THE CHURCHES

We recently wrote an article on the Church (singular), in which we attempted to show that there is only one "Church" that Jesus is in the process of building. However we know that there are many "churches" scattered around the world. These churches come in various sizes, some connected with certain denominations, and some independent. They are very different from each other as far as organizational structure goes, style of worship etc. In fact a stranger to Christianity might be hard pressed to see how they could all profess to worship, and follow the same Lord Jesus Christ!

We pointed out that the one true Church that Jesus is building (Matt 16:18) is invisible, spiritual, heavenly, and eternal. While the churches that we are now considering are visible, natural, earthly, and temporal. As you can see they represent two distinctly different things, and should never be confused as being the same. The one has a Biblical meaning that pertains to heaven and eternity, while the other pertains to earth, space and time.

Ideally these two should be the same in vision and purpose, if they are both part of the same scriptural company. However even a brief study of church history will reveal disputes, splits over doctrine, and even wars between members of different churches or denominations. This should never be if both camps believe in, and serve the same God. The problem would seem to be that everyone likes to think they are right, and of course the other person must therefore be wrong. In the book of (James 4:1-3) we see a very clear outline of the cause of these disputes. He says they come from "the evil desires at war within you", in other words from our old sinful nature inherited from Adam. In Romans 6 and 8 Paul makes it clear that our old nature died on the cross with Jesus, and we no longer have to obey its demands. As followers of Jesus (Rom 8:2) tells us "And because you belong to Him, the power of the life giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death". This would seem to be the answer to the lack of unity in the various churches that all bear Christ's name. So let us strive towards making the visible "churches" more like the invisible heavenly "Church" that Jesus is building!

In (Luke 9:23) Jesus tells all who would be His followers to "deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me". I'm sure if more people would be willing to do that we would see a remarkable change in our local "churches"!

Sincerely submitted

Gramp