Down through the centuries, God of ages is dealing the humanity through various channels. The plan of God’s salvation to the people starts alone with His divine call of Abram, a pagan man in order to be the blessing to the nations. God called Abram with three conditions, and promise of three blessing in his life. The Bible records, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen.12:1-3).
As the descendants of Abraham, the father of faith, it was the responsibilities of Jews to be blessing to the nations. In other world, God wanted Israelites to be the channel of God’s salvation to the Humanity, but because of their failure, He raised a complete diverse group of believers in Christ, the people of every nations and cultures as a single Church which is body of Christ.
We shouldn’t forget the fact that because of disobedience of Israel and their unbelief we have got this privilege to be sons of God just through our faith (John 1:12). If you read your Bible carefully, specially the gospel, you don’t find Jesus came into this world in order to gather the saved ones and to establish His Church. Because of this confusion, even after the resurrection disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?”(Acts1:6)
The primary mission of Christ in this world was to restore back the Kingdom of God through Israel, because of that when John the Baptist started his prophetic ministries as forerunner of Christ, started to proclaim, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt.3:2). But because of the disobedience of Israel, and their unbelief, Christ declared, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” Matt16:18-19). Paul illustrates the disobedience of Israel and our privilege to be partaker of the blessing of God in Romans, “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in” (Rom.11:17-19).
Here we need to understand that the cause of failure of Israel is not because of God but because of their own disobedience. God’s promise of blessing for Israel was not unconditional, but there was certain conditions which Israel failed to fulfilled. Because of that when Jesus was on His mission to restore back the Kingdom, because of the unfaithful and unwillingness of Israel, He changed His mind to Establish the Church.
But there are still some primary responsibilities that Church need to fulfill. Jesus gave his final commandment to the disciples, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matt.28:19-20).
Two primary duties of the Church:
Reach Out
The first primary duty of the people is to reach out the people as Jesus said, “Go ye therefore”. We shouldn’t forget the fact that first duty of the Church is to reach out the people as they are and where they are. Or in clear world, the first duty of the Church is evangelizing the unreached, reaching out people with the gospel message, telling people that there is salvation full and free in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“…………..For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth (I Tim 2:3-4). As a Christian, we shouldn’t forget the attribute of our God that He has no partiality. He loves every one and His heart is to see everyone coming into the knowledge of Christ and being saved through their own faith. But it is the problem with people that rather then light of the gospel they are happy into the darkness.
Yet, as a Church, we should reach out the people where they are and as they are. Today the problem with Christianity is, we want people to come as we are, but we are not willing to reach out them as they are. Paul gives us very clear definition of Christian evangelism, “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (I Cor. 9:19-22).
Teach
The second responsibility of the Church is to teach the people who have been reached and brought into the family of God. In order to fulfill this function of the Church, Lord has given five fold ministries of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher (read also Eph. 4:11-12).
The first responsibility of the Church was to bring the souls out of the bondage of Satan, but that is not the final destination, but even after that, the Church need to bring them into the fullness of Christ. Teaching is the process to develop the Christ likeness in the lives of individuals who came to salvation through the function of reaching out.
Where have we failed?
The Church of God today need to realize that we have failed in these two important primary function of the Church. There are some congregations who are very active in reaching out the people, but unfortunately they are unable to teach and develop the Christ likeness in the lives of Individuals. Because of that, though they are reaching out the souls they are not effective enough and multiplying.
But the problem of majority of the congregations today are they are good in teaching and they are focusing on teaching and teaching alone but don’t try to reach out. Because of that, rather the active body of Christ, they are turning just an Intellectual Study group who gather together to study and discuss on the topic they like to discuss with. Whether we realize or not, but this is the cause that many of our local congregations are turning as the study group of retired generations because we can find there just handful people, most of them are of the sixty plus generation.
This is the saddest fact that our congregations are not only failed to fulfill the duty of reaching out souls for Christ, but they are also closed to the people who come to search us. If we walk through the empires of Churches in our neighborhoods, there are properties of billions dollars which are closed for the public because they are afraid to secure their investments of billions. As a result, the empires that is build in Billions are turning gradually as graveyards, some people are still alive there physically but the empires itself is turned into the ruins.
The heavenly call to Church:
The Church of God is called to multiply not to be empty. The Mission that one Man Jesus started officially inaugurated on the Day of Pentecost with almost one hundred and twenty, suddenly multiplied into three thousands, five thousands and uncountable. The Church of God which was just in Jerusalem soon spread in Antioch, Damascus, entire Asia Minor, Europe and entire world. The Kingdom of God which was started without single dollar investment, is marching toward the victory even today. But at the same part, the empires of multiple buildings we are constructing are gradually turning toward the graveyard.
This is the time, the time of Grace of God that is on us and upon us. This is the time for us to think where we have failed and to recover, so that we can move toward the Victory as the co-worker of Christ for the Promotion of the Kingdom of God. We shouldn’t forget the fact that Christ has established His Church upon the Rock, Rock of the Ages, Rock of the Truth and gates of Hell can’t overcome it. The Church of God is call to multiply, established to multiply and it will keep on multiply. May God bless us from Heaven Above in our faithfulness and strengthen us to multiply.
As the descendants of Abraham, the father of faith, it was the responsibilities of Jews to be blessing to the nations. In other world, God wanted Israelites to be the channel of God’s salvation to the Humanity, but because of their failure, He raised a complete diverse group of believers in Christ, the people of every nations and cultures as a single Church which is body of Christ.
We shouldn’t forget the fact that because of disobedience of Israel and their unbelief we have got this privilege to be sons of God just through our faith (John 1:12). If you read your Bible carefully, specially the gospel, you don’t find Jesus came into this world in order to gather the saved ones and to establish His Church. Because of this confusion, even after the resurrection disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?”(Acts1:6)
The primary mission of Christ in this world was to restore back the Kingdom of God through Israel, because of that when John the Baptist started his prophetic ministries as forerunner of Christ, started to proclaim, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt.3:2). But because of the disobedience of Israel, and their unbelief, Christ declared, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” Matt16:18-19). Paul illustrates the disobedience of Israel and our privilege to be partaker of the blessing of God in Romans, “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in” (Rom.11:17-19).
Here we need to understand that the cause of failure of Israel is not because of God but because of their own disobedience. God’s promise of blessing for Israel was not unconditional, but there was certain conditions which Israel failed to fulfilled. Because of that when Jesus was on His mission to restore back the Kingdom, because of the unfaithful and unwillingness of Israel, He changed His mind to Establish the Church.
But there are still some primary responsibilities that Church need to fulfill. Jesus gave his final commandment to the disciples, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matt.28:19-20).
Two primary duties of the Church:
Reach Out
The first primary duty of the people is to reach out the people as Jesus said, “Go ye therefore”. We shouldn’t forget the fact that first duty of the Church is to reach out the people as they are and where they are. Or in clear world, the first duty of the Church is evangelizing the unreached, reaching out people with the gospel message, telling people that there is salvation full and free in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“…………..For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth (I Tim 2:3-4). As a Christian, we shouldn’t forget the attribute of our God that He has no partiality. He loves every one and His heart is to see everyone coming into the knowledge of Christ and being saved through their own faith. But it is the problem with people that rather then light of the gospel they are happy into the darkness.
Yet, as a Church, we should reach out the people where they are and as they are. Today the problem with Christianity is, we want people to come as we are, but we are not willing to reach out them as they are. Paul gives us very clear definition of Christian evangelism, “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (I Cor. 9:19-22).
Teach
The second responsibility of the Church is to teach the people who have been reached and brought into the family of God. In order to fulfill this function of the Church, Lord has given five fold ministries of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher (read also Eph. 4:11-12).
The first responsibility of the Church was to bring the souls out of the bondage of Satan, but that is not the final destination, but even after that, the Church need to bring them into the fullness of Christ. Teaching is the process to develop the Christ likeness in the lives of individuals who came to salvation through the function of reaching out.
Where have we failed?
The Church of God today need to realize that we have failed in these two important primary function of the Church. There are some congregations who are very active in reaching out the people, but unfortunately they are unable to teach and develop the Christ likeness in the lives of Individuals. Because of that, though they are reaching out the souls they are not effective enough and multiplying.
But the problem of majority of the congregations today are they are good in teaching and they are focusing on teaching and teaching alone but don’t try to reach out. Because of that, rather the active body of Christ, they are turning just an Intellectual Study group who gather together to study and discuss on the topic they like to discuss with. Whether we realize or not, but this is the cause that many of our local congregations are turning as the study group of retired generations because we can find there just handful people, most of them are of the sixty plus generation.
This is the saddest fact that our congregations are not only failed to fulfill the duty of reaching out souls for Christ, but they are also closed to the people who come to search us. If we walk through the empires of Churches in our neighborhoods, there are properties of billions dollars which are closed for the public because they are afraid to secure their investments of billions. As a result, the empires that is build in Billions are turning gradually as graveyards, some people are still alive there physically but the empires itself is turned into the ruins.
The heavenly call to Church:
The Church of God is called to multiply not to be empty. The Mission that one Man Jesus started officially inaugurated on the Day of Pentecost with almost one hundred and twenty, suddenly multiplied into three thousands, five thousands and uncountable. The Church of God which was just in Jerusalem soon spread in Antioch, Damascus, entire Asia Minor, Europe and entire world. The Kingdom of God which was started without single dollar investment, is marching toward the victory even today. But at the same part, the empires of multiple buildings we are constructing are gradually turning toward the graveyard.
This is the time, the time of Grace of God that is on us and upon us. This is the time for us to think where we have failed and to recover, so that we can move toward the Victory as the co-worker of Christ for the Promotion of the Kingdom of God. We shouldn’t forget the fact that Christ has established His Church upon the Rock, Rock of the Ages, Rock of the Truth and gates of Hell can’t overcome it. The Church of God is call to multiply, established to multiply and it will keep on multiply. May God bless us from Heaven Above in our faithfulness and strengthen us to multiply.
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