The church is not an institution. While it is an institution in the sense that it was divinely instituted, it is not some corporate entity like a business, one where the rules of incorporation are different from the people who comprise the enterprise. Rather, the church is a relationship, a relationship between God and His saved people, those who have complied with His terms for salvation. The church is saved people (Acts 2:47). You are not in the church to be saved; you’re in the church because you are saved. The church is the saved.

The church is not a country club. The church of our Lord is a spiritual entity, not a physical one. It never was God’s intention to make the church an organization to provide for the social needs of men. It has no assignments that pertain to meeting men’s aesthetic propensities—like providing musical entertainment or parties for the enjoyment of its members. Now that is not to say that music has no role in the church, for it is an important part of according to God the worship He deserves, as well as “teaching and admonishing one another” (Eph. 5:19). And the gatherings on the Lord’s day, as well as on other occasions deemed expedient for coming together, are certainly socially agreeable to men, for they edify and build up the membership.

The church of our Lord is an edification society (Eph. 4:12; Rom. 14:17-19; Heb. 10:23-25). But it is not the duty of the church to provide for “Mother’s Day Out,” or counseling for those needing psychological help, or for Boy Scout Troops, or softball teams. The church is not in the restaurant business. The church has a spiritual mission, not a mundane one.

The church is not a law-making body. That is, it does not have the right to make its own laws. The church belongs to Christ (Eph. 5:25-27); He governs it. Man cannot add to nor can he diminish from the things of God without incurring His disfavor. “Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God” (2 Jn. 9). The church does not dictate its own course. The Scriptures are sufficient to “furnish the man of God unto every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). The Bible is complete and needs—nor will it tolerate—more or less than it is. The church does not make laws, it merely practicalizes what has already been made law by God.

The church is not a benevolent society. It is not the business of the church to take care of the world’s poor. That sort of benevolence is the work of individuals (Jas. 1:26-27; Gal. 6:10). In the first place, such an endeavor would quickly demand all the time and resources of the church (consider the Salvation Army); and in the second place, there is absolutely no authority for such an endeavor. Nowhere in Scripture will you find where the church saw as its mission to feed and clothe the less fortunate, unless they were needy saints—and then only until the need was finalized (Acts 11:27-30). You will search in vain to find where the New Testament church every built a permanent organization to feed the hungry or provide care for un-wed mothers or aged saints.

The church is a preaching, teaching, worshiping organization—built to honor God, to propagate the gospel message, to edify itself, to care for its own. In short, the church of Christ is meant to bring glory to God, and to help men get to heaven by doing, in every thing they do, what God has said.

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