People speak of ‘church’ today as if it is a place where they attend, or an organization of which they are members. However, when the LORD Jesus Christ spoke of the church that He would build, He is referring to a people from every tribe nation and tongue that God the Father gave Him to save from eternity, and that in the fullness of the time, God sent Him forth to redeem from the curse and condemnation of God’s law and justice, and that in time the Spirit of God is calling out to Christ.

The word church, from which we get the word ‘ecclesiastical,’ literally means ‘called out ones.’ So certain is the power and wisdom of God, and so effectual the work that the LORD Jesus finished on behalf of His people, that He must have every one for whom He paid the debt. By the Spirit of God, Peter was caused to declare that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God’ [ Matthew 16:16] in contrast to all of the multiple varied opinions of men about Him. However, the truth is that, had not the Spirit of God opened Peter’s eyes, or any of ours for that matter, we would all be in ignorance and darkness still. That is why our LORD told Peter, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

Rather than attending ‘church,’ or going to ‘church,’ Scriptural language is rather to meet for worship with the church (elect of the Father, redeemed by the Son, and called out by the Holy Spirit). The way that the Spirit directed Paul to write it in 1 Corinthians 1:2- “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.”

Wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, He meets with them there, Matthew 18:20. There the church meets in honor to her Savior, Redeemer, and Justifier, and they ARE the church in that particular locale, having been sanctified (set apart unto to holiness of God that the LORD Jesus Christ earned and established for them and paid in entirety at the cross). For that reason they are called saints (justified ones) before God. As the apostle Paul declared in Philippians 3:9- “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” The question is, ‘Is this the church to which I belong?’ It matters not whether my name is written on any earthly membership roll. The question is rather, ‘Am I of those whose name is written in the Lamb’s book of life from eternity?’ Revelation 21:27.

Better to be called outside the pale of men’s profession, traditions, and customs, and called effectually and irresistibly by the Spirit of grace to the One whose blood and righteousness alone are ALL my salvation. Wouldn’t you agree? This is the church for which Christ laid the foundation in His righteousness life and sacrificial death. No other foundation can be laid than that is laid in His coming, doing and dying, 1 Corinthians 3:11.