THE CHURCH OF JESUS

     To me, Jesus never came to earth to launch or begin a new or different religion.  He came to restore man's relationship with God:  one on one and face to face.
      To begin, the word "religion" is used 5 times in the New Testament, the word "Christian" is used 3 times, and the word "church" appears 114 times in the New Testament. 
     For the record, Jesus never used the word "religion" nor the word "Christian" throughout his ministry.
     The word "church" is the Greek word "ekklesia".  To the Greeks, ekklesia means "an assembly of citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative assembly". 
     The New Testament writers understood this Greek word "ekklesia"; therefore, the "church" to them was the word "ekklesia", an assembly or congregation of believers in Christ Jesus.  As the apostles built churches, this was the establishment of congregations of people. Believers met in church-houses, for under the Roman Empire they had no rights such as "religious liberty" and they certainly did not attempt to construct church buildings. 
     Today, it is difficult for people to think about God without thinking about religion; nor to think of Jesus outside the context of religion: because our minds have been saturated with religious ideas that we can easily think---in order to get Jesus---we must become a member of a religious organization with all of its dogmas and doctrines, as well as laws, rules, and regulations, and in addition to religious atmospheres and symbols, rites, rituals, and traditions, which have been created out of the minds of religious people, in to our minds, and not from the mind of Jesus.
     Therefore, if we submit ourselves to a religious institution, we can become institutionalized---unable to think for ourselves because we have submitted ourselves to the thinking of others, and, consequently, we are under their control.  Our behavior is thus modified to conform to religious principles and teachings, written by people, and we, then, will think of Jesus only as our religion allows us to think of Him, becoming slaves to a spiritual system, which is a system of deception.  And with the words of religion written in our minds, we live these words and not by the words of Jesus.  Religion, therefore, is a system of spiritual slavery.
     Furthermore, because of man's religions and religious people, Jesus can also become an idol---shaped as an image in the minds of people, and, as an idol, he is therefore dead and not living, but simply a symbol.
     Religion, obviously, is a system designed for performance:  based on the false premise that it is what we do that matters, not because of what Jesus did. 
     Whenever Jesus spoke of the church, he was speaking about people.  Whenever he spoke about his return to earth for the church (or his Second Coming) he is speaking about the church, which is people.  He will not return for a religion, nor for people of a certain religious persuasion. 
     Belief in Jesus Christ, therefore, is not a religious experience.  It is a personal relationship with Him, a relationship that is internal in the minds and hearts of believers.  It is not an external experience as in a relationship with religion.  Religion is something we do, but knowing Jesus is recognizing what he did and who he is.  As Jesus said in the Book of John 21:21, my Father hath sent me.  God did not, therefore, send religion. 
     As a personal note, however, I will tell you that the best thing that ever happened in my life was the day I lost my religion.  That was the day I met Jesus for the first time and I was unshackled from the ball and chain of religion that I had been dragging for a long, long time.  In short, that was the day of my release from a spiritual prison.  This does not mean that I am perfect, or know everything.  God forbid!
     You are invited to read and research the New Testament for yourself and arrive at your own conclusion of this matter, which is the separation of Christ from religion and to understand the true meaning of the word "church".