What makes the church more than just a building?
WATCH
What We Believe, 9 of 11 from August 17th, 2025
"Christ is building His church."
Church by Tyler Hoffler
SUMMARY
This sermon explores the nature and purpose of the church as the beloved body of Christ. It emphasizes the importance of love, unity, and diversity within the church community. Tyler highlights that the church is not just a building, but a group of people called out by God to serve Him and each other. The sermon stresses the significance of understanding our individual roles within the church while maintaining unity in Christ, and the critical importance of loving one another as a testimony to the world.
REFLECTION & DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
💬 Do I love the church that Christ is building?
💬 Are we collaborating or competing?
💬 Is love for Christ and love for one another evident in our lives?
💬 Is there an action God is calling me to take in this moment?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
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PLEASE NOTE: The following transcript is automatically generated and may contain errors.
[Music]
Man, I've heard a lot of pastors after service, like we're having now, just stay, like, how do I follow that? But the answer is we keep following Jesus, right? I guess that's what we're doing. That's why we're here, to keep following Jesus. And the question today that we're looking at is the church, what we believe as the church.
We're going to be talking about that in terms of doctrine, but very much so in terms of application and function. What is the church?
Look around you. It's here.
This is the church where we are having church. Look at these four walls. This is a church building. This is the church.
Look at those who are not here and other congregations meeting around our town, our state, our country, the world. Carlos brought it up this morning. The church is universal. Doesn't just exist within this body, congregation, but it exists everywhere. It also exists not just in this time, but in the future and the past.
God established his church from the beginning. He has called men and women to serve him, to follow him, to love him, and to love one another. And I don't know about you, but I'm grateful to be a part of the church which Christ is building.
All right, Kim, the next slide, please. Ecclesiology, it's a big word, but we're talking about the doctrine of the church. I think it's really overwhelmed, overwhelming it to get caught up in big words sometimes for some of us to look at the nuances, like what we're talking about in terms of doctrine. Doctrine can be boring. Doctrine can have a lot of negative connotations for some.
I think part of that reason is there are different reasons we come to church. There are some who may be here this morning because you're like, I wanna learn something. There are some who have come this morning be like, I just wanna sing. I wanna be encouraged. I wanna have people pray for me.
I want community, right? There's something lacking in my life I am seeking to have filled. And that's why I'm here. Or I'm curious. I have questions.
There are lots of reasons we come to church. There are lots of reasons you may be here this morning. And I don't have, like a little bubble that pops up everybody's head to be like, that's why you're here. That's why you're here. That's why you're here and addressed in congregation.
But what I do know, and the reason you're here is because God has willed it and God has a plan and he has a purpose and he loves you. And one of the reasons why I know that God loves you this morning is because you're here. And that's a testimony. It's easy to get caught up in thinking about what's going on in our own lives. It doesn't escape me.
There's hurt on every pew, right? There are people who are going through a wide degree in spectrum of pain. There's some that we're aware of and there's some that we're not. There's suffering in the world. Sin has left its Mark and there are consequences that follow.
And those things can creep into the church.
Anybody ever have any church hurt?
It's getting a little real this morning. I've been there.
It's easy to look at others and just see the way they may have hurt us and what they did or what they didn't do and what they said or what they didn't say.
But let's not forget who the church belongs to. It belongs to Christ. And he loves his church. He loves it so much that he died for it. He loves you so much that he died for you.
And he doesn't want to continue on in whatever the hurt and the pain is. And regardless, it's temporary because there is something greater coming. There's a greater promise that is there. That one day we will be with Christ and we will be the church perfected. Michael talked about this last week.
We have justification, right? We are justified before God and our salvation. And then we continue on the process of sanctification. We are being sanctified as we grow in the image and likeness of Christ until one day we are ultimately once and for all glorified. Glorification, where sin is vanquished, sin is no more.
It's finally done and we get to experience God, but also each other and fellowship and perfect community. And that's a beautiful picture. And I hope that we are working towards that goal now.
Ecclesiology, the definition and function of the church. Next slide, please. Camden. Beloved. How do we address each other?
It's of utmost importance.
How do I look at you? How do I address you? How do I see you? How do I believe that you are in this place and I am in this place? What does that relationship look like over and over again?
Throughout the Scriptures, there is this idea of beloved, that you are not just a person, you are not just a placeholder, but you are loved by God and loved by the saints who are called according to his purpose. Romans 1:7. To all who are beloved of God in Rome called us saints. First Corinthians 15:58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable.
James 2:5. Listen, my beloved brethren, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith? Romans 9:25. As he says also in Hosea, I will call those who are not my people, my people, and her who was not beloved, beloved. Colossians 3:12.
So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. And yes, this is true to the end. The beloved is delivered. Revelation 20, verse 9. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
We are beloved by God. We are to be beloved by each other. I want my motivation to always be of love for the church, of love for the saints. And I pray that is your call too, because Christ has made it very clear the world will know you are my disciples by your love for one another.
I pray that those outside of the church, we have the schindig, when we have different events going on, neighborhood meal, they don't just say, those are people out there, they hang out, they do this. But I pray that our testimony in our community is that those people love Jesus and they love each other. And it's evident that they love Jesus because they love one another.
You can't do love for Christ in a vacuum. You can't be the church on an island. It takes a community. Jesus called 12 disciples and lived with them and suffered with them, loving them till the end.
We cannot do it alone. We are not called to do it alone. And there's definitely an idea. And talking to people and talk to people all the time who like, yeah, I'm a Christian, so usually the next question I ask is, what are you? Good church.
And so often I get the answer. I don't. Now, to be clear, can you be a Christian and not be part of a low congregation? Yes. But there should be conviction in your life that is making you miserable.
How do I know that? I've been there. I have forsaken the church at times of my life and said, I'm done.
But God and his love for me showed me truth and restoration through, guess what? The church.
There were men in my life who said, we love you, and we love you too much to let you continue. And the way that you're going, that when I was searching for happiness and purpose, coming across a man, and he said, what are you doing with your life? And I said, I don't know. Want'you have. You're always so happy.
Said, why is that the case? I love Jesus and he loves me. It's. That's simple.
It is a powerful thing to have people pray for you. But it is a more powerful thing to have people know you and know you intimately and still pray for you.
Why are we here?
Colossians 3:12 through 14 put on them as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. Set apart loving, compassionate hearts that are kind, humble, meek, impatient bearing with one another.
It's not always going to be easy. We're going to bear with one another. We're going to have to stop and ask each other, what did you mean by that? We're going to have to seek clarifying questions. We're going to have to look at the motivation of our hearts and the hearts of one another.
We're going to have to seek to communicate in a way that is kind, that is clear, that is loving. Not expecting people to know that this is what I meant to say, but to make sure they know this is what I'm saying. This is what I believe. I'm communicating this clearly to you, leaving nothing to be misunderstood. But there's still misunderstandings that take place.
There's still problems that arise, there's confusion that happens in our midst. What do we do? We go and make it right. We seek each other out and say, hey, I might have misunderstood what you were saying, but I'm coming to you in a place of love. I'm coming to you in an attitude of humility, meekness and kindness, seeking to restore the relationship that I believe God has intended us to have.
And if one has a complaint against another, forgiven each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
God is love. He is our ultimate example of what love is. No greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And I call you my friends.
Next slide, please.
This is the Charis commitment to Common Identity. This is what we are declaring as a Charis Fellowship Church. About the Church There exists one true church which is called the Household of God, the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. It is comprised of all true disciples of Jesus Christ and is created by the action of the Holy Spirit. Tangible expressions of this church are found in local churches.
We have the church being made up of saints, people who believe in Jesus, right? So we're not talking about the lost who are in our midst. We're talking about those who are truly saved, true disciples following Jesus. We see it because of the fruit in their lives created by the action of the Holy Spirit, who is working not just in this place, but in all places. And this is the true church.
And it is found in local churches. There's a universal church, but is made manifest in local churches. In the New Testament, you have 114 uses of that word church. 90 of them are used in a local context. The universal church is made up of local churches.
If we wanna see the universal church thrive, if we wa wantna see our brothers in India continue to make great strides for the gospel, one thing we can do is be a healthy church here.
It'to be a loving church here. It'to be a praying church here. It is be a church that is making disciples here.
Before we pray, as our custom, I just want to point something out. There's a passage we look at Matthew 6, 7 through 13 every week.
There's a passage before that. It's a warning.
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Then when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do, and the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you that they have received their reward. But when you give to the d need, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that you're giving maybe in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you if I, quote, unquote, show my love to you.
And in doing so, I'm seeking to bring praise to myself, recognition to myself. I don't love you. I love myself.
If my actions are in search of getting my back padded, I don't love God. I love myself. Motivation and heart is the utmost in the life of a believer. To ask ourselves, what is that we're actually worshiping? We are constantly worshiping something I know at not all times it's Jesus, but it should be.
As we pray, the Lord's Prayer this morning came. Go to that slide.
We're not just praying that prayer for ourselves, our us, we. We're praying it for one another. We need one another to live the Christian life. We need one another and the church. We need one another to see this fulfilled.
So this morning, as you would join me in pray in the Lord's Prayer, I pray that we pray to this not just for ourselves, but for one another, for those sitting next to us, for those who are missing that might not be here this morning, for those who are in our hearts. Let's go. Lord in prayer Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
I don't know about you, but I so long to hear at the end of my life, well done, good and faithful servant.
I think the question that's really been imposed on me these last couple weeks is that do I desire as much to hear that said about your life as well?
Every January I go back and I look at the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards and there's two that always stick out to me. Says I will love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and strength. And number two, if no one else does, I still will.
I'm not willing to accept number two.
If it's lonely in our Christian life, we're doing something wrong.
I stand before you as a testimony not just to what Christ has done in my life, but what Christ has done in my life through other people, what Christ has done in the lives of other saints that spoke truth into my life. And the truth is the rest of you are as well.
Think back on the people that were placed in your life to reveal truth to you, to show God's love to you, and then think of how wonderful it is to be able to be that in the life of somebody else.
We're not just doing this because it's the fun thing to do. We're doing this because we get something out of it. What do we get out of it? What do we get out of being the church? To worship God, to glorify him, to have love of neighbor and self, to have love of one another, to be discipled, to make disciples, to see the church preail, and ultimately to see Christ glorified.
Next slide, please. Camden.
So what is the definition of the church? Time to get nerdy for a second. This is what I really enjoy. And studying doctrine is like seeing how all the pieces fit together. But the idea behind doctrine is doctrine can be stale.
Michikeel and we'talking this week about how doctrine. You look at theology textbooks, they're very clean because they want to be clear on what they're saying life is not always clear and clean on how it functions, but it does function nonetheless. The word ecclesia is what we see in terms of the church. When you see that word used in the Bible, in the New Testament, or if you're looking at the Septuagint in the Old Testament, it is used in place of Israel a lot there. But ecclesia, it's an assembly or gathering of people, comes from ek and ko, which means called out of.
We are called out of something. We are a group called out of something. So in the Greek, you would see this word used with soldiers. They were called out of their previous area, called into service of their king to be soldiers. You would see this in politics.
You would see these people are elected. These people are called out of what they are doing to serve this role. You would see it in terms of the Market. People were called out as merchants to fulfill a certain role, to fulfill a certain call. The church is called out of sin and to righteousness to glorify Christ.
We are called for a specific purpose. So we are called as a purpose of the church, as a conglomerate, but we are also called as individuals to a specific purpose. Next slide. There's an English word church we use. It comes from the word ceri.
It's an Anglo Germanic word. And they use this word meaning belonging to the Lord. Originally, the usage of the central context was a place of property. We have this area that we have designated as use for our church, right? So we have these walls and we have these eight acres.
Is it wrong to call it a church? No, it is a church. And the original usage of that word, that's what's talking about. This is a church ground. This is a church plot, right?
This is the place where the church gathers. This is where the church ministers to one another. This is where the church ministers to the lost. This is our church landing.
But ultimately, when we see that term used, it's talking more about people than is about a place. And so my takeaway is that God is ultimately more concerned about saints than he has synagogues. Not that God is not concerned because he's concerned about every facet of our life. And every facet of our life should show the truth of the glory of God being revealed in ourselves and being revealed to one another and being revealed to a lost and a dying world. Next slide.
If you would, the body of Christ. I'm going to go ahead and ask you if you would. We'll open up to 1 Corinthians 12, 12 through 31. We'll be camping out here for a little while this morning.
Give you a second to turn there, if you so wish.
How do we function as individual parts, but also as the whole? How does unity and diversity work hand in hand? For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body. Jews or Greeks, slaves were free, and all we were made to drink of one spirit.
No matter where we come from, we've been brought in one area because of Christ. We are one body. We are united in Christ as the head of the Church. For the body, verse 14. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.
If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less 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 as it is, God arranged the members and the body, each one of them, as he chose.
If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. And on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor.
And our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there be no division in the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together.
If one member suffers, all suffer together.
But if one member is honored, all'll rejoice together.
Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church, first, apostles, second, prophets, third, teachers, miracles and gifts of healing, helping, administrating in various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles, Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
Do all possess the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret but earnestly desire the higher gifts? And I will show you still a more excellent way.
Paul uses some strong imagery there, talking about a physical body to explain what we are as the church. You may be a hand, you may be a nose, you may be feet. We all have a role to play. I think the difficult thing in that if I'm a nose, I see things through the lens of a nose. That's my experience.
I'm very aware of the aroma around me. If I’m a hand I'm looking to get things done, right? I'm looking to take hold of whatever it is and move it where it needs to go, get it done, get it fixed, right? If I'm a foot, I want to move.
I want to be on the move. Be like, where are we going next? Where are we going? Where are we going? Where are we going?
Right? If I'm an ie, I'm looking at the big picture, right? Focus on what is going on in front of me. If I'm an ear, I'm here, I'm aware of my surroundings, I'm aware of what's going on. And there are many other functions and parts of the body.
But I fear a lot of us have been in conversations like this where you have Mr. Nose comes up and he's talking to Mr. Hand after service, and he's like, hey, I feel like we really fit here. Mr. And Ms. Knows. We appreciate your friendship, appreciate what you're doing for us over the years. But, you know, we missish, Hand and I, we just.
We–we’re out. We tried that class on Wednesday nights with the toes, and it. It wasn't our thing. They just want to talk about smells and stuff, and it was weird. And there was a whole concept of just the eyes.
And we don't feel like they really get us. They just kind of look around and we won to get stuff done. And the legs, they're nice. They're cool people. They're powerful and they're strong.
But you, it's not for us. So we think we're going to go find somewhere else to be. Hands. That's a funny story, but we've heard that before, right?
What is that? Congregation being robbed of hands.
God gives us what we need in the congregation. Your gifts are not primarily for you.
How has God equipped us to serve?
We need each other. We'd look really funny if we were just a body full of elbows, you know, it'd be really weird. That's not how God designed it. But the truth of the matter is there are times where we need to be sensitive to how the body is reacting. Right?
How in tune are we with one another? It's obvious when things don't go well, we get concussed, we're out, right? It's pretty clear we're not functioning. But are we so in tune that we notice when there's a scrap near stub toe to see the hurt of those around us? Because it happens and it can continue to happen. What does our role look like in those terms and those realms?
How are we functioning as the body of Christ?
We're all connected and it's that diversity and playing the role that we have that gives us strength. The body works best when all the members are healthy. The body works best when we're all pulling in the same direction. If the hands are trying to do this and the foot's trying to do this, it's gonna be weird. It's not gonna go real well.
Luckily for us, the head of the body is Jesus, and as we follow him, we know we're moving the right direction.
It's not just the body. Today we–this wasn't originally my notes–but we talked about Grant and Olivia and how they're coming up. There has always been a church, there has always been a body of Christ, and there are a lot who are not with us anymore.
Cells in the body regenerate.
The hand you had as a child is not the hand you have as an adult, right? Like those cells have regenerated, there are new cells that step in and take their place.
I think the question is, are we going to be faithful with what God is calling us to do when it is our time to do so, to hopefully set the stage, to prepare the way for other parts of the body to come and glorify Christ and their work? Or are we going to allow ourselves to be disfigured, to not serve our role, to be gross and leave a stain on what God is doing?
I am thankful for those who have gone before. I'm not just hopeful, but I'm excited for those who are coming after.
Because we are not coming from a place of defeat, but of victory. Christ died and he rose again. And he has promised that the victory is at hand. Revelation 20:9 the Beloved is protected, and those who stand against us are devoured by fire.
Next slide, if you will. Cam 1st Corinthians 1:10. I appeal to you brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, that you be united and the same mind and the same judgment. What is that mind? The mind of Christ.
The name of Jesus. The mind of Christ. The same judgment as we are following Him. We are united. Not that we are all the same, yet we still have different roles to play, but we are united in Christ.
That is how the body moves. And that function is: we follow Christ.
There is a problem if we are all unified and being the same. And we see it in local churches that churches that started off strong, passionate, on fire for God seeking to do his will. At some point for some reason they became stagnant and eventually they become the same. They become the same cells and those cells become dust and die.
Now the universal church will prevail. What about our local church? Our local b what is the vision of our local church?
Do we put Jesus first?
Do we trust the Bible? Do we journey together? Do we collaborate or do we compete? Do we hold God's gifts with open hands? Do we hold fast to the mission while adapting our methods?
A few quotes came across as I was reading this week. Lots of things I want to share with you. If you go the Next slide please Cam Romans 12:4 through 5 the different functions. Four is in one body. We have many members and the members do not all have the same function.
Right? The ears are not the hands, the hands are not the feet. David Wells and some of his re is doing this week. It is very easy to build churches in which seekers congregate. It is very hard to build churches in which Biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship.
It's easy to take a shower, put on clean clothes, come here on Sunday morning.
It's another thing to suffer with one another. It's another thing to walk with one another. God never intended for us to simply be the objects of his love. We are also called to be the instruments of that love and the lives of others. And then what is the church?
The church is the gospel made visible. We are showing the love of Christ, the good news of Christ by our love for one another.
In thinking about this too, I had the thought like there are churches who have been so concerned about the love for the lost, they neglected to love one another within the church and they died.
I'm not saying don't love the lost, don't neglect the lost. But our call is to love one another. Ask saints how sad and pathetic would it be if our love was so great for those outside the church that as we neglect those inside the church, the lost realize there's nothing gained.
We may see the body fail and die.
Next if you will turn to Matthew 16:13-19 this passage should look familiar. We talked about this passage, talking about Christology. Now when Jesus came to the district Of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do the people say that the Son of man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah, the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am?
And Peter answered, you are Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah. That is the right view of Christ. We are supposed to have. Next slide Cam. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
And I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church. Before the church is built, the statement must be clear of who Jesus Christ is. That is our head. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. That is a strong command.
And we were talking about accountability in the church. We were talking about you being rocks. One Peter, chapter two talks of that.
Beloved, let us love one another. For love is from God. And whoever loves has been born of God. Who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us.
That God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through him and miss his love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us.
And his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him, and he and us. Because he has given of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him.
And he and God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love. And whoever abides in his love abides in God. And God abides in him.
By this love is perfected with us, so we may have confidence for the day of judgment. Because as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment.
And whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him.
Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
You cannot love God without loving your fellow saints.
I am very thankful to be part of this church.
I am a testimony of one who has been loved by those in the church. I've seen that testimony continue on in love of others.
It's very evident.
And what's going on with the Gagnons with Max, and seeing the love of the church portrayed, giving that message that there's been a car accident and see people step up and just asking, like, what can I do? And praying.
I'm definitely not giving names, but there were men who reached out and said, we are fasting. We will not eat until we know that God has answered our prayers.
That is love: people who are willing to be there for you.
There's a problem.
My love for you may not be as strong as it could be, because how well do I know you?
I am convinced that the summation of the book of Psalms is this. That every man, every woman wants to be loved and wants to be known intimately for who they are. But the problem is we fear that if we are known for who we truly are, then we will then become unlovable because our dirt and our grime is exposed.
Noses have boogers, hands have dirt under the nails. Right thing that happens. It's gross. Sure.
Do we cease to love because of that?
If we are to love God, we are to be the church. If we are to honor Christ, we are to be the church. And we cannot do that apart from love.
I pray that maybe just one person says, I need to make right a relationship. I need to seek restoration.
My prayer is that before we speak to one another, before we seek to offer guidance or wisdom, that we would search our hearts and pray and ask the Father, am I doing this from a place of love for my brother? Am I doing this from a place of love for one another? Am I doing this from a place of love for you?
Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this time that we've had together, Lord. And I just thank you for these saints, Father, who have been such an encouragement to me, Lord, that are so loving and so kind. Father, I pray that you would strengthen our love, that you would grow our love, that you would grow our intimacy with one another, that she would be present, that it would be clear that our love exists because you first loved us, that while we were sinners, you died for us. You were the ultimate example of that love and made everything we say, everything we do, everything that we wish to be, be rooted in love of who you are.
In Jesus name, amen.
