Order in the Court of the King! (Solving Our Differences)

Grace Thoughts

Order in the Court of the King! (Solving Our Differences)

I believe the answer to the Christian Church’s vast differences about beliefs and practice may be fairly easy to solve. Here’s why I say that.

Decently and In Order

Let all things be done decently and in order. 1 Corinthians 14:40

Paul’s apostolic command to the Corinthian Christians to resolve its differences “decently and in order” is as needed today as it was almost two-thousand years ago. The modern Church is definitely ‘out of order’ and needs help to get back in line to doing God’s will.

Jesus Christ prayed a simple prayer the night before He died. Jesus told His Heavenly Father that He accomplished what He was sent to do.

I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. John 17:4

That’s a bold and true statement. Jesus did glorify God on the earth and He did finish the work God had given Him to do. That’s the pattern we should follow as well. Why? Because it’s what God ordered.

Glorify God on the earth
Finish the work God has given us to do

How’s the modern Church doing with that? Not so well. How do I know that? Simple. First, read the Bible through carefully and intently. Take notes as you read. Second, take a close look at the modern Church across the world. What do you see? God-glorification or self-glorification? Finished work or incomplete work? Decency or indecency? Order or disorder?

With tens of thousands of denominations and hundreds of differing views of important spiritual subjects within those many denominations, I think the answer is clear. The Church has lost its way in this world. It has, to a great degree, become indecent and disorderly. The question is – can the Church find its way back to God’s decency and order?

I believe it can ‘if’ Christians follow the Lord’s two basic principles of glorifying God on the earth and finishing the work He has given us to do. That’s the purpose of this new series.

First, we’ll look at those principles and learn how to use them in our daily lives. Second, we’ll take many of the disagreements among Christians and recommend ways to come to agreement on the work God has given us to do. Let’s begin with Jesus.

King Jesus

And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:22-23

The first principle for the Church is to glorify God. The way we do that is by acknowledging that Jesus Christ is King. He is the Head over all things to the Church. Not just a few things. Not just the things you find comfortable, fulfilling, and fun. Not just the things that fit into your ‘plan’ for your life or the life of your church. Not just the things that make you happy. All things. Jesus is Head “over all things to the church.”

Based on what we read in the Bible and an observation of God’s people from the last several thousand years we face a major problem. It started with the first humans. God told them what to do and they didn’t do it. They did the opposite of what God commanded. God said ‘don’t eat,’ but they ‘ate.’ Disobedience to God is not how to glorify Him or finish the work He gave us to do.

Is the Church doing what God commanded it to do? That’s debatable because some Christians are and some aren’t. The goal is to get all of God’s people on the same train headed in the same direction. The fact is that Christians are riding a lot of different trains traveling on different tracks headed in many different directions. Not good.

If you disagree with that statement, go back to the beginning – back to the Garden of Eden. That’s where the mess began. When I look at the modern Church I see Christians looking intently at the forbidden fruit while listening to the devil’s temptation. God says don’t – the devil says do. What should we do? Go back to the Lord’s two ‘principles’ – glorify God and finish the work He gave you to do. Simple. Right?

Two Gates – Two Paths

Jesus said that the ‘gate’ that leads to destruction is ‘wide’ and the ‘way’ is broad.’ It’s also ‘crooked.’ The Lord told His disciples to enter ‘by the narrow gate” (Matthew 7:13). Once we enter by the narrow gate, we will find the path to be both ‘narrow’ and ‘straight.’ The prophet Isaiah made that clear, even as it was carried out by the prophet John the Baptist (Luke 3:4-6). Jesus told His disciples that He is ‘the way, the truth, and the life.’ Jesus also made the bold statement that, ‘No one comes to the Father except through Me’ (John 14:6). Jesus is King and His subjects should worship and obey Him as their God and King.

Remember the two principles? Glorify God and finish the work He gave us to do.

After rising from the dead, Jesus made several declarations that should continue to guide His followers to this day. They are –

Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Luke 24:44-45

Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. Luke 24:46-49

And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven. Acts 1:7-11

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18-20

What we learn from Christ’s declarations following His blood sacrifice for our sins and His complete triumph over death are these –

Everything we read in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is about Jesus. He is King.
Jesus has all Authority in Heaven and earth, and it is in that Authority that His followers are to go into all the world and proclaim His death and resurrection for the purpose of making disciples who will obey His every command. He is King.
Jesus will return to earth one day to establish His earthly Kingdom and His followers should be working diligently for Him as they await His return. He is King.

That’s it. Not difficult to understand. Direct and straightforward. Glorify God and finish the work He gave us to do.

If the Church has lost its way (which it has to a great degree), it happened because people who claim to follow Christ lost their way. They forgot the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ. They made following Christ too broad, too complicated, too crooked. That has led to the destruction of much of what we think of as ‘the Church.’

Jesus and His apostles warned us these days would happen, so we shouldn’t be surprised. However, I do find it sad that people who sing and say for an hour or two on Sunday mornings that Jesus is Lord think little about Him the rest of the week. That’s not at all what Jesus has in mind for His Church.

Glorifying God is not a one-day event. Finishing the work God sent us to do is not a one-day event. It’s all the time. Every day. Every hour of every day.

Honest question. Can the Church get back to the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ? Can the Church step off the broad way and crooked path back to the narrow way and straight path?

Honest answer. I have my doubts. Why? Because of what I read in Scripture about the history of God’s people. Because of what I see in the history of the Church. Because of what I see in the modern Church. People like the broad and crooked way. The path that is straight and narrow is too, well, straight and narrow. They see that as uncomfortable, not much fun, restrictive. The truth is they’ve missed the point of why they exist.

The purpose of our existence is to ‘glorify God and finish the work He gave us to do.’ That doesn’t mean we won’t enjoy fulfilling God’s purpose for our life. Just the opposite. We will never be more alive than when we’re doing God’s will.

Building The Church

Jesus said that He would build His Church and “and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Is Jesus building His Church? Yes. Is He building it the way many Christians think? Possibly not.

Jesus has been building ‘His Church’ on a particular set of principles and commands that are found only in the Bible – God’s revealed Word. Jesus and His apostles laid out those principles and commands clearly in the New Testament. The Gospels, Book of Acts, and letters to churches and church leaders demonstrate how quickly Christians broke the rules Jesus and the apostles had taught them. That’s because the Church has three powerful enemies (Ephesians 2:1-3):

The world
The flesh
The devil

The world wants our time – the flesh wants its way – and the devil wants to devour. Put those three together and we see why the Church is struggling to glorify God and finish the work He gave all of us to do.

What I hope and pray this series will do is to help Christians and their leaders fight ‘the good fight.’ The goal? To bring glory to God and finish the work that He gave us to do. Nothing less will do.

Next Time

We will look at what Jesus finished in the next part of our new series. Once you know what work Jesus accomplished in His time on the earth two-thousand years ago, I think you will have a better idea of what God has for us to do now.

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Founder & Director of GraceLife Ministries View all posts by gracelifethoughts

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Order in the Court of the King! (Solving Our Differences)