The Church

What is the church?

• A mystery that has been hidden in God since the beginning of time.
• The method God is using to reveal Himself to the world.
• A place where unity is to take place.
• A place where God's power should be revealed.
• A place where His glory should shine.
• A place where the revelation of God's power should be revealed.
• A place where the depth of His love should be experienced.

These points are derivied from Ephesians 3:9-20.

I don't know if "church" as we call it is God's original mystery of church as it should be. I don't think we should get hung up on what the Sunday event looks like because that is just one day in the picture of the church. As we can see from just this little section of the Bible, church is way bigger than a Sunday morning event.

If you continue reading on to Ephesians 4 we learn that the church is the body and that every single person plays an important role. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that we need to appreciate our Sunday mornings and view them for what they are a day of rest, a day of recharging, a day of direction to step out into being the real church every single day of the week. If we begin to walk out into the world everyday with the perspective that we are carrying "the church" with us at all times I think we would begin to see some of what God truly intended.

So let's just start there and look at what God intended: Ephesians 3:10 His purpose was that through the church all the rulers and powers in the heavenly world will now know God's wisdom. We learn in Ephesians 6 that there are rulers, powers and authorities of the enemy that still have control. How we function and live as a "church" should be revealing God's infinite wisdom to these rulers and powers. That section goes on to say: In Christ we can come before God with freedom and without fear. As a church (thus individulas) we should be able to walk freely and confidently before God. How many of us are doing that on a daily basis?

It all comes back to understanding that God is about FREEDOM. He set us FREE and then He gave us each other to step into this world on a mission ~ to bring His kingdom into this world. We do this through being unified with each other, loving one another and being confident of ourselves in the love of God.

If you haven't realized it yet, please do, that one of the enemies greatest strategies is to turn us against each other. If we are busy fighting amongst each other and not loving one another than God's power cannot be revealed through us. He didn't intend for His power to be dispersed through us individually but to happen through us as a body and until we choose to unite together we will remain ineffective.

Now this is the NCV version but it gave me a whole new perspective on this verse that we hear quoted so many times: With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. I have always viewed this verse in context to God: that He can do more than we could ever ask or imagine. But what does it say, "God's power working in us..." When we re-read this whole section with the revelation of the importance of us it gives us a whole new perspective. The mystery that He has held in Him since the beginning of time was that He was that he was going to move in power through the church. I hope this helps us to get it.

So church let's get it. Get the vision that church is more than just Sunday and let's start in our homes. If we are Christians are homes are an extension or a piece of the body. So what God wants to do through the "church" can be done in and through our homes. Let's work on our homes being a place of unity, freedom and love. When we start getting it there let's move it into our friendships and then move it out from there into the world...