Church ..... so exciting!

S. SEKOU ABODUNRIN

… and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mt 16:18

Can you feel the pulse of the Master in that verse? He takes this personal, very personal. The Lord Jesus Christ calls it “my church”. That about settles it you know? It is neither your church nor mine, but his. You will have to appreciate that the church is a mystery hidden in God. When I take that which Jesus takes so personal and try to make it mine, I am likely to run roughshod against spiritual law.

Since it is his church it stands to reason that he knows its workings and its purpose.

How beautiful this thing is – Jesus will build his church.

Jesus is so emphatic about this building, which he speaks about here. Is he building the church? - I’ll say he is.
You’d say “yes he is, but …”

Thing is he either is building just like he has said he would, or he isn’t. There are no half-measures in him. This is his church, his mighty idea. If Jesus says that he is building his church and I have cause to reason otherwise it must mean that we both conceive of church differently.

If I see what he calls church I see something beautiful. If I see that which he sees I’d speak in a similar tone about the church – his church.

Since Jesus calls it his church, he is the only one who can introduce you to it and it to you. He has done it in his word. If any other individual in the universe speaks about “my church” we know that whatever he is speaking of is not the church of Jesus, but something altogether different. When you say “church” you likely have organisations in mind. Organisations are failing for they are only as strong as men. Jesus is not building organisations men are doing that. He is building his church. If I see that which he is building I will marvel.

The church is prevailing! It is God’s building. God’s making. God’s dream.


Mystified by the mystery?

Which brings me to my point. We have all met people who think that they are tired of the church, right?
Likely they have a point, but in reality they are not tired of the church. They are tired of something else altogether; they are tired of organisations.

If you are tired of it all as we speak it is symptomatic of having experienced more of organizational life than the related life we share in the church.

If you do not gain knowledge of the mystery called the church, you will gain your definition or some other man’s. The trouble is that the way you define and think of church builds expectations. You have likely set your priorities in line with your concept of what church is about. When your experience falls short of these expectations you get disillusioned. The problem is deeply rooted in your conception of church.

If you think of church within the context of organised religion, you will find it easy to think little of that statement made by Jesus earlier about building his church. In fact you hear statements like “ I am leaving the church”

In reality the church is not some building you walk away from. You were put into it when you confessed the Lordship of Jesus. The church has a visible expression in the natural world. It is scattered all over the world in little pockets here and there. Often within the large organization called “church” you find that which Jesus is building. He is not building the whole organisation he is building his church. This is what you want to locate and participate in.

If you have Jesus, you have the church. God is a family God. You are not really looking for a place to have your way, for church is not about man’s ways, but the Father’s way. While it involves communities, it is not about what the community stands for. It’s neither about what “they” want you to do nor what you want “them” to do. You might as well settle it – you cannot leave church. In a sense, you get tired of some of the practices of the organised institutions men call church, but you are not tired of church.

Love is attractive

When you come to God as Father, his love nature comes to live in you. That nature of love is an attractive force. It doesn’t abide alone; it draws you into the very family of God.

It is this attractive force that mutually draws believers into that organic expression called church. Men can build an organization around this expression, but that organization though called “church” is not really church. That organization can and has failed, but not the church. The church is a tangible expression of divine triumph.

It is important you do not mix up the two. Organizations often love to amplify our sameness in perspectives and outlooks. Church recognises that we all know in part, and we all see through a glass darkly. Organizations want uniformity, church is based on unity. Our diversity is really strength.

This resonates with you – that’s proof that divine life is in you. You belong in God’s church.

Looking for life?

So you are looking for life? You know life is not in organizations. Life is in Jesus. You don’t look for life in the wrong place. You do not find life in church; you find that in Jesus and in him alone. Through the new birth you received this life. In church we give this life expression.

Church is about sharing a common life. This sharing is called fellowship. Only people who have this life can share it. It is obvious that fellowship requires at least two life-possessors. Organized religion is built around you being a "getter", you are always wanting something or the other.

But I thought I get life from church? No, you don’t. Life is in him. Life is a thing of fellowship with God. Church is where we release the fullness with which he has filled us in the place of fellowship.

In the place of fellowship, God gives you something. It could be a smile, an encouragement or some other thing, but whatever it is you share this with others. This is the way we all come together – having something to give to our brethren, something we have received from our Father God.

In organized religion you attend meetings without really meeting or connecting with people. Church is about you receiving something from God to contribute to the fellowship of saints. You go with purpose; a definite knowing that there is a deposit from God to his family through you. You walk with a new reverence. It seems that the more efficient you get in organized religion in a sense the farther away you get from thinking in terms of church the way Father God has planned it.

Sometimes you try to fellowship taking something that some minister has spoken to you and spreading it around. That which the minister said he likely said based on his fellowship with the Father God. You’d allow the Father breathe on that which you have heard, then It becomes yours, yours to live out and to share.

“But I have read all the good books and listened to all the big names in ministry, yet there is this emptiness” you probably are abusing good ministries. They are not there to fill the void for only God can do that. This emptiness you feel then actually proves the word. This emptiness left unchecked leads to disillusion and instead of submitting to God’s word we try harder at making people fill roles that only the Father can fill. There is nothing like listening to the Lord within you. He will teach you by his anointing within you. You have learned to listen to others, now you will have to learn to listen to the anointing within you.



God has called you to fellowship with his Son.

Until you meet the Father God, you don’t know his people. The Father will teach you how to relate with other believers. We often think directly opposite to that. We think like the more people I know, the more quickly I’d know God. So we try to join ourselves to groups and enter relationships with others thinking that the secret is in the groups or the relationships. In reality church is about God leading you into the fellowship of his Son and this relationship with his Son connects you with his people.

If your primary fellowship is with people, you’d be excited but empty and you’d know it. The problem is not that you don’t have “good” people around you, but that you haven’t recognised the good Lord within you.

Fellowship with God seeks to conform you to the Son. Fellowship with God so conforms you to the Son that you are transformed. You do not want to conform a transformed man. You want to give him opportunity for expression. Organized religion seeks to conform you to certain standards. Something is wrong can you see it?

When we meet in what organized religion calls church, you have the transformed ones and those who want to conform everybody. This is chaos. Notice this is really the chaos due to lack of understanding. There is no chaos in the church. There has never been chaos in the church. Jesus said he is building the church and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.