We need to always be checking if what is being taught is of God, or is false.
For God allows false teachers to be in the church to test us to see if we will obey God or follow men. See Matthew 7:15-29
I have written a chapter in my book "Friends With God" on this subject of discerning who are the church. Following is the fist section.
The Role Of The Church
How we learn to love God and other people comes from what we are taught about God by a preacher: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" (Rom 10:13-15)
God established the church in order to preach the glad tidings of good things to those whom he has called. And he calls us through preachers whom he sends. While God is developing a personal relationship with us, and can obviously call us individually without a preacher, this is very rare. Moses and Abraham are two examples where no other person seems to have been involved with their calling. Yet, God wants us to learn to relate to others in love, in order to express our love toward God. (1John 4:20-21) The role of the church is therefore critical in how we relate to God’s developing his mind in us. (Eph 4:13, 1Cor 2:16)
The New Testament is the story of the establishment of the group of believers known as the church, which is translated from the Greek word ekklēsia, meaning “called out ones”. Jesus said he would build his group of called out ones. (Matt 16:18) And we are told that Jesus is the head of the church, and that the church is his body, analogous to being his wife. (Eph 5:22-30, Col 1:18-24) It’s obviously, therefore, meant to be a very intimate relationship between the church and Jesus. The depth of this relationship is very similar to the analogy of our “drinking his blood and eating his flesh”, previously discussed. Despite this relationship, God has also allowed many false teachers to exist both within and outside the Church. These people will attempt to lead you astray to take your money. Such liars are there to test you, to see if you will only follow Christ, or will be willing to follow them. (Matt 7:15-23, Matt 24:11, Matt 24:23-25, Mark 13:21-24, Acts 13:6)
The role of the church is therefore more complex than just teaching us about God. We are taught to have a personal relationship with God by preachers who bring glad tidings of good things. As we develop this relationship with God, he then tests us by allowing false teachers to attempt to lead us astray. So, while we must learn to rely upon God rather than men, it’s through men that we learn what relying on God means! Even true teachers can sometimes be wrong, as is shown when Paul corrected Peter for his hypocrisy. (Gal 2:14) So, God expects us to learn his truth through other men teaching us, but at the same time, we should not actually trust men to always teach us the truth. The only way to find truth is to trust God through our direct friendship with him.
Baptism and the laying on of hands is a critical aspect and is part of the duty of the Church, without which we could not understand God (Rom 8:9, 1Cor 2:14)
While God calls us individually, he does not want us to be alone.
Where two or more are gathered in my name I am in the midst. This is talking about a group, be it ever so small.
We do have need of other people, although we rely upon God to guide us, how we respond to others is how God determines if we love him or not. (Matt 25:31-36)
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (Mat 25:40)
We therefore are expected to be in a group of believers, who are the brothers of Christ.
The ideal is to be in a group of people whom God has called, and whom we can all learn from, and discuss things with:
Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. (Mal 3:16-17)
As far as Jesus being a saviour, the scripture seems clear: And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Mat 1:21) The Hebrew for Jesus is God our Saviour, which is also supported by Luke 1:31-32.
How he saves us is the big question.
We are to repent of our sins, and be baptised and follow his example by the power of the Holy Spirit guiding us. That is about it as far as I read scripture, but it is a bit more complex, as people have put a lot of interpretation onto the word of God.
Good question.
We need to always be checking if what is being taught is of God, or is false.
For God allows false teachers to be in the church to test us to see if we will obey God or follow men. See Matthew 7:15-29
I have written a chapter in my book "Friends With God" on this subject of discerning who are the church. Following is the fist section.
The Role Of The Church
How we learn to love God and other people comes from what we are taught about God by a preacher: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" (Rom 10:13-15)
God established the church in order to preach the glad tidings of good things to those whom he has called. And he calls us through preachers whom he sends. While God is developing a personal relationship with us, and can obviously call us individually without a preacher, this is very rare. Moses and Abraham are two examples where no other person seems to have been involved with their calling. Yet, God wants us to learn to relate to others in love, in order to express our love toward God. (1John 4:20-21) The role of the church is therefore critical in how we relate to God’s developing his mind in us. (Eph 4:13, 1Cor 2:16)
The New Testament is the story of the establishment of the group of believers known as the church, which is translated from the Greek word ekklēsia, meaning “called out ones”. Jesus said he would build his group of called out ones. (Matt 16:18) And we are told that Jesus is the head of the church, and that the church is his body, analogous to being his wife. (Eph 5:22-30, Col 1:18-24) It’s obviously, therefore, meant to be a very intimate relationship between the church and Jesus. The depth of this relationship is very similar to the analogy of our “drinking his blood and eating his flesh”, previously discussed. Despite this relationship, God has also allowed many false teachers to exist both within and outside the Church. These people will attempt to lead you astray to take your money. Such liars are there to test you, to see if you will only follow Christ, or will be willing to follow them. (Matt 7:15-23, Matt 24:11, Matt 24:23-25, Mark 13:21-24, Acts 13:6)
The role of the church is therefore more complex than just teaching us about God. We are taught to have a personal relationship with God by preachers who bring glad tidings of good things. As we develop this relationship with God, he then tests us by allowing false teachers to attempt to lead us astray. So, while we must learn to rely upon God rather than men, it’s through men that we learn what relying on God means! Even true teachers can sometimes be wrong, as is shown when Paul corrected Peter for his hypocrisy. (Gal 2:14) So, God expects us to learn his truth through other men teaching us, but at the same time, we should not actually trust men to always teach us the truth. The only way to find truth is to trust God through our direct friendship with him.
We must be reliant upon God, but God uses men to teach us his truth, we must then test what they area teaching against God's Word.
Baptism and the laying on of hands is a critical aspect and is part of the duty of the Church, without which we could not understand God (Rom 8:9, 1Cor 2:14)
While God calls us individually, he does not want us to be alone.
Where two or more are gathered in my name I am in the midst. This is talking about a group, be it ever so small.
We do have need of other people, although we rely upon God to guide us, how we respond to others is how God determines if we love him or not. (Matt 25:31-36)
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (Mat 25:40)
We therefore are expected to be in a group of believers, who are the brothers of Christ.
The ideal is to be in a group of people whom God has called, and whom we can all learn from, and discuss things with:
Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. (Mal 3:16-17)
As far as Jesus being a saviour, the scripture seems clear: And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Mat 1:21) The Hebrew for Jesus is God our Saviour, which is also supported by Luke 1:31-32.
How he saves us is the big question.
We are to repent of our sins, and be baptised and follow his example by the power of the Holy Spirit guiding us. That is about it as far as I read scripture, but it is a bit more complex, as people have put a lot of interpretation onto the word of God.
Excellent discussion, Martin. You're right. There are a lot of scammers out there.
My practice is to only give to/through our local church and to specific missionaries that we have known and trusted for a long time.
A sound local church will provide a monthly financial statement to account for where $ goes.
Looking forward to further articles in this series.
thanks Cork
It's interesting that one rarely hears these specific scriptures mentioned isn't it?