Christian Living

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What is the True Meaning of Church?
By Patricia Backora, author of the book
Tough Love in Christ's Millennium
Which you can order online from: http://www.publishamerica.com

I wrote this for someone else, but felt led to also share it here:

There's honey in the rock for you in Christ Jesus, but if the Spirit is quenched in a church and the honey isn't allowed to flow out of the Rock, can the bees be blamed for not wanting to congregate there? People want to feel valued and loved. They want to feel they are in the midst of a real spiritual family of brothers and sisters who fervently love them and care about them. The members of the early Church loved one another seven days a week, rather than just barely tolerating each other for two hours on Sunday. It was said of the early church: "Behold, how they love one another!" The apostle John hardly ever preached on anything else but love, and all his other topics were related to it in some way. Religion+legalism-love=deadness.

I got the message at more than one religious social club I went to. I looked presentable and was friendly toward others, but they were happy enough with each other and could care less whether their church grew or not. After several weeks of sitting all by myself and hardly being spoken to, I got the message and stopped going. It's cheaper to freeze to death at home than pay bus fare for going elsewhere to be frozen out. In today's "family" churches, those who show up at services alone feel like the odd one out for not bringing along a spouse or kids.

Some poor people feel intimidated by the offering plate going around. They might be struggling to put food on their table and not have the big fat monetary "tithes" and offerings others are dumping into the plates. If anyone even guessed they weren't contributing "their fair share", they would be made to feel like deadbeats. They find it more affordable to praise the Lord at home.

In essence, church is not something you go to, church is something you are. There's a special Greek word "koinonia", which was used to speak of fellowship or communion in the Spirit of Christ. If koinonia is absent in a religious gathering, you'll sense that inside, and the fact you detect the deadness is not your fault. It's not the bricks and mortar and steeple that makes up a church. It's not the choir robes, hymnals and padded pews. It's the love and unity of the Spirit in Christ Jesus which makes a gathering of believers a church. If the Love of Christ is absent, all the programs, all the fervent activities, all the choir rehearsals, and even all the mountain-moving faith that might take place within the walls of a religious organization is nothing but sounding brass and a clanging cymbal (I Cor. 13:1-3).

As for numbers, God is not impressed. No, the problem doesn't necessarily lie with the believer, just because 100 others are content with the status quo and one person feels uneasy about it. Noah was all alone in seeing the problems which surrounded him, but He was the one who held to the truth. God's Kingdom is not a democracy. The majority doesn't rule where His true vision for the church is concerned.

Why do you think false cults are thriving in these last days? Because whenever one of God's rejected sheep strays into their midst, they are immediately showered with love and attention they wouldn't get in a cold, dead "church".

And lest you think I'm down on the church, I've had some good experiences too. One church I attended for awhile taught that you keep your salvation through good works. That was the scary bit. But they did something right. Once a week members would go in groups to eat dinner in another saint's home and just enjoy talking and being together. I had fun going to church conferences with them. When I was first baptized in the Spirit as a young girl, it was in a church where people showed genuine interest in one another and lasting friendships were formed. The saints could hardly wait to get to the next service, because they could feel the presence of the Lord there and clearly discern His voice. The spiritual gifts were allowed to freely operate to edify the saints. Exciting testimonies were shared by the saints about God's day-by-day faithfulness to intervene in their lives to meet specific needs. Several times a year potluck dinners would be held. Once a year we'd hold a church convention where homemade meals would be served. We would tell each other our troubles and pray for each other. We would even travel to distant places together to fellowship around the Lord. Those experiences taught me the true meaning of the family of God. Indeed, we read in Acts 2:46-47: And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Notice how rapidly this church grew. Most likely, those people were attracted by the warmth and love they discerned in the early church. You can bet your boots, when you see a human body lying around and it feels icy cold, it's probably dead, and the person who detects its deadness cannot be blamed for seeing the body for what it is: a cold, lifeless corpse.

After the wonderful experiences I'd had in my youth, it would be a shock whenever I'd visit a church where the people didn't look particularly enthusiastic about being there. I never miss the contrast between such coldness and the church experiences of earlier days. It still feels like a dash of cold water in my face waking me up to alert me that the love of many has waxed cold (Matt.24:12).

You could go to a big fancy building and park yourself in a padded pew and sit there until Jesus comes again, but unless the true meaning of "church" is recaptured by the church, it will all be in vain.

[email protected] http://www.kingdomageministry.com

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