Do You Love the Church... Which One?

This One?

Or This One?

This is a short introduction of the Lords church that can help you understand a little more of what Christ's church is. The Church is it’s People wherever they meet on the Lords day Sunday, where they gather to worship and honor Jesus, worshiping God in spirit and in truth as he so richly deserves, and commands. The church was bought at a great price in the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross through His obedience to the Father to the last breath. Then on the historical third day as written in His Word, Jesus raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit of God so you might have a chance to become a new citizen of His one and only church, the one he built with His blood that he spoke about in Matthew 16:13-18 of the New Testament.

Jesus said:

“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 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, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

The church, the one that Jesus built as he stated in the above scripture some 2000 years ago still stands today with no threat of Hades in sight!

Is "the church" a building, a place of worship, you know, something physical without personality or a beating heart? Or is it people, a local gathering of God worshiping souls who collectively make up a diversity of talents, needs and heartfelt caring for others all in the name of Jesus Christ? The scripture below (Ephesians 3:9-11) speaks about a "manifold wisdom" of God within the church that is a source of Gods light in the world that is perceived as a fellowshiping mystery to those without light. And the Apostle Paul wrote by the Holy Spirit:

"To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I am often amused yet concerned to hear people refer to the church as a physical place having no real sense of what Jesus was referring to when He said he would build it. Jesus is talking about the heart of man in that His church would live within the heart and mind among the fellowship of believers, not the wood and mortar of a structure! And "the Rock" is not Peter. Its Jesus Deity and authority. You see, it is the heart where God resides in redeemed men and women which makes up His one and only church. Jesus never spoke of multiple churches, just one - "I will build My church." In other words, the unity of saved believers that have been baptized into Him (Acts 2:41, Galatians 3:27).

We love many things and people in our lives on this planet called earth. But this is a temporary place, a place that can only reach so far in filling our deepest desires in life. The Lords church being a living organism with eternal qualities provides much more to the feeding of our inner souls through the presence of Christ in His church body, the saved, that we ought to truly be in love with the church membership no matter with its problems and hypocrisies. What did Jesus say about His purpose for coming and establishing His church?

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Luke 5:31-32.

And...

"Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:9-10.

If you think the church of the redeemed, the ones that will inherit the kingdom, the prize of heaven are supposed to be without faults or sin, that they have to be perfect for you to worship with them, I must remind you of what the Master says,

"He who is without sin, cast the first stone." John 8:7

And...

“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:4-5.

The church is a spiritual hospital in which its members help each other with all their differences and shortcomings – to get to Heaven! But you’ve got to be there to get and give help in the name of Jesus.

Friend, there is no such thing as a lone ranger Christian. It is too often true that churches are not living up to the call of Jesus Christ. Some churches do not teach the Bible at all, and other churches favor their traditions over what the Bible teaches. Too many other churches teach the truths of the Bible and yet do not show the love and community that God desires. Do these difficulties, however, mean that we can or should be Christians without being part of a church? The witness of the Scriptures is clear: God expects Christians to work together in a local church. Love for one another, encouragement to continue in the faith, and accountability are all learned in the environment of the local church. We cannot grow to be the type of Christians that please God if we attempt to do so on our own!

Yes, it is unfortunately true that too often local churches are not representing God's intentions very well. Too many churches encourage too much passive behavior and do not challenge their members to represent the community that God expects the local church to be. Just because many churches fail to live up to God's desires does not mean that we are "off the hook" of the local church. God established local churches in His wisdom for our benefit. If God desired to have "maverick Christians," He could easily have done so. He recognizes, however, that we are too weak to defeat Satan by ourselves. Christians need opportunities to assemble with one another, to show love to one another, building one another up, and encouraging and exhorting each other to continue to serve God according to His will.

Can Man Worship As He Pleases?

by Steve Dewhirst

Historical evidence abounds that man can, indeed, worship as he pleases. As creatures of choice, God affords us the privilege of opting for His guidance or striking out on our own. The real question, however, is whether or not humanly-designed worship will be acceptable to Him. The very nature of the term worship demands careful attention to the instructions of God. Worship denotes reverence or obeisance (bowing down). One can hardly “bow down” reverently before the Creator, while ignoring His divine will. So much has been introduced into modern worship, not because of biblical instruction, but because of human tastes and preferences. It is the height of presumptuousness to assume that God will be pleased simply because we are pleased. “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jer. 10:23). Not only does that principle apply to man’s general course of life, it also has application to our public expressions of worship and devotion to God.

At the core of this issue lies not the matter of “forms” or “acts of worship,” but the matter of love and dedication to the God of heaven. Even correctly-executed public worship can be an abomination to Jehovah, if congregants offer it as mere routine. “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” begins the plaintive cry of God in Isaiah 1:11-15. The lack of genuine devotion makes worship a sham. To serve God with less than “the whole heart” is to fail to serve Him (see Jer. 3:10). By contrast, God directed Jeremiah toward a day when He would give His people “a heart to know me…I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart” (Jer. 24:7).

The incongruity of worshiping God without the whole heart surfaces again in the New Testament. Jesus’ famous interview with the Samaritan woman at the well illustrates the human preoccupation with form over reality. When she states, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship,” Jesus doesn’t debate the issue with her. Instead, he strikes at the very heart of Samaritan misunderstanding. “You worship what you do not know…” (Jn. 4:22). Certainly the Samaritans were in error for violating God’s instructions for Old Testament worship, but theirs was a more fundamental problem: they had no real knowledge of the God they purported to honor. The Samaritans were ignorant because they rejected most of the Old Testament scriptures, and apart from divine revelation, man can know neither the person nor the will of Deity. By contrast, Jesus taught that “true worshipers” in every age “worship the Father in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4:23-24). In other words, true worshipers worship with their spirits (their whole hearts) and, therefore, worship God in reality.

We can never claim to worship or reverence a God whose will we ignore. Genuine faith in God establishes His will as our rule of life and conduct (Rom. 3:31). No aspect of human life is exempt from the sovereign rule of Christ, and particularly not the public expressions of our devotion to Him. “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?” (Lk. 6:46).

Why, indeed? If the term Lord implies rule and authority, our only logical response is to understand and implement His will. Disciples have eternal life by virtue of faith in Christ, and are to live by faith (Rom. 1:16-17). But what we do, as a matter of faith in Christ, is governed by principles found in God’s word, for “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). We cease to “live by faith” when we base our convictions and practices on human desire, however well-intentioned. Jesus exposed this spirit in the Pharisees by quoting the prophet Isaiah. “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:8-9). Jesus wasn’t condemning their worship practices; He condemned their self-service that rendered worship meaningless. That same spirit thrives today.

When men say, “I want to worship God in my own way,” it ceases to be the way of God. When one decides that he must employ his “special talent” in the public worship of God, public worship becomes a showcase of talent, rather than a demonstration of reverence for God and His word. And it must also be stated that human egos lie at the heart of much sensationalism in modern worship, coupled with the assembly’s desire for entertainment.

Authorized Worship in the Assembly

We eat the Lord’s Supper, Sing, Pray, and Teach in our worship assemblies because God’s word shows those same practices by first century Christians under the direction of the apostles (see Acts 20:7-12; 1 Cor. 11:17-34; 1 Cor. 14). We Contribute Funds to the furtherance of God’s work because God’s word so orders (1 Cor. 16:1-4). Moreover, we limit the day of eating the supper and giving of our means to Sundays, because that seems to be the clear of import of our Bible examples. By faith, we employ the same practices as revealed in God’s word. But outside of divine revelation, we have no basis for faith or religious action. If we are discontent with Bible-directed worship, we can certainly introduce our own preferences as creatures of free choice. But we’d best not expect our actions to have the approval of heaven.

It’s wonderful to fellowship with the set apart saints of the Lord, there is no other place we should want to be right now, tomorrow and the rest of our days on planet earth. Do you love the church, the people who are the church? Then deal with the differences and just Love one another. Or are you a seeking soul looking for a perfect congregation of followers of Christ? Let me inform you, there is no such thing as congregational perfection. The perfection comes to each individual Christian through the shed blood of Christ before the throne of God. This is the true perfection I hope you who are reading this will come to repentance and obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you are a wayward Christian that needs to come home, my prayer is for you to truly lay your issues aside and just come to the Lord and return back to church where you belong. Church is where Jesus is for you, church is where He is present in His body, the assembly of the saints.

Chart courtesy Barnes Bible Charts

If you would consider becoming a Christian in the Lords one church He built, please click this LINK to learn how.

Blessings...