Celebrate life-giving presence
Simon Peter answered, ‘‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’’
Jesus replied, ‘‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in Heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.’’ Matthew 16:16-18 NIV
Dear friends,
This coming Sunday we will celebrate the Day of Pentecost.
On that first Day of Pentecost the Scriptures record that about 300 people were added to the number of believers in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
It marked the beginning or birth of the Church.
On Pentecost Sunday we will again celebrate the continuing life-giving presence of God’s Spirit within the Church and in the lives of all of God’s children.
When Peter made his confession that he believed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah (or Christ), the Son of the Living God, Jesus announced that He would build upon that confession a community of believers.
This community of faith would be called His Church.
The New Testament assumes that people who are believers are connected to a local Church where they live out their faith.
Independent Christianity is not found in the pages of Scripture.
Believers need to be connected to a local Church.
The Church is not man’s invention, but God’s.
It was God who called it into being.
So, what is the Church?
How should we define it?
One definition that I particularly like is this – the Church is composed of people redeemed by the Son of God, brought together by the will of God to live together as the Family of God, in order to do the work of God in the power of the Spirit of God, all for the Glory of God.
For believers the Church is a fundamental and foundational way of life.
The Church is the Community of God in which we are placed for our own good and His Glory.
All believers are members of the family of God.
While we can choose our friends, we don’t get to choose our family members.
However, family members are bound together with something much stronger than friendship.
We are bound together by blood, in our case the blood of Christ.
He died that we might live. He rose that we might have eternal life.
By His blood He brought us into God’s family.
My prayer is that you will find your place within God’s family by giving your life to Jesus Christ and connecting with a local Church.
—Rev Iain Nixon Kyabram and Cooma Evangelical Uniting Churches