RE:Membership

Week 1. Saved By God.

We begin by understanding that the church is not an organisation built by people. But planned
and made by God. The Church is God’s people, saved by Jesus, in every generation and place,
pointing to his glory and grace.

What is The Church?

Jesus talks about his Church in Matthew 16:13-18

“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock

I will build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.” v18

When Jesus says “my church” the greek word he uses means “called out” and “Gathered.”
This is just like the Hebrew congregation saved from Egypt by the blood of the lamb and
gathered at Sinai.

Exodus 12:1-14 - The Passover

Exodus 19: 4-6 - Gathering at Sinai

“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians,

and how I bore you on eagles' wings
and brought you to myself.” v4

Peter uses similar words, in 1Peter 2:9-10, to talk about the Church when he says:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own
possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once
you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Saved By God.
In many ways we are like the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. They were slaves condemned to death.
In Ephesians 2 we read the same is true of us.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the
course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at
work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our
flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath. v1-3

Like the slaves condemned to death, we need someone to give us life, set us free and forgive us.
The Gospel tells us, that is exactly what Jesus does. Look at the rest of Ephesians 2:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when
we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have
been saved— v4-5

we also read:

“in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” 1:7

“In Christ you who were once far off have been brought near. For he himself is our peace”
2:13