The Church Is Not a Building. Scripture Never Said It Was.

Sunday Message [26–22]

In John 2, Jesus walked into the Jerusalem temple and told them to tear it down. He would raise it in three days.

The religious authorities thought He was talking about the building. He was talking about His body. The living stone temple — the resurrection body of Christ — is what replaced the stones. And those who are united with Him become, together, what the Holy City Jerusalem looks like from the outside: the bride of the Lamb, the church that heaven sees when it looks at us.

This sermon asks what it means to be that church — not to attend one.

【Part 1】

Introduction — The Church: From Building to Being

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1. When the Spirit Comes: The Mission of Witness and the Expansion of the Church

Shalom.

Today is our church’s founding anniversary. Take a moment to look around you — in front, behind, to the left and right. Do you see the church?

After completing His public ministry on the cross, the Lord rose from the dead and remained with His disciples for forty days. Then, as He had promised the Father, the time came for Him to ascend. On that final day, He gave them the word of Acts 1:8.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Having spoken those words, He was taken up before their eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. As they were looking intently into the sky, two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

In Korea today there is a mission organization called the “Ends of the Earth Evangelism Corps.” Whether its founders truly understood what “the ends of the earth” means is a matter we will leave aside. What matters is how the words — Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth — have been received within local churches. They have been understood almost entirely as geographical locations. But the church God has established, even when it gathers for worship inside a building made by human hands, is not ultimately defined by which congregation in which neighborhood one attends. Within that building, the people must become the living temple of God. They must become the church described in 1 Corinthians 1:2.

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ — their Lord and ours. (1 Corinthians 1:2)

We are not in Corinth — we are in the Republic of Korea. So we are the church of God in Korea. The church of God is not a building. It is those who have become new creations in Christ Jesus, those whom God calls holy — His saints. This does not mean church buildings should be poor or inadequate. All things being equal, better is better. The reason is this: the church building is the place where the living God and the risen Lord are present together, where people who are being formed into the likeness of the Lord — growing toward the full measure of His stature — gather. That is what makes it worth caring for.

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2. From the Building-Church to the Being-Church

When Jesus spoke of the church in Jerusalem, the church in Judea, the church in Samaria, and the church to the ends of the earth, He concealed within those place names a transformation of being. Whether in Korea or America or anywhere else, “church” is a regional designation — but the people inside must undergo a change. It is no longer a question of which denomination, which founding pastor, which building. Everyone who has become a new creation in Christ Jesus and calls God Father — all of them together are the church. So how many churches are there? As Matthew 13 says, when good seed is sown, thirty, sixty, a hundred sons of God forgiven of their sins come forth — and every one of them is the church.

There are, of course, difficult matters in teaching. First Corinthians 3 speaks of salvation “as through fire.” That too must be addressed carefully in due time. But if it is taught prematurely, people will say, “Then I just need to be saved through fire” — and that would be a serious problem.

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3. The Jerusalem Church Scattered by Persecution

Let us look at Acts 8:1.

Just as the Lord had commanded, the disciples gathered in Jerusalem and rejoiced in worship and fellowship — and they were content to stay there. So the Lord permitted persecution. He caused them to scatter. We have experienced this ourselves: each time difficulty came, we said, “The Word is so good.” And it is. But if it is truly good, more churches must be established. When that work is neglected, something happens. Do not think of it as training that comes through people — how could people train us? Because they stayed in Jerusalem and would not go out to evangelize, Saul rose up and brought great persecution upon the Jerusalem church. All except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. In this way, the first Jerusalem church expanded into the church in Judea, then Samaria, then to the ends of the earth.

Is our church a “ends of the earth” church? Viewed from Israel, the designation can carry geographic meaning — but the ends of the earth in Scripture are not only positional. There is also an existential dimension to “the ends of the earth.” The churches formed in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and at the ends of the earth must be transformed into the church of 1 Corinthians 1:2 — a living community of saints united in Christ Jesus, united with the living God and the risen Lord.

【Part 2】

The Two Meanings of Jerusalem: The Stone Temple and the Living Stone Temple, the Heavenly Jerusalem

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4. From the Stone Temple to the Living Stone Temple

At the heart of Jerusalem stood the temple built of stone. But Jesus replaced that stone temple with Himself — the living stone temple.

Consider John 2:20. At Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem and entered the temple courts, where the entire enterprise had been taken over by merchants and money-changers operating under the authority of the chief priests. Every major feast, they were inwardly calculating their profits. Because Passover was near, Jesus came up to Jerusalem. At the three great pilgrimage feasts — Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Firstfruits — every Israelite man was required to present himself in Jerusalem.

In the temple courts Jesus found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts — both sheep and cattle; He scattered the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. To those selling doves He said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” At this, His disciples remembered the word of Scripture: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

The Jews demanded of Him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But John 2:21 makes it plain: the temple He had spoken of was His own body — the living stone temple of His resurrection.

Whether a church building is made of stone, timber, or brick — that is simply a building. The reason we are gathered here today is different. You are here because you are sons of God who have received forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus and call God Father.

Faith does not grow merely by coming and going from a church building. Yet one must come and hear the Word, for it is through the Word that growth takes place — the process by which the Father shapes us into the image and likeness of the Lord. The preaching that produces moral people through worldly wisdom, encouragement, and the example of Jesus’ life is preaching, yes — but it is not the preaching that pleases the Lord.

What must happen is that the very nature of the Lord, as He is in Christ, becomes our existence and our life. Our gathering holds together both dimensions — the building-church and the church that arises from an existential union with Christ Jesus.

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5. The Jerusalem That Comes Down from Heaven — The Bride of the Lamb

Consider Revelation 21:9–10.

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21:9–10)

The angel said to John, “I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb” — and what was shown to him? The Holy City, Jerusalem. He announced the bride of the Lamb, and what appeared was the Holy City Jerusalem. This means that each individual person united with the Lord is the bride of the Lamb Jesus — and when all are seen together, they appear as the form of the Holy City Jerusalem.

This is why, when someone claims to have been caught up in a vision and visited the Holy City Jerusalem, and speaks only of having seen buildings and structures — that vision must be questioned. There are spirits that come from God, and there are spirits that do not. A vision that produces only an account of architecture has not seen what the text describes.

Revelation 21:22 goes further.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (Revelation 21:22)

In the kingdom of God there is no building temple. The Father God Almighty and Jesus the Lamb are Himself the temple. This is why we must understand clearly what those who enter the kingdom of God are transformed into.

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6. Two Jerusalems: The Jerusalem of Hagar and the Jerusalem of Sarah

Consider Galatians 4:22 onward.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise. These things are being taken figuratively: the women represent two covenants. (Galatians 4:22–24)

Sarah and Hagar are the representative figures of two covenants. Hagar corresponds to Mount Sinai in Arabia and stands for the present city of Jerusalem, whose children are in slavery. But the Jerusalem that is above is free — and she is our mother.

For it is written:

“Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.”

Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. (Galatians 4:27–29)

There are therefore two Jerusalems. One is the earthly Jerusalem — the Jerusalem of Ishmael, born through Hagar. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East today is rooted in this: the descendants of Hagar established Islam, which has been in perpetual conflict with Israeli Judaism. This is not an emotional war but a historical one. We do not take sides, because taking sides would cause tremendous damage to the work of proclaiming the gospel.

The other Jerusalem is the heavenly Jerusalem — those who will be united with Christ, those called the bride of Christ, including you. Those who will become what the heavenly Jerusalem represents also carry that designation. To all who believe in Jesus scattered across the earth, we must first proclaim this question: will you become one united with the Lord — a new creation, the bride of Christ — or will you not?

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7. The Existential Meaning of “The Ends of the Earth”

Because they would not go out to evangelize, persecution came, and all except the apostles were scattered into Judea and Samaria. Acts 9:31 records the result.

Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. (Acts 9:31)

This is the church of the Acts era. After this, the apostle Paul arose and proclaimed the gospel throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the Roman Empire. Now it is no longer the Roman Empire — the whole world is our stage. Acts 15:3 records this:

The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. (Acts 15:3)

There will come a time when we too will bring the globalization of this gospel into concrete reality. The plan is in place; the moment will come.

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Now, when the text says “to the ends of the earth,” the word for “earth” in Greek is gē (γῆ), and in Hebrew erets (אֶרֶץ) — as in the opening of Genesis, shamayim va’erets (שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ), heaven and earth. The meaning of this “earth” is illuminated by 1 Chronicles 16:23.

Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. (1 Chronicles 16:23)

Is this an earth with life, an existential earth — or a positional, geographical one? What kind of earth sings to the Lord and proclaims His salvation? Psalm 98:4 says, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.” Isaiah 1:2 says, “Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!” Those who call God Father and those who have been cast off are both called “earth.” Jeremiah 22:29 makes this most emphatic of all.

O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord! (Jeremiah 22:29)

The children who hear God’s Word, praise Him, rejoice in Him, and call Him Father — they are “earth.” Those who are cast off — they too are “earth.” Jeremiah 6:19 speaks of earth that does not listen and is given over to disaster; Jeremiah 22:29 speaks of earth called to hear. Two kinds of earth.

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The word “ends” in “ends of the earth” is the Hebrew qatseh (קָצֶה) — the farthest boundary, the last point. It refers not only to the outermost edge of a territory, but to the last person one encounters. The last person you reach on a given day of evangelism — that person is the end. So the “ends of the earth” is not a matter of circling the globe and returning to your starting point. It is an existential boundary.

Nehemiah 1:9 speaks of the “ends of heaven” as well.

But if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name. (Nehemiah 1:9)

We evangelize to the ends of the earth and to the ends of heaven alike — and neither “earth” nor “heaven” refers only to the natural world. Isaiah 49:6 declares:

He says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)

In 1 Corinthians 15:45–50, those who belong to the first man Adam — those of flesh and blood who cannot inherit the kingdom of God — are called “earth.” But there is also a “new earth”: those united with Christ Jesus who call God Father. The meaning of heaven and earth operates on three registers simultaneously — the natural world, the human person, and existential being. The person who receives treatment worthy of heaven becomes heaven. This does not mean earth is diminished. Even the person who has the deepest relationship with the Lord is still “the ends of the earth.”

Therefore, today you are both the ends of heaven and the ends of the earth. Our task is not to make church members out of such people. We are looking for those who must come to an existential conclusion: will they become the ends of heaven, or the ends of the earth?

【Part 3】

Conclusion — The Completion of the Church: Those United in Christ Jesus

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8. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the Ends of the Earth — The Gospel of Being

When we speak of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, what is concealed within those words is this: the work of finding those who are, in their very being, sons of God united with Christ Jesus — sons born of flesh and blood — and raising them to maturity. The building-church is legitimate as a building. A church by a given name is legitimate as such. That is the regional, geographical, physical church. But the church Scripture speaks of is the church of 1 Corinthians 1:2.

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ — their Lord and ours. (1 Corinthians 1:2)

The church of God in Korea. The church of God in the States. The church of God scattered across the whole world. Those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be His holy people. All those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ — those united with the risen Christ Jesus. These are what Scripture calls the church.

We establish gatherings not because we have decided to, but because we go at the Lord’s command. Whether people understand what we proclaim or not, we walk the road we must walk. We do not walk it alone. We walk it as those united with the Lord — and that is why there is authority, and that is why there is dignity. We pray in the name of the Lord that this kind of gathering — luminous and full of weight — would expand to every corner of the earth.

This is the sermon: “The Church Before and After the Coming of Jesus Christ” [26–22]. You can watch it here (video in Korean).