Today at church (in PA) the sermon was on the Household of God, and it was titled Church Matters. In a time when many Christians believe they can follow Jesus and not go too church (and in a sense, that's true), I thought this may be very relevant. But the message took a very different turn.
It went on to talk about how church is good for you and how you can benefit from church. And I sat there wriggling in my seat because I kept thinking, "that's great and all... but church isn't about me."
So ecclesia is the word for both a body of faithful people and the whole body of the faithful. In a word, church (and Church). God designed the ecclesia to bring the message of the gospel to the world. Point one: we need church. We as Christians need to be involved in the church because the body, this community, is specifically called to share the Good News-- you can't do it alone. You are called to evangelize where you are, to be a missionary wherever you go, but apart from the Church, you won't get very far.
Church is so important friends!
We gather as a body not just to be fed (because by the time Sunday comes around, we need good spiritual food). But we need to enter into the presence of the Holy Spirit and worship the God who brought us from day one to seven. A pastor once asked our church what it would be like if we spent our week not just looking forward to and longing for Sunday when we will be filled up, but fueled our souls by seeing all the ways God worked during the week and came into Sunday sharing all the ways he provided?
The church in Acts had everything in common and shared and provided whenever there was need. No one lacked anything. Can we come back to this? No church is perfect because we are made up of imperfect people. But God is sanctifying his people, bringing us closer to him, if we could just see past ourselves and into his heart. We need to move past the drama and the disagreements and come back to love and grace. It will not be perfect this side of heaven, but I think we can practice looking a whole lot more like Jesus where we are now.
So ecclesia is the word for both a body of faithful people and the whole body of the faithful. In a word, church (and Church). God designed the ecclesia to bring the message of the gospel to the world. Point one: we need church. We as Christians need to be involved in the church because the body, this community, is specifically called to share the Good News-- you can't do it alone. You are called to evangelize where you are, to be a missionary wherever you go, but apart from the Church, you won't get very far.
Church is so important friends!
We gather as a body not just to be fed (because by the time Sunday comes around, we need good spiritual food). But we need to enter into the presence of the Holy Spirit and worship the God who brought us from day one to seven. A pastor once asked our church what it would be like if we spent our week not just looking forward to and longing for Sunday when we will be filled up, but fueled our souls by seeing all the ways God worked during the week and came into Sunday sharing all the ways he provided?
The church in Acts had everything in common and shared and provided whenever there was need. No one lacked anything. Can we come back to this? No church is perfect because we are made up of imperfect people. But God is sanctifying his people, bringing us closer to him, if we could just see past ourselves and into his heart. We need to move past the drama and the disagreements and come back to love and grace. It will not be perfect this side of heaven, but I think we can practice looking a whole lot more like Jesus where we are now.
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