Church

What is the Church? It seems that throughout the ages, multiple definitions have arisen, but few offer more than elitist, even hostile, mentalities. It should not be surprising that such definitions are modeled after earthly mindsets and carnal worldviews. Not once is the Church portrayed scripturally as a lobby group, business, or even any institution at all whatsoever. Such terms as "business," "kingdom," and sometimes even "ministry" resemble not the Kingdom of Heaven, but a construction of the flesh acting out the consequential deeds of the flesh.
But what did Jesus Christ say?

Matthew 16:15-18 He said to them, "But who do you pronounce Me to be?" And Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I shall build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."

This is to be understood as the definition of Christ's Church. From this passage, we may establish a few points:
(1) The Church is not in any capacity derived from flesh and blood (1 Corinthians 15:50);
(2) The Church is built on the truth of Jesus being the Divine and Anointed One, and thusly being the sole reason for the Church's conception and continued existence;
(3) The gates of hell will not prevail against His Church.
It should be noted that the word for "hell" used is not the diabolical sense of evil, nor is it divine punishment justly served. It speaks of the place of departed souls, and more aptly refers to the inescapable death of all things: in a universe ruled by sin, all things must come to an end. But His Church shall not. A further observation would lead to the Greek description of His Church; in the original language, the last clause would be understood as this: "...and hades' entrance will not overpower them."
Yes, I did say "them," not "it." Autos is the reflexive Greek word used, and is a personal (used of people) pronoun. What does this mean? Whomever God makes alive in Christ shall not be swallowed up by death (1 Corinthians 15:55). Physical death? That is referred to as "sleeping," as the physical body is no more, but the true life of Christ resounds within those He has redeemed. This directly ties into Christ's message of eternal life in Him, Who is the only True Vine (John 15).
But what does this mean along the lines of the definition of the Church? Let us again reconsider the prior three points. In point one, we see that flesh and blood has nothing to do with the plans of God, for His ways are not our own (Isaiah 55:8-9). The Church is not a business, as wealth and money are far from the goal and focus of the true Church. The Church is not a political organization designed to sway a nation, as it is a holy nation unto itself. And what constitutes a nation? Is it the government, or the population? We are the Body of Christ. Imagine what that watered-down phrase would mean to the early believers who read it for the first time. Of course, the literal meaning would magnify the spiritual truth: we are all members of His body. The Church is His Body, so then the Church is not an institution, but the believers themselves (See 1 Corinthians 3). Christ's proclamation of the gates of hell not prevailing against the Church was a promise that there is no end to the life of each and every believer, as the entire Body (congregation of believers) is connected to Him, the Head. To lose sight of this crucial understanding of the Church being believer-based and not institution-based is the difference between unity and division.
This is the reason why so many tantalizing doctrines are so stringently held to in this day and age; they become the very instruments of the devil to incite division rather than promote harmony in Christ alone. Any doctrine that points one's focus away from Christ, even momentarily, is a trap waiting to be sprung. Before moving onward, a good summary to mark this point would be as follows: the Greek word translated as "church" is ekklesia, and it meant people who responded to a summons, those who were "called out."

1 Peter 2:5 you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

The true Church is a spiritual structure comprised of every redeemed soul. That's it. There are those who see a distinction between "Israeli" Christians and "Gentile" Christians, but in fact there is none. They are all called out with the same purpose (Compare Exodus 19:6 with 1 Peter 2:9, noting that the description of the New Covenant in 1 Peter includes the dispersed Jews, not just "Gentile Christians"), and are all the same body, as there is no distinction in Christ (Galatians 3:28). Realize that this New Covenant is the very fulfillment of the promise from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15) where what was wrong was made right, and is the New (or Revitalized) Covenant promised to the Jews (Jeremiah 31:31). We see there is a general promise to the physical father, Adam, that God would right what is wrong, and then later on, God tells Abraham that in his Seed, which is Christ, all nations would be blessed. Abraham, the father of the faithful, held onto this promise. And then, after the children of Israel had broken their covenant with God, He was faithful to usher in a new one mediated by His Son.
So we see that the Church is not an earthly superpower or a spiritual daycare, but sees the fulfillment of every promise God ever made, since the Church is Christ's Body! Every denominational (and in some cases, dispensational) wall erected by man is disintegrated by the proper understanding of what the Church is. The Church cannot be compared to any physical nation, institution, kingdom, business, or group; for it is based in another world, indeed, another realm.
But what about the Law? Isn't that based on the flesh? Well, yes, but the law of Moses is Jewish heritage. When we say the Law, we mean the standard which measures a perfect human being. It is inherent to the consciences of all mankind. The law of Moses was the theocratic constitutional document by which the ancient Hebrew people were required to live. Paul observed in his missionary journeys that many people followed similar laws, such as "do not murder" and "do not steal," but such laws as wearing a particular form of clothing or trimming one's beard to a specific length were examples of inconsequential variances. In his famous dissertation of the Christian faith (the epistle to the Romans), Paul declares something astounding to scattered Jews:

Romans 2:14-16 for whenever Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law unto themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience witnessing with them, and among themselves their thoughts accuse or even defend them), in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men according to my gospel through Jesus Christ.

The advantage of the Hebrew nation was that the law of Moses was based directly upon God's Law, as Moses received it from Him (and thereby it was accurate to the Law of God), as opposed to Confucias, Aristotle, or Buddha, who were good moral guessers, but still were ignorant of the source of truth and goodness--God alone--and therefore made wrong turns and were stuck at dead ends. Furthermore, Paul declares the Law to be a "schoolmaster," or in the original Greek, a servant who would escort his master's children to school. To strictly cleave to the law of Moses does hold greater benefits than Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics or Buddha's Eightfold Path, but in the end, all who put their faith in them (that is, the flesh's ability to walk the Highway to Heaven) fall short of the glory of God, as no one can truly adhere to any moral code to the ultimate satisfaction of their conscience. Every last person has fallen short, and if they are honest, they will admit it. (Note: I am not promoting the writings of Greek or Asian philosophers; as stated earlier, their advice was strictly based in the flesh's attempt to reach spiritual fulfillment, and as we believers know, that is utterly impossible in and of ourselves.)

It is because of this that Christianity was recognized by the apostles (and most generations thereafter) as separate from Israel and even Judaism--it is greater than both! The Church cannot be compared to Islam, Buddhism, or even Judaism simply because it supercedes every invention and convention of man--for the Church is not a collection of hymns, nor is it (soley) the preacher behind the pulpit, but it is composed of every single individual who calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and redemption (See again 1 Peter 2:5).
To reiterate, attempts to connect the Church with Israel will not work much better than connecting the Church with Iraq. Although many of the Bible's events took place in Iraq (or Mesopotamia, the ancient name used in Scripture), the Iraqi nation is of no spiritual consequence where the Church is concerned other than they need to hear the true Good News of Jesus Christ's victory over sin and death. Moreover, I, for one, do not want to lay claim to the "promises of Israel" as (1) they are already fulfilled, (2) I have a greater inheritance that will neither spoil nor fade reserved in Heaven for me (1 Peter 1:3), of which the Holy Spirit now serves as an assurance, or a "fore-taste."
So Christ's Church, His collection of ones called out of darkness into light, is not based on any fleshly thing, be it culture, ancestry, or tradition, because it is based in Him, whose Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). There is a great effort in today's media to move toward a relative, ecumenical approach to all religions as being "essentially true" and all leading to the same conclusion. That would work just fine, except that all religions do NOT say the same thing. There are some which may scratch the surface of truth, but their application and core are not truly godly. If Christ's Church might become wayward at times, what are the chances of a man-made religion governing and directing its followers to the true experiential knowledge of God? None. For Jesus is truly the only way to the Father, as He bridged the division between holiness and destruction. So these other religions, no matter how appealing they may sound, are still inherently corrupted as man himself is corrupt. If the blind leads the blind, both shall surely fall into a pit.
But Christ came to make those who are blind able to see (John 9:39), and in Him we have the assurance of a tried-and-tested officiant, or mediator, who is forever alive to make intercession (or to raise our position) before the Father. It is for us to know that God is good and faithful, and that He shall do that which He began to do in His love for us.
And what of the Church's mission? It is to bear fruit that will last. The fruit of the Spirit is the result of His work and presence in the lives of those who love Him, and it is that collective work of souls in the earth that we should recognize as the true Church, the Body of Christ.