Getting To Know The church

Jesus was the head of the church

Read Hebrews 11:13-14, “11Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood. 13Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore. 14For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”

The world that we live in and the society and the governments that we live in, for the most part, want to exert their own definitions about everything relating to society and even this extends to the church. But there are some times, that there are “oversteps” and secondary labels of things, that actually misrepresent the real thing. The world wants things to be or to have a professional label. And in some cases, there is civil and cultural room for this, but at times when the culture and when civil society, pushes divine identity labels to be unbiblical, it means that church is forced to hold to his ultimate identity, at it’s very roots. For example the church can be a real Bible based church, and still act in the society, and be professional about it, and take advantage of civil provisions in the state to be a corporation, but when the government oversteps the boundaries of God, found in the Bible it is the call of the church to remain faithful to the Bible.

Jesus, he died on a cross. He was not in a civil position in society. The society did not make room or provision for him. So we too, can take this as an example. The very essence of what matters in our faith, as believers in Christ, and as Christians, does not denote that we have to be in a society that provides civil rights, to Christians, to experience the essence and reality of our faith. But when a society makes room for official Christian furtherance, it should be seen as an advantage to our world, and the ability to further the faith in means that are extraordinary, and not always experienced by every believing community of every age.

Ministers in the church should follow Jesus’ example

Read 1 Peter 5:4, “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.”

There is a place for ministry. The place of ministry holds in it, if it is from God, that this ministry place is a calling. This calling is something that cannot be replaced, or filled or completed by any other person, other than the one who is called. Some can fill a specific office (pastor, teacher, missionary, prophet etc) but no one can cover, a missed-calling. God can use other people, but there are some people, when you are in ministry, that God has ordained, that only you are able to reach. There is purpose in ministry. There are some people that will be in your community, and your circle of influence that is in no one else’s, who is in ministry. You have a great opportunity if you have a calling.

The pastors and minister, should be testing themselves by how close they are resembling Jesus, who is the head shepherd. Suffering is what gets and paves the way to the road to life. The person who wants to lead, like Jesus and serve the gospel, will suffer the loss of leaving behind everything, and pressing on to Jesus. Leaving good, kindred, cultural nostalgia, and serving those who are different than you. That is what a true leader and servant does. It’s easy to serve your own people, but it takes maturity to serve, crossing into cultures different than your own. We are to go with Jesus, outside. You see, his own people rejected him. We too should also be willing to obey God, at any cost.

No one Can Claim or Hold

Read 1 Peter 2:9-10, “9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

You see, the church is something, that God did. If you are part of it, there is no one who can make you not part of it. If you are not part of it, there is nothing that can make you part of it, except for God. The government cannot hold it. The world cannot remove it from society. It is a spiritual-birthed people. It is a work of the Spirit. It is a work of God that man cannot stamp out, because it is not only relating to this world. It relates to the spiritual realm. Many will try and be part, but if they are not God’s they are not part of God’s possession. Verbal ridicule, curses, civil punishments, or control, and mockery and everything the world will throw at the church, will not be able to stop it because it is a divine institution.

We are called into light, the church is a redeemed community. A people who were once in darkness.

END: Lord Jesus, we come to you, we plead with you for your Spirit to be poured out, and for people to come to you, and be saved by you today. We pray that the church would grow and be effective, and we pray that we would be of benefit to you, in this dark world, so that we can stand before you, and without shame, be able to say, that we did all we could. Amen.