The Lord Of The Church

Jesus instructions on how to do church.

Ephesians 1:22-23 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is His body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with Himself.

Ephesians 4:15-16 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

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It must have been difficult for the people that lived in the Old Testament world to adapt to the teachings of the New Testament. Suddenly their world was turned upside down as they are asked to live under a new set of guidelines that came as a result of one man's teaching.

The religious burden that their temple leaders had them under was no longer necessary. The days of going to the temple to restore fellowship with God are gone forever in an  instant. The temple has been been moved from a brick and mortar location to a supernatural place within God's children.

The days of going to a building to meet a man that would come to God on your behalf was replaced by a new and perfect High Priest that lives within each of us. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:14-10:18)

There has never been a church before so their church leaders didn't know how to do it. They didn't have all of the church plant research that is available today. God chose to give the church a detailed study of what he expects of the church and what she should look like and how she should behave. Revelation chapters two and three gives us examples that are still useful today.

Seven Church Profiles To Learn From:

Ephesus, The Cold Church You can be very busy serving God but if you are doing it just to follow the rules instead of it coming from an overwhelming love for him then you are no better than the religious leaders that Jesus opposed during his ministry. Smyrna, The Suffering Church - One of two churches with no criticism. Their stand for Jesus caused them to lose everything but in reality their suffering only increased their riches. All of the potential trouble makers are already long gone from this congregation, if church isn't going to be cool and comfortable then the hypocrites are not going to stick around. Pergamum, The Compromising Church Compromised beliefs have been around from the beginning of time when mankind decided to turn away from God's rule. From that day on world history has been filled with substitutes for the truth that we find in God's Word. Thyatira, The Corrupted Church This church would have been very popular in today's culture where tolerance is expected of everybody and absolute truth and values are not allowed. What God has said is wrong in His Word, many, even in the religious community, are now calling normal and holy. Sardis, The Feeble Church What a sobering thought to know that it is possible to think that we are working for God and doing things that we think that he wants us to do and then get a message from him letting you know that you are wrong. Philadelphia, The Faithful Church - One of two churches with no criticism. The church in Philadelphia had little strength but it didn't matter because they never denied Jesus, they were true to him, they knew the source of their strength. It came from Jesus and he would protect them because they have been faithful and obedient.  Laodicea, The Foolish Church - Only criticism with no commendations It is easy to be so well blessed that you forget where the blessings come from and you start to depend on the blessings instead of the one who blesses. The church at Laodicea didn't think that they were lacking anything.

Remember, these were some of the first churches that we know about, they didn't know how to do church, in mercy Jesus warned them with these letters so they could change and be successful in his eyes.

The church today has many advantages that the first churches didn't have yet the church still has a difficult time. If you consider all of the information on how to have a successful church that is available today you could wonder how a church could possibly fail.

We need to remember that it is Jesus church and only he can build the church when he have such a powerful adversary. We must depend on Jesus commands to the church found in these letters so that we will not hear him say: "I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of My God." (Revelation 3:2)

I think there are few churches today that have a zealous desire for Jesus, there are not very many that are wanting to experience the red hot church of the Book of Acts, most of us are okay to be a member of one of the churches represented in the Book of Revelation. I pray that we won't be satisfied when we fall so short of being the church that pleases Jesus.

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