What is Church?
Before we can have community we need to know who we are and what were to do. Below is a summary from Derek Morphew's book 'KINGDOM BREAKTHROUGH'.
The Kingdom and the Church
The Old Testament expectation was that the arrival of the “Age to Come” would terminate that present age. The mystery Jesus proclaimed was that the end of the world could break through before this world actually ended. The breakthrough of this “age to come” occurred with Christ’s birth, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. These last two events of the breakthrough set up the nature of this period of waiting and tension between this age and the age to come.
In Acts 1:6 the disciples asked Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
They were expecting an over throw of the Roman Empire. The disciples /Jews believed the kingdom of this world would be destroyed and replaced by God’s kingdom. The messiah would rule and Israel would be the capitol.
Jesus answer to the disciples announces there will be a delay, eluding what we are to do while were waiting;
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem,and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8This provisional period is therefore a time of the Holy Spirit for the church. We as believers are to be faithful until the end, proclaiming, announcing the kingdom until the close of the age.
So which is the Kingdom and which is the Church?
The traditional Roman’s and the Protestant’s views of the past identified the kingdom with the church. A more recent view is dispensational separating the kingdom and the church. This view assumes a Davidic type kingdom related to the nation of Israel and the body of Christ being the church with a different destiny.
Next up;
The Church is not the Kingdom
The Kingdom creates the Church
The Church is a structure of human relationships
Posted by Terrence 3:29 PM
Church or Kingdom
The Church is not the Kingdom
By most definitions the church is a people or gathering of those who serve Jesus as the Lord. The kingdom is the personal, dynamic reign of God in the heavens and in the affairs of man upon the earth. We might reign with him in the sense that we share in His triumph but the dominion and lordship belongs to God. Furthermore God reigns over all; the whole universe, the stars, angels and the redeemed of the earth. The kingdom is therefore much wider than the church.
The Kingdom Creates the Church
Mathew 18:18-20 shows the inseparable link between the church and the kingdom. The building of the church is discussed in terms of the keys of the kingdom of God. Those who enter the kingdom automatically enter the church. As the rule and reign of God breaks into this world, men are confronted with the demands of God the king. They are called to give their allegiance to Jesus. The moment they accept his Lordship, they become part of the company that has already accepted his Lordship, the Church
Kingdom Breakthrough, Derek Morphew & The Presence of the Future, George Eldon Ladd
Posted by Terrence 3:24 PM
Church or Kingdom
The Church is a structure of human relationships
Brothers and sisters, shepherds and sheep, teachers and pupils, servants, exhorters, leaders and followers. This structure is created wherever the kingdom [of God] breaks into society. The life of the kingdom brings the church into being; the resulting network of human relationships must seek to contain, express, and transmit the presence of the kingdom. However, sometimes this structure impedes ad even resists the power of the kingdom.
The kingdom is illustrated by the analogy of a snail and its shell. The secretions of the snail create the shell which the snail inhabits. Many shells lie empty and lifeless. As church history has progressed, God has given successive interventions of his kingdom. Each time, a shell has been created appropriate to the life of the church. But church history is strewn with empty shells where the structure remains but the life has disappeared. The kingdom perspective should cure us of a preoccupation with shells. Different outpourings of God's presence take on various modes of expression. Our eye should be fixed on the event of the kingdom. Where is God intervening? Where are his mighty deeds being performed? Where can we see the power of the age to come? Our interest in the shells should be functional. The shell is holy while the snail is there. The shape of the shell is not holy and neither is the shell once the snail has disappeared.
Kingdom Breakthrough, Derek Morphew
Posted by Terrence 3:21 PM
