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Church (1): Who or what is it?
We all need community, whether it is a real local neighbourhood community, a work community, or a virtual community via Facebook or TV soaps. But more than that, we need a loving, caring family or community, not a dysfunctional one where we are afraid, insecure and unloved. We also need community so that we can love others; Jesus reaffirmed the biblical teaching that we ought to not only love God with all our heart, mind soul and strength, but that we ought to love our neighbour as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). We all serve someone or something. We often serve ourselves. Or we may serve some idol such as ambition, relationships, money, peer opinion, etc. The search for utopia, the perfect society, is as old as mankind. But no matter how much we progress in terms of education, economy, technology, etc., we still struggle with unkindness, selfishness, abuse, jealousy, theft, murder, exploitation, and so on. While there is a lot of good being done by many people, overall we still do not live in a perfect society. The Bible calls the actions and motives which cause this ‘sin’. Yet, there is a perfect society or community being established. It is those who have entered the kingdom of God, having their sins forgiven by faith in Jesus Christ. Each one also receive the Holy Spirit to do what his name suggests, to give us a spirit which is holy and not sinful. While this worldwide community throughout all ages is still imperfect overall, it is nevertheless being transformed. One day, when the Lord returns and establishes his final kingdom, we will see it made perfect, beautiful, and glorious. Believers in Jesus Christ aren’t just saved for their personal benefit, in isolation from others. There is no such thing as individual salvation which is not part of God’s larger plan of salvation for his people. Believers should therefore also be united as part of a local church here and now, as they look forward to being part of the global people of God in the future. Praise God for redeeming sinners from a world which is so imperfect, to live in a world where perfection and love will abound. Listen as we look at the first in this series as to what the Church is, and how it should function, and how we can better fulfill our role as God’s people on earth.
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By CGCFWe all need community, whether it is a real local neighbourhood community, a work community, or a virtual community via Facebook or TV soaps. But more than that, we need a loving, caring family or community, not a dysfunctional one where we are afraid, insecure and unloved. We also need community so that we can love others; Jesus reaffirmed the biblical teaching that we ought to not only love God with all our heart, mind soul and strength, but that we ought to love our neighbour as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). We all serve someone or something. We often serve ourselves. Or we may serve some idol such as ambition, relationships, money, peer opinion, etc. The search for utopia, the perfect society, is as old as mankind. But no matter how much we progress in terms of education, economy, technology, etc., we still struggle with unkindness, selfishness, abuse, jealousy, theft, murder, exploitation, and so on. While there is a lot of good being done by many people, overall we still do not live in a perfect society. The Bible calls the actions and motives which cause this ‘sin’. Yet, there is a perfect society or community being established. It is those who have entered the kingdom of God, having their sins forgiven by faith in Jesus Christ. Each one also receive the Holy Spirit to do what his name suggests, to give us a spirit which is holy and not sinful. While this worldwide community throughout all ages is still imperfect overall, it is nevertheless being transformed. One day, when the Lord returns and establishes his final kingdom, we will see it made perfect, beautiful, and glorious. Believers in Jesus Christ aren’t just saved for their personal benefit, in isolation from others. There is no such thing as individual salvation which is not part of God’s larger plan of salvation for his people. Believers should therefore also be united as part of a local church here and now, as they look forward to being part of the global people of God in the future. Praise God for redeeming sinners from a world which is so imperfect, to live in a world where perfection and love will abound. Listen as we look at the first in this series as to what the Church is, and how it should function, and how we can better fulfill our role as God’s people on earth.