by Robert Schmid

Created on: May 09, 2009

THE NAME OF THE CHURCH - "CHURCH OF GOD"

There is something that every one of us, every man, woman and child has, no exception, and that is a NAME. Yes, everyone has a name! Think about it, but that name was probably given to you before you were born. That means that long before you saw daylight your parents visualized what you will look like, anticipated whether you will be a boy or girl, and planned for you to have a name. Once you were born and you received your name, you would be known by it for the rest of your life.

A name, what's in a name anyhow? Why is a name important?

The dictionary states that a name is a word or phrase that constitutes the distinctive designation of a person or thing. So, your name identifies you, it says something about you, says something about your reputation and your character. It is used to identify a family or clan. When you hear a name it immediately evokes an image, a picture in your mind, a judgment, which classifies the person, family or thing into good or bad, right or wrong, pleasing or hurtful, and so on.

With this in mind as an introduction, the name I want to talk about is the name of THE CHURCH.

When Christians get up on Sunday mornings, they probably say, "let's go to church," but what they really meant to say was, and everybody knew it, is, "let's go to the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, etc., etc., right!

So the church they attend is whatever the name of their church is, and by this name they identify what church they mean, in contrast to any of the other names that have been given to churches.

Now, as most of you know, whatever name your church uses is strictly a legal name, a legal necessity. It's a corporate name. What that means is that we must differentiate between the names given to churches, and the name "Church of God" spoken of in the Bible. I am sure we all realize that NONE of the thousands of church names used are in the Bible, except the name CHURCH of GOD. The true Church of God is not limited to any corporate entity or to any human organization. The true Church of God, consists of all converted people, all people who have received the Holy Spirit of God (Rom 8).

The incorporated organizations, by whatever name, may be a tool to help do the job of preaching and teaching and making disciples.

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