Why We Should Not Disregard the Church?
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The obvious and unambiguous doctrine of the Holy book on the value and need for Church membership for salvation can only be neglected at the expense of truth as made clear to in the Word of god. This is so because there are numerous scriptural facts that militate in opposition to any type of teaching that belittles the value and need for the Church within the heavenly method of salvation.
In response to Apostle Paul, Christ adores the Church, and He feeds it and handles it: "Husbands, adore your wives just like Christ cherished the church and provided his life for it. . Not anyone at any time hates his own body. Instead, he feeds it and attends to it, equally as Christ does the church" (Eph. 5:25, 29, Today's English Version). As a result of His love for the Church, Christ "offered his life for it." Apostle Paul declares that Christ will save the Church: "For a spouse has authority above his wife just like Christ has power over the church; and Christ is himself the Messiah of the church, his body" (Eph. 5:23, ibid.). That Church is "the church of Christ which he has bought with his [Christ's] blood" (Acts 20:28, Lamsa Translation).
So the teaching which rejects the significance and demand for the church - which concomitantly denies the significance as well as need for Church membership - should be undertaken as a direct affront against our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, for it is similar to proclaiming that Christ has given His life for that which is not essential and not needed. Undoubtedly, the widespread belief that the Church contains nothing to do in any respect with the attainment of man's salvation on the Day of Perditionis against the things Christ has said and done.
The Church is the body of Christ, according to Apostle Paul: "And He is the head of the body, the church" (Col. 1:18, New King James Version). In such a straightforward yet intense way, the holy bible demonstrates through example the relationship between Christ and the Church. Hence no person who refuses to admit the value of the Church can say they present significance to Jesus. Christ and His Church constitute only one person in in front of God - the "one new man" that was made making sure that man may be reconciled to God (Eph. 2:15-16). Acceptance of the head requires acceptance of the body additionally, and it must go beyond simply affirming an individual's acknowledgment of its significance. One should become a member of that body. As Apostle Paul says: "Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually" (I Cor. 12:27, NKJV). That's why, it's impossible to state they are in Christ without being in His body which is the Church.
In another analogy, the Scriptures compares the Church to the woman and Christ with the soon-to-be husband. "As the scripture claims, 'For this reason a man will get away from his father and mother and merge with his wife, and the two will become one.' There's a serious mystery reality revealed in this scripture, which I understand as applying to Christ and the church" (Eph. 5:31-32, TEV). Just as the husband and wife who are joined together by God should not be split up, neither should Christ, the Savior, and the Church that He will save.
As soon as Jesus announced His intention to build His Church, He earned His perspective and feelings in the direction of the Church identified in no unsure terms: "And so I let you know, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock framework I will build my church, and never even passing will ever have the ability to conquer it" (Matt. 16:18, Ibid.). He provided the guarantee that hell will be unable to overcome the Church that He would construct. If this church were unimportant and unnecessary, as some preachers declare, why did Christ construct it? Do they imply to convey that Jesus created something is not important? And why did He claim possession of it by expressing it to be His Church, if it were not crucial? Why would Christ identify with Himself something is immaterial? And is it unimportant and irrelevant to fit in with a group that can not be overcome by hell?
Demise shall not be able to defeat the Church that Christ built simply because even if its members suffer death, in time they will likely be resurrected. This is what Apostle Paul says: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the tone of voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the deceased in Christ is going to raised from the dead first. Only then do we who are in existence and keep on being will be caught up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in mid-air. And so we shall always be with the Lord" (I Thess. 4:16-17, NKJV).
The dead in Christ or the members of the Church built by Christ with whom He called "my Church" who shall have passed away before the come back of Christ shall be among those who will partake of the first resurrection. They together with those "who are alive and remain" shall meet the Lord in mid-air and will be with Him permanently and ever in the Holy City. There shall be no longer pain, no longer death nor sorrow in the Holy City - "for the first kind things have passed away" (Rev. 21:4, Ibid.) Thus, individuals who belong to the Church are assured of endless home with God and His beloved Son Jesus Christ in the Holy City.
Hence, we should retain the Church in superior esteem and conform it the value it deserves. God Himself shows how fundamental membership in the Church is to salvation: "Praising God and achieving benefit along with the individuals. And the Lord placed on the church day-to-day those who are being saved" (Acts 2:47, Ibid.) The Lord adds to the Church those people who are to be saved because it is the Church that shall be saved by Christ. If membership in the Church had absolutely nothing to with salvation in any way, then why would the Lord add to the Church the ones who will be saved?
God has fantastic plans and purpose for the Church. His purpose was that His manifold intelligence needs to be acknowledged through the Church: "His motive was that today, over the church, the manifold intelligence of God needs to be made recognized to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 3:10, New International Version). People who say that the Church is not important are denigrating the beyond any doubt intelligence of God considering that the job of making it acknowledged was entrusted to the Church.
Additionally, it is within the Church where God positioned the apostles, the prophets, the teachers and the ones with ability of administration and others: "And 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" (I Cor. 12:28, Ibid.). If Church were immaterial, then it would seem that all the apostles and prophets and all whom God has placed in the Church are immaterial as well, because it is in the Church that God places them in position.
However although we place a high quality in instructing the relevance and necessity of the Church for salvation, allow it to be made obvious to any or all and sundry that it is not because the church provides salvation, instead because Christ the Savior will save the Church.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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