I
Corinthians 1-12:13, 3:4-11, 3:21 – 23 New Living Translation.
12 Some of
you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,”
or “I follow Peter, [d]” or “I follow only Christ! …… 4 When one of you says,
“I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you
acting just like people of the world? 5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul?
We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us
did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos
watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 11 for no one can lay any
foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ…. 21 So don’t boast
about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you— 22
whether Paul or Apollos or Peter,[g] or the world, or life and death, or the
present and the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ,
and Christ belongs to God.
When we
look at the Church today, what do we see and what do we mean by the word Church
? to some the word Church has a negative effect on the other hand, the word
Church has a positive effect, to others Church should be consigned to the past,
and it doesn’t have any relevance to them and society both today in the present
or indeed tomorrow the future, some think of the word Church and they think of
a physical building others think of the New Testament concept of God’s people
or a spiritual building.
The Church
today is divided into various camps or tribal groups, that more often or not
have very little to do with other camps or tribal groups, sometimes different
churches can be close to each in terms of a physical distance, but miles apart
in so many other ways. Is the Church somewhere we can go to or is
it a body of people that we belong to, and are joined alongside each other to
work alongside each other to see the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom
preached to those without the Good News of Salvation through our Lord and
Saviour Jesus.
We are divided into groups or denominations that have more to do with
our past, and very little to do with our present or future. We hold onto ways
of both doing and being church because of our history and our responsibilities
to that history, and the expectancies of others. Sometimes we're divided into
seemingly rival tribal groups, because for some our revelation of being and
doing church is driven by being the people of God where His Presence dwells,
but on the other hand we're divided because of politics and personalties !.
We don’t
need another “ new “ expression of Church, being built out of
people’s own sense of importance , and because of their misguided
zeal they will attempt to draw followers after themselves from
established churches, offering false promises and prophecies and they tell
people that if join us, the grass will be greener, unfortunately these “
new “ expressions of church have no foundations and no covering, because
they think that we will build our own foundations and we will become our own
covering, we need to be built up together as one church, and not
be separated into another tribe or grouping.
The Church
is a movement for change and transformation but for many of us The Church has
become a monument to our spiritual forefathers who were a movement for change
and transformation !.
We follow men and sometimes women, we follow the traditions that were
our spiritual forefather’s doctrines and their distinctiveness from other
tribal groups and when someone from another tribe says let’s meet together for
fellowship and to share together, we say we can't because we’re group a and
your group b and our big chief said in 1920 said that we need to avoid group b
because your understanding of church and Christianity is different from way he
told us to be the church and to be a Christian and therefore you’re wrong, or
we do meet together but in a spirit of reluctance and/or a spirit of mistrust,
we’ve created theories, doctrines, theologies and solutions how we’re to
be the church and to life our Christian lives and be a Christian Witness, but
many of those theories etc belong in the past, and have become hindrances and
obstacles for us today.
Many of
our tribes or denominations have become tied to the way we did Church, 10, 20,
30, 40, 50 or a 100 plus years ago, we look for structure and safety in the
past.
We think
that the way we do and are the Church is the right or indeed the only way to be
do or be Church, we mistake our history for our present and future and
wonder why despite our best efforts, our prayers indeed our prophecies, we’re
unfulfilled !
When our
Lord Jesus walked the streets of his homeland, he saw a fig tree and when
he looked for fruit he found only leaves Matthew 21:18-20, 18 In the
morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing
a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only
leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig
tree withered at once. 20 When the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying,
“How did the fig tree wither at once?
I would
say that so many of our churches are like that fig tree, yes we have life but
it has gone to produce only leaves, instead of producing leaves alongside
fruit, indeed later in the same chapter, Jesus spoke about the physical nation
of Israel, saying that because they trusted in themselves rather than trusting
in the Lord, that had lost the Kingdom of God, Matthew 21:43 43 Therefore I
tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people
producing its fruits.
For many
of our churches today, we’ve lost the Kingdom of God because we’ve trusted in
ourselves, our systems, structures and strategies instead of trusting Him , our
Lord and Saviour Jesus, we’ve just grown leaves not fruit and God has
gone and left us, even then we’ve created a theology and/or theory/or solutions
around that, see Habakkuk 3:15-18 17 Even though the fig trees have no
blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop
fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the
fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the
Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
However
there is a message of hope, for those Churches that once proclaimed God’s
Message, Haggai 1:6 6 You have planted much but harvest little. You eat
but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but
cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in
pockets filled with holes! See Haggai 1, our transformation isn’t due to our
living in the luxury houses that are our own tribal
groups/denominations/churches but rather our transformation comes through being
part of His Church, or the Temple or the House of the Lord. We’ve become
consumed that our way of doing and being Church is also the Lord’s way of doing
and being Church, but our ways are not his ways of doing and being Church see
Isaiah 55:8-11
We have
set in place man made structures, systems and organizations to how to do and be
the Church today, we set in place committees, clerical systems and called and
commissioned those He’s not called and commissioned to lead us in being the
Church and we wonder why nothing is working, we’ve watered down and diluted our
message to make it pliable to others, we’ve accepted things that go against
Biblical Standards like Homosexual Clergy and wonder why God isn’t moving
amongst us and blessing us
Yet, there
is hope for us the Church, the old wineskins of our ways, those
beloved ways of doing and being the Church aren’t working and if we try to add
His way of being and doing Church or the new wine to our old wineskins, our old
wineskins are going to tear and break up, instead we need His new wineskins of
doing and being the Church, his structure, systems, and Leadership* and
following those He has called and commissioned to lead us forward, see Luke
5:37-39.
We notice
in Scripture, there is a God Ordained indeed Organized way of being and doing
Church, no longer will our man made systems cope with the things, our message
should be say no, to the status quo, , we don’t need another methodology of doing and being
the Church. We need to be a Movement and not a Monument. We need to see a
restoration of Apostolic Christianity, which is a Movement for the 21st Century
Church not a Monument to the 1st Century Church. We need to see Revival
through a Renewed Church., we need to honour our past and embrace our future.
It says in
Ephesians 4:11-13* 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the
apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their
responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church,
the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in
our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord,
measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. See Ephesians
4:11-16 for context.
Yours in His Grace
Blair Humphreys
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