Ezekiel 33:10-16; Revelation 11:15-19
The Church's job is to be the Church that Jesus intended it to be. Put more bluntly and in the negative: If the thing you call "church" operates contrary to Jesus' truth statements and commands, it is NOT the Church.
The Church is the obedient, militant, missional organization of Christ followers sent into the world to lead (as Jesus lead) the way back to God! That is God's desire.
As I live, says the Lord God,
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but that the wicked turn from their ways and live;
turn back, turn back from your evil ways;
for why will you die? Ezekiel 33:11
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but that the wicked turn from their ways and live;
turn back, turn back from your evil ways;
for why will you die? Ezekiel 33:11
An illustration: "I am an Olympic Gold medalist." This is only a fact if I have trained and qualified to participate in a sanctioned Olympic event at an officially designated Olympic games, and, if I have won that event in strict accordance with the rules that govern the event. If I have cheated, never triumphed, or never even participated you would conclude my claim "I am an Olympic Gold medalist" to be false. Similarly: "I am a Christian" - if my thoughts, words or deeds, openly or privately run contrary to Jesus Christ, how can I make this claim?
Being Christian is a question of fact.
Christians must realize they live in enemy occupied territory. Jesus is our government in exile. Christians are ambassadors of this government. Christians represent and are witness of the nature of this government. Christians are subversive agents acting faithfully toward the establishment of this government.
If we truly believe the seventh trumpet will sound and the proclamation "The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever" (Revelation 11:15) will be heard and fulfilled, then our lives will reflect that belief. We will live conforming to Jesus' truth statements and commands and thus take our place within His government - His obedient, militant, missional Church.
The bottom-line is this: If we live as Christ the world will listen.
be blessed,
No comments:
Post a Comment