13 - The Holy Spirit Gathers The Church

Welcome back to our studies on what being a Christian means and in our series of how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. So far we've read about the various miraculous ways the Holy Spirit works faith in us but something that we don't realize is just hopping in our car and heading up the road on Sunday morning is a miracle. Just having our faith in God is a miracle. Some thing we can not do as humans is make miracles so lets see how the Holy Spirit calls us to faith and gathers His church in today's lesson.

There's two types of churches we belong to when we are Christians. The first church is the brick and mortar building we can physically open the door and walk into. As we've discussed there are many denominations of churches and while we'll have some disagreements over things with each other, not just one of us is going to Heaven for that matter either. Even those that belong to the same denomination still have to go to different churches based on geologic restrictions. And those that are going to Heaven belong to something called the Holy Christian Church. It's members belong to those on the path to Heaven and those who have already been called home.

The Holy Christian Church is also referred to as the Invisible Church as it is very real but we don't see it. Church is a word we just take for granted. Like hospital or store. Church is church, a building where people gather to worship but the word church actually means those people who are called out by God. The Holy Church is all people who have been called out of darkness and into God's wonderful light. Heaven and Earth both "go" to this same church. You and I have memberships by faith worked through the Holy Spirit alone. 1 Peter below writes to the early church explaining what the church is and should be and even Peter compares it to a physical structure all built upon Jesus. The corner stone of this building is Jesus. The stone that holds up are church and we who believe are like stones that have been built upon him.

"₂₂Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. ₂₃For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ₂₄For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, ₂₅but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.

₂₁Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. ₂Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ₃now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. ₄As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-- ₅you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ₆For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." ₇Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, " ₈and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for. ₉But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ₁₀Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

In our physical and invisible church we belong to a congregation. The similarity between those two is that we are both a gathering of people built around God's Word and Sacraments. Paul at the beginning of each of his letters explains how he is part of the Christian Church in fellowship to that he writes. Romans is a prime example of how, like Paul, we too belong to Christ's church. "1₁Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God-- ₂the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures ₃regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, ₄and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. ₅Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. ₆And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. ₇To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ."

The problem of our earthly congregations is this. We are sinners. Some to the point of damnation and those can exist within our congregation. Jesus says as much in Matthew chapter 13, "₄₇"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ₄₈When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ₄₉This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ₅₀and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ₅₁"Have you understood all these things?" Jesus asked. "Yes," they replied. ₅₂He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old."

God's will for Christians is that we assemble as a congregation and He has things He expects of us. In 1 Peter above, Peter told us to get rid of all sort of sins among ourselves. He encouraged us to crave the Word like a baby craves milk. Like a life sustaining milk that only some one much more powerful and in control than us can provide which makes us stronger. God wants us to grow in faith of the Word. Paul writes in Hebrews chapter 10, "₁₉Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ₂₀by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ₂₁and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ₂₂let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ₂₃Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ₂₄And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ₂₅Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

You can see the value to having a congregation. There's a benefit to meeting together, strength in numbers if you will. God wants us to spur each other on to love and good deeds. He wants us route for each other to do good loving Christlike things. When we're with each other we can encourage one another to remain faithful. At work, school, and a number of place, the concentration is not set on God. Imagine how difficult it would be to have a strong faith if we only met for public school science we're things like evolution and big bang are king. Think about how at work we would only look toward the good of the company and only discuss the importance of profit margins if it were up to us to keep faith in God in our own way, alone. Without church, it becomes pretty easy to set our sights on other more earthly things. In fact, I bet most of us could make this argument for ourselves for days that don't begin with Sun.

This is why we need the Holy Spirit to encourage assembly among each other. We can truly say that church fellowship is God's Will. It is God's Will that Christians have perfect unity in mind and thought and express such. 1 Corinthians 1:10 says, "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought." So how do they do that? A vote? A church leader? God's Will is that Christians seek to maintain such unity by adhering faithfully to all of God's Word. John 8:31 says, "To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples." The burden falls on us to make sure that we partake in Godly congregations. We need to make sure that the congregations are "orthodox" meaning true to the Bible. Also that they are "evangelical" meaning Gospel centric.

A few more burdens fall on us. It's important that we recognize the presence of false teachings and those teachers in the world. There are many churches that do not hold to what God wills for us. "Heterodox" churches mix truth and error. Cults are non-Christian groups. Unfortunately most don't advertise the former and groups like Hindus or Buddhists or even "scientists" would never dare to claim to be cult-like in status due to our connotation of that word. The problem with that is it allows unbelief to easily stick it's claws in us. Jesus knew the dangers of this and warns us in Mathew 7, "₁₅"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ₁₆By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ₁₇Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ₁₈A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ₁₉Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ₂₀Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. ₂₁"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ₂₂Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' ₂₃Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

God's last will for us as a church fellowship is that as Christians, we keep separate from teachers, churches, and religious organizations that go against the teachings of God's Word. In our every day lives we deal with atheists and non believers who we show Christian love to our neighbors by loving them and God perfectly. Not so when it comes to their false faith though. It's more or less a line in the sand that needs to be drawn. Christians should be faithful to the Word and not involved in adding or subtracting to it. Nor do we change it in any way. Every denial of the Word denies Jesus, as it is His word we are denying. Christians should take care to fellowship with those teach everything Christ commanded. In Romans 16:17, Paul writes, "Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings."

What a blessing it is for the Holy Spirit to move us to gather among each other as even though faith alone in the truths of the Bible is all we need, He sees the benefit in the strength it gives us by just being around each other. We thank God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in all that they do for us making sure that we undeservedly get an eternal life in paradise. Join us next time as we start a new study that focuses on the Christian and specifically what prayer does for them.