What is church? Church is neither a building, nor an organisation. Church is a living, vibrant organism (not organisation) full of life and zest. While Jesus was on this earth, his physical body that walked on this earth represented God to humanity.As long as Jesus was on this earth, He was the light of the world (John 9:5) by radiating the life of God (John 1:4,5). Now we are called called to be the light of the world (Matt 5:14). In the New Testament era, we cannot reflect God fully to the world only as individuals. We are called to be a body of believers connected to the head and to one another.
The word of God says that thisis a mistery and one needs revelation to get insight into this. Eph 3:3,5,6. It is through this body that God wants to reveal His glory to the world, to angels and even to satan Eph 3:10,11. Every work that God wants to do is through this body of sincere followers of Christ - and this mystical body is the Church. Though all believers are part of the universal body, the local expression of this body is the actual place where God deals with and prepares us as individuals 1 Pet 2:5. God deals with our spirit of indipendance, human zeal, human initiative etc. in this body life and helps us become broken people. Every individual effort apart from the body would damage the individual and ultimately dishonor the work and name of God. Have we allowed God to do a work in us, before wanting Him to work through us? Have we found joy in being accountable and submissive to a local body of christians?
God is looking for sons and not servants. Frantic activity without discerning the mind of God is like a servant trying to do a lot of things - many of them whic
h are not desired by the master - and creating nuisance for the master. Like responsible sons (in the footsteps of the model Son Jesus Chist) we need to hear from the Father and act. And on many occassions, God speaks to us through this local body - of which Christ is the head - through simple brothers, through God appointed leaders and through circumstances in life, if we have ears to listen to! Many times what God speaks to us directly is a confirmation of what the body has speaken to us already or vice versa. If one feels that God is speaking to him directly and that nobody else is understanding him, there is a great possibility that he is decieved and it is good to humbly recheck the source. One's self can speak to him, the world can speak to him and even satan can speak to him. There is a great protection through the church. It is only when we get a revelation of the body life that we start appreciating the value of submitting to fellow christians in our local church - and by doing that, we actually are submitting to Christ, the head. Any person who says that he can only submit to God and not to his fellow christians is in a state of self deception. Being integrated in a humble spirit with this body, we are called to fulfill God's plan for our lives. If you have a burden for evangelism, go ahead, talk to your friends and bring them to your local church. Whatever else might be your gift, exercise it in a humble submissive spirit, through the body. May the Lord open the eyes of our inner man to undrstand this mistery.
