~George Carlin~
I heard a story this week of a good man, a good christian man, who everyone assumed was a pillar in his church congregation. It was assumed by those who knew hm that he prayed, fasted and tithed dutifully and encouraged others to do so as well. When it came to righteousness, it seems that nobody could top him in his service to his Lord each week. His story unraveled one sunny sunday morning when one of the local deacons saw the man on the golf course bright and early. Incredulous, the deacon asked the man the next day where he had spent his sunday morning. "In church" the man replied with a smile. Now, obviously any Pharisee school deacon worth his own salt would contest this obvious blasphemy. My thoughts on the matter are this, the man WAS in church. Which brings us into the discussion of...what is church? Well, if you wanted to get down to the brass tacks of the matter...WE'RE the church {1 Corinthians 12:27}. Yes, we are all members of the church whose head is Christ Jesus. Indeed, we are the church of Jesus. In this church there is no weekly attendance by ushers carrying clipboards, no passing of the tithe plate and no boring pulpit pounder sermon. I can speak of this quite honestly because my own church is not your typical chapel. No, my church building is a fast food restaurant where a few men of Christ gather each week to learn more of who Christ Jesus truly is. Far from being a God centered corporation, this church is simply a gathering. If you think about it, this was all the first early churches of the followers of Jesus really were. Believers in Christ gathered in each others homes to know more about Him. It's called community, or if you really wanted to get fancy...koinonia. I remember seeing a sign outside a local church last summer advertising their end of the summer church picnic. The sign said "come join us in Koinonia. What intrigued me was what else was written on this so called community sign..."All CHURCH MEMBERS welcome."
44Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2: 44- 47 NKJV
I'll have to admit that I'm far from a good christian soldier. I don't attend church, I seldom tithe and I haven't heard a live sermon since the administration of George W Bush. So, how can I believe that I am still a follwer of Christ Jesus? Well, because I have taken that rare step of coming into a relationship with Him. I don't feel the need to come into a building to know Jesus is near to me. In fact, I know in my own heart that Jesus is IN me {Galations 2:20}. It is Christ Jesus who lives through me each and every day. So, you could say that I am a member of the worlds largest church. The church of Christ Jesus. He is the head, and we are the members of His community. There has been a lot mentioned lately of those who are leaving the church. Well, I see them as leaving MANS church. Created, founded and maintained by...men. Oh, we mention God and try our best to show everyone that we're on the Godly path, and yet the churches are bleeding members at a alarming rate. Are that many people suddenly rejecting God? No. That many people are suddenly rejecting mans VERSION of who God is.
I made the comment a few weeks ago to a bible thumping friend of ours that his God was not the God I served. My God is not a God of anger, punishment and testing. My God is a God of love and cherishing of His children. My God loved me enough to provide for my salvation, and He still loves me today. People still ask me if I attend church, that will never change. However, I think that if I were to try to walk into a local church one of these days...I might find that nobodys home.
~Scott~
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