Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:1-6
The ‘new covenant’ is … of the Spirit? Not of the ‘letter’? What gives life? So how does one become ‘of the Spirit’? Through the ‘letter’? Or is it through the Spirit? Where does the ‘new covenant’ really live? In Church doctrine? Church rules? Church systems? Or is it again from and through the Spirit? Where exactly is this new covenant really written? With ink? With paper? Or is it written on the ‘heart’ of the individual?
Is the ekklesia (Church) a living thing? Made up of living stones? Or is it a building or a religious service? Do you ‘go to church’ or are you THE Church? What does it really mean to be “in” church? Sitting in a service in a building or in actual koinonia (fellowship – knitted together with one another in spiritual intimacy)?
Being a member of a 501c3 non-profit organization which owns (or rents) a building devoted to religious meetings is now called ‘belonging to a Church’. But is it really joining THE Church, the ekklesia, the living Body of Christ? Taking responsibility as the founder, or latest hire as the director of the non-profit organization which deals with the building, grounds, and staffing, is now called “pastoring the Church”. Making additions to the building(s), plot of land, and staff devoted to religious meetings or to the membership list of the non-profit organization which owns the building is now called “church growth”. But is it really about this? Much of what we now call “church” is simply organized religion. It is NOT the Lord’s ekklesia.
In reality everything that makes up the ekklesia is spiritual, and thus, it is invisible to our physical eyes. It is non-corporeal. It cannot be measured by dollars and statistics. Is Jesus really building His Church with living stones of which He is the cornerstone? Are these living stones actually doing their Lord’s instructions? Or are they just gathering in a building and doing a religious meeting? Which church do you really belong to? Do you have spiritual eyes to see the Lord’s actual ekklesia? The REAL Church is a living entity, not brick and mortar.
Once you’ve had a taste of the Real Life, you can smell death a thousand miles away, and your spirit rebels against it, your emotions protest, and you feel sick to your stomach with grief, anger, and compassion all at once. “NO!! This is NOT the ekklesia, this is a sham! This is bogus! This is nothing but organized religion!” May the Holy Spirit show you the REAL Church of living stones, and bring revelation of Jesus Himself, and His Church, that we might escape Churchianity and find the REAL Life!