Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV)
[Because Christ died for ALL who believe], you [gentiles] are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with [believing Jews] and members of God’s household,  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

In God’s saving plan he has always had a people. Our horrible rebellion did not and will not interfere with this. In fact our sin, as evil as it is, creates the perfect opportunity for God to display his infinite justice and his infinite love. Instead of leaving us to die in hopelessness he saves us through the death of his son – and in doing so God gathers to himself a people.

Today we commonly refer to God’s people as “the Church”. The Bible doesn’t use “church” or the concept of a church to refer to a building or a gathering place. Rather, the concept of church comes from the Greek, ekklesia, which simply refers to a group of people united around a single purpose (citizens called into a community meeting, citizens called into the military, etc).

Even in the Old Testament the parallel concept was not a meeting place or the Temple – it was the assembly. The temple was where God met his people.

Ultimately, before Jesus came, the place where God would meet his people was the Temple. From Egypt to the Promised Land, God would be with his people. The ultimate O.T. meeting place was the Temple. God gave his people detailed instructions for the building of the temple – the place where he would meet them. This temple was no ordinary building – it was perfect – very elaborate, very expensive, one of a kind. After all, again, it was that place in which God would meet his people.

Jesus was the fulfillment of the temple imagery. God now meets his people in Jesus. Today God is not just with his people – through the indwelling Holy Spirit God is in his people. It is wrong to hold any building or location as a sacred place where God meets his people – this denies the reality of who Jesus is for us and replaces the Holy Spirit with an earthly structure.

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Visible/Invisible Church

There is a distinction to be drawn between the church as we humans see it and as God alone can see it. This is the historic distinction between the “visible church” and the “invisible church.” Invisible means, not that we can see no sign of its presence, but that we cannot know (as God, the heart-reader, knows, 2 Tim. 2:19) which of those baptized, professing members of the church as an organized institution are inwardly regenerate and thus belong to the church as a spiritual fellowship of sinners loving their Savior. Jesus taught that in the organized church there would always be people who thought they were Christians and passed as Christians, some indeed becoming ministers, but who were not renewed in heart and would therefore be exposed and rejected at the Judgment (Matt. 7:15-27; 13:24-30, 36-43, 47-50; 25:1-46). The “visible-invisible” distinction is drawn to take account of this. It is not that there are two churches but that the visible community regularly contains imitation Christians whom God knows not to be real (and who could know this for themselves if they would, 2 Cor. 13:5). – J.I.Packer

Matthew 16:18 (NIV) – the church invisible/universal
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Ephesians 5:25 (NIV) – the church invisible/universal
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

There is a local subset of the invisible church – the visible or local church

1 Corinthians 1:2a (NIV)
To the church of God in Corinth…

Romans 16:5a (NIV) – a local subset of the universal church
Greet also the church that meets at [the house of Priscilla and Aquila].

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What is a local church?

A local church is a group of born-again, baptized believers who, under the guidance of biblical leadership, regularly meets to worship God through Jesus Christ, sit under the authority of Scripture, and celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Born-again believers – Acts 5:12-14 (NIV)

The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

Biblical leadership – Acts 14:23 (NIV)

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

Regular Meets – Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Worship – Romans 15:5-6 (NIV)

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sit under the authority of Scripture – Matthew 4:4 (NIV)

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Celebrate the Lord’s Supper (Communion) – 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NIV)

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

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Biblical metaphors for the church

Body of Christ – 1 Cor 12:12-31; Christ is the head of the body – Eph 1:22-23

God’s Family – God the father, we are sons and daughters – 1 Cor 6:18

The soil that gives nourishment to souls:

1 Corinthians 3:6-9 (NIV) – context = divisions in the church
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

A chosen, holy, priesthood – with purpose

1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.