“ Crucify him...crucify him...” their blood thirst appetite so demanded. “But I find no reason, no fault or grounds upon which to administer such twisted injustice,” replied the Roman procurator. He knew and understood the grandeur of the dilemma. The situation had over brewed beyond his capacity. On one side is total anarchy—a riot ring-leaded by the high priest himself. And on the other hand is anticipation, an eerie feeling of what the Nazarene’s sect would do if their master isn’t released. But with tension brewing on all sides and screams intensifying, a murderer by popular demand is released in His place. Unable to persuade them any further, he (Pontius Pilate) gives in to their ill will, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.”[1] Fatigued, thirsty, despaired, bruised and betrayed, a cross that weighs a ton is strapped on His back. As He set course for Golgotha in this vindictive atmosphere, His shredded body continues to taste the tip of the taskmaster’s whip demanding that He pick up the pace. “He [has] no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He [is] despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. He bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”[2]
His (Jesus) sacrificial death was to the establishment of a new kingdom, a fulfillment of promise, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”[3] What church per se did Jesus “even to the death on the cross” so humbled Himself to build? In the valley of Christendom, I hear of a new battle royal, a denominational tag of war so hype, I wonder who would emerge victorious. I hear of the Black church and the White church, as if something of a sort exist. The Black church paints the Lord’s picture/image with Afro hair. The White church on the other hand depict Him with blond hair and blue eyes—as if one group has a monopoly on Jesus. Is Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostals, and so forth the Church Christ suffered to established? No, that's simply a misguided assumption. Though it has a physical manifestation, the church of Jesus Christ is an invisible kingdom. The Greek rendering of the word “Church”[Gk. Ekklēsia] means the called out ones. If that is so and Ecclesiastes affirms that there is nothing new under the sun,[4] then we can trace the history of the Church even to Abraham, when the Lord called him out of the Chaldeans. It was God’s re-establishment of a new order of His Church, an order that Adam (His original Church) had demolished. This Church, which is called the Body of Christ, is an insurmountable giant. Universally and locally, Christ is the sole proprietor and owner of this establishment. The Church is not a building or a four walled structure, not a Cathedral--those structures are simply meeting grounds. Your body is the temple of the living God (I Cor. 6:19-20) and therefore, wherever you are the Church is present. We (the Church) are not passive and stagnant, but rather active, vital and mobile. We mount on with wings like eagles, as we invade, conquer and occupy till our Blessed Hope is revealed. The Church is built upon a solid Rock (the Rock of Ages--Jesus Christ Himself) and the only way a person becomes part of this establishment is by revelation—the understanding and acknowledgment of the deity of Jesus Christ.
Our mission and purpose comes in threefold ministry— ministering to the (1) Lord, (2) the Saints and (3) the dying world of sinners. Remember, where two or three (the Church) are met in His name there His presence dwells. Hey, you Church you, become that one radical voice the dying world has been itching to hear.
Our mission and purpose comes in threefold ministry— ministering to the (1) Lord, (2) the Saints and (3) the dying world of sinners. Remember, where two or three (the Church) are met in His name there His presence dwells. Hey, you Church you, become that one radical voice the dying world has been itching to hear.
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| Agent of Change (Eternal Affairs) |
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