Is the Church the greatest community?

 

  Dudley Hall once said, “There is no greater cause than the cause of Christ, no greater cure than the cross, and no greater community than the church.” Beloved, do you believe this? Would you live and die by the truth that the answer to the world’s greatest sickness is found only in the finished work of the cross? Do you view your daily fulfillment in terms of the opportunities you took to proclaim the gospel? Furthermore, do you consider your place within the local expression of the body of Christ to be the greatest “club”you could ever commit to? Let’s take a serious look at what these claims mean.

     James 2:18 says, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (NIV) In light of this scripture, our beliefs must go beyond lip service.  If we believe that the gospel is THE cure, then we must be expressing it in our daily actions, Amen?!

     Now, consider the greatest community, the church. The Barna Research group is asking why, “among those who grew up in church, have nearly six in ten dropped out at some point? Why have more than half been absent from church for the past six months? Why do three in ten Millennials say church is not at all important while an additional four in ten feel ambivalent, saying church is either somewhat important or somewhat not important?” (Barna, 2015) This doesn’t sound like the greatest community, does it? Barna goes on to say that some smaller churches struggle to keep from thinking of themselves as “a religious service industry.” In other words, the church is one element of spiritual growth. It is becoming increasingly common for some folks to attend multiple churches or participate in multiple avenues of spiritual well-being that are not necessarily tied to one church, but are also not: 1) committed to just one church 2) not under one leadership covering, 3) limited to consumer based activities.
So, what’s your take on this?
I hope you will think of this as a conversation starter. It is my hope that this article would raise questions and awareness so that you will be motivated to discuss these ideas with each other.
Looking forward to hearing your input. 

Living in the light

     To fully understand terrorism, we must comprehend the meaning of living in darkness and under the influence of the god of this world. Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 that the glory and light of Christ is veiled to those who are blinded by the god of this world; and they are perishing. He writes In 1st Corinthians 2 that to an unbeliever the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness and the unbeliever cannot understand them because it takes spiritual discernment.  Other verses that help explain terrorism are found in Ecclesiastes chapter 8:11.

     Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil, and in Proverbs 29:18 where one has no vision he lives an unrestrained and directionless life and he invariably perishes. We, as believers, should be disappointed and grieved, but not surprised when a movie that glorifies the desecration of a woman sets box office records.  More and more of our young people get caught up in the dropout culture of catering to the flesh or when they flock to causes that allow them to cast off all restraints to fully do evil.

     Unredeemed man is not only blinded by the god of this world, but also supernaturally anointed to do evil. His nature is to control, judge, lord over and exert his will over others. The devil inspired barbaric creativity of the terrorists.  For example their bombing and execution methods demonstrates a casting off of all restraints and being unchecked by spiritual limitations. How does one crucify women and children or drag someone behind a motorcycle until they die and still have any modicum of the nature of God or a vision for their own life left in them?

     When Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb, he told the spectators to unbind him and let him go, i.e. cut him loose and set him free. The same for us.  Jesus calls us out of a life of death and bondage into the glory of his life which is the image of God (i.e. to live the life of God). Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly, that we might be saved, set free from the dominion of our flesh and self-centeredness, that we might lay down our cross and take up His and that we would grow to love one another as much as we love ourselves.

     A redeemed man’s supernatural anointing is God’s Spirit which enables him live a life that exhibits the fruit of this Holy Spirit. God promises to order the steps of his children and to give them vision. Acts 2:17: "And it shall be in the last days, God says, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all mankind and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams." Jesus stated that He is the light of life and when following Him we too would have these same revelations and do greater works than those that He did.
What a wonderful privilege to be able to appraise things with spiritual understanding, to have vision and to freely love one another without the need to control, judge and force our will on one another.