God's Word Presented for God's Glory

When we define who God’s children are apart from the scriptures, we are attempting to either define God from our own perspective, or redefine Him in our image. God will not allow either.

There have long been two kinds of adults who call themselves “Christians”. One group is composed of genuine believers in the person and power of Jesus Christ. A different group of apparent believers are what we might reasonably describe as “Churchians”, or people who are church-focused rather than God focused. At best these people are well meaning and worship alongside Christians, but tend to be more interested in the social benefits of being in the church. At worst, these people are leaders in the visible church and often do great harm to the Christian faith.

To identify who God defines as true believers in Him, we should carefully consider the Lord’s thoughts on this matter, which he communicated to his disciple on the evening of the day before his trial and crucifixion. These can be found in the Gospel of John, chapter 17.

John 17:6-26 (ESV)

6 I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

(The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 17:6–26)

By my count, John 17 contains 48 direct references to the people of God in just 20 verses. It defines all of those people who either have been, or will be called by grace to become part of the eternal family that has God as its head, Jesus Christ as its savior and the Holy Spirit as its enabler.

3) What is our relationship to God?

Dependence upon God is the hallmark of authentic Christianity. This is clearly evidenced by the concerns of the Lord Jesus Christ on the eve of His trial and crucifixion, as noted above. They relate to His relationship with God, and the completion of His service for Him. They were also focused on the people who God has called to Himself.

The emphasis on God’s relationship to His people are self-evident throughout the whole of the Old Testament, and often occur at times when His people have become distracted from putting Him first in their lives. Likewise, the emphasis on the Lord Jesus’ relation to His people are self-evident throughout the whole of the New Testament.

Consider the following passage:

Isaiah 55:1-3 (NKJV) "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David.

John 6:44-48 (NKJV) No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.

Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV) Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

John 15:4-8 (NKJV) Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Revelation 3:18-20 (NKJV) I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

1 Corinthians 12:12 (NKJV) For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

Romans 8:9-13 (NKJV) But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Come unto me, … and I will give you rest. Is that the central message of our lives? Is it the central message that we hear at church? It should be. It is the central message of the Bible written in different ways at different times, but God has created us to put Him first. Anything less than that is a deviation from His plan, but it will not remain so forever. All of God’s people are destined to spend eternity singing the praises of the God who is finally recognized as first in their new lives.

Putting God first is not primarily an act of self will. It is the natural reaction to a recognition of who God is and what He desires to do in us, for us and with us. When it is manifested in an attitude of love, trust and obedience, it is God’s work that is being reflected back towards Himself.

Our primary task after we have been first drawn to Jesus by His grace, is to walk nearer to Him in our daily lives. Some Christian hymns refer to this, such as “Nearer to thee My God”, Jesus refers to this increasing nearness in many ways including “abiding in Him” (John 15), producing fruit by being a part of His vine (John 15) etc.

It is an attitude that is caught, rather than taught, but there are some Pastors whom God has gifted with an ability to communicate God’s character from God’s word. One such man was Pastor Howard F. Sugden, who when I knew him was an old and increasingly frail man to whom God had gifted with an ability to inform people’s hearts and minds about their creator. After hearing his sermons, I frequently remember thinking “that is the God who I wish to serve”. That is why this website contains sermons from him that his wife placed in the Public Domain after his passing.

4) What is the church global?

The Church as a whole is the collection of all of God’s children, saved by grace in the past, present and future. It is defined in John 17 as demonstrated above. The truth that the Lord spoke about during his last days on earth are key truths that we should live by. For example, “Apart from me, you can do nothing”.

There is often a foundational difference between HIS church as defined in John 17, and our church as defined in OUR particular denomination. This should never be. HE has died for us, not we for Him. HE decides who is a part of HIS church and who may participate in the LORD’s supper, or anything else that we do collectively to worship HIM. Whenever we subdivide the Lord’s people, we are effectively enhancing ourselves and our organizations rather than the Lord.

5) What is the church local?

The American church is the collection of all of God’s children who live in America. Likewise, the church in any particular city is the collection of believers who live in that city. It is defined in practical rather than theological ways in almost all of Paul’s addresses to believers living in the locations that he addressed in the Scriptures. The following examples illustrate that.

Col 1:2 (ESV)

To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Roman 1:7 (ESV)

including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

1 Cor 1:2 (ESV)

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

2 Cor 1:1b (ESV)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

Eph 1:1 (ESV)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

Phil 1:1 (ESV)

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

1 Thess 1:1 (ESV)

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

1 Pet 1:1a (ESV)

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

2 Pet 1:1 (ESV)

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

Jude v1 (ESV)

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

6) What are denominations

Denominations tend to be groups of Christian believers which have been formed to differentiate themselves from another denomination which they think has erred from the clear teaching of the Bible. The intent is not necessarily wrong, but the consequences often are.

The Christian church has for too long contented itself with partial reformations that deal with a portion of the doctrinal deviation from the scriptures and which have created a multitude of Christian Denominations. The reformation of the 16th century was initiated by men like Martin Luther and was a great retrieval of some sound doctrines and practices that had been ignored by the church of its day, but it was an incomplete reformation. It did not adequately deal with Baptism or “State Church” issues and indeed opposed reformations in those areas. No church reformation is complete until it replaces human hierarchies with the only Hierarchy that the Bible teaches, which is God in His three persons first, then all called and redeemed believers second. Nothing in-between. That is the dominant reality emphasized by the Lord Jesus Christ during His final days of His earthly life, as encapsulated by the seventeenth chapter of John’s gospel.

Emphasizing a denomination always comes at the cost of deemphasizing God. So often it replaces the conscious and spontaneous worship of God with a somewhat dry format that conforms to the letter of a system more than a love for God. It also separates believers into categories that sometimes serves the needs of power seeking individuals more the purposes of God, and which will likely become more harmful as we see the day of the Lord approaching, with its consequent animosity of the world against believers.

Whole hearted God-centeredness is the only “denomination” that God recognizes, and our task, especially during worship should be to make that both our individual and corporate aim. We should always remember that being a member of God’s family by grace is such a significant honor, with such high expectations, that we should not be focused on any particular person or church denomination.

7) What is hierarchicalism?

Denominations also tend to be synonymous with church hierarchies, which always detract from God-centeredness. They often take the form of granting some intermediaries with supposed special powers which are indispensable for believers to live blessed and Godly lives. God does indeed grant some with special abilities, but they must always remain God-centered abilities, rather than their self-centered counterparts.

God is only first if He has no opposition, and the greatest form of opposition to God has always come in the form of alternate hierarchical structures, which is precisely what dark forces have been angling towards for millennia. There is only one form of hierarchy found in the New Testament. It has God in three persons at the top, and every believer at the bottom, with no human being, or collection of human beings in between. We all need to learn how to sing “peculiar honors to our king”, or “only believe and thou shalt see, that Christ is all and all to thee”.

Yes, there is a need for order in the church as emphasized by Paul’s letter to the churches of His day, but it is a limited order which is called to maintain the sound doctrine found in the scriptures, not in particular creeds or church service formats, and absolutely not in elevating any human being or hierarchy of human beings to the point of being necessary, intermediate dispensers of God’s grace. God will not tolerate such distractions from His glory in heaven, and will not long tolerate it on earth either. The Old Testament is abundantly replete with that lesson, and God has shown no inclination to change His perspective since then. It is our perspective that must change.

8) What distracts us from God?