THE CHURCH
(SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED)
Sept 13, 1998 pm
MF Blume
Note the PLURAL terms.. grouping.-
Hebr 10:19-25 Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living
way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh; And [having] an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold
fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful
that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to
good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner
of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see
the day approaching.
Hebr 12:22-23 But ye are come unto
mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and
to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of
the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and
to the spirits of just men made perfect,
DEFINITION OF "ASSEMBLE" : 1. To come or bring together; collect or congregate.
2. To fit or jon together, as the parts of a mechanism.
"ASSEMBLY": 1. The act of assembling,
or the state of being assembled. 2. A number of persons met for a commmon
purpose. 3. The act or process of fitting together the parts of a machine,etc.;
also, the parts themselves.
- Many times I have purchased
a product that was advertised with the words "(Some assembly required)."
- I knew that it would come
in pieces.
- And I would have to "assemble"
those pieces together.
- In fact, it had a list
of all the ASSEMBLY pieces, and often urged me in the instruction manual
to ensure each piece was present, otherwise the product would not work.
The Church is called an ASSEMBLY.
- And we read that we are
not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
- THE CHURCH -- SOME ASSEMBLY
REQUIRED
The People are the Church.
- Not the building.
- We each have a particular
position in the Church, and as part of the ASSEMBLY must each fit ourselves
together.
- And the whole Church must
be complete.
- When one part is missing,
the BODY will not function adequately.
Notice all the PLURAL terms used
in our opening text of Hebrews 10.
- We as a group draw near
to God.
- A way is consecrated for
US.
- We must hold fast to the
faith.
- We must consider one another.
- And.. We must nor
forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
There is a spirit in the world
that is gripping the christian world with an emphasis on individuality.
- It appears so good and virtuous,
but yet it is inherently evil.
- It stresses "self," and
"you" and "me".
- It is devoid of any stress
upon the vital truth of the BODY and ASSEMBLY of the Body.
Unless we see the overall scope
of a BODY that God is working with, we will miss our PLACEMENT in that ASSEMBLY
and will not be ASSEMBLED that glorious day of Resurrection.
The TEMPLE
1Kin 6:7 And the house, when it
was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither:
so that there was neither hammer nor axe [nor] any tool of iron heard in
the house, while it was in building.
It was an assembly that fit together
perfectly when the pieces were shaped and formed outside the city.
1Kin 5:18 And Solomon's builders
and Hiram's builders did hew [them], and the stonesquarers: so they prepared
timber and stones to build the house.
These stones were ASSEMBLED in
the City.
- All work had to be done
before the day came to begin assembly.
We preached about the understanding
that as the woman was CONSTRUCTED from a rib taken from Adam's side, and then
she was reunited with Adam when ADAM KNEW HER, so is the Church being BUILT
by Jesus Christ.
Upon this rock I will BUILD my
church.
- And we are the temple of
the Spirit.
- Like the TEMPLE, we are
lively stones that are being shaped and constructed presently.
- We assemble together.
I can imagine a construction
engineer working on several pieces of assembly outside the city.
- He must bring the pieces
together while still outside and compare their relationship to one another
so he can see how perfectly they fit together.
- If any shape is out so
that the stones do not fit, while being assembled temporarily, he must order
more chiseling and shaping upon certain places of the stones.
- Then the great Assembly
would occur when all pieces were completed.
- AND they would ASSEMBLE
ONE MORE TIME FOR GOOD as the structure intended.
THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT CHURCH
IS ALL ABOUT.
Hebr 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also,
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the
gate.
Jesus suffered on the cross OUTSIDE
THE CITY GATE.
- And we were extracted from
the QUARRY of Christ's side.
- And we are shaped there,
at the cross, and formed.
- We are to assemble together
so that the CARPENTER may work on us spiritually.
- Each soul is being formed
and conformed in its particular needed shape so that as one great Body we
are the IMAGE OF JESUS CHRIST.
- We are being CONFORMED
to the image of Jesus Christ.
- We are a City that is unassembled
made of many lively stones, and being shaped.
- And the Word like a chisel,
works upon us here in this area of our lives.
- And this chiseling occurs
each time we are assembled because the overall fitting together is in the
Carpenter's mind.
- We must all be together
in order for us to be made to fit together.
- God has a shape for me
to fit in with this body.
- A function unique as to
my calling.
- NEW SOULS
John 6:44 No man can come to me,
except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at
the last day.
And while we are at work, at
the same time, new souls are drawn by the Father to the Carpenter, the Son.
- And they might not realize
it, but before time began, God saw that they would make the choice to serve
God that they are making when they come and give their lives to God at the
ASSEMBLY.
- He planned for pieces to
fit in certain positions before the foundation of the world.
- And they join the experience
of being chiseled and shaped.
- And we continue to experience
this everytime we assemble together.
- Life's circumstances chisel
us to the kind of person we need to be.
- The first and foremost
thought in God's mind is a BRIDE CHURCH.
- He looked upon Adam and
building a Bride for Adam from Adam's rib above all else in the world, for
Adam was His image.
- And the goal of having
Adam multiply by reuniting with the missing part that was formed into a woman,
required that reunion and that moment when Adam would know Eve.
- And so the CHURCH being
shaped for the Lord Jesus Christ, is to reunite with Jesus after having been
shaped and formed by God's hand.
- And Paul said that our
vile bodies shall be changed as the last shaping before we KNOW HIM, as Paul
so craved to be part of the BODY or CHURCH that would resurrect from the
dead.
- We will unite with Jesus
Christ at the marriage we read about in Revelation Chapter 19.
Reve 19:7-9 Let us be glad and rejoice,
and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife
hath made herself ready. Reve 19:8 And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the
righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed [are] they
which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto
me, These are the true sayings of God.
If you are called to this wedding
feast, that means you have been properly shaped and already to fit into place
by the time the wedding day arrived... of which wedding day no one knows the
appointed moment.
Matt 25:6-9 And at midnight there
was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then
all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto
the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise
answered, saying, [Not so]; lest there be not enough for us and you: but
go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
The construction team assembles
and assembles thos epieces temporarily in order to shape and reshape the pieces
until they are perfectly shaped to fit one another.
- And then they are assembled
at the appointed day for one final assembly in the city where they shall stay
forever as the temple.
We may be in the Church, but
we are not in the bride yet, for the espoused wife is not a Bride until she
is married. on her wedding day.
God is preparing the Last Adam
the product of a Bride... A church.
- But there is some assembly
required.
Jesus said TAKE UP YOUR CROSS
AND DENY YOURSELVES AND FOLLOW ME.
- It is the message cross
of self denial and comprehending that the overall GOAL of assembling together
one final time forever that is the tool used to shape us.
- It is the message that,
whatever it takes, let it be, so that when the day for the final assembly
comes, I will have been properly and adequatelty shaped and ready for REUNION,
that is the tool.
- It is the message of denying
myself and getting my attention and desire on being in THAT BRIDE.
And while this occurs, the serpent
is working.
- Between the time the Rib
was removed from Adam's side as He slept (Gen. Ch. 2), and the time Adam and
Eve reuinted as Adam knew Eve, and they became one flesh once again (Gen Ch.
4), Gen Ch. 3 shows the serpent attacking the soon-to-be-Bride.
- He is trying to get her
to forget about her and her husband, Adam, and simply concentrate upon herself.
- We have been taken out
of Christ and are presently being constructed.
- We are between Ch 2 and
Ch 3.
- And the devil would like
to get us to forsake God's overall will and our part in a BODY and the need
to fit together, and concentrate instead upon our individuality and what might
distinguish us apart from the whole.
Paul said that while he was hoping
for the resurrection day, the wedding day, and while he continued to look
at things that distinguish him apart from the Lord, and rejected those things
so that he may win Christ instead of self-importance....
- ...there were some who walked
a particular way...
Phil 3:18-19 (For many walk, of whom
I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, [that they are] the
enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end [is] destruction, whose God [is
their] belly, and [whose] glory [is] in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
These people have been duped
by the serpent in the exact same manner Eve was duped.
- They were redirected to
concentrate upon SELF rather than the forming of the BODY to fit together.
- They forgot all about their
required RELATIONSHIP to fit with everyone else in the church.
- And they concentrated upon
themselves.
I have heard people say, "Yes
I understand we must prefer other above ourselves, and love one another, BUT
WHAT ABOUT ME for a change?"
- Please know that if we seek
the overall KINGDOM, the CHURCH DESTINY, rather than our personal needs, God
said that all these things will be added unto us.
- We will have our needs
met.
- We must make sure we conentrate
upon our part in the Kingdom and God will take the responsibility of meeting
our personal needs.
They begin to forsake the assembling
together simply because they totally become ignorant that God requires us
to come together and be fitted together.
- He is looking at the entire
group and requiring us to assemble and be shaped TOGETHER for that great day
of the final assembly.
- I want to be shaped.
But self-centredness and lack
of BODY consciousness will move me to work towards the end that I AM DISTINGUISHED
- I will use church to exalt
myself.
- And when that does not
occur, Church will not be my priority.
- Self does not require assembling
with others, for that causes us to LOSE distinction.
Before we read about Paul's desire
to be PART OF THE BRIDE and KNOW HIM, we read him say in Phil. 2.
Phil 2:1-4 If [there be] therefore
any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye
be likeminded, having the same love, [being] of one
accord, of one mind. [Let] nothing [be done] through
strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of others.
Phil 2:21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
Paul said these people who are
self-oriented have a certain end of destruction.
- And just before we read
of the WEDDING DAY and the Bride who has made herself ready, we read of the
following.
Revelation 12 shows a woman clothed
in sunlight white.
- But another woman is seen
in Revelation 17, and John had to be in the Spirit to see her.
- You cannot simply see this
woman in the world unless God shows you in the Spirit.
Reve 17:3 So he carried me away
in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured
beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
She was spiritually in a wilderness.
- Not actually, but as God
looked at her, she was not in any pleasant land.
- She was in a desolate land
as far as God was concerned.
- And when John was in the
Spirit, he saw how God saw her.
Reve 17:5 And upon her forehead
[was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
She was not a BRIDE, but was
involved in the same experience a Bride is involved with, relationship with
a Groom, but she was involved with MANY and was therefore called a HARLOT.
- God's Church will be a bride.
- But Satan's people are
a HARLOT.
The difference is that she is
not committed to one, but lusts with many.
- This is due to her self
centredness.
- She cares not for commitment
to others.
- She lives for what she
can enjoy.
- She is a harlot.
But John had to be in the Spirit
to see this.
- You may look at what John
might see today in the Spirit and think it is the most beautiful religious
gathering on earth.
- Look at the expensive houses
of worship and the fancy services and rituals.
- But in the Spirit God sees
it all as jewlery on a harlot, intended to attract attention to herself rather
than praise God.
Reve 18:1-2 And after these things
I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth
was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong
voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the
habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every
unclean and hateful bird.
Reve 18:7-8 How much she hath glorified
herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for
she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no
sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning,
and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the
Lord God who judgeth her.
SELF, SELF, SELF
- No concern over the GROOM,
Jesus Christ.
And in Revelation 19, you do
not read about the Bride until you first read about the destruction, Paul
spoke about in Phil 3, of the Harlot Church.
Reve 19:1-5 And after these things
I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation,
and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous
[are] his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt
the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants
at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever
and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and
worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice
came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye
that fear him, both small and great.
Paul spoke of the self-centred
ones.
- Satan tried to get the woman,
the bride to be, to look at herself and thereby forget all about God's will
for her, for His will involves her as PART, not as centre.
Its not isolation, but ASSEMBLING
TOGETHER.
1Cor 15:51-52 Behold, I shew you a
mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
We shall ALL be changed in a
single moment TOGETHER.
Watch out for subtle detours
to get you to stress SELF rather than God.
- It is not, "WHAT CAN I DO
FOR GOD?"
- But it is "WHAT DOES GOD
WILL FOR ME?"
God removed the harlot that took
attention to herself.
- The "church" that held inquisitions
in centuries past, drunk with blood of saints of God.
- And no matter what denomination
a person atends, if one is simply there and will not truly and inwardly give
their lives to God, they are part of the harlot.
- Somebody hearing me tonight
who has no intentions of ASSEMBLING in the working Body here, who came just
to OBSERVE, is part of the HARLOT.
- SELF is the main goal.
- For if Christ is not Lord,
then SELF MUST BE.
Paul said that if something is
gain to me, I count it but dung, for it detracts from Christ and makes me
lose focus of the resurrection of the CHURCH to come.
John was told to tell people
to come out of this Harlot before she is judged.
- We must come out of self-centredness.
- Come out of a church attendance
whose purpose is to simply appear good and try our best, and is void of the
TRUE PURPOSE... to fit in and assemble for fitting amongst each other.
- To grow in the Spirit,
and not simply sit and watch others assemble.
- Some come to simply watch
others assemble in the hands of God, for they do not realize that they themselves
are to understand that they must be part of God's Product, the Church...
- ...SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.