From the first day, the church has been at variance with the world. It was meant to be that way. The Lord Jesus designed the church in such a way that it would operate in the physical world but will never become a part of the world system.
So there is nothing strange about Christians being distinct from the world around them. What is odd is the attempts to blend in and be like others to avoid criticism.
The church’s charter of existence is clear. It includes exclusionary clauses such as, ‘you are in the world, but not of the world’, ‘come out from among them and be separate’ and ‘do not conform to the world, but be transformed by the renewing your mind’.
The charter also contains clauses that reveal the church’s responsibility towards the world. It says, ‘You are the light of the world’, ‘You are the salt of the earth’. Without equivocation, the church is God’s kingdom on earth, the conduit through which Heaven is expressed on the earth.
However, the church’s reputation has taken so much hit in this digital age that its sanctity and relevance are being questioned in some climes.
While some of the accusations people bring up against the church are valid, others are based on a poor understanding of the church’s makeup in terms of its membership or billions of people who identify with it.
Here’s an attempt to sketch the membership of the church, at least from the perspective of a typical outsider.
In that point of view, the church is seen as a collective of every person who identifies as Christian and probably goes to church, even if it is once in a while.
Other broader definitions of people who are part of the church are people born to parents who identify as Christians and citizens of countries where Christianity is considered a national religion.
These definitions miss the mark because they are not centred on the core criteria, which is that a person needs to be born again and have a one-on-one relationship with Jesus and fellowship with others who are in a living connection with Jesus, to be a part of the church, the Body of Jesus.
However, the muddle-up view of the church is not new. We can see elements of it in the scriptures. It is necessary to identify which category an erring ‘Christian’ belongs to before castigating the church for his or her actions.
Here are the groups – the disciples, the multitude, and the impostors.
The Disciples – The mandate of the church is to make disciples. In a strict sense, this is the group that ideally should be referred to the church. The Lord intends that anyone who identifies with the church should become a disciple, indeed.
God is not against having a crowd come to church. God wants the multitude to come, but His goal is to turn every one of them into a disciple and then be able to send them out to represent Him.
A disciple is a person who has been discipled by a discipler. A discipler is a person who has been trained under God and has committed to training others.
Jesus trained His disciples. He called them to be with Him so He could train them. The apostles of the lamb were first disciples. They were trained.
A disciple in this context is essentially a follower of Christ, a person who lives by the teachings of Christ and moves by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Only a fraction of the people who gather at churches on Sundays and other days live like this.
To be a disciple of Christ is not easy, but the grace of God is available. Jesus said the world would persecute His disciples the way it persecuted Him. He said the basic requirement for a disciple is to deny him or herself daily, take up his or her cross, and follow Him.
Being a disciple entails living sacrificially every day. It entails loving other disciples whether you like their personality or not.
First John chapter 3 verse 16 says, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Loving the brethren to the extent of being willing to lay down one’s life is part of the requirements. So, help us, Lord.
We can’t exhaust what it entails to be a disciple here. However, it is important to note that the major difference between disciples and multitude is what they seek.
The disciples seek to be like Jesus. The multitude seeks to take from Jesus. That is a huge difference, and both can be found in every expression of the church.
The Multitude – Jesus once addressed the multitude in His earthly ministry and told them He knew they came for the food and the miracles.
One day, Jesus was teaching in a desert, and the disciples asked Him to send the multitude away so they could go and find food somewhere. Jesus answered the disciples and said He wouldn’t send the multitude away and asked the disciples to feed the multitude.
Jesus instructed His disciples to organise the multitude and make them sit in companies to create order. The role of the disciple is not to send the multitude away but to make them sit in order in a way that God can reach out to them.
Many are in the company of the multitude in the church today. They don’t want to take any responsibility in church or for their spiritual growth. They just want blessings, breakthroughs, healing, spouse, children, success in business, jobs, favour, etc.
They want to receive and never give. They want God to bless them and never want Him to tell them how to live their lives.
However, there is hope that the multitude can become disciples. If they keep coming, the Word of God can sip into their hearts and change them.
The Impostors – These are the worst kind. They are the charlatans that cause the majority of the problems for which the church is seen in a bad light.
They are neither disciples nor among the multitude. They are out to deceive and make merchandise of the gospel.
While disciples seek to be like Jesus, and the multitude seeks blessing from Jesus, these impostors seek to make a profit with the name of Jesus and His people. They pretend to be part of the church, but they are not. They are like cancer in the Body of Christ.
An example is Simon, the sorcerer, in Acts chapter 8, who wanted to buy the power of God so he could retail it. There are many of them in the church today. They act so well that sometimes it is difficult to spot them.
They live habitually in sin and defraud people while claiming to be servants of God.
May God deliver the church from these charlatans, and may the disciples of Jesus be one as He prayed. Blessings.
.Reverend Austin Ukporhe is the Senior Pastor at Remnant Christian Network, Lagos. Raised in Sokoto, northern Nigeria, he was trained in peculiar firebrand evangelism and was ordained as a pastor in 2001. He has experienced countless and diverse workings of the faithfulness of God over two decades and has developed a passion to see God’s will for Nigeria become a reality. He can be reached on +2348060255604.
