We received the grace of Christ and became God’s children. God does not immediately transfer us to heaven but makes us remain in the world. If God expected us only to maintain our salvation, He would have immediately transferred us to heaven after we were saved. God does not expect us only to maintain our salvation while we are on earth. He wants us to offer our bodily lives to testify to salvation.
Some say, “I work for God, but I don’t work for people.” This is really no different from saying that they will only follow the inclination of their own hearts. Even if they gloss themselves over by saying that they live for God, they may reject the pastor’s instructions and stray back and forth depending on the circumstances for their own benefit. If they are dissatisfied with what the church is doing, they may treat the whole church as an enemy, let alone the pastor.
God sets up an overseer for each church to continue His work. When God sets a person to be the overseer, He does not choose someone who is admirable or clever by a worldly standard. God continues the work of the church by choosing a person who is very faithful. If we have no system like this in place, each person will act according to what they think is God’s will. As a result, they will avoid doing things which cause them injury. If people like this gather as a church, they can never unite as one body.
The church waits for Christ to return - it is like a bride waiting for her groom. Honoring the groom with outward conditions are not the only thing required of a bride. If the bride truly loves the groom, she will not merely be satisfied by withholding her heart from another man, but she will earnestly wish for her groom’s business to succeed and make every effort for it. Similarly, if a church loves the Lord, the whole congregation should unite as one body and undertake the work that the Lord gave them to the end.
Each believer in the church cannot serve a different ‘Groom’. When it comes to serving the Groom, the whole church must become one. Each person may need to sacrifice themselves in the process. But no matter how much loss we suffer, we have already accepted God’s love. We came to this earth empty-handed, accepted God’s service, and even received the promise of heaven. Even if we lose everything that we hold to on earth, we have not suffered any loss.
If we want to become believers who welcome the Lord, we need faith which can undertake martyrdom for the church’s ministry. Although we may not face the horrible trials that the last believers on earth must experience, God can see how we are sacrificing ourselves for the church’s ministry and confirm a martyr’s faith within us. Therefore, let’s be careful that we do not get tempted because we think the church is not acting in a way we think is right, or try to solve the problem by standing against the church. Let’s be victorious to the end with a faith ‘focused on the Lord’ and not on ‘ourselves’.
(Lord’s Day Service on December 19, 2021)
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