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The Church, the body of Christ, truthfully has almost nothing to do with religion but for the misconception and sometimes translation into so many languages. The Church does not fit into the definition of a religion neither does it qualify to be a social club.
The true definition of the Church, when understood, will bring this to light: The many attacks, insults, sabotages etc. purported towards the church is not actually targeting the church but the mental picture we have of it as a social club, a religion of sort.
If you have read to this point then I believe the one question running through your mind is; “What then is the Church?” Let me caution before I proceed; I am not here to try to give you the “deep” revelation you may be expecting, neither am I here to take you through a school of theology. My charge here is to draw your attention to something reasonably substantial that in return, will bring us to a certain consciousness.
Proceeding, you may want to answer these questions to yourself;
Have you ever heard about the Church?
What do you know about the Church?
Are you a member of the/a church?
Why do you belong to that church?
Your answers to the above questions are very relevant to this piece and to yourself. There should be an imperative need to know about what you are going to try commenting on or talking about in life.
Few days ago, I met some men in a very hot argument on how old Paul was before he died. The argument was so strong and these were men I had never met but for my stop over to get some tea bags at this tea shop. I was boiling on the inside, and was ready to tear apart the ignorance of these men by taking them through the entire life cycle of Paul the Apostle. From his birth to his conversion from Saul to Paul and finally to his death. The second before I could say anything, an elderly woman who is actually family to these men came through and said; “Paul shockingly died at age 21 through an unfortunate incident”. Apparently, they were talking about their cousin, Paul whose name popped up in their conversation and thus the age at which he died. I accord you in the next 5 seconds to try and imagine the look on my face.
It is okay, keep that to yourself.
I sincerely believe that in most instances, people may have commented, practised and even established a sort of “church” on different premises than what it actually should be. If I could be bold enough – I would say that others may have started so well and in line with what the church should be. Yet along the line, they have lost focus as a result of so many happenings; perhaps conforming to remain “culturally relevant” as it is said.
Before we eventually take a look at one or two scriptures, I would want you to revisit the questions we asked ourselves earlier one more time;
Have you ever heard about the Church?
What do you know about the church?
Are you a member of the/a Church?
Why do you belong to that church?
Did you maintain your previous answers or you kindly want to make some changes before we proceed? I still stand by my goal of not leading you into any “deep” revelation but to draw your attention to something significant – I think!
The Church as I have already stated has very little to do with religion when it comes to its meaning and its impact if you want. The use of the word church “eclessia” which I will refer to as the “called out” rarely points to a physical structure where religious activities are ceremonially exhibited. The Church is that which Christ Jesus, is a part of. In Ephesians 5:23-24 a clear picture of the current church per the revelation of scripture should be:
23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church.24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.
Ephesians 5:23-24 (NLT) Christ, the Lord and Saviour of the world is then seen as the Head of the Church, not the entire world he died for which the Church is included in. Confusing? I guess not. In the verses 12 and 13 of the book of John chapter 1, we establish those who qualify to be called children of God, or in other words they that form part of the church as established in Ephesians 5:23 – Jesus died to save part of His own body – which is His church, thus He is the head of the Church per the scripture above. They that believed in Him who are called the sons of God as written in John 1:12 are hereby then redeemed, the “called out”, I mean the church. (John 1:1-13 could be a good reference for a better understanding.)
How different is the above meaning of the Church from religion then? James 1:27 gives an idea of some activities of a pure and undefiled religion. It is however clear that religion deals with external and ceremonial activities expressed through set out systems of belief.
Allow me to make this passing comment, which is an established truth. Religion actually gained a place in the race of men as a result of man’s willingness to satisfy the desire of worshipping the Supreme Being, which is a natural inclination – even the atheist can’t deny. There is this unrest in the heart of men until they eventually find God, I mean the true Love of the Father. This led men into so many practices, some which are ferocious and the like. And so many religions sprung up when leaders of these religions tried to convince people or kind of establish some means that feels true, but are mainly far from that – to gather followers who are equally desperate to satisfy a seemingly similar hunger.
The “Church” which is the “Eclessia” that has Christ as the head however interprets a different meaning far-fetched from what a religion seeks to establish. As religion seeks to satisfy a certain hunger, the Church is actually an established relationship with divinity, I mean God. As religion seeks to gain the attention of God, the church is in constant fellowship with God. I mean, how can a living body be looking for its head?
I will deal with the subject of the church in the near future, but it was however significant that some basic understanding of the church and religion be established as many have confusingly used these words interchangeably. There’s so much to find out about the church I must say, probably more than news headlines have made you believe.
This piece targets the current activity of the “church” and how we can bring ourselves up to speed on the function of the church. Has it been compromised in any way? Or it has possibly been updated like a mobile application with the passing of time to keep up with “modernisation?”
I sincerely believe this is one of the topics I may have to write on more than once no matter how much I try to summarise it, as I do to all my other write ups.
But why the “Bycycle” Church? I believe is the question you may be asking yourself now… that we will get to find out in the “Bycycle” Church II, our next “wordinspiration post”. We are already at a thousand words plus.
Before you leave this post, comment below on the few points above and perhaps your answers to the questions below;
Have you ever heard about the Church?
What do you know about the Church?
Are you a member of the Church?
Why do you belong to that Church?
It is always a blessing to have you on here, kindly leave a comment after reading.
Blessings