I guess asking that question while writing on a computer that cost me $600 is absurd.  But I want to challenge you to look around and see if you are living life more abundantly by the world’s standards or by God’s standards.  If we were to send some of the American standard get rich quick prayer books to the Christians in Sudan or Kenya they would not know what to think of them.  They are persecuted everyday because they have strong faith, much stronger than that which is required to have thousands of dollars in credit card debt and still want more.

Our future is not here.  Our future is in heaven and for eternity.  Our abundance is the saving grace of Christ not the 55″ plasma television or the house in the suburbs.  I don’t think you must be a monk and give up everything you have, however that is the model given by the disciples.  What I want you to see is that when Christ said we must, “Take up our cross daily and follow him” he meant that.  I know so many pastors that try everything that comes down the pipe to help them make more money.  Most are making good salaries and they still can’t be satisfied.  If your leaders are doing it, how are you supposed to do it? You need to lead from the middle of the pack.  You must be faithful to your church and not bad mouth those in charge.  Be an example to those around you.  If you subscribe to the belief that Jesus wanted you to have everything that this earth offers leave me a comment and help me understand the teaching.

Love and Peace

Steve

The church is the body of Christ.

We know that and it seems like a no-brainer. But if you are going to “church” instead of being the ekklesia you probably do not understand, nor do you care, that you have a part to play just as each part of the body does. He puts each one of us who choose to accept him as Lord into a local body where we can be of use.

1 Corinthians 12:11-13 says:

11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Skip down to verse 27

27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.

The church is the Body of Christ and he has given each of us a task to do in the body. We each are called to do something. No matter how small the task if you are a part of the body you have a function. If you are just showing up on a weekly basis to get fed then return to your non-church life of work and leisure you are drastically missing the reason for even going to the building on a weekly basis.

Yes even you can do something, from holding a baby in the nursery to holding a hand at the side of a hospital bed. You can do something.

I grew up in the small Arkansas town of Russell. In this town we were lucky enough to have a school house. It was bigger than most old red one room school houses that you see portrayed on T.V. it was actually 3 or 4,000 square feet so the only reason I can find to justify calling it a school house is because that is what all the adults who went to the school house called it. This functioned as the school for our community until the early 60’s when it was absorbed into the greater Bald Knob Metropolitan School District. The point I want you to see is that it was called a school house because of what went on inside its walls. Until I started studying to write this article it never occurred as strange that my grand mother would say when we were going to church lets go to the church house. She said this because that is what she thought went on inside the building was church. There may be some that still refer to their church building as the Church house, and I know the church I attend started literally in a house.

I want to focus in this article and a couple of follow-ups not on the church house but on the church. In case you don’t already know the Greek term for church used in the Bible is Ekklesia. It means literally “called out ones” In Greece these were the people called out to an assembly. For us as Christians we are called out of the world by Christ, into Christ. It does not have anything to do with a building.

In his book “Pagan Christianity” Frank Viola puts it this way, ”If your were to ask a first century Christian where they went to church they would have no idea what you were talking about.” They would probably look at you like you had 3 eyes. They were the church they did not have to go to where they were. They knew what their identity was in Christ. They understood what it meant to be called out of the world they were living in. This meaning is lost today by a lot of attenders. They believe that once a week they go to church and the other six and a half days the church sits empty. They have no idea what the church really is.

Today there are generally two ways of looking at who the Ekklesia are. First each local assembly is an ekklesia unto itself. Your home church is an ekklesia. That congregation whether a house church or a mega church is a local part of the body of Christ. Second the whole body of believers around the world is the ekklesia making up the body of Christ. This is also known as the “holy catholic church” with a small “c” meaning universal church. This is the belief of my denomination the Church of God (Anderson, IN).

Quoting Form the Church of God Beliefs on the website:

“The message of unity is that all God’s people are one (John 17) and are called to recognize that unity, to relate to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, and to coordinate their efforts in mission to the world.”

Frank viola says later in his book that The first use of the phrase “go to church” that we are aware of came in a letter written around the year 190 from Clement of Alexandria and other than converted houses and catacombs there were no actual church buildings until Constantine began to build them over cemeteries where the bodies of their martyrs were buried. I know that the popular author Rick Warren says they did not have a building for the first 15 years of their church.

So my first post will end with this: having a building does not make a church.

I will add this post because I have been misquoted enough times on a very low hit post that I need to explain about the quote from Pagan Christianity. I do not now nor have I ever endorsed the emerging church, emergent church, or house church movement. If you like that style of church then by all means go, I have no problem with that. However, on your way out the door do not bash the established church. If you don’t like it that is o.k. with me but don’t swallow the hook for the house church just yet. It can not be the only and best way to do church because we have an entire New Testament to show that every time Paul walked away from a church it began to fall back into some sort of sin. We also have the example of the seven churches in Revelation they were house churches and only one was living up to its calling. and finally none of us know the mind of God. He can reach people where they are and a lot of churches that started in homes are doing a lot of good as regular every day churches that are on every street corner.

I read every book I can on what the newest and greatest trends are in churches. Let’s remember that it was less than ten years ago when the newest and greatest thing was the purpose driven church so I’ll wait until the next trend comes along and maybe that will be my band wagon. twenty and early thirty year olds may enjoy worshiping in the no structure environment of an emergent church. There are still people that are in their late thirties and older whose only experience is a typical stand alone church with a structured worship environment. My whole point was that we need to realize that we are the church and no matter where we worship the group meeting there is the church not the building we are in. The whole four part series can be read on my site at Steve Crenshaw Ministries.

Steve

I grew up in the small Arkansas town of Russell. In this town we were lucky enough to have a school house. It was bigger than most old red one room school houses that you see portrayed on T.V. it was actually 3 or 4,000 square feet so the only reason I can find to justify calling it a school house is because that is what all the adults who went to the school house called it. This functioned as the school for our community until the early 60’s when it was absorbed into the greater Bald Knob Metropolitan School District. The point I want you to see is that it was called a school house because of what went on inside its walls. Until I started studying to write this article it never occurred as strange that my grand mother would say when we were going to church lets go to the church house. She said this because that is what she thought went on inside the building was church. There may be some that still refer to their church building as the Church house, and I know the church I attend started literally in a house.

I want to focus in this article and a couple of follow-ups not on the church house but on the church. In case you don’t already know the Greek term for church used in the Bible is Ekklesia. It means literally “called out ones” In Greece these were the people called out to an assembly. For us as Christians we are called out of the world by Christ, into Christ. It does not have anything to do with a building.

In his book “Pagan Christianity” Frank Viola puts it this way, ”If your were to ask a first century Christian where they went to church they would have no idea what you were talking about.” They would probably look at you like you had 3 eyes. They were the church they did not have to go to where they were. They knew what their identity was in Christ. They understood what it meant to be called out of the world they were living in. This meaning is lost today by a lot of attenders. They believe that once a week they go to church and the other six and a half days the church sits empty. They have no idea what the church really is.

Today there are generally two ways of looking at who the Ekklesia are. First each local assembly is an ekklesia unto itself. Your home church is an ekklesia. That congregation whether a house church or a mega church is a local part of the body of Christ. Second the whole body of believers around the world is the ekklesia making up the body of Christ. This is also known as the “holy catholic church” with a small “c” meaning universal church. This is the belief of my denomination the Church of God (Anderson, IN).

Quoting Form the Church of God Beliefs on the website:

“The message of unity is that all God’s people are one (John 17) and are called to recognize that unity, to relate to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, and to coordinate their efforts in mission to the world.”

Frank viola says later in his book that The first use of the phrase “go to church” that we are aware of came in a letter written around the year 190 from Clement of Alexandria and other than converted houses and catacombs there were no actual church buildings until Constantine began to build them over cemeteries where the bodies of their martyrs were buried. I know that the popular author Rick Warren says they did not have a building for the first 15 years of their church.

So my first post will end with this: having a building does not make a church.