Thursday, July 21, 2011

When you put your hand into a bunch of goo that a moment before was your best friend's face, you'll know what to do.

"Likewise, the church in our day is to be holy. The church is not a voluntary association to be governed as its members see fit, but a dwelling place of God. It ought to be structured according the orders of its commander, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our families and our homes are to reflect the spiritual purity, beauty, and orderliness that was temporarily pictured through the tabernacle and is now supremely set forth in Jesus Christ Himself."
~Vern Poythress, The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses

But, Vern ... and I hope it's okay to call you "Vern" ... methinks a big problem in the churches in the US of A is that they are seen as and operate as "a voluntary association to be governed as its members see fit."

Consequently, their families don't "reflect the spiritual purity, beauty, and orderliness" they ought. It may or may not be a uniquely American problem, but "We the people" is great for ordering a nation, but for a church it must be "You, the Lord, Jesus."

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1 Comments:

At 25 July, 2011 13:34, Blogger Rev. said...

One denomination's statement of faith maintains that a church is "an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers...governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word.... Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord." While I believe this statement of faith is right to emphasize that each congregation is "governed by His laws," and "operates under the Lordship of Christ," I think the "democratic processes" is what people focus upon in their practice in this denomination. Personally, I'm still struggling to find such processes in Scripture.

 

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