The Kings and Priests
The Bible tells us we need to be with other Christians so we can worship God and be taught by His Word for our spiritual growth (Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:25). However, it does not explicitly state that we should meet in a structure or any specific place like an institutional or denominational church.
Does it matter how many times and how many years we have to go to church to hear the Word of God over and over, and yet we are not doing anything to spread the wings of God, like hearing salvation being preached every Sunday?
Do we need to be reminded like a child that needs to be nourished every Sunday about our salvation? Or do we have to testify to the goodness of God and His Word?
But, How will it happen when it is not in the program? It is accurate, and I believe in gathering of the saints, gatherings of the body of believers, but do we need to go to a specific religious structure to profess our faith and hear the Word of God, or can we carry out the Word of God and bring it to the lost souls. There are many ways we can do it. Just think about it! Start with relatives that you are helping. Professing does not make us accurate Christians, but confession does.
I believe going to church is like going to school. We go to school to listen to learn, and once we have established our footing, it is time to walk and talk about the goodness of what we have learned about God and His Word. Then, we can take them to the church, where we are enlightened to experience fellowshipping with the Body of Christ, and perhaps we have done our part as responsible Christians.
We must be sure by our endorsements that the church with an unblemished record must come first, witnessed by many faithful believers, preaching new interpretations of the scriptures by the Pastors who are doers of what they preach. Though no church is perfect, we want a church with little imperfections. If they are not comfortable, we can meet at a house. Then, when they are fully equipped, it’s time to spread God’s Word.
Some Pastors depend on their livelihood from church collections and need financial support, especially if that is only the source of their income. Abolishing and enriching themselves through sacrificing the members’ pockets must be rejected. The luxurious living of those who control the pulpit is something to be aware of. We do not want to be an accessory to wrongdoings; we are the only ones who can stop them if necessary. Remember, when a pastor uses the collections for personal gain, he is robbing the poor. The primary purpose of tithes and offerings is to help the widow without a family that can help the poor in general and not the Pastor’s luxurious lifestyle.
Some people will walk away from the faith when they witness a church anomaly and become unchurched Christians. However, we are the body of Christ, and no one can take that away from us except if we let it happen.
We are the center of the eternal purpose of God. God’s saving grace does not save people from sin without being justified and sanctified in the body of Christ. Jesus Christ is our 2nd and last Adam, that will eventually be the faithful witness recorded in the book of Revelation.
Have you heard that outside the church, there is no salvation? This means that church attendance is vital to salvation as believers, and the free will to worship God in private houses has been denied. In addition, attending the Sunday service is vital for our learning, eventually leading to spiritual growth.
If you did not grow, that is the responsibility of the Pastor. We still have the choice to look for a more responsible church. When the time comes, your hunger for the Word is filled and fully equipped; the Holy Spirit will lead you to use your gift. Who do you think will be against you if he is in you?
As it is written, we must go to our secret place within our house and worship God, glorify and praise Him, and be mindful of our relationship with Him through our constant communication with Him and obedience to His will.
Christians must be bound together as one Body of Christ; we are the Bride, the Soldier, the kings overruled by the King of kings and Lord of lords, and the priest made by Christ, and Now we are the kingdom. It is the will of God to believe the Son Jesus to have eternal life. (Luke 12:32; John 10:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2–3), (Ephesians 5)(1 Corinthians 12:12) (Eph.2:21).
We are shaping one another through sharing our Spiritual gifts to the glory of God, which is the primary purpose of gathering together, meeting, and expressing our respect for one another. That is what we call the communion of the saints or, much more straightforward, the faithful gathering.
No man is an island. We belong to one another and need one another as brothers, sisters, and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ, our 2nd and last Adam. He said that whoever obeys the Father will be related to Him. We can also consider as time goes by, the place of worship or gathering changes, from the foot of the mountain to a tent, to a synagogue, to a temple and private houses until a wave of significant church buildings being built with beautiful architecture that push the private dwellings to disappear.
We are commanded to meet with fellow believers, as mentioned in the book of Hebrews. Still, we should not limit our capacity to be free from some denominational groups that have their tenets apart from the Bible.
However, we can also form a group of friends and relatives to bring them the goodness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This should be the natural inclination and desire of every regenerated heart. Nothing in the Bible says explicitly we must go to a church building, and neither reject nor encourage going to church.
With much knowledge and understanding of the Word of truth, the wisdom of a God will be upon us. Our freedom will be guided by the Holy Spirit and will never be wrong.
Routine preachings, regular collection baskets, and favoritism should be ignored as long as your spiritual growth is taken care of. Many congregations nowadays do not have Sunday school and Bible Studies, which is a big disappointment for others.
How can you grow without this ministry? And if there is, it is because the members made it possible by having the meetings in their private dwellings. These meetings sometimes are headed by laypersons. This was the practice during the early period of church history. Meeting or gathering of the saints was held in private homes.
There are churches where salvation is preached every Sunday and would only change if the Pastor had a new entertainment package that would make the hearers wake up from their seats.
If attending Sunday service is a way of Christian living, how could it be?
How can we justify that one hour a week worshiping God is enough to declare that we did our weekly obligation as true Christians? Hearing a 30 minutes message, 15 minutes of praise and worship songs, 10 minutes of tithes and offerings, and 5 minutes of opening and closing prayers, is that enough to please God? Is that enough for a weekly devotion?
Sometimes it feels longer to drive to and from the church than to be in it. We spend more time watching movies than watching and hearing the voices of the Pastor, choirs, and prayers combined. We can please God in many ways; through good works, obedience to His words, showing respect to others, and many more, but forcing you to attend church is not one of them.
When you heard a pastor say to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices,” Does he mean about our Sunday attendance? Don’t we have enough in this troubled world; fear, anxiety, and stress?
If worshiping is a sacrifice, it is a big lie! Our life is not a sacrifice when we worship God; It is a way of expressing our gratitude and thanksgiving, and just being with Him is a life worth living. We could do it alone, could we?
1 Corinthians 10:31 when says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” When we focus our life on the true and living God, we will never be wrong, and our souls will never be lost. Religion would neither save us nor establish a reasonable covenant with God.
It’s our relationship as Father and sons and daughters. We must protect our hearts from deceitful and lying acts. We must avoid actors playing church as they will devour our souls if we cease guarding it. We must never put our faith as a challenge that will lead to weakness and defeat but as a weapon to accomplish our mission with power and authority.
We cannot have a house without foundation. We cannot be a Father without a son. We cannot be Christian without Christ, and Christ will be the foundation of our body and house. We are the church, and the Holy Spirit of God dwells in it. A house is not a home when no one is living there, so the institutional church is just a building in the absence of believers.
When Jesus Christ told Peter that he would build his church, he did build it in our hearts, and many still don’t get up to this time. When he said that the kingdom was at hand, many still didn’t, and when he said that he was coming soon, more than enough to say; they didn’t get it.
Christians are either kings or priests as we base it on (Revelation 5:9-10 NKJV) (1 Peter 2:9 NIV) And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God, And we shall reign on the earth.”
Jesus said, “Scripture cannot be broken,” I believe that each Christian is a king and a priest, a king that gives provision to his kingdom and his domain, and a priest that intercedes between humans and God. We need to be both because a king (kingdom) has authority, but a priest (church) has access. They both work for the glory of God. But, still, your free will to choose.
The Bible is clear that whoever believes in the Son Jesus has a reward: eternal life as kings and priests rule and teach here on earth (Matthew 5:5; Revelation 5:10).
The Bible says we are in the kingdom now (Colossians 1:13).
Jesus said: “that those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.” 1 Peter 2:9 says they are a royal priesthood, and Revelation 1:6 says that Christ has “made us kings and priests unto God.”
It’s not good when they are uncomfortable with the term priest because it sounds more non-evangelical, yet they claim to be the church, and at the same time, Christians are ignorant of the fact that they are kings!
Some of those who claim to be good Christians will be rejected by Jesus if they have not fulfilled God’s will.