Category — Relationship with God

Here we are at the sixth in a series of articles on the church—the community of Christ’s followers. This series was prompted because so many Christians are confused about the church, its relevance to their lives and God’s purpose for them through the church. Let’s consider the vision and mission of the church that Christ left with His disciples.

When Jesus called His disciples (followers), He called them not only into fellowship with Himself but into community with each other. Jesus’ pattern in this regard is unmistakable! In fact, Jesus maintains that our unity in Him and love for one another provide the basis for our witness to a lost world (John 13:35; 17:22-23). [Read more →]

This is the fifth article in this series on the church. I’m responding to the trend of those who call themselves Christians yet distance themselves from the church.

In the New Testament, one cannot miss the pattern that the immediate work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a new follower was to bring him/her together into deep fellowship with other followers of Christ. Acts 2:41-47 represents a classic passage on the account of the fledgling church in Jerusalem:

“Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” [Read more →]

In this fourth blog in the series on the community of Christ-followers let’s consider the identity of the church in more detail. We learn in 1 Corinthians 12:13 that as followers of Jesus, His Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ. Some who have abandoned the community of Christ-followers rationalize that this passage refers only to the universal, unseen body of Christ.

The 1 Corinthians 12:13 passage does apply to the universal church, but it also clearly refers to the local gathering of Christ-followers. In fact, to think of the body of Christ solely in terms of an unseen spiritual truth represents a Gnostic view which attempts to distinguish between spiritual reality and earthly illusion. But the Scripture demonstrates emphatically that God sees our lives as an integrated whole and we need to as well. [Read more →]

This is the third in a series of blogs on the church or community of Christ-followers. We’re taking a look at the current trend among Christians who are abandoning the community of Christ-followers. In response to this trend, we’re looking at what God says about this in His Word.

Early on in the life of the New Testament church, the community of Christ-followers had grown so large so quickly that it aroused the attention of the Jewish religious leaders. These religious leaders launched an organized attack on the church and one of their chief “KGB” thugs was a guy named Saul.

Saul’s goal was to purge the world of Christians and he had the approval of the authorities to carry out his awful plan. The crazy thing is that Saul considered himself an ardent follower of the One True God and thought he was helping God out by ridding the world of Christians. But the Scripture says, “Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.” (Acts 9:1 NLT) [Read more →]

In my last posting I introduced the topic of the church or community of Christ-followers. I posed some questions about God’s perspective on this subject: Is the church important to Him? Can Christians function without the church? And what does God reveal about the church in His Word?

The purpose of this posting and those that will follow is not to draw attention to the church as an institution, but as the community of Christ-followers. In order to help us train our minds to understand this biblical distinction, I’m going to deliberately and frequently employ the term community of Christ-followers as a synonym for the church.

How did the church or community of Christ-followers come into being? And whose idea was it? The biblical account demonstrates that the church is God’s idea. Jesus said, “I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18) In that context, Peter—a follower of Jesus—had recognized and declared Jesus as the Christ (or Messiah), the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). In response, Jesus affirmed that God Himself had revealed Jesus’ identity to Peter. [Read more →]

My family and I were out camping last weekend. At a remote beach, we met another couple and talked with them for some time. In the course of our conversation I mentioned to the man that I’m a pastor, to which he responded, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church.”

I’ve personally heard that claim many times over. “I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church.” Based on the rest of our conversation, this particular individual expressed a need to justify his actions in the presence of a pastor!

Others who say, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church,” communicate a sense of liberty—that they’ve been freed from the burden of church-going. Some people have been so wounded by a church that they swear they’ll never go back. Many simply hold the belief that church-going is unimportant to God and therefore isn’t important to them. [Read more →]

“Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the LORD.” (Psalm 119:1 NLT)

Ever since the Garden of Eden, the Evil One does his best to cause us to doubt the goodness of God. As a result, many of us view God as a strict disciplinarian interested chiefly in servile compliance to his laws. We may even try to avoid knowing God’s commands thinking that maybe ignorance of them removes our responsibility to obey them. [Read more →]

The Joy of the Lord is your strength!

Nehemiah records a most remarkable event in the life of Israel. The Jews had been in captivity in foreign lands due to their refusal to follow the Lord and instead chase after idols and live contrary to God’s character and design. Their lands had been taken from them, their temple destroyed and the holy city Jerusalem laid in rubble.

Ezra (a priest) and Nehemiah (a leader among the Jews) had returned to Jerusalem to oversee the rebuilding of the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. In Nehemiah chapter 8, the temple had been rebuilt and the people had just completed reconstructing the walls of the city under duress from enemies who constantly harassed them. [Read more →]

At times in my life I’ve been very career oriented— seeking out new challenges and keeping my resume up-to-date in the event that the right opportunity would present itself. I know I’m not alone in this incessant press to better our careers and circumstances. For a great number of us, this describes the American way.

Yet, as I read through Genesis again I’m utterly amazed at God’s career plan for Joseph. Through Joseph’s dreams it appears that God had given him an inkling of what the future might hold for him. His brothers and even his father interpreted this as arrogance. In fact, his brothers were so incensed by Joseph’s dreams and preferential treatment by his dad that they hated him (Genesis 37:4).

So at about the young age of 17, Joseph’s brothers plotted to kill him, then thought better of it and sold him as a slave to Midianite merchants who in turn sold him to one of Pharaoh’s officials in Egypt. Meanwhile, Joseph’s brothers cunningly convinced their father that Joseph was dead, having been torn apart by some wild beast. [Read more →]

If we ask a total stranger, “Are you a Christian?” that person’s response tells us nothing about their actual relationship with Christ.

The term Christian has come to mean everything and nothing in our day. The Barna Group reports that four out of ten Americans claim to be born-again Christians. Can that be so? What does that mean? Wouldn’t it follow that if forty percent of the population were following Jesus Christ our nation would be radically impacted for the better?

There is a serious gap between the terms Christian and follower of Christ in our day!

Jesus’ challenge both then and now is “Follow me!” The questions we need to be asking each other are, “Are you following Jesus? Is he your Leader? Do others see Jesus in you?” Because following Jesus is life changing! We cannot draw near to God and remain unchanged. How is he changing you? In what ways are you becoming more like him? What’s an area in your life that he wants to change?

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.” 2 Peter 1:3 NLT

© 2010 Rob Fischer