Today we are looking at what the church looks like when God is put in first place. It is important to remember that the “Church” is people, and not the building, but we choose certain bodies of believers to gather with for worship, in a building, as part of the church.
What should it look like to put God first in your church?
- “…you must seek the LORD your God at the place of worship He Himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where His name will honored.” Deuteronomy 12:5 (NLT)
- “The LORD said to him, ‘I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.” 1 Kings 9:3 (NLT)
- “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:27 (ESV)
- Purpose: “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:12 (ESV)
- “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephesians 4:15-16 (ESV)
- “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all.)” Romans 8:9 (NLT)
- “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-31 (ESV)
- “…there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” 1 Corinthians 12:25 (ESV)
- “It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, ‘You must remove the evil person from among you.'” 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 (NLT)
- “But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.” 2 Peter 2:1-3 (NLT)
- “I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jude 4 (NLT)
- “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:25 (NLT)
My husband and I have had a miserable time searching and searching for the right church for us for years and years. We are in a wonderful church now, and I found it by googling “Bible Believing Church near me”. Make sure the church you attend is a “Bible Believing church” and not a “make it up as you go—on worldly ideas” kind of church.
Now I want to look at each verse from above:
- Make sure you go to a church where God is honored.
- It will be a Holy place.
- The church is the body of Christ.
- It’s purpose is to equip the saints, and build them up, for the work of the ministry and reaching the unsaved.
- The church will grow spiritually and become mature, when we speak “the truth in love” and grow into believers who reflect Christ.
- You know you belong to Christ when you have the Spirit in you and put a harness on your sinful nature. Hopefully others will be saved as they watch you demonstrate clean living.
- We are given gifts to use in the church for the common good to build up the church.
- There can be no divisions in the church. Especially if we are all following Scripture.
- We don’t judge outside the church, God does that. But we judge sinners, who are believers, inside the church and call them to repentance. If they refuse to repent, they are to be put out of the church.
- We are to be careful of false teachers. It is so important to study God’s word as the Bereans did, so we will know when someone is pushing false ideas on us. (See Acts 17:10-11) “They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.” (verse 11b — NLT)
- God does not allow us to live immoral lives as a part of the church.
- The day of Christ’s return is drawing near. Now, more than ever, we should be making sure we are attending and growing faithfully in a strong, Bible-believing church.
I hope you have found a wonderful church. If not, don’t stop looking. They are out there!
Have a wonderful week!