The Body Christ - Our Identity

  So I got my root canal, and my tooth is much better.  It was a 3 hour appointment, the pain was the worst on the first hour but now... siiiigh.  I can sleep soundly now and not wake up with a migraine.  Yay!

Yesterday was a packed day.  I got this Blog post started but was unable to finish it...

Who Are You?

  I want to make sure I'm clear after yesterday's blogs.  Many traditional Churches today are now breaking themselves away from "tradition" to form what is commonly known as "house churches" or even "cell churches".  This is not what I'm talking about.  It has the appearance of breaking away from tradition, as it's no longer in a big building, and reduced itself to a smaller building.

  If you're still thinking in terms of;

"We're going to church on Sunday"

"We're late for Church"

"What church are you a part of?"

"When is Church?"

  You are still thinking in terms of tradition and not in terms of the God ordained body of Christ.

1 Cor 12:12-13
12 For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the one body, being many, are one body, thus also is the Christ.
13 For in one spirit also we all are baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and all are made to imbibe one spirit.

Romans 12:5

5 thus we, who are many, are one body in Christ, yet individually members of one another.

  The Church is not a place we go to, it is not a place that exists on a set schedule.  The Church is who you ARE, belonging to each other in the body of Christ.

  I can guarantee you, if the Church you are a part of is recognized by the government then it is not the body of Christ.

   So why does Paul refer so often to the Church and the Houses and households?

  Think of it like this; if I go to your house.  We are not having "Travis" anymore than if you come to my house and we are having "Bob".  Yet those who use the "house church" model call their meetings "having church"  Church has become a verb, an act, and thing to DO rather than we we are, a noun, a person we ARE.

  I am in the Body of Christ, therefore I am the church.  I am Church 24/7, every day, all day.  Everywhere I go, I am being the Church.  Everytime I meet someone, I am the Church, there are no "service" other than acts of  service, there are no board of directors, mission statements, creeds, etc. etc.  All the things the government requires to recognize one as being a Church.  Instead, this is defined by the Holy Spirit and is expressed by the Holy Spirit.

  If we are to understand the Church as taught by Paul and divinely created through Christ by God, we need to get this concept deeply rooted into our soul.  This is not an issue of semantics, this is a deeply important issue of understanding how the Body functions.

  It's every bit as important as heart surgery is to a surgeon, to a believer it is absolutely necessary to understand the Body of Christ; therein exists our HOPE and EXPECTATION.

1 Timothy 3:15-16

15 yet, if I should be tardy, that you may be perceiving how one must behave in God's house, which is the ecclesia of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.
16 And avowedly great is the secret of devoutness, which was manifested in flesh, justified in spirit, seen by messengers, heralded among the nations, believed in the world, taken up in glory.

Travis