What is the church? Resurrected!

What is the church according to this Day?

"Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, live in him, firmly rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding with thankfulness. Beware lest anyone take you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ, because in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you are filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority, in whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made by hands, by the removal of the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which also you were raised together with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And although you were dead in the trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having destroyed the certificate of indebtedness in ordinances against us, which was hostile to us, and removed it out of the way by nailing it to the cross. When he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a display of them in public, triumphing over them by it."

What is the church according to the Boss?

What is the church according to the one who owns it?

“This is what the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says: ‘I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, and you are dead. Be on the alert and strengthen the remaining things that are about to die, for I have not found your works completed before my God. Therefore remember how you have received and heard, and observe it, and repent. If therefore you are not on the alert, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come against you. But you have a few people in Sardis who have not defiled their clothing, and they will walk with me in white, because they are worthy. The one who conquers in this way will be dressed in white clothing, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, and I will declare his name before my Father and before his angels. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

How many of our churches are so in name only?

What is the church according to the one with the double edged sword coming out of his mouth?

What is the church according to the one whose Word is the power of both creation and destruction, able to pierce beyond the division of soul and spirit, joint and marrow and able to judge the reflections and thoughts of the heart?

“This is what the one who has the sharp double-edged sword says: ‘I know where you live, where the throne of Satan is. And you hold fast to my name and did not deny your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan lives. But I have a few things against you: that you have there those who hold fast to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. So likewise you also have those who hold fast to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent! But if you do not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war with them with the sword from my mouth. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give to him some of the hidden manna, and I will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

i guess a word here about Balaam and Nicolaitans is called for.  Most of us probably read this and assume it's not talking about us, not about our church.  But Balaam's sin was to draw the Israelites from Yahweh, the true God, their covenant Husband.  God sees all idolatry as adultery.  Anything that causes our hearts to pursue things other than him, to take our eyes off of His beauty and put our desires onto the things of this world, His good gifts rather than the good gifter, is idolatry and adultery and the worst kind of heresy.   Money, beauty, health, sex, children and family, career, a righteousness based on our education and works and right thinking rather than the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ, anything.  It sounds violent, because it is, but we need the Sword from his mouth, His Word, to show us what' in our hearts and divide us from it.

What is the church according to the one who holds the seven stars and walks among the seven golden lampstands?

What is the church according to the one who hold its spirit and message in his hand and walks among it?

“This is what the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand says, the one who walks in the midst of the seven gold lampstands: ‘I know your works, and your labor and patient endurance, and that you are not able to tolerate evil, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you found them to be false. And you have patient endurance, and have endured many things because of my name, and have not become weary. But I have this against you: that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the works you did at first. But if you do not, I am coming to you, and I will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. But you do have this: that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, things which I also hate. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to him to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.’

Revelations 2

What is the church? Received.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to before a risen Savior?

"And I turned to see the voice which was speaking with me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching to the feet and girded around his chest with a golden belt, and his head and hair were white like wool, white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame, and his feet were like fine bronze when it has been fired in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters, and he had in his right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword coming out of his mouth, and his face was like the sun shining in its strength.
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead person, and he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid!"

It is in the West, in this day and age, very easy to succumb to the idea that we are just one religion of many.  That we christians are just following some cultural heritage passed down to us from our father and our father's fathers before us.  That our beliefs and our customs are no different than the beliefs and customs which mark other cultures and are no better or no worse, just separate.  And that would be true, is true for every other culture and religion.

But for Jesus.  If this man really lived and this man is who he said he is then it is INEVITABLE that each of us will one day stand before him just as John did in the passage above.  That is truth.  That is the church's truth.  What will you do then?  The church is not those who will fall at his feet.

"I am Yahweh, and there is none besides me;
    besides me there is no god.
        I gird you though you do not know me,
so that they may know from the rising of the sun
    and from the west that there is none besides me;
        I am Yahweh and there is none besides me...
 I have sworn by myself;
    a word that shall not return has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness:
‘Every knee shall kneel down to me;
    every tongue shall swear.’
‘Only in Yahweh,’ one shall say to me, ‘are righteousness and strength.’
    He shall come to him, and all those who were angry with him shall be ashamed." Isaiah 45

No, all will fall before Him just as all would melt before the Sun, it's just physics.  And here is one greater than the Sun.  

The church are those to whom He will compassionately give His mighty right hand and say, "Do not be afraid." 

What is the church? Dependent on revelation.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 40?

"When Joseph came to them in the morning he looked at them, and behold, they were troubled. And he asked the court officials of Pharaoh that were with him in the custody of his master’s house, “Why are your faces sad today?” And they said to him, “We each dreamed a dream, but there is no one to interpret it.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God?"

Here we see a slew of the characteristics of the church in play.  Joe's responsibility, even in jail.  Joe's compassion for his neighbors, fellow prisoners, foreigners, pagans.  His knowledge, right knowledge of God, not bumpersticker faith.  But fully convinced of the sovereignty of Yahweh, the All knowing, All powerful.  And last but not least, Joe's simple faith and trust in God's power, not his own.  

The church does not lean on its own wisdom and understanding and power.

Centuries later another prisoner and exile in a foreign land (church as alien) would have an opportunity to not just interpret dreams but know the dream outright without being told it!  And not just for servants of the king, but the king himself!  He does not lean on his own power either...

"Then Daniel went to his home, and he made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions, along with the remainder of the wise men of Babylon, would not be killed.
Then in a vision of the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel; then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
Daniel said:

“Let his name, the name of God, be blessed throughout the ages,
    for the wisdom and the power are his.
And he changes the times and the seasons,
    and he deposes kings and he sets up kings;
he gives wisdom to wise men
    and knowledge to men who know understanding.
He reveals the deep and the hidden things;
    he knows what is in the darkness,
    and the light dwells with him.
To you, O God of my ancestors,
    I give thanks and I give praises,
for the wisdom and the power you gave to me,
    and now you have made known to me
what we have asked from you,
    for you have made known to us the matter of the king.”  Daniel 2

What is the church? Not alone.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 39?

"Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, a court official of Pharaoh, commander of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. And Yahweh was with Joseph..."

"And he was there in prison. And Yahweh was with Joseph..."

Whether the spoiled son of a rich nomadic chief living as an alien on land promised to him or the slave of an officer of a foreign power or a prisoner unjustly incarcerated, the church is defined and known by the company it keeps.  

Yahweh is with His church.

"And Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age.”"  Matthew 28 

What is the church? Faithful servants.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 39? 

"Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, a court official of Pharaoh, commander of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. And Yahweh was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his master observed that Yahweh was with him, and everything that was in his hand to do Yahweh made successful. And Joseph found favor in his eyes and he served him. Then he appointed him over his house and all that he owned he put into his hand. And it happened that from the time he appointed him over his house and over all that he had, Yahweh blessed the house of the Egyptian on account of Joseph. And the blessing of Yahweh was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. And he left all that he had in the hand of Joseph, and he did not worry about anything except the food that he ate."

"And Joseph’s master took him and put him into prison, the place that the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in prison. And Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed loyal love to him, and gave him favor in the eyes of the chief of the prison. And the chief of the prison put all the prisoners that were in the prison into the hand of Joseph. And everything that was done there, he was the one who did it. The chief of the prison did not worry about anything in his hand, since Yahweh was with him. And whatever he did Yahweh made it successful."

Wherever the church is, whether God blessed it with the choice of careers and mission fields in which to serve or whether God is testing her with less than ideal circumstances and even suffering, one thing should mark those who know Yahweh and are known and loved by Him:

The church should endeavor to be the most loyal, the most beneficial, the most honest, the most worthy servant we can be there for as long as we are there.  Employers, employees, co-workers and customers should all be able to stand on the last day and praise God for how we treated them. 

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ, not while being watched, as people pleasers, but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart, serving with goodwill as to the Lord and not to people, because you know that each one of you, whatever good he should do, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. And masters, do the same things to them, giving up threats, knowing that both their Lord and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him."  Ephesians 6
  
For the church should not motivated by money, the praise of men, worldly ambition or laziness.  The church are those chosen to serve in the same love they have been served.

"So when he had washed their feet and taken his outer clothing and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, for I am. If then I—your Lord and Teacher—wash your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that just as I have done for you, you also do. Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand these things, you are blessed if you do them."  John 13 

What is the church? Condemned...

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to as we continue with Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22?

"And Isaac said to Abraham his father, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “God will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went together."

Isaac is a dead man walking.  He just doesn't know it yet.  Maybe being in his teens and no dummy, he begins to suspect, yet he walks on.  Abraham has known for days.  Yet he walks on.  And here's the very simple point i've tried to make before and will try again today, the church is not inherently free from sin or its penalty: death.  

"They are corrupt.
They do abominable deeds.
There is none who does good.
Yahweh looks down from heaven upon the children of humankind
to see whether there is one who has insight,
one who cares about God.
All have gone astray;
they are altogether corrupt.
There is not one who does good;
there is not even one."  Psalm 14

"Because of this, just as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned." Romans 5

There is nothing lovely in these people who have come to be known as the church in and of themselves!  They are sinners.  They are thieves and whores and liars and murderers when they are called, every last one of them.  The church are dead men walking...

but they are also prophetic.  "And Abraham said, “God will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” 

What is the church? Glorified and glorifying.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 22?

" And he said, “Take your son, your only child, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains where^[a] I will tell you.” And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. And he took two of his servants with him, and Isaac his son. And he chopped wood for a burnt offering. And he got up and went to the place which God had told him."

We touched on it yesterday.  But look, what do you see?  When God told Abe he was going to destroy a wicked city or four, Abe had the temerity to argue with God.  To talk him down, to bargain for the lives of people he did not know.  When God told Abe he was going to be a father some day, Abe asked how it could be and even took matters into his own hands with one of his servants.  But here, Abe has matured enough to know that this is a time to just listen and do.  He knows this God.  He has been through deep waters with Him.  He loves and trusts and fears Him.

"And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, these he also called, and those whom he called, these he also justified, and those whom he justified, these he also glorified."

   When we do these things, when the church hears and obeys, God always moves them into the best position to see the good He has planned, to conform us not to the pattern of this world, but Jesus Christ, the visible Glory of God.

"Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”"  John 11

What is the church? Children of the promise.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 21?

"And Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said. And Yahweh did to Sarah as he had promised. And she conceived, and Sarah bore to Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him."  

"And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne Abraham, mocking. Then she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman will not be heir with my son, with Isaac.” And the matter displeased Abraham very much on account of his son. Then God said to Abraham, “Do not be displeased on account of the boy and on account of the slave woman. Listen to everything that Sarah said to you, for through Isaac your offspring will be named...."

"Then Jesus said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They replied to him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have not been enslaved to anyone at any time. How do you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus replied to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the household forever; the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be truly free."  John 8

"Tell me, you who are wanting to be under the law, do you not understand the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the female slave and one by the free woman. But the one by the female slave was born according to human descent, and the one by the free woman through the promise, which things are spoken allegorically, for these women are two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery, who is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is a slave with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother. For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren woman, who does not give birth to children;
    burst out and shout, you who do not have birth pains,
because many are the children of the desolate woman,
    even more than those of the one who has a husband.”

But you, brothers, are children of the promise, just as Isaac. But just as at that time the child born according to human descent persecuted the child born according to the Spirit, so also now. But what does the scripture say? “Drive out the female slave and her son, for the son of the female slave will never inherit with the son” of the free woman. Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the female slave but of the free woman."  Gal 4

What is the church? In Covenant.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 15?

"And he said to him, “Take for me a three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove and a young pigeon.” And he took for him all these and cut them in pieces down the middle. And he put each piece opposite the other, but the birds he did not cut. And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. And it happened, as the sun went down, then a deep sleep fell upon Abram and, behold, a great terrifying darkness fell upon him." 
"And after the sun had gone down and it was dusk, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between those half pieces. On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram..."

God promises.  God swears by himself for there is no higher authority to swear by.  God, who's yes is yes and no is no and has no reason to swear by anything, makes vows to us, his people.  Why?

"For people swear by what is greater than themselves, and the oath for confirmation is the end of all dispute for them. In the same way God, because he wanted to show even more to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his resolve, guaranteed it with an oath, in order that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge may have powerful encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us, which we have like an anchor of the soul, both firm and steadfast..." (Heb 6)

Okay, so what does God promise?  What has God vowed to His church?  Never mind that, just yet.  Bask, meditate, reel from the staggering fact that He does! 

What is the church? Thankful.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 8?

"So Noah went out, with his sons and his wife, and the wives of his sons with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, and everything that moves upon the earth, according to its families, went out from the ark. And Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and he took from all the clean animals and from all the clean birds, and offered burnt offerings on the altar."

The church is saved and not just it but as we said before, God delights to have His church participate with him in His saving grace.  To extend it even to the beasts and birds.   The church is God's preferred agency upon the earth.  Here we see the grace He gives to his people purposely extended to creation itself.  But that is not my main point today.  

The first thing we see Noah do with his feet once again upon dry dirt is to gather stones together and make an altar.  To worship the God who saved him.  To respond to the God who called him.  To THANK the God who loved him despite the fact that "the inclination of the heart of humankind is evil from his youth."  God's words, not mine.  And this fledgling church of Noah's will prove it before they we are done with them.  But that is another day.  Today they show us that the church are those whom despite their natural bent, God has chosen, made his agents, saved and now...

are purposefully and worshipfully Thankful.

"And it happened that while traveling toward Jerusalem, he was passing through the region between Samaria and Galilee. And as he was entering into a certain village, ten men met him—lepers, who stood at a distance. And they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” And when he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And it happened that as they were going, they were cleansed. But one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. And he fell on his face at his feet, giving thanks to him. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, “Were not ten cleansed? And where are the nine? Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has saved you.”"  Luke 17

What is the church? In the ark.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 7?

"And every living thing that moved on the earth perished—the birds, and the domesticated animals, and the wild animals, and everything that swarmed on the earth, and all humankind. Everything in whose nostrils was the breath of life, among all that was on dry land, died. And he blotted out every living thing upon the surface of the ground, from humankind, to animals, to creeping things, and to the birds of heaven; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained."

God is holy.  Holy.  HOLY.

You may not understand what holy means but here is one way to think of it: a goodness and righteousness as pure as the Sun is hot.  Nothing impure, nothing unholy, nothing tainted with sin can stand in God's presence.  It just simply can't.   It will be burned.  

Or perhaps it will make more sense to think of it this way: God's justice is perfect.  Perfect fairness.  Perfect exact and proportional punishment for any and all offense.  Nothing missed.  Nothing overlooked.  Nothing ever swept under the carpet and forgotten.  Everyone has perfect justice waiting for them before this King's throne.  Now it is widely accepted that the measure of an offense greatly depends upon who has been sinned against.  Lie to a child and no one cares.  Lie to your boss and perhaps you will be fired.  Lie to a judge and you will be fined and possibly imprisoned.  Lie to a King... Do not pay your brother back a loan and be ignored at reunions.  Do not pay your car loan and they will take back your car.  Do not pay your taxes and you will be fined and possibly imprisoned.  Do not pay the King what is His rightful due...

It is not unjust that God judges mankind.  He gave you life, a world to live in and literally everything you have including the ability to think about it.  He is due.  All these things are not gifts as much as loans.  They still belong to Him.  It is not unkind that God takes back what is His.  It is Amazing Grace that He ever gives it in the first place knowing before hand what you were going to do with it!  It is not unloving that God condemns some to hell for their sins against each other and Him.  It is staggeringly loving that He ever provided a way for anyone of us to be saved at all!  And such a way!  He gave His Beloved Son for us!  Jesus voluntarily becomes our ark; our means of grace with this Perfectly Just Creator King and Judge who has every right over us!  How much more angry should He be with us if we scorn or demean that gift!?!?

The church, therefore, are those IN the ark.  You cannot be saved otherwise.  God has only provided this one way.  No one outside the ark survived.  No one will be "good enough' on their own merit.  You simply cannot tread water that long.  One hundred and fifty days in a limitless ocean will be an afternoon swim at the pool next to eternity in the presence of Righteous God who no longer veils His presence to protect us from Himself.  

Thanks be to God that He has provided a Way of Truth for Life. 

What is the church? ...response.

What is the church?  And what can we continue to liken it to in Genesis 6?

"And Noah did according to all that God commanded him; thus he did."

If God had called and Noah had said, "mmmm, no thanks.  That sounds dumb," the Bible would have only been seven chapters long, and the soggy pages of chapter seven would have read, "and Noah didn't float long enough to regret that decision."  Or maybe Chapter 8 would read, "And God sighed, rolled up His sleeves and brought forth Dave from the earth..."  Only God knows.  But He gave grace enough to Noah for Noah to believe Him.  

Now it's very common for people to say they believe.  And it is very common for that belief to appear to be nothing more than cognitive assent.  Yes, i think that's true.  Yes, i think God is good and trustworthy.  Yet is that what saved Noah and his family?  Simply believing God when he said, I'm going to flood the earth?  That kind of belief would have had him paddling the backstroke thinking, "Yep, knew it, God was right."  Belief not only demands action, it dictates the action.  If you really believe God, it will change everything.  What you are doing.  What your values are.  That year that Noah spent preparing and building the ark, he reaped his fields and gardens but i guarantee you he didn't bother sowing next year's crop.  He didn't waste the time.  He probably didn't put that addition on the house or buy a new car.  Wasn't much point in remodeling the kitchen.  Probably drained the bank account and bought grain and oats.  A fat wallet wasn't going to feed him on the other side.  His priorities fit the belief he had.  The truth he believed.  Anything that didn't add to fitting and kitting the ark was a distraction and a waste of resources.  The church responds with belief and appropriate action.  We might say, it trusts and obeys.

There's so much more to be said about this but tomorrow's another day... if it comes.  "What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? That faith is not able to save him, is it?"  James 2

What is the church? Called.

What is the church?  What shall we liken it to in Genesis 6?

"And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth was filled with violence because of them. Now, look, I am going to destroy them along with the earth. Make for yourself an ark of cypress wood..."

i'm always telling my kids in the Sunday school class i teach, 'Don't skip over that!  Don't read, "And God said to Noah," as if it were, 'Once upon a time,'!  In some ways, it is the most important and improbable words in the Bible!  That God, The God, Yahweh, the Great I AM, spoke TO us!  That's why we know anything!  That alone sets up the church!  God called us!  Jesus, God in the flesh, called us, "Come, put down what you're doing and follow me.  Put down what you presently consider your life, take up your cross, the life I will give to you of service and sacrifice, and follow me.  God calls people as they are, yes; God formed you in the womb and knows you through and through and loves you as He made you, but what we do with that on our own is very rarely what He has for us to do!  Otherwise stories like this one with Noah would read more like, "And God came to Noah who was building a boat and said to him, "Nice boat.  I spoke to the animals, they should be arriving sometime after Thursday."  And Noah spake unto him, "Cool."  And God merrily went upon his way.

"When Israel (which means, 'wrestles with God') was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt (slavery to sin)  I called my son."  (Hosea 11)

 

What is the church? Favored.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 6?

"And Yahweh saw that the evil of humankind was great upon the earth, and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was always only evil. And Yahweh regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. And Yahweh said, “I will destroy humankind whom I created from upon the face of the earth, from humankind, to animals, to creeping things, and to the birds of heaven, for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh."

The line of Adam had failed.  No one is said to be walking inherently with God since Enosh was yoinked up by his suspenders.  The church of God as it was known then is for all extents and purposes, indistinguishable from the world, from the sons of Cain.  The church is not inherently better than the world.  There is nothing in us that made God love us.  We are evil and every inclination of our hearts is always only bent on loving ourselves.  Which brings us to our defining characteristic today.  

The church is those on whom God's favor rests.  "And those whom he predestined, these he also called, and those whom he called, these he also justified, and those whom he justified, these he also glorified."  Romans 8

What is the church? Pursued and persecuted.

What is the church?  And what can we liken it to in Genesis 4?

"And Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your face fallen? If you do well will I not accept you? But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

If you were looking for the protagonist of this chapter, it would not be Abel.  It's Cain.  Cain and Abel are of the same family, they are brothers, they both bring offerings to Yahweh.  For all extents and purposes, they, with their parents, are the church.  Cain does not bring his offering to God in love however.  He resents God.  He brings the fruit of his own labor, possibly not even his best.  Just something to appease the God who runs my life.  Or perhaps he truly does want to be accepted by God, but for what he is.  For what Cain has done.  Look at me!  Am I not worthy?  Are you not proud of me?  Am I not good enough for you?  

No.  Frankly.  You are not.  But if you do what is good, what I've instructed you to do, won't I accept you anyway, God says.  God pursues Cain even though God knows what is in Cain's heart and what he will do.  God lets Abel be martyred.  Like his father the devil, Cain hates God but he cannot hurt God so he will touch who he can.  Cain reveals what is in his heart as we all do eventually.  Cain only cares for himself.  Cain is driven out to protect the church.  But he still carries the image of God.  He still carries the same common grace as the church.  He creates, he makes.  He makes a church of his own, names it after his own and we see through the generations how, despite its industriousness, or maybe because of it, that church becomes arrogant and proud and cruel.  The church of self.  

At one time or another, we all belong to this church of Self.  We all worship ourselves.  Christ comes and either calls us out of it and to himself, or calls us out, calls us what we are.  And just like our father Cain, we killed him for it.  But God...

What is the Church? Naked and unashamed...

What is the church?  And what can i liken it to?

It is like when, Yahweh God said, “it is not good that the man is alone. I will make for him a helper as his counterpart."

Despite present day thought and structure, you cannot be the church by yourself.  You are literally not in the church.  You are deliberately cutting yourself off from the church.  You don't ALWAYS need the church around you, Jesus got off by himself to pray but even to do the work of the church, Jesus never divided his boys up in groups of less than two.  Even, as we pointed out yesterday, God refers to himself in the plural.  

The church is relationship.  Defined by a group of people in relationship with God through Jesus Christ who made it possible.  But it doesn't end there.  The first commandment is Love God.  Relationship with God.  The first four commandments of the ten were vertical.  Love God, don't love some other god which is not a god.  Don't make gods for yourself.  Don't abuse or malign God's reputation.  Set apart a day to remember that you are not God and who is.  

But the next major commandment, the next six of the ten are all horizontal.  They deal with us being naked, known, vulnerable with each other and unashamed, not fearful, not defensive, in truth.  This is why we must have the first relationship.  You cannot be naked with everyone.  i hope i don't have to explain why.  But even in the church it is dangerous and excruciatingly difficult.  It is easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a camel than for two people to be in true relationship and love with each other under the best of conditions in this world.  But that's the job and only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we do it and we'd better, because it's how the church will be known and therefore, how those who don't yet know God will know him.“A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another—just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another.”   John 13

What is the church? In the beginning...

What is the church?  What can i liken it to? 

After my last post, someone asked me to define the church.  Not because they didn't think they knew the answer but so that they could find out how i defined the church.  That seemed fair enough except for one thing.

i don't care how i define the church.

It literally doesn't matter what i think.  It only matters what God thinks the church is.  And that is a subject not only too lengthy for a blog post but far too weighty for me to even ponder at length in one sitting.  It's one of those subjects, like God himself, the more i stare into it, the more i see.  So what i've decided to do, because i do feel this is an important subject which merits discussion, is to see what i can see God says about His church in Scripture for the rest of Lent.  i'm not giving up anything for Lent.  i'm taking up something.  

But where to start?  Well, where does God start?  In the beginning.  Genesis one. 

"And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image and according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every moving thing that moves upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the likeness of God he created him, male and female he created them. And God blessed them..."

The first thing i see, is God, referring to His glorious self in the plural, creating the church and blessing it for a set purpose.  It is his agency for change upon the earth, the earth is good, yet God orders his people to subdue it, submit it, change it for a purpose.  The church is his agent, his servant, his viceroy, his governor.  Its work is blessed, not a curse.  As Keller puts it, Genesis is less about HOW God made everything but WHY.  

A second thing i see, is God making them diverse from the start.  Male and Female.  Forget races, creeds and tribes, you want diversity?  Have both women and men in the group.  And every creed, tribe and nation has both male and female.  Built in difference in desire, methodology and value.  And BOTH made in the image of God.  God cannot be expressed in only one gender.  

The Church is created, diverse, blessed and purpose built.