{"id":5548,"date":"2018-01-02T17:49:07","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T23:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5548"},"modified":"2018-01-02T17:49:07","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T23:49:07","slug":"forget-church-follow-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/02\/forget-church-follow-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget the Church – Follow Jesus?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Douglas Teague<\/strong>
\nThe cover of the April 9 edition of\u00a0Newsweek<\/i>\u00a0was emblazoned with the words \u201cForget the Church\u2013\u2013Follow Jesus.\u201d The article within, penned by Andrew Sullivan, was quickly posted to such sites as the\u00a0Huffington Post<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0The Daily Beast<\/i>. At the heart of the argument is the plea to reject organized religion (i.e. the church), while at the same time accepting Jesus as one\u2019s personal savior. The implication is that one can be saved separate and apart from the church. The Bible supports no such conclusion. You cannot separate Jesus from His church. Consider the following:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. You cannot separate Jesus from His church because\u00a0He shed His blood to purchase it<\/b>: \u201cTake heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood\u201d (Acts 20:28,\u00a0KJV). To contend the church is nonessential is to contend the blood of Jesus is nonessential (cf.<\/i>\u00a01 Peter 1:18-19; Ephesians 1:7).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. You cannot separate Jesus from His church because\u00a0the saved are added to it<\/b>. The New Testament church was \u201cpraising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved\u201d (Acts 2:47). Just as all the saved were in the ark in the days of Noah, even so today all the saved are in the church. This being true, it is foolish to contend that one can be saved apart from the church.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. You cannot separate Jesus from His church because\u00a0He is head of the church and Savior of the body<\/b>\u00a0(Ephesians 5:23). The body is the church (Colossians 1:18). Just as the physical head is connected to the physical body, so also the spiritual head (Christ) is inextricably linked to the spiritual body (the church).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. You cannot separate Jesus and His church because\u00a0they are bound together<\/b>. This is clearly evidenced in the narrative of Saul of Tarsus, who was \u201c…ravaging\u00a0the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison\u201d (Acts 8:3, ESV). When Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, His first words were, \u201c… Saul, Saul, why\u00a0persecutest\u00a0thou me?\u201d (Acts 9:4, KJV). He identified Himself to Saul by saying, \u201cI am Jesus whom thou\u00a0persecutest…\u201d (Acts 9:5, KJV). Such language could not clearer. Persecuting (and disparaging) the church is the equivalent of persecuting Jesus Himself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. You cannot separate Jesus from His church\u00a0because\u00a0we are reconciled to God by Christ<\/b>\u00a0<\/b>(2 Corinthians 5:18-20)\u00a0in the one body<\/b>\u00a0(Ephesians 4:4),\u00a0which is the church<\/b>\u00a0(Colossians 1:24). \u201cAnd that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby\u201d (Ephesians 2:16, KJV).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. You cannot separate Jesus from His church because\u00a0He promised to present it to Himself<\/b>. \u201cThat he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish\u201d (Ephesians 5:27, KJV; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:24).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. You cannot separate Jesus from His church because\u00a0God does not have children outside His family<\/b>. The church is the house (i.e. family) of God (1 Timothy 3:15). To become a member of God\u2019s family, one must be born into it (John 3:3-5). When one is born again, he is saved and added to God\u2019s family, the church (Acts 2:38,41,47). To teach a person can be a child of God but not a part of His family is to accuse God of spiritual adultery!\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It is true that horrible atrocities have been committed in the name of the church. Yet, the sins of humanity do not justify the rejection of the church of which Jesus is the Architect (Matthew 16:18-20). The church was in the eternal purpose of God (Ephesians 3:10-11). One cannot follow Jesus without being a part of the church He died to establish (Acts 20:28).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Douglas Teague The cover of the April 9 edition of\u00a0Newsweek\u00a0was emblazoned with the words \u201cForget the Church\u2013\u2013Follow Jesus.\u201d The article within, penned by Andrew Sullivan, was quickly posted to such sites as the\u00a0Huffington Post\u00a0and\u00a0The Daily Beast. At the heart of the argument is the plea to reject organized religion (i.e. the church), while at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[465,49,1224,1051,706,1215],"class_list":["post-5548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-think-excerpts","tag-attendance","tag-church","tag-douglas-teague","tag-feature","tag-membership","tag-october-2012","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nForget the Church - Follow Jesus? - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/02\/forget-church-follow-jesus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forget the Church - Follow Jesus? - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Douglas Teague The cover of the April 9 edition of\u00a0Newsweek\u00a0was emblazoned with the words \u201cForget the Church\u2013\u2013Follow Jesus.\u201d The article within, penned by Andrew Sullivan, was quickly posted to such sites as the\u00a0Huffington Post\u00a0and\u00a0The Daily Beast. 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