Were we ever commanded to make churches?

Comment by Paul childs on May 3, 2009 at 5:07am

the command of chrsit was so simple. Go, make disciples of all nations, baptise them, and teach them to obey everything he commanded. what did he command
To Love, To go make disciples. Sounds like it should be pretty easy. the best part is this when all nations have heard the great messsage then He comes back. What evr happened to the game plan. thats all he wants is all of his children to hear the good news. If each christian discipled one person we would be done in four years. Wow His ways are so simple.

Comment by Gary Lee Duncan on November 28, 2009 at 12:41am

Paul,

Real churches are not made. There is only one Jesus, and His body is the one real Church. This Church finds local expression where faithful followers (disciples) come together for fellowship. The Church is not a building, denomination, time or place, or any other humanly devised enterprise.

If you read the book of Acts, you will find that people who accepted the Gospel message were baptised and added to the number of believers. Then they continued to meet together and experience a shared life community(Acts 2:41-47). There was no come forward and "say this prayer" type of individual salvation. You were saved out of the world and became a member of the real church community of the Living God. You were now a member of God's family and the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Pet 2:4-5, 1Cor 3:17) . Christians naturally meet together for many reasons, and the Bible admonishes us to do so (Heb 10:25). Fact is, we cannot fully experience Jesus Christ outside of being joined together with other believers and learn to share and lay our lives down for one another (Eph 4:11-16).

There is a tremendous heresy prevalent in the Institutional Church, and therefore amoung many christians today, and that is the concept of having some "thing" called salvation. And you get this salvation by saying a prayer and accepting Jesus as your personal savior. Now there's nothing wrong with prayer, and accepting Jesus as your savior, but you don't possess a thing called "salvation" outside of Him. "He" is our salvation, and apart from being united in Him, there is no other salvation(1Cor 1:30).

So the real question is, "How are you going to make disciples outside of the body of Christ?" True Christianity is not lived individually, but corporately.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb 12:2

God bless,

Gary

Comment by Chanson Tia on November 28, 2009 at 5:05pm

I was having this discussion wth my husband (who is a minister of the church I currently attend, but am having second thoughts about) last week...my question to him was "how can the church of God go to the church of God?" If we are the body of Christ which is the church of God, how can we go to ourselves? My other question was where in the New Testament scripture do you find where Christians erect buildings and temples in God's honor?

I have yet to get an answer from him....and honestly don't expect to...pray for me..

Comment by Gary Lee Duncan on November 29, 2009 at 3:12am

Chanson,
Like Ron said, we have so much religious baggage, pre-conceived ideas about God and "church", that when the Word is read, we read into it what we already believe to be true. That's why humility is so important. To strip off all that hasn't been revealed to us from Christ Himself.

You need to keep on loving your husband and praying for him to see the greater thing, which is not really a thing at all, but the person of Christ. God has one answer to every human need, and that is His Son. We don't need any religious things. Only Jesus and each other in Him. And just keep one thing in the back of your mind, and that is that it was religious leaders who crucified our Lord. Jesus was a threat to their status quo. And likewise, when you challenge the existing status quo, you too will suffer persecution. But the Lord said that when that happens because of Him, rejoice and be glad. Matt 5:11-12
Keep your eyes on Jesus, and listen to His Spirit in your heart and be filled up with Him. Eph 3:16-21
Keep the following scripture in mind in regards to your husband: 1Pet 3:1-6. Knowing that as the Lord fills your life with His, that is the greatest testamony of the Truth. We men can have such egos and don't like our wives leading or telling us what we don't know. So there is great wisdom in wives winning their husbands over without saying a word, but just living in Jesus.

I will keep you and your husband in prayer,

God bless you, sister.

Comment by Gary Lee Duncan on November 29, 2009 at 3:28am

Hey Ron,
Thanks for the comment. I have Milt's book, "The Community Life of God". Just haven't had the time to read it yet. I heard Milt speak on this subject in Las Vegas during the OC conference there.

God bless you brother!

Gary

Comment by Chanson Tia on November 30, 2009 at 12:42am

Thank you Ron & Gary for your kind words...I too have had to realize that I am reading things into the Word that truly are not there about church and many other subjects (Rev. 22:18-19) I am now realizing (by way of a confrontation I had with my mother-in-law) that there are just some things I have to let go of...I thank her for telling me that...I pray that the Lord continues to give me strength to carry out what I feel he is leading me to do...God Bless you both

-In Christ
Chanson

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