THE CHURCH OF THE LORD (Concept of “Church”)
By: Gladys Raquel Hernández
We can appreciate the following biblical verse:
“Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of His body”. (1º Corinthians 12:27)
The church of the Lord neither comprises all the religious denominations, nor all the structures or buildings, temples or churches whatsoever, which are built in all the cities all round the world. All of us constitute the church, that is, the ones who are Christians, who love God with all our heart and obey Him, by fulfilling the different requirements He has ordered us, so as to help to spread His kingdom throughout the planet and to glorify Jesus, the Son of the Living God and the One who is exactly like God, who cannot be seen. (Colossians 1:15)
We can appreciate the following biblical verses:
“The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you”. (John 16:14)
“There are different ways to serve the same Lord”. (1º Corinthians 12:5)
Thus, this means that the Lord distributes gifts and ministeries, within the body of Christ, as He wishes, by calling each person and by making him/her feel in his/her heart which part of His body He wants each person to represent.
We should consider the following biblical verses:
"First, God chose some people to be apostles and prophets and teachers for the church. But He also chose some to work miracles or heal the sick or help others or be leaders or speak different kinds of languages”. (1º Corinthians 12:28)
“The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge, but these gifts come from the same Spirit. To others the Spirit has given great faith or the power to heal the sick, or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God´s Spirit is present. Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean. But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us”. (1º Corinthians 12:7-11)
The church of the Lord is God´s people. They are included into the greatest group of people: The world system. There are more than six thousand million people all round the world, of which, a minor number constitutes the church: Faithful hearts to God. There is a great number of congregations all round the world approved by God and comprised by faithful people who carry out different activities.
We should consider the following biblical verses:
“Christ chose some of us to be apostles, prophets, missionaries, pastors and teachers. So that His people would learn to serve and His body would grow strong. This will continue until we are united by our faith and by our understanding of the Son of God. Then we will be mature, just as Christ is, and we will be completely like Him”. (Ephesians 4:11-13)
According to these biblical verses, the faithful people who attend the different congregations, must entirely obey their pastors, leaders or teachers, just trying to always be within God´s will and please Him, in complete order.
“But do everything properly and in order”. (1º Corinthians 14:40)
Furthermore, when Jesus Christ rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples, He gave them an order:
“Jesus came to them and said: I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world”. (Matthew 28:18-20).
This order given by Jesus known as “The Great Commission” (what Jesus´s followers must do) was the beginning of what constituted the primitive church of the Lord, leaded by Jews converted to Christianity. The apostle Paul was one of the Jewish apostles who seconded Jesus´s order, by taking the Good News to the gentiles (Non-Jewish people) pursuant to God´s order, fulfilling, in part, the Great Commission and establishing different churches in different places and countries.
At present, there are many interdenominational organizations all round the world which fulfill the Great Commission established by Jesus, with the only purpose to make each individual have an opportunity to encounter Jesus and learn His teaching in order to achieve the redemption of his/her soul.
In order to understand which the church approved by God is, it is necessary to understand Jesus´s doctrine (His correct teaching). Once more, we are not talking about a building, but faithful hearts to God. The Word “doctrine” means: What do I understand about anything or anybody? In order to understand Jesus´s doctrine or His correct teaching, I must open my heart and allow His Holy Spirit to enter into my life and start treating with me. The Holy Spirit is the One who reveals the truth to us and glorifies Jesus.
We can appreciate the following biblical verses:
“Dear friend, I am not writing to tell you and your children to do something you have not done before. I am writing to tell you to love each other, which is the first thing you were told to do. Love means that we do what God tells us. And from the beginning, He told you to love Him. Many liars have gone out into the world. These deceitful liars are saying that Jesus Christ did not have a truly human body. But they are liars and the enemies of Christ. So be sure not to lose what we have worked for. If you do, you won´t be given your full reward. Don´t keep changing what you were taught about Christ, or else God will no longer be with you. But if you hold firmly to what you were taught, both the Father and the Son will be with you. If people won´t agree to this teaching, don´t welcome them into your home or even greet them. Greeting them is the same as taking part in their evil deeds”. (2nd John 1:5-11)
Pursuant to the biblical prophecies, Jesus (the Bridegroom) will come to take the church (the Bride) with Him (Revelation 19:7). The church will be raised, in order to encounter the Lord in the sky and to live with Him forever. (1st Thessalonians 4:16-17)
This event will occur suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye.
“I will explain a mystery to you. Not every one of us will die, but we will all be changed. It will happen suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye. At the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised. We will all be changed, so that we will never die again. Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won´t die or decay” (1st Corinthians 15:51-53)
Jesus will not come to take with Him any institution, any building, any religion or denomination whatsoever. He will take with Him those people who had faith in Christ before they died who will be raised to life and the ones who are still alive who have faith in Him. All of them will be together taken up into the clouds so as to encounter the Lord in the sky. From that time on, we will all be with the Lord forever. (1st Thessalonians 4:16-17)
We should consider the following biblical verses:
“So we will be glad and happy and give Him praise. The wedding day of the Lamb is here and His bride (the Church) is ready. She will be given a wedding dress made of pure and shining linen. This linen stands for the good things God´s people have done”. (Revelation 19:7-8)
“After all, Christ will judge each of us for the good or the bad that we do while living in these bodies”. (2nd Corinthians 5:10)
“Whatever we built on that foundation will be tested by fire on the day of judgment. Then everyone will find out if we have used gold, silver, and precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw. We will be rewarded if our building is left standing. But if it is destroyed by the fire, we will lose everything. Yet we ourselves will be saved, like someone escaping from flames”. (1st Corinthians 3:13-15)
It is certainly convenient for us to follow God, to accept His Unique Son as our Savior and to belong to His body: the Church.
We can verify what God thinks about the world´s system and ideas.
“Even when God is foolish, He is wiser than everyone else, and even when God is weak, He is stronger than everyone else”. (1st Corinthians 1:25)
“But God chose the foolish things of this world to put the wise to shame. He chose the weak things of this world to put the powerful to shame. What the world thinks is worthless, useless, and nothing at all is what God has used to destroy what the world considers important. God did all this to keep anyone from bragging to Him” (1st Corinthians 1:27-29)
“This is because God considers the wisdom of this world to be foolish. It is just as the Scriptures say, “God catches the wise when they try to outsmart Him. The Scriptures also say: “The Lord knows that the plans made by wise people are useless”. (1st Corinthians 3:19-20)
We should consider the following God´s advice.
“So if you want to brag, do what the Scriptures say and brag about the Lord”. (1st Corinthians 1:31)
“And now, because of Jesus Christ, we can praise the only wise God forever”. (Romans 16:27)
AMEN!!!
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