We are the Church
Today, religions by the thousands claim they are imitating the New Testament church of the Bible. But are they? How could they be? They are all different, aren’t they? Where is the church that Jesus Christ said the gates of hell would not prevail against? Where is the church to which the Apostle Peter was given the keys, and that Jesus Himself heads (Eph. 5:23; Col. 1:18)?
Jesus told the Samaritan woman we were not going to be required to worship God in a certain location and that temple-type worship or building-type worship was coming to an end (John 4:21). Jesus said His true disciples would, instead, worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).
God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). What does this mean? If we all knew, we would be of one mind, one faith and one baptism. In Philippians 3:3 it says, “We are the true circumcision (true disciples of Jesus Christ) who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”
Still confused? Turn to Romans 12:1 where it says our bodies are our spiritual service of worship. We are to transform and renew our minds by performing God’s Will on earth daily as it is done in heaven (Rom. 12:2). We are to worship God by doing good and sharing (Heb. 13:16, 21). We are to persevere in doing good, using our bodies as instruments of righteousness (Rom. 2:7; 6:13, 18-19).
If we, by the Spirit, are putting to death the evil deeds of the flesh, overcoming our evil natures by doing good, and resisting evil by not getting weary in doing good for others, we are allowing God to crush Satan under our heel (Rom. 16:20; 8:13; 12:21; 1 Peter 3:11, 13; Gal. 6:9; 2 Thess. 3:13). We must be careful to engage in good works, glorifying God in Christ’s name (Titus 3:8; Matt. 5:16; Col. 3:17). We must overcome our evil nature by keeping Jesus Christ’s works.
When we do these things we are worshiping God in spirit and in truth, the Way He now requires us to worship Him. We are the church. We can worship Him anywhere we find ourselves. However, if we are worthless for good works, we are worshiping God in vain and by our deeds we deny Him (Titus 1:16; Mark 7:7). Let’s do more than profess we know Him – let’s show Him!