Colossians 1:15-20
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth; visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for Him.
And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
And He is the head of the body the church, who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross."

Matthew 16:13-20
"When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"
So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ."

Message: Christ came to establish a new society on earth!
It was not enough for Him to call individual sinners to God. He promised that He would build His Church. It would be the most powerful force on earth providing it could be created, inspired and sustained with His life and love.
Nothing could stop--or ever has stopped--the revolution of love which He began two thousand years ago!
"In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it [put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it]. (John 1:3-4)
Someone once commented: "I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together have not affected the life of man upon earth as has that one solitary life."
In John 17, we have the prayer of Christ just before He went to the Cross. In this passage we have a glorious picture of the purpose of God's Church on earth, as Jesus prayed that it should be marked by four main things: the glory of God, the word of God, the joy of God, and united in the love of God.

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The word GLORY means basically the visible manifestation of the splendor and power and radiance of God. It is God revealing Himself so that, as far as possible; we can see the beauty and majesty of His living presence with us!
In secular Greek, the word GLORY means 'reputation' or 'opinion.' And it is a sobering truth that God's reputation in the world, or the world's opinion of God, will depend, to a large extent, on how far His glory is seen in the Church.
Listen to Paul's prayer for the Ephesian Christians:
"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen" (Ephesians 3:14-21)
GLORY, especially in John's Gospel, has a particular reference to the death of Jesus, leading on to His resurrection and ascension. If, therefore, the glory of God is to be seen in the Church, there must likewise be a very real experience of crucifixion and death as far as our life style is concerned. If God's glory is once more to be seen in His Church, old patterns of living and thinking must die and a striving after godliness and righteousness must be our deepest longing and constant ambition. It is the lives of Christians together, their worship and work together, their service and love towards one another that will most clearly reveal the glory of God, providing the Spirit is at work in His power. "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word: that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You: that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me: that they may be perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." (John 17:20-23)
In John 17 Jesus prayed much about the Word of God. "I have given them Thy word...They have kept Thy word...Sanctify them in the truth; the Word is truth..." The word for 'keep' means to keep safe, to watch over, to hold fast, to guard. God's word is a sacred deposit that has been entrusted to the Church for safe keeping; faithful proclamation, and the source of guidance and strength. Paul writes to Timothy and says: "But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from your childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith

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which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. I charge you, therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." (2 Tim. 3 13-4:2)
The church that is alive and relevant for today's generation must always be a prophetic church. We must therefore listen very carefully in order to discern what God is saying to us in His Word. The church that is alive for God will let the word of Christ dwell richly in the minds and hearts of its members, and be alert to what God is saying now.
Previously, I suggested that the prayer of Christ just before going to the Cross was marked by four themes, namely, the glory of God, the Word of God, the joy of God, and united in the love of God.
For a moment, let us consider Christ's longing that His joy might be fulfilled in His disciples. "But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves" (John 17:13).
The New Testament church was filled with this remarkable quality of joy, even in the midst of the fiercest trials, and this in itself was a powerful witness of the life of God's Spirit within that church. Paul, writing from prison and awaiting his likely death, wrote constantly about joy in his letter to the Philippian church: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice." Peter, writing to a persecuted church, told them that in the midst of considerable suffering, as they believed in Jesus they would 'rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy.' God wants His people to be bathed in the beauty of His glory and filled with the radiance of His joy!
Lastly, Jesus prayed that His church be united in love. In John 17, He prayed four times that His disciples might be perfectly united in love: 'that they may be one, even as we are one...that they may all be one, even as thou, Father, art in Me, and I in thee...that they may be one, even as we are one...that they may become perfectly one, and that the love with which thou has loved me may be in them.' The reason for His tremendous burden is also clear: it is that the world might believe and know the truth about God and about His Son Jesus Christ.
The proclamation of the gospel apart from the unity of the church is a theological absurdity! The heart of the gospel is that, through the death of Jesus Christ, all the barriers are down. We have access into God's presence; and we are all one in Christ Jesus. There are no more walls of hostility--except those of our making. How, then, can we preach a message of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation--between man and God, and between man and man--unless the reality of that can be seen by our unity and love as Christians? This should be the distinguishing mark of all true disciples of Christ: that we love one another as He loved us! Any denial of that love is a denial of the gospel, however eloquently the message may be preached.

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THE CHURCH...it is the community of all true believers for all time. "This definition understands the church to be made of all those who are truly saved. Paul says, "Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25). Here the term "the church" is used to apply to all those whom Christ died to redeem, all those who are saved by the death of Christ. But that must include all true believers for all time, both believers in the New Testament age as well. So great is God's plan for the church the He has exalted Christ to a position of highest authority for the sake of the church. "He has put all things under His feet and has made Him the head over all things for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:22-23).
In its true spiritual reality as the fellowship of all genuine believers, THE CHURCH IS INVISIBLE. This is because we cannot see the spiritual condition of people's hearts.
We can see those who outwardly attend the church, and we can see outward evidences of inward spiritual change, but we cannot actually see into people's hearts and view their spiritual state—only God can do that! This is why Paul says, "The Lord knows those who are His (2 Tim. 2:19).
Even in our own churches and our own neighborhoods, only God knows who are true believers with certainty and without error. In speaking of the church as invisible the author of Hebrews speaks of the "assembly (literally, church") of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven" (Hebrews 12:23), and says that the present-day Christians join with that assembly in worship. THE INVISIBLE CHURCH IS THE CHURCH AS GOD SEES IT.
On the other hand, the true church of Christ certainly has a visible aspect as well. We may use the following definition: The visible church is the church as Christians on earth see it. In this sense the visible church includes all who profess faith in Christ and give evidence of that faith in their lives.
To help us understand the nature of the church, Scripture uses a wide range of metaphors and images to describe to us what the church is like. The church is called the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Army of God, the Building of God, the People of God, the Kingdom of God, and the Church of God.
The most familiar picture of the church in the New Testament is the Body of Christ. For Paul, this metaphor expressed more graphically than anything else the essential unity both between Christ and His Church; and also between the members of His church. In the Greek language the word 'body' was commonly used to describe the unity of anything which consisted of various members (e.g. the State, a melody, a vine), and therefore it was an obvious word to use for those who had become one in Christ.
"For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks; whether slaves or free--and have been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many." (1 Cor. 12:12-14).
Paul continues in this passage to show the interrelatedness of the members of the church, the Body of Christ.

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"If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?
And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?
If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body." (1 Corinthians 12:15-20)
In Ephesians and Colossians 2:19, Paul uses a different body metaphor to refer to the church. In these passages, Paul says that Christ is the head and the church is like the rest of the body as distinguished from the head. "We are to grow up in every way unto Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love" (Eph. 4:15-16).
In his letters to the Ephesians and Colossians, Paul uses the expression "the church, which is His body," primarily in the sense of the universal church. Christ is 'far above all rule and authority and power and dominion', and God has made Him the head over all things for the church, which is His body.' In deed, it is through the church that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. Christ 'is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.' Paul urges the Christians not to be deceived by gnostic heresies, but to hold fast to the Head, 'from whom the whole body...grows with a growth that is from God.' In these letters, it is Christ's headship over the whole church that is the important point. The 'body of Christ' is the universal church.
In the First Corinthian passage Paul says: "...there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it" (1 Cor. 12:25-26).
In the Body of Christ, we ought to realize that we need each other. There can be no such thing as isolation in the Church. Far too often people in the Church become so engrossed in the bit of the work that they are doing and so convinced of its supreme importance that they neglect or even criticize others who have chosen to do other work. If the Church is to be healthy, we need the work that everyone can do!
We ought to respect each other in the Body of Christ. In the body there is no question of relative importances. If any limb or any organ ceases to function, the whole body is thrown out of gear. It is so with the Church. "All service ranks the same with God." Whenever we begin to think about our own importance in the Christian Church, the possibility of really Christian work is gone.
Closely allied to the body metaphor, the church is also the Building of God. Paul writes to the Corinthians these words: "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the founda-

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tion, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will be come clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures; he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." (1 Corinthians 3:9-17)
Paul also writes about God's people being "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:20-22)
BUT HERE IS A MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION...WHY DOES THE CHURCH EXIST? The Bible has not left us without the answer...Jesus Christ, before ascending to the Father, spoke directly to this question. He said: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mathew 28:19 20). The church exists therefore to carry out two functions, evangelism (to make disciples) and edification (to teach them).
The New Testament Church realized its mission to their world...and Peter launched the Church with the proclamation of the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. In Peter's Pentecost sermon, he said: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are witnesses. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles. Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:32,36-37).
Paul writes to the Corinthians these words: "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have your stand. By this gospel, you are saved...if you hold firmly to the word I preach to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures..."(1 Cor. 15:1-2).
The second reason for the existence of the Church is to edify, build up, the believers. "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4)