for us. So the great saints of the past, as it were in a big amphitheater, watching us run this race with endurance. We as Christians are not radical individuals. We are not just united to the people around us, but we're essentially standing on the shoulders of giants. We are running a race marked out for us. And we are being watched by a great cloud of witnesses that went before us. And all of this is very airy-fairy, as it were. You know, we're all united. We're a universal body. But the fact of the matter is we really cannot serve the people in China with our gifts. And we read in this passage that the various parts are to serve one another. This is why the local church is so important. This is why God has given us gifts to serve the body. You know, in this passage we find an almost fable-like conversation. It's almost like a story where a foot says he doesn't want to be a foot, but an eye or a hand doesn't want to be this because certain parts of the body are seen as greater than others. And this is what Paul is saying. He's showing sensitivity to those in the body who feel like their gifts are inferior. And Paul encourages these unglorious members of the body that they are not any less part of the body. The implication, therefore, is that there is no unimportant gift or person in the body of Christ. And Paul carries this further. He's saying, what if the whole body were an eye? This freakish object would have no sense of smell, no way of hearing, no way to move around, maybe rolling around. But a well-functioning body, requires a multiplicity of members. The multiplicity of functions. And this is why Matt said last week that the church really needs you. This church. First Presbyterian Church needs you. The local church needs you. The fact of the matter is if we do not serve the local church with our gifts, we're like ears that don't work. I mean, sure, you can say you're part of the body of Christ, and yes, that is true. You are part of the body of Christ when you're a Christian. Universally, you're part of the body. But in this passage, we see that the body parts have functions. They actually do stuff. They're not just body parts laying around. Each part of the body is supposed to do what it's created to do and called to do. So what do we do when parts of the body doesn't do what they ought to? What do we do when things die? They're cut off. And I think this is a great reality that we do not often think about. When you think about the great falling away, the great cutting off of many who profess Christ to be Lord, is I think it is very indicative of your commitment to Christ when you consider your commitment to the local church. As a body we recognize that Jesus is the head and he decides how things run and function. And one of these ways is that we as the body need to serve the rest of the body. As a hand, you need to function as a hand. As an eye, you need to function as such, realizing that no part is greater than another. So as we end off this morning, I'll ask the same question as I started with. What is the church? Is the church a place? Is it an organization or what is it? Church, this morning I would like to say that the church is a people. We are the church called out of this world by Christ in order that we may be His redeemed, spotless, and beautiful bride for which He will return. But we need to be remembered as He prepares His bride. As Christ cleanses his bride for his return, that he might present her as a gift unto himself in splendor and glory, he is the head of her. He decides how things function. So each part needs to play its role in order that the whole may function as Christ intends it to. Church is not somewhere we go on a Sunday. It truly is who we are. We are Christ's precious bride being sanctified, being prepared for his return. We are Christ's body. We are called to serve each other as we seek to serve him and glorify him. Let's pray.