EKKLESIA - We are the Light
“Ekklesia” – the original word used to identify the early church – meaning “assembly” or “gathering” OR more powerfully “the called out ones”. This beautiful descriptor aligns with the whole of the New Testament, denoting that we are meant to be a people who are counter-cultural, new and no longer defined by our old sinful selves/patterns, a people whose identity no longer lies in self but in Jesus!
These men and women were a “rebellious” group, living with radical commitment to a man who claimed to be the Way, the Truth and the Life; claimed to be one with the Father and yes, claimed to be God’s Son, the Messiah (see all of John 10)!
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 (NIV)
We ARE a people set-apart! We are the called ones! We are a people called to be the light of a city on a hill. Our identity in this should be crystal clear and blazing for all the world to see; not a fuzzy glimpse or a shadow.
And you, beloved, are the light of the world. A city built on a hilltop cannot be hidden. 15 Similarly it would be silly to light a lamp and then hide it under a bowl. When someone lights a lamp, she puts it on a table or a desk or a chair, and the light illumines the entire house. 16 You are like that illuminating light. Let your light shine everywhere you go, that you may illumine creation, so men and women everywhere may see your good actions, may see creation at its fullest, may see your devotion to Me, and may turn and praise your Father in heaven because of it. Matthew 5:14-16 (VOICE)
We are meant to be world-changers, ambassadors, a voice that pours out His hope and love and light to a lost and broken world.
Pray that we, the Bride, would come into alignment with His heart for the Church.
As we enter into a year of elections, the past tendency ushers in (in our culture AND in the Church) a season of division, of fiery/passionate arguments that build walls…
How is it possible, in this light, to be a people that are seeking the Lord’s face, and the Lord’s face alone? The present discourse today highlights the battle at hand. We ARE a people divided. And yet, Jesus prayed that we would specifically be a people who were/are ONE.
While I return to you.
Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life
That you conferred as a gift through me,
So they can be one heart and mind
As we are one heart and mind. John 17:11 (MSG)
I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. Matthew 17:11 (NASB)
Holy Father, I am about to leave this world
to return and be with you,
but my disciples will remain here.
So I ask that by the power of your name,
protect each one that you have given me,
and watch over them so that they will be united
as one, even as we are one. Matthew 17:11 (TPT)
As New Testament scholar Merrill Tenney wrote, “The unity mentioned here is not simply a unity achieved by legislation. It is a unity of nature because it is comparable to that of the Son and the Father. The unity of the Church must spring from the common life that is imparted to all believers by the new birth; and it is manifested in their common love for Christ and for one another as they face a hostile world. The unity of the Son and the Father was manifested in the deep love that each sustained for the other and by the perfect obedience of the Son to the Father and the perfect response of the Father to the Son.” (The Gospel of John, Merrill C. Tenney, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Zondervan Publishing, 1981, p.164).
Jesus went on to pray:
I do not pray for these alone [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for [all] those who [will ever] believe and trust in Me through their message, 21 that they all may be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe [without any doubt] that You sent Me. I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected and completed into one, so that the world may know [without any doubt] that You sent Me, and [that You] have loved them, just as You have loved Me. John 17:20-23 (AMP)
Max Lucado articulates about this kind of unity simply:
“Of all the lessons we can draw from this verse, don’t miss the most important: unity matters to God. Why? Because “all people will know that you are my followers if you love each other” (John 13:35 NCV). Unity creates belief. How will the world believe that Jesus was sent by God? Not if we agree with each other. Not if we solve every controversy. Not if we are unanimous on each vote. Not if we never make a doctrinal error. But if we love one another.
“Unity creates belief. Disunity fosters disbelief. Who wants to board a ship of bickering sailors? Paul Billheimer may very well be right when he says: “The continuous and widespread fragmentation of the Church has been the scandal of the ages. It has been Satan’s master strategy. The sin of disunity probably has caused more souls to be lost than all other sins combined.” “
I am grateful for a season of stepping into 2020 and praying specifically for the ripples of unity in the Church – for the Bride to find, again, that central place to unite. His name is Jesus – the all-sufficient sacrifice for all of mankind!
