The Essence of Church

The Essence of Church by Randolph Jason for Gospel News Network

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” ~James 5:16 NKJB

Why do we meet on Sunday mornings? What is the purpose of this gathering? Is it to celebrate, worship and glorify Jesus Christ? Is it time so that we may confess of sins, building a Christian community and helping one another grow deeper in our faith?

What if it were all these things and a whole lot more? What if people actually went to the altar for an altar call? What if people confessed their sins in the middle of service, what would happen? Isn’t this what is suppose to happen?

We don’t see this happen much, if at all, in the buildings called churches today. We hear of AA meetings, where people gather, discuss their sins, confess their sins to God and one to another, but we don’t really see or hear this in the buildings called church. Why is that? Why has the church, the community, handed off the very essence of the reason for gathering in His name, why has this been handed off to the secular community in rehab, AA and other organizations of this type? Could this be one of the reasons the buildings called church are closing across America instead of flourishing?

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. ~1 John:5-7 NKJB

Is it not impossible to walk in His Light when we have not confessed our sins to Him and one to another?

The beginning of our relationship with Jesus Christ is admitting we need Him before anything or anyone else. It’s very simple

We admitted we were powerless over sin, that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves, the Power of Jesus Christ, could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

When turning our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him does not mean that we can make up our own individual version of god. It means we come before God with our broken idea of Jesus Christ, with whatever understanding of the Gospel we have – faith no larger than a mustard seed – is more than enough to open the door. But we are talking about Jesus Christ and not some other god. It all starts with admitting we are powerless over sin and Jesus Christ is the only Way to find peace, to find rest and to find sanity in our lives.

When do we begin doing this in the buildings called church with the body of the saved gathered in these buildings?

With our selfie-society today if people began going before the body of the saved would their false pride lead the way and instead of true confession of sins would this warp into a badge of honor, more about themselves than about how Jesus Christ was another in the fire and walked them back to shore. Would it even matter if this happened? Wouldn’t their false pride come to the surface soon after and expose them? Doesn’t the Way, the Truth and the Life alway prevail? We needn’t be concerned with this aspect, we just need to be there for them when the Holy Spirit grabs them, walks them in front of the body of the saved and begins confessing their sins before God and one to another.