My Father's House

When I go to a church "building," I am not going to some brick and mortar place to worship God, because I can worship God anywhere, and I should worship God everywhere! I am going to "my father's house," which in the context of a "church" should mean it is a place where God's people congregate or gather to worship Him together. Some people choose to worship the building. I do not. In my heart, I am going to worship in my father's house as Jesus did as a twelve-year-old boy in Luke 2:49. And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”

You may think I am being too technical about the whole thing, but in a world that worships more creation than creator, I believe in the heart of the matter. Remember, Jesus comes into our hearts, and our hearts should be a driving force in whatever we do. The heart can lead us sometimes on the wrong path, and that is why we must protect it, as said by the writer of Proverbs 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Whatever life is springing out of us is from the leading of the heart, and with the Holy Spirit leading your heart, these decisions will be deeper than low-level decisions that have no depth of understanding.

God has equipped each born-again believer with a discerning heart, and the fuel for that heart is found in the Holy Spirit, which Jesus also left with us to understand and live our lives. Here is how the Holy Spirit guides us and equips us to follow our hearts with the "right" decisions in life. John 16:¹³ But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine; this is why I said that He takes from Mine and will disclose it to you. I cannot emphasize the leadership of the Holy Spirit enough, and the need for us to trust that leadership, even as we think about the church building we go to.

It is in that Father's House that we possibly will have many life-changing experiences, and some of them for me were: salvation, calling into the ministry, seeing life-changing events that impacted thousands, and scores more. I believe having the right perspective about what Jesus called "My Father's House" is the difference between Christians being casual observers or co-laborers. When you say "I love my church," what that should do is cause you to immerse yourself in serving the Lord with the others in that church and keep it "My Father's House," without the impurities of a worldly worship of a building or organization. My Father's House is a growing organism and not an organization or club. Those last two are just a product of Americanized Christianity and not worthy to be called my father's house. Until we get the horse back in front of the cart, we will lose the effectiveness of my father's house, which is "the church" that Jesus died for on the cross. Jesus brought all of this into focus when He said the following in Matthew 16: ³ Now when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples,“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.” ¹⁵ He *said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

Don't just be the building or the organization. BE THE CURCH, and be that in My Father's House. The church is undeniable. The real church. Be that church.

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren