The Church the way God wants it

“…so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,…” Eph 3:10-11

The Holy Spirit always brings us back to the ‘now’ and is intensely practical. He may illumine scripture to us from the ancient past talking about the coming future — but wants to apply it to the ‘now’ in your life with a realization. Does this lingo remind you of another passage in Ephesians? Chapter 6 anyone? The Church should be known by the fallen in their ‘high places’ and having an ‘effect’ on them.

Many people think that the ‘spotless Bride’ is a hopeful future, … but God wants it now. Does the Church really express the ‘manifold wisdom’ of God now? The ‘hour’ is now, not in some distant future. The Church is called upon to proclaim Christ by living in the practical good of what He is, by showing everyday and in every matter that Christ truly is the answer. Those ‘fallen’ in those ‘high places’ may sound weird but they are far from that. These beings aren’t fooled or impressed by all the popular churchified sayings or the seemingly ‘latest cultural values’ for they know instantly what is Christ and what is not. Those beings ‘see’ what really is going on inside of you — not your efforts to convince yourself or others that your something that you’re not. Your secret life is made manifest to them.

The Church IS Christ’s expression in this world at this time. How should that be expressed? Through it’s individual members and families in it’s communal experience where the natural is constantly set aside in favor of the spiritual. This Church should not be mixture of unbelievers and believers, the bare minimum should be that all it’s members should ‘born from above’. The Church is not a group trying to live for Christ; it is a family who’s very existence is based on the common factor of Christ dwelling within. How that to be done? Through the Spirit’s life within each of them. Visiting Galatians chapter 5 and the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit as the process and how that must be worked out in each one. If one isn’t aware of His Voice how are they growing spiritually? Baptism of the Holy Spirit … anyone? 

The Church is to express Christ by it’s unity, not in matters of numbers but of Spirit. That’s where the “two or three” statement from Jesus is relevant. Christ’s life is indivisible. The natural life is what produces divisions. Each Church should be a real expression of the Body on a small scale, one in which the various members are integrated and co-ordinated, being animated (following the Holy Spirit’s instructions) by the one life of Christ and energized by His love.

The early Church had no ‘officialdom’ or human organization but there was real discipline and amazing efficiency. How? By the Holy Spirit administering through the members themselves. The were all committed to absolute obedience to the Spirit. It wasn’t a ‘top down’ natural authority structure. In that early Church there was a glad submission to every fresh revelation of the Lord’s will. Is that still the case? The Church was never meant to be ‘ruled’ or guided or taught by one human person (save Christ alone). In Ephesians 4 Paul lays out the 5 gifts to the Church for it’s equipping and growth. It should never be about personal preferences or prejudices, but be about what the Spirit desires and our attitudes should reflect that. The growth that the Church should be looking for is one of the spiritual within it’s members and not the ‘business numbers’.

Is it possible to have such a Church now? YES! But only through the direction of the Holy Spirit and with members who are willing to pay the price of the spiritual reality and with wholeheartedness. The truth is the ‘rulers and and authorities’ in high places are constantly watching. And those forces are determined to destroy the work of Christ which is being manifest through the real Church. If you want to study further on this topic of what the real Church looks like, I suggest your read some books by Frank Viola.

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