Over the years I have heard
all kinds of answers to that question. To a lot of people it is there for only
those that need some sort of spiritual awakening. They pass by several of them
each day as they go to work. Some will say, “There is another Holy Roller
house, or how many churches do we need anyway?”
Many years ago I had a friend
tell me that the Baptist church was nothing more than a place that was only
interested in your money. “Those money
hungry mongers” he would call us. He deduced this from one visit to a Baptist
church and it just so happened that the preacher preached on tithing that day.
Believe it or not there are a lot of people that will judge a church on “hear
say” rather than actually visiting (more than once) to see what is really going
on.
Thru the years there have
been many churches formed from some sort of an uprising. It never fails… something will happen; people
will fight; they stop talking to each other and some decide to leave. They move
a block down the street and form a new church, why? Sometimes it is because
some think they have a better idea. Some think that their own theology is
better than what they hear, and they may very well be correct. But is their
idea that of Christ?
In Romans 12:4-5 it says “For as we have many members in one body;
but all the members do not have the same function, 5) so we, being many, are
one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” So what is
the function of the church?
When we look at our own
bodies we realize that our body works together to accomplish what ever activity
we are trying to undertake. Sometimes it
takes the entire body to get this done and sometimes it only takes the hands or
legs or eyes to get the job done. But one thing is for sure; the brain is the
nerve center that makes the body work correctly. Have you ever waked up in the
middle of the night and your arm was asleep because you slept on it wrong? The
first thing you think is that you are in pain and your arm is not working… This
can be a challenge as you have to use your other arm to pull that one into
place so that the circulation will bring it back to life. Have you ever noticed
that if you sit up in bed your arm will just lie there even though you are
telling it to move?… totally dysfunctional!!!
When the circulation is cut
off or if our body gets cut off from the brain we become dysfunctional. This
happens to churches as well. If the church is cut off or separated from Christ
we will become non effective. So what is the function of the church??? Have you figured it out yet???
In Matthew 16:15-18 “He said the them, But
who do you say that I am? 16) Simon Peter answered and said, You are the
Christ, the Son of the Living God. 17) Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has
not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18) And I also say to
you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Still wondering what the
function of the church is? Well it is simple… The function of the church is to
keep Christ as the head of the church; to listen to Christ as He gives us
instruction each day. You see, the church is not the building where we meet… it
is each and every one of us that make up the body. The function of the church
is achieved thru us with Christ as our leader. The function of the church is to
love, pray, preach, teach and to show Christ to all those that come our way.
If Christ is first, then we
will not be known as just another building on the side of the road with a
steeple. As Christ said to His parents when He was left behind, we should take
on the same philosophy, “We should be about our Fathers business”
If Christ is first…. The church will not fall…
The Greatest Adventure in Life is seen Through the Love of
Christ”
Bro John 501-262-0015
