by Chris Steele

God’s Word says that the church is made up of individual people. We should never refer to the physical building (where we worship and have Bible study) as the church. Paul said that God gave Jesus Christ “to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all (Ephesians 1:22-23). Again the apostle wrote, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ…Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:12, 27).

Now let’s look at what the church is from a negative viewpoint. In other words, what the church is not.

The church is not made up of people who believe they are better than others. The church realizes that they must be better than they were before they became Christians (1 Peter 1:15-17). This is a continuous process and transformation (Romans 12:1, 2). As we consider ourselves, Christians will look upon others who sin with compassion, remembering their own former state. The Galatians were told, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted…For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (6:1, 3).

The church is not made up of perfect people. All have sinned (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:7-10), and although we continue to sin from time to time, when we repent, we have both forgiveness (2 John 2:1, 2), and help to resist the temptation (Hebrews 4:15-16). We must always be willing to help others in their struggles “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

The church is not made up of people who never make mistakes. As we said before, no one is perfect. Christians should learn to acknowledge their sins. We must confess them to God (1 John 1:9), and others (James 5:16). This being true, there is no reason for us to look at others with a judgmental attitude (Matthew 7:1ff; John 7:24). Yes, we must inform people of their sins. We cannot preach the gospel without pointing out sin (Acts 2:37, 38), but we must always speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).