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The “everyone participates”’ type church meeting the Bible suggests, and to which last week’s blog alluded, brings up some obvious questions. The most immediate is “How can a church gathering larger than about a dozen people function like that? That sounds more like a ‘home group’ to me. Is there a regular church like you’re describing?” Before discussing that issue, let me emphasize, again, the necessary foundation that is always understood as we address all church issues—the gospel of the full-on, unlimited, it-is-finished grace…

If the church’s first essential function is providing an opportunity for all the members (even the church leadership) to “walk in the light” and “confess their sins one to another,” as we saw last week, what is the second one?  It is the goal of the church that every member, even the ones we deem “weaker,” has the opportunity to contribute to the ministry of the church. The members of the biblical church are not simply passive observers of the ministry of “the staff”…

The “body” metaphor for the church tells us that the Head (Jesus) is in Heaven, while the body (the church) is down here, on the earth. Though detached geographically, the body, based on the immediate, experiential wishes of the Head, is busily “doing the stuff” of the family business of ruling over this earth—loving, standing firm for truth, and proclaiming the good news of the gospel as opportunities arise. This is God’s plan for us. In other words, in the biblical vision of the…

Last week we looked at the first of the four metaphors the Bible uses to describe the church of Jesus Christ—the church is made up of the children of the family of God.  But the church is also a body, a bride, and a temple. The church as God’s family emphasizes its permanent unity; the church as the body of Christ illustrates its function here on the earth; the church as the bride of Christ pictures its exclusive position as the object of God’s…

The predominant picture of God that we get as we read the Old Testament is that of an all powerful, awesome, unapproachable God who communicates to His covenant people through His selected intermediaries, such as Moses (Exodus 19:10-25). The concept of God as a personal father was largely unknown to the Jew, even though there were a few hints in the Old Testament.  It remained for Jesus, as the God-Man, to reveal fully, first, the fatherhood of God toward Jesus Himself, and then toward…

“For it is God who is producing in you both the desire and the ability to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13 – ISV). We remembered last week that we are no longer living by obedience to the law of God, the knowledge of good and evil, the way mankind in Adam was tricked to live in the Garden of Eden. No, we now live by faith, i.e., simply doing what God, by His Spirit in our hearts, tells us to do, with no…

The exclusive emphasis on the biblical functioning of the family and the church in the kingdom of God in my blog postings these past few weeks has made me increasingly uneasy. I can hear the Lord reminding me, “Remember the other edge of the Sword, the divine truth that makes the Kingdom possible at all—the gospel of My grace.”  The Sword of the Word of God always has two edges (Revelation 1:16; 2:12; Psalm 149:6; Hebrews 4:12). I believe these edges represent the two…

Since the Reformation, Christians have believed that the Bible teaches more than personal salvation. It speaks authoritatively, showing us God’s will in every area of life, including the church. Without this understanding, one idea about church is as good as another. There is no plumb line, no standard. We are left with “Well, I think…” or, “It seems to me…” or, “We have always…” We are adrift on the stormy sea of personal opinion.  My blog posts assume the Bible as our plumb line,…

After going to church regularly throughout my childhood and not finding a relationship with Jesus until I was a junior in college, my answer to that question was the same as a huge percentage of American citizens who have tried church and didn’t stick—”Nothing that I can see.” Here are some possibilities of the ways we might have viewed the church while we were, consciously or unconsciously, trying them out: 1. A building – No building, no church. In some parts of the country,…

When we first come to Jesus as our Savior through an experiential conversion, our primary concern is our personal salvation. What are the implications in my life and my relationships with those around me? How do I continue in this new way of life? So, initially, the gospel is always a me-centered gospel—”What’s in it for me?” And why not? There is potentially a lot in it for me—forgiveness of sin, overflowing love for others, irrepressible joy, unfathomable peace, freedom from condemnation, eternal life,…