Being a Member of the Church Jesus is Building is Not a Matter of Personal Choice!

In one of their last conversations with him, one evening on the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked Jesus when the temple at Jerusalem would be destroyed and what signs would presage his return and the end of the age, Jesus replied: " 'Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, and will deceive many.'" (Matt. 24:4). Wow! How can a person accept, preach and teach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, that he was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and on the third day resurrected, and still deceive people?

My research reveals that deceivers' messages focus on three fundamental topics: 1) the wrong gospel, 2) the wrong Messiah and the 3) the wrong Church.

In this article, I will explain what the Church of God is, according to the Holy Scriptures. I leave it to you to determine the difference. First of all, the Church of God is not a so-called faith-based organization, a religious corporation, or even simply a group of believers with a certain doctrinal worldview. The Church of God is not launched, operated, or owned by people. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said: " . . . and I will build my church . . ." (Emphasis mine throughout unless noted otherwise) Therefore, Jesus, the Messiah owns the Church, constructs it and guides it lovingly toward a predestined outcome. In Ephesians 5:25, we find the state and the destiny of the Church described this way: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless . . ."

The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write extensively about the Church in all of his epistles to the Church.

The Church has a different nature and functions with a different mindset

Let's begin with Paul's epistle to the Romans, chapter eight: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set (the mindset of the sinful nature) on what that nature desires;("The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.--Gen. 6:5). (Jesus, during his Olivet discourse told the disciples and us that the people of our day would be just like the people of Noah's day [see Matt. 24:37-39] )"but those who live in accordance the the Spirit have their minds set (the mindset of the Church) on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You (the Church), however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he doesnot belong to Christ." (Rom. 8:1-9).

So, you see, being in submission to God is not a voluntary act of any human because the sinful nature that controls each of us from birth does not submit to God's law because that nature cannot submit. So how does a person become a member of the Church of God, the Body of Christ and thereby become submissive to God's law? Jesus revealed the answer first to the Pharisee Nicodemus. Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, no one can see (perceive) the kingdom of God unless he is born from above." In that same conversation, Jesus expanded on this point. "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless she is born of water and the Spirit . . .You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born from above.'" (John 3:3, 5,7).

Just as a human makes no decision or choice to be born of the water (this does not refer to baptism, which symbolizes death, but rather to our initial human existence because a baby is born after the mother's water breaks), a human makes no decision or choice in being born of the Spirit.

So how does this miracle occur?

Scriptures reveal that all humans are born with a dead human spirit, described this way in Ephesians 2:1-2 "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when yoiu followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." At some point in their lives, God, the Father, who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they be, enlivens an individual's human spirit. In this instance, the human spirit is like a physical ovum, a living entity, with a limited life span, unless invaded by an outside life force ( a sperm). United, the two--ovum and sperm--become a new creation. Later, God positions the human being, now with an enlivened human spirit in proximity of the gospel message, because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. As the message flows through the air, God attaches to it the faith to believe. Thus faith comes by hearing the word of the Lord. (Rom. 10:17). According to Ephesians 1:13, the first fact you recognize when you hear the gospel, by the faith which is a gift from God, is that you are included. Thus you believe the gospel. At the moment of belief, Jesus Christ circumcises the sinful nature (see Col. 2:11), and in that nano-second, according to Col. 3:3, you died, because we cannot live without an indwelling nature. In the next nano-second, the Holy Spirit, like the universe's most powerful sperm, united with our human spirit, like a waiting ovum, and each of us--born, now from above--became a new creation. That's how humans, naturally hostile to God, become born from above and thereby members of the Church of God, aka the Body of Christ.

In his initial letter to the Church of God at Corinth, Paul described the Church this way: "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building . . .Do you not know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? Paul also wrote in this same epistle: "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits, then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death." (1Cor. 15:22-26)

In his second letter to this congregation of God's Church, Paul wrote: "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the gfragrance of life . . .Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2Cor. 2:14-16; 3:17-18).

In Paul's epistle to the Church of God in Galatia, he wrote: "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:26-29)

In his epistle to the Church of God at Ephesus, Paul wrote about the origin of the Church, in eternity, in God's mind: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will--to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, for the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."

In his epistle to the Church of God at Philippi, Paul wrote this about the focused attitude of the Church: "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death . . ." (Philip. 2:4-8).

In reference to the current citizenship of the Church of God and how we came to have it, Paul wrote the following in his epistle to the Church of God at Colosse: "We pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and joy, fully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of life. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.: (Col. 1:10-14).

In his initial epistle to the Church of God at Thessalonica, Paul wrote this: "Finally brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living . . .It is God's will that you should be sanctified . . ."(1Thes. 4:1,3). In his second epistle to this congregation of the Church of God, Paul wrote: "But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one . . .May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance." (2Thes. 3:3,5).

From these passages of Scripture, we see that being in the Church is not a function of human choice, but divine selection--He (God the Father) chose us--the Church of God--in Christ, before the foundation of the world. We see that the Church of God has been rescued from the Dominion of Darkness, and now lives as citizens of the Kingdom of Light. Having been rescued, the Church lives beyond condemnation because the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. Therefore, the Church is being sanctified as Jesus, himself, washing the body of called ones with the water of the Word, so as to deliver the Church to himself as a radiant Group without stain, wrinkle or any other blemish, holy, blameless and sanctified, according to God's will. The Church of God is God's temple, His building, and according to Hebrews 3:6, also "his house." As Jesus, the launcher, builder and only authority in the Church of God, cleanses and sanctifies this body of people through the Holy Spirit, our thoughts and attitude become more in alignment with his own. Therefore, everyone who is a member of the Body of Christ has been born from above by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that united with the individual's human spirit, and thus the person became a new creation. All that was old,i.e. the sinful nature, about the individual is gone. All current power and perspective is new. The new power and perspective comes from God who is reconciling all humans to himself by not counting their sins against them. God has given the Church, the first to be reconciled, the ministry and the message of reconciliation, as they function as Ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. (See 2Cor. 5:17-20).

Therefore, the Church of God is not a magnificent edifice. It is not a denomination. The Church of God is a body of individuals, chosen by God during eternity to become, beginning on the Day of Pentecost about 31AD--as humans count time--the Body of Church and to continue as such through a sanctifying process, which is synonymous with serving as Ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. At some point in the future, which the Church of God, aka the Bride of Christ, has made herself ready, God, CEO of the Kingdom of God, recalls His Amabassadors in what some have traditionally called the Rapture.

That's the Church of God! I pray you are a member of it!