Title Make the Church a Church
(1 Peter 2:1-10)
1. The church is not a building, but a community of saved believers.
It seems that there are still many people whose church building is not upright.
Moreover, I know that there are many who have a bad impression about the churches marked by the cross.
The church is one person who has been saved from sin, and one person gathers to form a community of faith.
However, in general these days, when you think of a ○○○ church, the concept that comes to your mind is reminiscent of a towering building.
When we say us, we don't mean this building, we mean all of us gathered here. What is being said must be heard in a way that applies to all of us. Because the church is not a building.
Because the church refers to those who are called to worship God.
Therefore, in order for the church to become a church, it can be understood as saying, 'I must become myself'. You will have to understand and listen to the Word.
The church in the Old Testament begins with the tabernacle.
There were two great gifts given to the Israelites after they had left Egypt.
One was and the other was .
God was with the Israelites through these two channels.
However, if you think about the fruit, silver was the norm for the fruit, and it was the channel through which God's and were supplied.
God was with the people of Israel through these two things, and gave them grace and blessings.
In other words, God gave the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel to follow the rules and ordinances they were to keep, and He gave them blessings through the sacrifices offered at the tabernacle. Therefore, these two always followed together like the two wheels of a cart.
If you look at the history of Israel, when these two things were right, you prospered, and when you didn't, you had to live in calamity, sickness, war, and tribulation.
This is still the case today.
For the saints called in a world like the wilderness, is the standard of faith and behavior, and is the channel of blessing to receive God's grace and love.
Therefore, only when the church is a church is the channel of God's grace and love always open.
In other words, it is the way for believers to receive grace and love from God.
Through the church, the members experience God's grace and share God's love through the church.
Therefore, if we test the church, grace will dry up, spiritual growth will be slowed, and our joy and life of gratitude will disappear. I hope you can see all the phenomena of the church members that are happening around us. If you take a test in the church, your spirit will die first, your relationship with God will not be smooth, and eventually your gratitude will disappear from your life.
During the Exodus process, the tabernacle was humble.
Nevertheless, God was present in the tabernacle.
It is a very meaningful lesson that a holy, perfect, and exalted God dwelled in the tabernacle of the people of Israel in the wilderness.
This still holds a very important meaning.
All the churches on earth are so humble.
Where are the perfect churches where God can dwell?
It was a small, smelly, and messy tent, but God was there. A cloud came over the tabernacle during the day, and a pillar of fire stayed over the tabernacle by night.
In the wilderness, Israel saw a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire above the tabernacle, and overcame fear and imminence, and was comforted to sleep in peace.
Today it is the same.
Where is the perfect church for God to dwell in?
It is because even the heavens of heaven cannot bear it, as Solomon said.
However, just as God Himself was present on the tabernacle, today, God is with the church through the Holy Spirit.
The Church is therefore not artificially drawn.
The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:22, "You also are being built up together in Jesus to become a dwelling place for God in the Holy Spirit."
If we look at each of us individually, we will not be able to become a temple that can accommodate God. However, we are moving the hearts of our members by the presence of the Holy Spirit on God's side every day.
That's why he told them to strive hard to keep the oneness of the Holy Spirit. The church of God is God's holy dwelling place.
Each and every believer's heart must be built into this very dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Although it is not a place where we can receive a holy God, we want to be with you on God's side. It is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that leads us to Jesus Christ every day.
Therefore, all sins can be forgiven, but the sin of denying the Holy Spirit and blaspheming the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven.
Why?
The Holy Spirit is trying to lead us to Christ with groanings that cannot be uttered, but how can we achieve salvation when we finally resist it?
So what's the conclusion?
In order for the church to be a church, like a Christian, I need to let the Holy Spirit of God dwell in me.
2. In order for the church to be like the church, it must be me who is controlled by the Holy Spirit.
What were we?
They were all outside the promise, living without hope.
They were deserving of destruction.
They were still beings wandering in sin.
But, by the call of Christ, he became a new person.
Together, such beings are forming this temple, the body of Christ.
The important point here is that we are building together this temple, the body of Christ.
The church is not a place where I live my faith alone.
The church is not a place for me to receive grace alone and to receive blessings for myself alone.
To make a church a church means to make me myself.
So, what does it mean to be yourself?
It means that I am truly becoming a saved Christian. Is it calming down?
Therefore, in order for the church to be like the church, those in charge of the office must examine what they must do for themselves.
There, you will receive God's love and grace through the church. The church is a holy place where God dwells.
Because this was not taught well, all Christians in the Korean church today have become believers in witchcraft.
Everyone wants only personal blessings.
We do not know that we are becoming God's temple together, and we are only trying to lead an individualistic religious life.
In order to become who I am, I must always feel and discover the God who dwells in a lowly being like me. Therefore, we must become living worshipers who offer their bodies.
It is not a form of worship, but a worship of life. It means that my life must always be transformed into a temple that houses the Spirit of Christ.
To do that, we need to recover.
First, we must restore the altar of prayer.
My house is said to be a house of prayer for all.
The door of the church must be continuously visited by those who pray.
Through prayer, we become spiritually awake.
Through prayer, we will not fall into temptation.
You will receive the filling of the Holy Spirit through prayer.
Through prayer, the weak and the sick are healed.
Through prayer together, the righteousness of the kingdom of God is realized.
Why did the early church have so much spiritual power?
It was because it was a church that put great effort into prayer.
Second, we must restore the passion for evangelism.
The early church was the church that prays when we gather and evangelizes when we disperse.
In Acts 5:42, the members of the early church said, "Every day whether they were in the temple or in a house, they did not cease to teach and preach that Jesus is the Christ."
Although Christians today cannot evangelize, they talk a lot about social reform.
There is an anecdote about the German Rev. Bon Hoefer on this point.
The Nazis at the time knew what this meant, so they arrested him and sentenced him to death.
However, before Rev. Bon Hoeffer was executed, in a vision, he saw that Hitler was being judged before God, and he slaughtered countless people and did many evil things, so he was sentenced to go to hell.
Then Hitler shouted and cried out loudly that this happened because I had never heard anyone say that there is a God.
Therefore, Rev. Bon Hoefer is said to have repented greatly.
I only thought that I should kill him, but I did not preach for him, nor did I pray for him.
It is true.
In order for the church to become a church, we must not block the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
The inspiration and impression of the Holy Spirit demands our prayers today as well.
And to those who pray, He gives the mission of evangelism. surely give
If prayers still do not come and you spend years without evangelism, then this is a problem. Such a state means that the spirit is dead.
Since the spirit is dead, the church cannot be the source of blessings.
Since the spirit is dead, it is impossible for the emotion of the Word to arise.
Since the spirit is dead, the words that come out of his mouth cannot be virtuous.
Now is the time for serious introspection.
Now is the acceptable time, because now is the day of salvation.
When it's over, it's over. Once the door of salvation is closed, it cannot be opened again.
Please register today.
I hope you make up your mind today.
I must decide to be myself as I am and to be Greek as myself. ♣