The church ... the "House of God" ?

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Permalink Reply by Michael Vernon McEntire on May 5, 2010 at 12:07pm

I think this is a very important question, Charles. IMHO, the two most significant things that Jesus said to the woman in this part of their conversation were: (1) that God is seeking people to worship Him, and this is expressed not simply as a desire that people in general worship him, but that He is seeking out particular people to worship Him (2) in spirit, that is, not in some holy PLACE, but in spirit. We need to assemble together (in various ways) to strengthen each other, but we aren't asked to go to Jerusalem or anywhere else at certain times of the year, or week. We don't need to GO anywhere to worship God. We should worship Him wherever we are, and that requires reverence in the heart, because reverent worship is the only kind God can accept. When I say "reverent" worship, I don't mean a particular "style" of worship. Rather, I mean a specific attitude of adoration.

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Permalink Reply by Charles Burwell on May 5, 2010 at 12:47pm

Michael

Thank you for your comments. For what it's worth I am in total agreement with you.

Since Jesus promised the disciples ( in John 14: 15 -17 ) that He would send ' another helper' who would abide with them FOREVER and that (17) He ( the Holy Spirit) dwells WITH you and will be IN you ; I feel that we can maintain an 'attitude of worship' at all times.

Then when we have this constant ' attitude of worship ' ( perhaps not the best way to decribe it ) we will be much more beneficial to others when we do assemble together for joint worship and encouragement and also to those who we meet in our daily lives.

By ' an attitude of worship ' I mean carryng around a heart felt reverence for God, and not ( necessarily) walking around with our hands raised to heaven in praise. Although if the Spirit may lead us to do that there would certainly be nothing wrong with that.

Anyhow, thanks again for your input , and I pray that God blesses you as you seek to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

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Permalink Reply by Stacey Osana Arquines on May 5, 2010 at 1:51pm

Hi Brother Charles,

I hope you do not mind me with the response that I will include here for there will be some questions that I trust you know the answers to already :) <3

What does church mean to you? When I was reborn I woke up one night and this question was one that the Lord had me answer. I searched and searched and prayed over it and found the true meaning now I wonder what your thought is :)

As for the House of God what do you think your body is? and what does a house consist of? (many body parts if that helps)

Every person preaching the word of God should be careful of the things that are said especially during these crucial times where the Lord is looking for the just and true who are worshiping the Lord in pure love and sincerity with grace and humility and submission to the Lord.

Thank you for this posting good to hear you are thinking about the truth of God. :) <3

Lots of love to you in Christ..I look forward to hearing from you :) <3

Much love of God and care,
Your sista friend,
Stacey A.

God bless you as well :) <3

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Permalink Reply by Charles Burwell on May 5, 2010 at 8:35pm

Hello Stacey

Thank you for responding. I do not mind at all that you ask me things concerning a discussion I brought up.

I will be happy to give answers , as best I can, to your questions.

To the first one , What does church mean to you ?

What comes to mind when I hear the word ' church' isa building where people assemble together on certain days of the week to encourage and lift up each other as they jointly lift up the name of Jesus. This is as the writer of Hebrews speaks of in Heb. 10 : 25 where he speaks of ' not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together' .

Now if you were to use the term 'the church' immediately think of the body of Christ. The multitude of people thoughout the ages onto this day who have acknowledged Christ as Saviour and Lord.

'The church' , to my way of thinking anyhow , was established on the Day of Pentecost in what was refered to as the 'upper room ' where the promise that Jesus gave to the disciples inJohn 14: 17 was fulfilled ;

Jesus said inJohn 14:15-17 " If you love Me , keep My commandments.

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper ,that He may abide with you FOREVER-

the Spirit of truth which the world cannot receive , because it neither see Him or knows Him, for He dwells WITH you and will be IN you."

' The church ' consists of peope from every nation , language and denomination. ' The church ' is the organization ( for lack of a betterword ) that Jesus promised to build on the revelation Peter proclaimed concerning who Jesus was. Jesus said that He will build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. ( Matt. 16:18 )

Members of ' the church ' can be in any church , but not all people in church are members of ' the church'. I hope that that made sense. I know what I'm trying to say but I have a hard time getting across to others what I want to say.

The nextquestion ---What is he House of God ?

When I hear the term ' house of God ' my thoughts go first to the tabernacle in the wilderness where God would ' meet ' with the children of Israel . It contained the Ark of the Covenant and the 'mercy seat' that was placed on the Ark. This is where God promised to meet with Moses. ( Ex . 25 : 21-22 ).

Secondly this term brings to mind the temple of Solomon. At the dedication of this temple the presence of the Lord so filled the temple that the priests could not even enter it. ( II Chronicles 7 : 12 )

To me anyhow the term ' house of God' brings to mind a single , very special place where Go met with Israel.
Where as now we can meet with God wherever and whenever we neede or want to , if indeed the Spirit dwells
' in' us.

If I understand you correctly (please correct me if I'm wrong ) what you seem to be referring to when you spoke of the ' house of God' is what I refer to as the 'temple of the Holy Spirit ' which Paul refers to in I Corinthians 6 : 19.

Then he makes reference to the 'body of Christ' and it's parts and interactions in I Corinthians 12:12 -19.

My dear sister I honestly believe that we are thinking the same way but are simply using different terminology to get there.

I have enjoyed reading your comments and sense that you have a tender heart towards others , especially your brothers and sisters in Christ,

I pray that God will continue to bless you as you bless others with this precious gift.

In His service

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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on May 5, 2010 at 7:22pm

Charles,

For me there is a simple key to remember. We do not go to the house of God to worship, but rather we gather as the body of Christ to worship. Keeping the focus on what really matters is important.

Lord Bless,
LT

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Permalink Reply by Stacey Osana Arquines on May 5, 2010 at 9:36pm

Brother LT thanks for this enlightenment of gathering together AS THE BODY OF CHRIST TO WORSHIP

Good point :) <3 and as the body of Christ we live faithfully in holiness out of pure love from God showing him that as a gathered people in His name we are living in truth to love and serve the Lord in praise and worship to the Father Lord God Almighty

I hope what I have mentioned makes sense if not I can break it down :) <3

aites much love you you LT
ur lil sis/friend
Stacey A.

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Permalink Reply by Charles Burwell on May 5, 2010 at 10:42pm

LT

I totally agree with what you have said. The point I am trying to make is that too many times people . especially new Christians, are led to believe that they must come to what many refer to as the ' house of God ' in order to experience the presence of God.

When I was a new convert ( many years ago ) I was led in that way , though not through any deliberate ill intention, At least none that I was aware of, There were several of us who were young in the Lord and assumed that God would only hear and react in a positive way when we were in the house of God.

The only problem with that was that I cold not live in ' the house of God ', I had to go to work and deal with the people there and in the rest of my life. I was having a real struggle until God , as He always does, came to my rescue. He led me to fast for 3 days. The first 2 days I thought that I was going to die. Then after suffering through a long day on the third day of the fast ( a Saturday ) I sat down in the cool ( if there is an such thing here in Fl. ) of the evening with my bible in my lap and sitting on a rocking chair on my front porch.

I knew I would be able to eat in the morning so my hunger would be gone but in my spirit I was still a mess. I just sat there asked Godto just give me something here and now. I could nt wait until the morning when I would be going to church. He impressed so strongly on my spirit, Psalm 119. I opened my bible and looked for the 19th verse of he first psalm. As you know there are not 19 verses in the first psalm. I was so disappointd that I almost cried from frustration.

Then I decided to look through the psalms and lo and behold I discovered that there was a psalm numbered 119. I read that psalm 7 or 8 times that night . I mean literally 7 or 8 times , all 176 verses. It was like a treat from God and I couldn't get enough of it. I eventually fell asleep and when woke up I felt like I could literally run the whole mile plus to the church I attended. There was no weakness from physical hunger . I guess because my soul was ablaze with something l'd I never felt before.

For the first time in my albeit young Christian experience I truly entered the church with a spirit of praise and joy and peace in my heart. I didn't have to listen to some half heartedly sung songs to get excited I went in the front door that way.

You see , LT, God began that day , over 30 years ago, to drive into my spirit the fact that that He is very willing and able to meet and help me whenever and wherever I needed Him. In the last 30 years I had had to depend on that very fact so many time in so many situations. Even though I still catch my self panicing over something I know so very deep inside that God will be there and take care of whatever mess I get myself into and I don't have to wait for the next church service or go running to find a preacher somewere. I can talk to God whenever I need to and wherever I am.

Of course I realize that many of what I call messes are simply situations that God allows to teach me something or to get me back on the right track. I'm vey thick headed at times and somtimes God needs to give me agood whack.

Now before you think that I'm speaking aganst attending church services I will hasten to add that nothing is further from the truth than that , What I'm saying is that the Spirit of God doesn't live in a building. The Spirit of God will meet us werever we need Him especially since the Holy Spirit is living IN us a Jesus promised He would if we love Him and keep His commandments.

I'm just saying that church is just a bonus blessing when we spend every day abiding in Christ. I needHim every day.I want to communicate with Him every day.

One last testimony of God's faithfullness and I'll be still. I have a temporary job withthe Census Bureau . It involves going door to door getting census information from people who haven't sent there questionere's back yet.

I consider myself a very fiendly person and can converse with stangers quite readily. But only when I meet them out in public somewhere. This job requires me to actually go to their homes and ring their doorbells and intrude on their time. There is a small percentage of people who do not want to see census takers let alone talk to them. I have heard reports from other census takers of how they have been verbally abused.

The point I'm getting at is that I've only heard of these people I have yet to meet one. I have completed more interviews than most of the people in my group and have yet to have a bad expeience. I attribute that to God alone. l pray a quick prayer every time that I walk up to a door. I ask God to keep me from saying something wrong to someone and to keep me from reacting wrong if I meet one of his people.God has been faithful and I m sure He will continue to be. You never know what could happen when any of the doors oen so it is extremely reassuring to know the One who knows what's behind each door and has and will continue to give me the grace to deal wtih what ever I may encounter.

I told God a longtime ago that I would do whatever work He supplied. I never expected this but I guess I should have because it's the type o work I've most dreaded doing. God may very well be preparing me for something through this. In that sense it's kind of exciting but Iguess I'll get over that excitment when I go up to the first door tommorrow. This just goes to emphasize the point that when we ' abide' in Christ we can do whatevr He wants us to, And 'abding ' in Christ is a 24/7 experience and cannot be achieved by simply going to church.

As I said before I got on my soap box,I completely agree wth what you have said , I'm just coming to the same point only fom a different angle.

God bless you ,my friend

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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on May 6, 2010 at 5:46am

Charles,

We are in agreement. It is the responsibility of the church leadership to guide the new believers to the truth you have expressed. Unfortunately, too often the leadership would rather control (church setting) instead of release people into the fullness of God (everyday walk). Being a Christian truly is 24/7/365 and there is not a place we can go that God is not there, thus we should desire to experience Him and to honor Him everywhere we go and in everything we do.

Church gathering is vital, but is only one aspect of a full Christian life.

Lord Bless,
LT

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