How does the church look when the Lord Jesus Christ is a figurehead and not a functional Lord of all:

* The cross is only mentioned as a means for an escape from hell unto heaven

“Among the plastic saints of our times, Jesus has to do all the dying, and all we want to hear is another sermon about His dying.” – A.W. Tozer

* Waiting on the Lord is a forgotten and forsaken aspect of life in Him

* Only pastors, bishops, elders, prophets, or the same group of people speak on behalf of Christ and everyone else listens and this is the norm.

* Certain ones make decisions for the church with or without seeking Christ

* Certain people sing and lead others in singing

* The church looks just like a fortune 500 company (chairman of the board)

* The message that comes from the church is “have a life, your own life, your best life, a good life, and Jesus will bless your life, OR how to properly live your life.”

* The poor, widows, and orphans are neglected because all the money goes to paying employees, putting on events and maintaining a corporate headquarters (building)

* The message of guilt is heralded night and day.

How does the church look when the Lord Jesus Christ is the functional Lord of all:

* The members live a crucified life. They deny themselves for the sake of Christ having His way.

* The church prohibits what is not according to Christ and His heavenly reality, and She permits what Christ has already accomplished according to the Heavenly reality

* The members function as a priesthood under the High Priest.

* The church is able to discern what is of the Lord and what isn’t.

* There is practical seeking the mind of Christ together and waiting on the Lord.

* The Lord is free to speak and act through whomever He wills.

Resources:

What’s with Paul and Women by Jon Zens

The Waning Authority Of Christ In The Churches by A. W. Tozer

God’s Spiritual House- T. Austin Sparks

“In His own proper time He [Christ] will exert it [His authority] to the full, but during this period in history, He allows this authority to be challenged or ignored. And just now it is being challenged by the world and ignored by the church.” –AW Tozer

“It is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled.” Mark Twain

Christ: Figurehead or Lord?

“Among the gospel churches Christ is now in fact little more than a beloved symbol. ‘All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name’ is the church’s national anthem and the cross is her official flag, but in the week-by-week services of the church and the day-by-day conduct of her members, someone else, not Christ, makes the decisions. Under proper circumstances Christ is allowed to say ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden’ or ‘Let not your heart be troubled,’ but when the speech is finished someone else takes over. Those in actual authority decide the moral standards of the church, as well as all objectives and all methods employed to achieve them. Because of long and meticulous organization it is now possible for the youngest pastor just out of seminary to have more actual authority in a church than Jesus Christ has.”

-AW Tozer

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. -Jesus. Matthew 28:18

TO CHRIST, OR NOT TO CHRIST. THOSE ARE THE CHOICES.

There are three options according to the world:

1)   Follow Christ and His desires

2)   Follow the enemy and his desires

3)   Just do your own thing – nothing bad, possibly very good things, but apart from the Lord. ex: Peter with Ananias and Saphira

But really there are only TWO choices:

1) We follow Christ and His desires

2) We follow the flesh

“The error the believer makes lies right here in that he only knows that the evil of the flesh must be destroyed without appreciating that the good of the flesh needs to be done away with as well. He is unaware of the fact that the righteousness of the flesh belongs as much to the flesh as its evil. The flesh remains flesh, no matter how good or how bad. What imperils a Christian is his ignorance of, or his reluctance to face up to, the necessity of ridding himself of everything of the flesh, including what is good. He must positively recognize that the good of the flesh is not one bit more presentable than its evil, for both pertain to the flesh.” -Watchman Nee

Who builds the church?

* Last week, we discussed the church being Christ. So, who builds Christ? Can I build Christ? Can you build Christ?

* The church is built on a revelation of the person of Jesus Christ – Peter in Matthew 16:13 Peter, “You are the Christ the son of the living God.”

* God causes the growth 2 Cor 3:7

* Col 2:19 grows with a growth which is from God.

* Eph 2:21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Fundamental/Elementary things have been lost to God’s people 

* How the cross obtained and continues to provide an all-access pass to Christ-Eph 2:5-6; Col3:1-4; Col 2:13-14; Col2:2-3

* How do I know Christ through the spirit-1 Cor 2:2; Phil 3:10

* How do I abide in Christ-John 15:1-11

* How do I eat and drink of Christ-John 6:56

* How do we live by Faith-Gal 2:20; Eph 2:8-9; Col 2:6-7; Col 2:12; Col 1:22-23; Hebrews 11; Rom 14:23

* How do we worship in spirit- God and Christ are spirit-John4:24; Gal 4:6; 1 Cor 5:16; Eph 2:21-22

What does the physical manifestation of “the church” look like according to the human-centered way?

* Saving our life by rejecting the Way of the Cross.

* We are passive and do not function as a part of the Body.

* We live for others or for ourselves and ask Jesus to join in with our purposes.

* We occasionally see other believers for mostly earthly matters or not at all.

* We let one or a few “leaders” make spiritual decisions for the group or make decisions on our own.

* We do not look very different from the world, or we are trying to be partly in the Kingdom of God and partly in the world.

* There is no maturation of the Saints (shallow Christianity) but an increase in non-believers coming to the Lord.

or

There is maturation of the Saints but no increase in non-believers coming to the Lord.

or

There is no maturation of the Saints and no increase in non-believers coming to the Lord.

When do we see the Church manifested?

“Let me ‘splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up…”

When we are expressing CHRIST.

What does the physical manifestation of the Ekklesia look like according to the heavenly Assembly?

Although the physical manifestation can be as creative, diverse, and ever-moving as Christ, it does have some characteristics…

* See episode 023

* See episode 023

* We make Spirit-let decisions together in light of the Kingdom of God and participate in binding and loosing. We are living under the leadership of Christ alone by seeking together what the Head wants/finding the mind of Christ.

* We share life together in the NAME of the Lord Jesus Christ.

* We display Christ’s character, authority, power (longsuffering, forgiveness, bearing with one another, love, and unity). We are a living organism: breathing, changing, growing, moving.

* We pledge our allegiance to the Lord and King and live by His indwelling Life for Him and His purposes together.

* We see transformation. People are being transformed into the image of Christ as we are focused on, abiding in, and expressing Christ to one another. Church is God’s habitat for transforming His people into the image and expression of His Son–we need each other. This is a “together” thing.

* Through the sharing of Christ, in many different ways, non-believers are drawn to Christ by the Father and give their allegiance to Christ thereby being added to the assembly to mature in Christ.

* The Kingdom of God penetrates the earth through us functioning as Christ’s Body.

* We look different from the world and function according to the Kingdom of God.

* When functioning from the life of Christ what is displayed for all to see is the divine relationship between the Father and the Son. It is the flow and exchange of Life.

Our Prayer for the Saints:

We pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. Ephesians 1:18-19

What is Church?

“You keep using that word.

I do not think it means what you think it means.”

-Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

What’s in a name?

Church, Bride, Body, Ekklesia

Who is the Church?

Christ in His assembled people

Which comes first form or Life?

Form follows Life. The Life within produces the form/function. Form without Life is empty, e.g. religion.

What does the physical manifestation of “the church” look like according to the human-centered way?

* Saving our life by rejecting the Way of the Cross.

* We are passive and do not function as a part of the Body.

All of Me John Legend

Debunking Conferences

Information vs Impartation

“Information Buffet” — not really connected

Emotion vs Equipping

Disconnected vs Connected

Special Speakers vs Brothers and Sisters

Independent vs Interdependent

Passive Spectator vs Active Participant

Self-Help/Improvement vs Self-Emptying (Our Needs vs His Needs)

Def: the use of one’s own efforts and resources to achieve things without relying on others

New Creation/New Priesthood

Life in the ‘Hood’

A Royal Priesthood

Christ as High Priest and Sacrifice

Priests to God

Consecrated Set Apart

No, Not Just “Special People” are Priests

Not a Title but a Function/Equipping

What Does It Look Like to be a Priest Now?

Resources: