2017-04-21
Good Morning Dear Ones,
I am led to begin a new segment of these “Knowing God” messages called “The Church.” What this term means to us and to Him needs to be better understood. COL 1: 18, “And He is the Head of the body, the Church; He is the Beginning and the Firstborn among the dead.” We’ve already looked at the fact that Christ is the Firstborn from the dead and what that means. That’s why He could say “I am” as the second personality of the one and only God. He was the first to be raised from death to eternal life. But let’s look into what it means that “He is the Head of the body, the Church.” We already know what God’s will is, that we should learn to obey Him, so that we can gain eternal life. God understands that we needed to be organized into families and the Church (meaning the group of people who study God’s word and seek both Him and obedience to Him). RO 12: 2, 4-6, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing, and perfect will…Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
This demands cooperation between one believer and another in the carrying out of God’s will. Such cooperation can only be accomplished if souls, which were dead in sin, become alive in Christ by their resurrection from the dead. 1 COR 15: 20-22, “But Christ indeed has been raised from the dead, the Firstfruits of those who have ‘fallen asleep’ (the latter is an archaic way of expressing physical but not spiritual death). For since death came through a man (Adam), the resurrection of the dead comes through a Man (Christ). For as in Adam all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive.” Christ alone could imbue a person with the power to demonstrate His power to bring life to a dead being. [See 2 K 4: 32-35; EZK 37: 9-10; LK 11: 33-36; JN 11: 38-44; AC 9: 36-44; AC 20: 7-11. Don’t miss any of these revealing stories]. While it’s true that these individuals were raised only to die again, their second deaths were only physical.
To further our understanding, we must look at Paul’s view of the Church. COL 1: 24, “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, the Church.” The first phrase in this citation is self-explanatory. However, it must be understood that the second phrases are not saying anything is lacking in Christ’s atoning sacrifice, only that Paul was suffering his own afflictions for spreading the Good News to a lost world. Paul reiterates RO 1: 1’s notion in COL 1: 25, that he is commissioned by God as His servant to present God’s word in its fullness to all who will listen. [In RO 1: 1 Paul says, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God—the Gospel promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding His Son…”]. Paul was never ashamed of either the Gospel, his suffering, or the task to which he was commissioned. [See also DT 8: 3b; IS 55: 10-11; RO 15: 19; COL 4: 15]. As a member of the Church, how do each of you see your own role in it and relationships with both God and your fellow believers? It’s a worthwhile question to spend some time pondering. What is your own view of the Church?
PRAYER: O Most Heavenly Father, we come before You to consider the challenges that lie before Your Church today. With the breakdown of the family unit in our society, these problems are considerable. Only through our faith and obedience to You can there be any hope of a solution. We know that we must be mindful of our own relationships and our need to correct past mistakes. As imperfect humans, we must rely on You and Your wisdom to leave a legacy of faithfulness and Christ’s love as our legacy when our physical lives are over. As You said long, long ago, we must “learn to love the Lord our God and teach our children to do the same” [DT 6: 5-7]. We offer You our heartfelt love, praise, and thanks for giving us a generous helping of Your wisdom and the Paradigm that our Lord Jesus is. Such things can only come from You. You have organized us into congregations for Your purposes, to teach us real goodness and kindness toward others. We carry with us both privileges balanced with responsibilities to obey Your teaching, to show the love of Christ, and to consider the eternal consequences (both good and bad) of our thoughts/behavior. You are a God Who teaches us to exhibit the gifts of Your Spirit, in order that we can carry out Your will [GA 5: 22-23]. We are ever-grateful for Your presence and intervention in our lives. That is why we are saying this prayer in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: What needs to be written about the Church is very important to anyone belonging to it or who will belong to it. Therefore, I am commanded by the Holy Spirit to continue writing more next week about Paul’s role in spreading the word of God and thus, membership in the church. In addition, Christ’s position in the church will be stressed. I’ve had some time to think about my own slant on the questions posed above. In my early years, you all know I denied God even existed. Once He made Himself known to me, or should I say I woke up realizing His presence in my life, I needed to come to faith in His Son. The next step was realizing the love He has for me and getting into the right congregation. In those early years of faith, I was moving around the country due to my husband’s job. Through trial and error, I learned the importance of a congregation that reveres the word of God and allows us to learn about God’s faithfulness. At age 39, I was called to being a minister—too late (due to my circumstances) to finish a Master of Divinity degree, but not too late to spend the rest of my life serving God by using the talents He gave me for teaching, researching, speaking, and writing. Selfishly, I am enjoying the inner peace that doing these things gives me. But, more importantly, it is being able to serve others while I serve God that gives me such joy. Woodbury Lutheran Church in MN and now, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in UT have been those ideal congregations that have allowed me to serve this way. It is God, Who deserves all the credit for any good that I do. I claim PS 115: 1! Thanks and praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2017. All Rights Reserved.
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