Good morning and welcome to the Berean Break.  My name is George Sinkie and I am so glad that we can be together for this time of study into God’s will for our lives.  In today’s study we are going to look at some word pictures in the Bible.  Word pictures are the mental images that come to mind when we hear a certain word or phrase.  Before we look at this topic let’s go to God in prayer:

Great God in Heaven, We thank You for this day in our lives.  And we thank You for the cooler weather You sent this last week.  We also pray that as we go throughout this time of year that there is safety and abundance in the harvest.  As we study Your word this morning, help us to open our hearts and minds to Your will.  We thank You for the Bible that reveals Your whole will to us.  In Jesus’ Name, we pray.  AMEN!!

     Word Pictures.  When we hear words often a picture comes to our mind.  Think about these words and what type of picture do they bring to your mind.  Love...  Home...  Peaceful...  Beautiful...  As you thought about each of these did you picture something in your mind.  Most people do.  In the Bible, things are sometimes described with a word, and that word is to bring a mental picture to the hears mind.  Listen to how David describes the Lord in Psalm 23:1,

The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want.

     What do you envision when you read that the Lord is a shepherd.  The word picture is one of love and provision and protection.  And then as David continues to write in Psalm 23, he expands on these pictures that “shepherd” brings to mind.  We also see this up in the New Testament, in John 10:7, John writes,

   7 Jesus therefore said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”

Two word pictures are brought to mind here.  First Jesus is a door, this picture the fact that Jesus is a means of access or entrance.  And people are described as sheep, bringing to mind the need people have of the love and protection and provision that David wrote of in Psalm 23.  Followers of Christ are also described as salt and light each giving a different word picture.
     This morning I would like for us to look at some word pictures that are used to describe the church that Jesus built.  One thing that is important to note is that the pictures that God wants us to envision with these words are the ideal of them.  An example of this may be the use of the term Father in reference to God.  That is meant to convey the ideal concept of a loving and training and providing image.  To some people, because of the physical father that they had, may think of father and “see” an abusive, drunken, selfish, unloving image.  This is not what God intends us to see with the word picture.  Now let’s consider the church and terms that are used of it.

     First of all, turn over to 1 Timothy 3:14-15, and check this out,

   14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long;
   15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

The first word picture I would like for us to examine here is church is the “household of God.”  Just as David went on in Psalm 23 to illustrate the Lord being the Shepherd, the Bible also illustrates how the church is the “household of God.”  When Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, … listen to what he says, Galatians 4:4-7

   4 But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
   5 in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
   6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
   7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son;  and if a son, then an heir through God.

God is the one and only father in the church, and we are His children.  This shows the household or family nature of the church.  In looking at the house part of household, consider what Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:4-5

   4 And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God,
   5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

The church is not a physical structure.  It is a spiritual structure of which Christians are the living stones.  The Hebrews writer, while writing about the Christians access to God, in Hebrews 10:21, says of Jesus,

   21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

What a great picture this is of the church as God designed it.  But there are other word pictures that are used and we need to move on to look at them as well.

     Note again 1 Timothy 3:15, and let’s see another word picture,

   15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

This one is two part, the church is the pillar and support of the truth.  This shows very clearly the truth does not originate with the church as some would teach.  Truth originates with God and is found in His word as we learn in John 17:17, where Jesus prays,

   17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.”

The church needs to be a pillar and support of the truth if it is going to be the church that God intends it to be.  If the church ceases to uphold truth then it ceases to be the Lord’s church.  Truth will always be truth because it is from God.

     The church is also described as a kingdom.  Let’s start out in Matthew 16:18-19.  Note as we read this how Jesus switches from referring to His church to the kingdom.

   18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church;  and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.
   19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;  and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

When Paul wrote to the church in Colossae he spoke of being in this kingdom.  Read Colossians 1:13 with me,

   13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

Since the church is the kingdom of Jesus, it is only logical that He would have the authority and that is what Jesus says in Matthew 28:18,

   18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

This is another wonderful word picture of the church.

     Another word picture that is seen in the Scriptures is that the church is the Body of Christ.  Starting out at the top we see that Christ is the head of this body, Colossians 1:18

   18 He is also head of the body, the church;  and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead;  so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.

Paul again uses this body concept to show the Savior aspect of Christ in Ephesians 5:23

   23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.

If we keep reading on here in Ephesians, we see that Paul is talking of the relationship of Christ and the church.  Ephesians 5:32,

   32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

Paul uses this image again in Romans 12:4-8

   4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
   5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
   6 And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly:  if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
   7 if service, in his serving;  or he who teaches, in his teaching;
   8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality;  he who leads, with diligence;  he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

What a picture of closeness and interdependence and support this gives of the church.

     The final word picture that I want to touch on this morning, is that the church is the temple of God.  The Christians in Corinth were used to seeing temples to the gods and Paul uses this same concept to picture the church in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17,

   16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
   17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

In contrast with the false gods of the people, the true God doesn’t dwell in those fancy buildings, Paul pointed this out to the Athenians in Acts 17:24,

   24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;”

This brings to mind the respect and honor that the church should be given.  That respect and honor is given because of the presence of God, not because the church, in and of itself.

This morning we have looked at the church in several word pictures.  We saw the household aspect, the pillar and support aspect.  We considered the concepts of the church as the kingdom and as the body.  And finally we saw the church as the temple of God.  One thing that each of these have in common is they show how important the church is to God.  And if it is important to God then it will be important to those who want to follow God.  If you would like to be a part of the church of God then you will need to obey God’s will and based on your belief in God you will need to repent and be baptized as Peter says in Acts 2:38,

   38 And Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;  and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

When we obey the will of God then He will add us to the church as it goes on to say in Acts 2:47,

   47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people.  And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.