Which One is Right? Continued Discussion...

FaithWalkDaily October 29, 2008

Since I started down this path on Friday and promised to take it up again. Here we are.

We were discussing the church, and what that really means. Where are we to worship, fellowship, minister, and share the good news of salvation by faith through grace?

My last question on Friday was concerning the reckoning of Peter as the "Rock" upon which the foundation of the church was built. Let's look at that a little closer.

In the words of Jesus our Lord, from Matthew's account in chapter 16, he said, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

There is no other account. Jesus didn't call Peter a pope, bishop, monsignor, priest, pastor or minister. He did however earlier in His ministry, tell Peter to take care of and feed His sheep, according to John 21. Be a shepherd, He said.

One of my greatest difficulties with modern religion is man's insatiable desire to add his own twist to what Holy God had already laid out perfecty. If there's one thing man likes to do it's make things more convoluted, with lots of rules and all kinds of labels. How about we just call a shepherd a shepherd? Since Pastor means just that, it would seem that Peter was in fact the first ordained pastor :-)

Joseph Smith conjured up a whole race of people in a place that never existed to make his religion more attractive. The church of England "blessed" divorce after a king beheaded his wife because the Catholic church wouldn't allow divorce. Now the Catholic church will annul a marriage if you have enough money and an advocate and can prove the marriage should never have been blessed in the first place. What does that do to any children from that marriage? Are they now considered illigitimate?

And what about no fellowship at all? Can't I just be a Christian and worship God without going to church? Or how about I do online fellowsihp? This may be a can of worms but stand back because I'm diving in.

There are a number of very good reasons to be connceted with a sound local Christian body.

First, we support and encourage one another ~Heb 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
God hates divorce. He also hates lies. Adultery. Idol worship. Stealing. Covetousness. Child abuse. Fornication. We need to bounce our plans off others who, through prayer and the discernment of the Holy Spirit, can guide us to righteous living according to God's purposes.

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. We have a responsibility to look after those who unexpectedly find themselves in need, and to hold one another accountable. "The world" is a hungry wolf at the ready to strike in our weakness. We find strength in fellowship.

It's easy to sit back on our laurels when we have no one or nothing to guage ourselves against. Seeing others actively working to draw more souls to the table of grace makes us want to do more ourselves. ~Heb 10:24-25 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

The reasons for coming together in worship and studying God's word are endless but the point is, if we're to have a full relationsip with Christ, we must have relationship with other believers.

Let's follow the Rock, join together joyfully to sing praises to our Heavenly Father, hear His word preached with wisdom and guidance from a well schooled discerning pastor and nurture one another on this difficult journey to our final reward. Let's get out of the way with our own silly plans and ideas and let God do His work on earth in and through us until Jesus returns.

Lord God, we are so grateful that You are God and we are not. We are so adept at twisting, complicating and completely distorting things when we get too far out on our own. We need one another. Help us to keep a servant's heart, to be willing to reach out to our brothers and sisters in need, to have a good ear for someone who's hurting, to pray for one another and to always seek first Your kingdom in all matters. We praise You and thank You asking all these things in Jesus' name, amen.