Why Church? Week 1

Ephesians is a letter in the New Testament (the part of the Bible about Jesus and the early church) written by a man named Paul to Christians living in the city of Ephesus. That city, and the group of believers in it, had real tension and division. Paul urges them to work at staying unified. The sermon opens with this letter because its whole message is about why unity in a church community matters and isn't automatic.

This phrase (from Ephesians 4:4–6) is listing the things all Christians share in common, no matter their background: they're described as one connected group ("one body"), guided by the same Holy Spirit, holding the same core beliefs ("one faith"), having gone through the same initiation ceremony ("one baptism" — see glossary), and worshipping the same God. The sermon uses it to argue that unity isn't something Christians have to manufacture — it's meant to already exist because of what they share.

The pastor compares the church to an orchestra: everyone plays a different instrument, but they all follow the same conductor (representing Jesus). The point is that unity doesn't mean everyone being identical — it means different people cooperating around the same leader and purpose, rather than doing their own thing.

Ekklesia is the original Greek word (the language much of the New Testament was written in) that gets translated as "church." It literally meant a gathering or assembly of people called together for a purpose. The sermon uses it to argue that "church" isn't primarily a building — it's a group of people gathered around a shared mission.

This moment (John 18:36) happens right before Jesus's execution. Pilate was the Roman governor with power to have Jesus killed, representing the political and military power of the Roman Empire. When Jesus says his kingdom isn't "of this world," he means his community operates on different values than empires or governments do — not through force, power, or control, but through something else entirely (the sermon argues: service, truth, and surrender).

This is the pastor's own way of illustrating a Bible-wide idea: that living the way Jesus taught often looks different from mainstream cultural values. For example, the sermon pairs "culture says follow your heart" with a verse from Jeremiah warning that feelings can be misleading (Jeremiah 17:9), and pairs "culture says you do you" with Jesus's call in Matthew 16:24 to "deny yourself" — meaning to put God's priorities ahead of your own comfort or desires.

"Confess" simply means to openly admit wrongdoing rather than hide it. James 5:16, a verse from the letter of James, encourages Christians to do this with each other, not just privately with God. "Wesleyan tradition" refers to the beliefs and practices associated with John Wesley, an 18th-century preacher whose teachings shaped the Methodist and Wesleyan branches of Christianity (the tradition this church  comes from). In that tradition, confession isn't about being punished — it's described as a way to find healing and support from other people.

This illustration is based on Luke 5:31–32, where Jesus says he came for "the sick," not "the healthy." The pastor is arguing against the idea that church is a polished place only for people who already have their lives together. Instead, it's described as a place meant for people who are struggling — just like a hospital is full of people who are hurting and in the process of healing, not people who are already well.