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It is hard for me to talk about this topic without offending people who I love and do not want to offend in the slightest, wonderful people who love and serve God with humility and sincerity. This post is not aimed at anyone in particular, it is aimed at myself as much as it is others.
It seems like whenever I write about church meetings or ministry strategies that pastors and those loyal to pastors (of which I am one) question my motives. But…I believe that God wants me to share this with Christians, so let me say it in writing on my little space on the web.
Knowing that:
the apostle Paul said knowing Jesus Christ was his top aim in life, the man arguably with already the deepest revelation of Jesus Christ of his day, (and he said this knowing that he was close to death.) (Phil 3:8)
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and that Jesus himself said knowing the father and Jesus Christ was itself eternal life. (John 17:3)
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and that there are not enough books in all the world to contain everything that Jesus Christ has done and is doing (and will do). (John 21:25)
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and that the entirety of the Old Testament was really about Jesus Christ. (John 5:46)
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and that Jesus Christ personally holds all things together. (Colossians 1:17)
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and that we know that Jesus Christ is present when we gather together in his name (not gather together for self). (Matthew 18:20)
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and that Jesus Christ himself is the way, the truth, the life, love itself, contains all treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is himself healing, is himself provision, he holds all things together, is the savior of sinners…
Then is it still wise (or even permissible) for Christians to gather with entertainment style meetings centered around endless self-improvements and self-fulfillment? to market meetings with promises of self-help? to sing songs which essentially are all about me, Me, ME! Sure it is easier to gather large crowds with this focus but is this what God is building? a self-focused crowd of almost strangers consumed with their own destiny? Let me answer that question with absolute certainty: No
Gatherings of Christians are not necessarily gathering together in his name by default! Motives for meeting matter, intentions at the meeting do matter, the focus of speakers does matter, and the behavior of everyone does matter.
What we do when we gather matters GREATLY, what we do when we gather affects how we behave – it affects how we mature, it affects how we affect our nation, it affects how we impact our world.
Gathering in the name of Jesus Christ means to seek, to study, to share, to reveal and to proclaim Jesus Christ with one another and with anyone who will listen, it is EVERYONE at the meeting doing so. In fact seeking the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ is what we will be doing throughout eternity in heaven, his people get to do that now! He is endless, he is the merciful only savior of sinners but he is also much more than that.
The wonderful reality we also face is that seeking, pursuing, gathering for, studying about, sharing with one another Jesus Christ all together, everyone active, results in the self-help that so many now preach about because it causes real maturity, it causes death-to-self, and when we die, Jesus lives in us.
Divine fullness is only going to be reached by a progressive and ever-increasing revelation of Christ and His significance – T. Austin-Sparks
If this topic is of interest to you please sign up for email updates, because I don’t plan to post about Christian gatherings often and there are some things around Christians gathering that I plan to only share with the email list.
