The Gathering of Believers Part 4
This week, I had a very uplifting and encouraging discussion with a brother from my not-too-distant past. He always showed me respect through a listening ear without criticism, even when he disagreed. I shared with him my growing concerns about the condition of churches in America, the message they preach, and the shallow relationships that do not edify. In his response, he made a great point; the greatest evangelist, in his opinion, of the New Testament was the thief on the cross. He did not have to do anything other than profess faith in Christ. He was not baptized, never received the Lord's Supper, and did not learn what people learn in Church.
The Purpose of the New Testament
After praising him for observing the thief's faith and the testimony that did not point back to the man but to the grace of God, I had to say to him that he fell short of seeing the whole picture. He stopped at the Gospels as if nothing remained to be said. However, the Apostles, the select group of 12 whose names are engraved in the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem, had much to say to the gathering of believers thirty-plus years after the birth of Christ's body on the day of Pentecost. The 12 were very passionate with their words because they understood and embraced the sufferings of Christ that brought the Ekklesia into being.
The Ekklesia (gathering), now known by the term Church, symbolizes a building or a hierarchy of scholars qualified to give direction to their followers. However, the New Testament's Ekklesia (translators use Church) was born in revival. Revival is the outpouring of God's Spirit in the hearts of people dead in sins and trespasses, which then imparts eternal life, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and God's purpose to live out the glory of the Son of God. Such life is infinitely more than getting a get-out-of-hell-free card and caring not for the living itself.
The Purpose of the New Testament is to Keep Revival Burning
Christ's body was not designed to be a mass of dead wood, aimlessly floating along with no greater purpose than to fulfill its own needs, much like the world that does not know God. I have no qualms with very gifted men who take their calling to preach the gospel seriously. The problem is not the fireball that burns out for Christ or is terminated by cruel persecutors. No, the problem begins with the idea (Satanically influenced) that there are two callings.
Every authentic believer who will hear the words, "I never knew you," excluded, is bought by the same blood and suffering of the Lamb of God; coasting is never an option. Studying the Word of God to put it into practice is essential to eternal life, not as a means but as the fruit that proves it. is
Toward the end of the revival that birthed the Ekklesia, believers lost the fire of revival, the Holy Spirit's Filling, and desperately needed direction. If the Holy Spirit is not given free access to our hearts, then bowing the knee to Jesus Christ as master of our lives is impossible.
The Purpose of the New Testament is to Show the Way
All the letters to the Ekklesia shout warnings in unison, pointing to false prophets who are prophets to ruin believers by pointing them in the wrong direction. Many examples could be given of teaching the way of fruitfulness through Holy Spirit filling. Paul taught in Ephesians 5:18, emphasis added, "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation (excess), but be filled with the Spirit." The New Testament was written to ensure that revival continues for individual believers.
On Pentecost, God came down, as He had at times in the Old Testament: at the giving of the Law, at Nineveh at the preaching of the prophet Jonah, upon the shepherds at the birth of Christ, and of course, at Pentecost during the preaching of the Apostle Peter. So significant was the presence of God during the preaching of The Great Awakening in America that multitudes came to Christ. The influence of the redeemed in those days reached the writers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The testimony of their lives moved our founders to do away with the king and form a new nation, conceived in liberty for all and morality envisioned by the Puritans who endured persecution under the king of England. Nevertheless, they led the way for a revival in the future.
God never intends any people to go their own way. At the center of the word sin is the letter "I," and sinners, by placing themselves first and before God, separate from Him, who is the only source of knowledge and wisdom, peace and contentment, truth and righteousness, and mercy and forgiveness. The scriptures always lead to the cross, death to the sinful "I," and the resurrection to new life in Christ.
The purpose of the New Testament is to continue as we began, not stopping short of our responsibility to obey Christ, assuming that a special calling belongs only to professional ministers. Paul's admonition, in Colossians 2:6-7, "Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude" was written to the entire Church (Ekklesia, gathering). "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints (all believers are set aside for God's holy purpose in Christ Jesus) and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae" (Colossians 1:1-2, emphasis added).
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