Christocecentric meal Treating The Church With Honor Part 3
CHRISTOCENTRIC MEAL*
*DR ABEL DAMINA*
*WEDNESDAY , DECEMBER 18, 2024*
*TREATING THE CHURCH WITH HONOUR – 3*
*Honour is to treat as different from others. It means to handle in a very respectful and reverential way.*
The Christian must know things that are regarded as sacred in his faith. He must recognize people who MUST be regarded and honoured in our lives.
• Our Leaders- Ministers. They must be treated with honour. It’s not about the personalities. It’s about the Office they occupy. Their work must be seen as the platform for honour and respect.
• Our Brethren- Fellow believers must be regarded as sacred. We must show it everywhere Mostly amongst the unsaved. I must treat fellow Christians with respect and reverence.
Moreover, I must treat the Church itself as sacred. By the Church, I refer to the gatherings. The assembly. The Meetings. The activities. The events.
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
This is the Church assembly. When we gather in His name. In His authority. For His sake. HE IS THERE!
Hence the explanations of the epistles
1st Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
This refers to the assembly. It has replaced the Temple of buildings. We are collectively the Temple of God. We are God’s habitation. We perform this function when we assemble together. We ought to know our gathering is not casual. It’s not flimsy. It’s not trivial. God is there. (Amongst us and in us)
This forms the basis for Paul’s teaching on the subject.
1st Timothy 3:15 …you may know how people ought to conduct themselves in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and stay (the prop and support) of the Truth.
There is a way to behave in the house of God! We must treat His house with honour. We must treat it with respect.
Jesus warned against disorderly conduct in His house.
Mark 11:17 And He taught and said to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have turned it into a den of robbers.
It’s a house of prayer. Not business deals. Not political campaigns. We must watch it.
We must behave ourselves. We must act respectfully in His house.
1st Corinthians 14:40 But all things should be done with regard to decency and propriety and in an orderly fashion.
Decency- This is respectfulness. Regarding the House as a place of honour and worship is important.
We hardly know this, these days.
We arrive late for services. We walk in majestically while the teaching is going on. We distract more serious participants.
When did this horror start?
On the flip side, we hurry to work to beat and meet deadlines but we stroll into the services because we don’t care. Who can sack us? We are deceived! God can! We are rendered useless. We lack honour!
We must learn to treat the activities in the service with respect.
We must come with good bibles and good writing pads/notes.
Church is a school- a place for bible study.
Your conduct in God’s house must show you know He is right there.
Answering calls during the service is outright disregard for the service.
We must show we know where we are!
We avoid the use of our phones during important meetings and places. We don’t use our phones before important people. Yet we loosely think the church deserves less respect.
Church pastors should stop worshiping its members. We must worship God!
1st Corinthians 11:22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
We must not reduce His house to casual secular places. The minute we gather, God is there. We must be worshipful in our behaviour. Let’s change our behaviour and inculcate honour and respect into ALL we do in the house of God!
*Confession: I behave and conduct myself with the Fear of God in The House of God!
