Having been asked by my father to write a covenant-like or a commitment form for the Apalan-Guesset believers, I sought to search and look for examples of such in the internet. And lo, I found some great examples. But more than a church covenant, included were churches’ bylaws or constitution. And it hit me; mostly we are not reminded of our church’s bylaws or constitution. I remember too, my father spoke of this thing before which is one of the important matters especially within a local church. For bylaws and church constitution is one of which a local church could be guided accordingly or to set things in order within the local church. I believe, for so many years the Baptist denomination has been practicing this kind of procedures for the sake of order and direction (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40). Whereas some denomination, simply depend on God’s Word. True that God’s Word contains God’s laws and precepts, but there are certain gray area that needs to be attended (e.g. drinking of wine or eating of meat with blood) or when believers does not agree on certain actions or circumstances, as well as the procedures of what we call “Church Discipline”. And these and more other reasons are why Church bylaws or constitution is needed within a local church. Anyway even inside a family such understandable, explicit and clear rules should be set to make things in order or else chaos will rule over it. But of course such constitution should still be based and founded in the Word of God.
Other than the church’s bylaws and constitution, I have been able to have some additional researches too on the church through the net. I tried to know more and as it may be good or bad, the internet is a risky place to acquire knowledge about the church. Why did I say that? Because every others or even scholar’s perspective, opinions, interpretaions and teachings about the church can be viewed / read just typing in the “church” word in the internet browser, which makes me very confused on understanding more of the church. I’m not a bible scholar but I’m a Christian who needs to learn more about the foundations of the Christian faith. But since I was more confused reading from internet websites and their definitions and everything, I think it would be best to stick to the Word of God, the Bible.
But perhaps I ought to explain further on why I’m a bit confused. I remember my father spoke about the church in Apalan & Guesset. The Church he explained was taken from the Greek word “Kuriakos”, which means, “The Lord’s” whereas others would define church from the Greek word “ecclesia” (or actually originated from Latin), which means “called out ones.” Whereas, others say the word “ecclesia” cannot be interpreted as “church” but should be interpreted as “assembly” or “congregation.” Totally confusing indeed for one has to go back to the original languages from which the Bible or the Word of God was written, to really know which is which. But nevertheless I do not desire to confuse you. For whether the church, assembly or congregation word is used, I think how it is defined or what does the Word of God really says about it is much more important.
So many years have passed already, and I don’t think I could have an easy access on the original manuscript of the Bible, the Scripture, or the Word of God and even if I had an access, interpreting it would be very difficult. But having Faith on the Lord Jesus Christ and with faith on the teaching of the Holy Spirit and holding unto Christ’ promise in Matthew 24:35 that His word shall not pass away, we know, Christ is the Head of the church, and the church is the body of Christ (I Cor. 12). The church is not the building but the people who have the same Faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, and of whom the Holy Spirit indwells. We assemble ourselves and fellowship amongst ourselves to edify (build) and exhort one another (Heb. 10:25). And fulfill two ordinances taught by Christ, which is Water Baptism and the Lord’s Supper or Communion. But far more than these is the Great Commission given to us, which is to preach and teach the gospel of Christ, that men may repent and know Christ as the Only Way of Salvation (Matthew28:19-20).
The Book of Acts is a great book where we could find a great picture of what the church or assembly or congregation of Christians were before and what they were doing in the Name of Jesus Christ. And in those days were the days of the Roman Empire. Christians were oppressed, tried, ridiculed and mocked. The disciples put to death or hanged whereas believers were also tortured, burned and fed to lions for the sake of Christ. But these days? We rarely see that. In the Philippines, we are free to gather ourselves and worship our God and sing praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. The only problem though is that we are confused with so many tactics the enemy throws at us. Many teachings or philosophies of man have infiltrated the Christian Faith and beliefs that many are so deceived and confused to which is true. Even Christ Himself declared such things could happen, that even professing Christians could actually be false Christians (Matthew 7:21-23). And how do we know who are the true Christians? You know them by their fruit (Matthew 7:20)!
Christ declared Himself as Truth, as Life, and as the Way (John 14:6)! He is to be our Goal, our Price, therefore we ought to set our focus only on Him (Phil. 3:14). He is to be our Lord, our Master and Our Savior. Christ gives a definite answer, that those who does the will of the Father is an evidence of the true and genuine Christian (Matthew 7). Which even James explains further that “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). But take note, these verses doesn’t imply that in order to get saved means to do good works. It simply implies that a true Christian, who is saved by grace through faith, has a life which gives an evidence or proof of his faith. Your changed life is the evidence! And this is how you test and know who are truly Christians and even know the true Servants and Laborers of the Lord.
All these pictures what a church or congregation of Christ should be. The problem is “Are we doing what we are supposed to do as a church? Or, as a body of Christ?” I believe or most often, we Christians tend to forget our goal as a church. And so contented on the kind of church we are. The trend of professing Christians today is that they come to church, hoping to be blessed and receive God’s bountiful grace, mercy and love. Then, go home and do the usual life we live. Nay, that’s not the real reason why Christ died. He came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10) and gave to the church the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). Christ did not save Christians just to be blessed but also to be made to be by His side, against the enemy within a spiritual battle (Eph. 6:12). We are saved to make war against the kingdom of Satan (Matthew 16:18) and to bring people to the saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These are the reasons why the church exists and Christ’s promises and blessings will follow.
As the Day of the Lord draweth nigh, genuine Christians ought to wake up! As God’s Word and the Book of Revelations, little by little being fulfilled, Christians ought to watch, pray and do the will of the Father. There are so many groaning individuals out there, crying and desiring to know the Only Way, Jesus Christ and we are His messengers sent by Christ (John 20:21). And, the question remains, “What are we doing?"