Tags
Christ, Church, Foundation, Promise, Son
Nevertheless what saith the Scripture? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” (Gal 4:30)
When Abraham was called out of his family and ancestral land to where God would have Him, together with the call was a promise for a son. This son however was to come in God’s own way and timing. However, when it took a little more time than both Abraham and his wife Sarah thought it would take, they organized something according to their thinking. Boom, a child was born to Abraham with Sarah’s maid, and there you go, ‘the promise is fulfilled’.
When we read this story in Genesis 16, it is easy to ask, why they could not wait, not realizing that we have done the same thing in our day.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,And lean not on your own understanding;6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct[a] your paths.(Prov 3)
God by Christ Jesus has promised to give a Son, the one new man, the church. This promise He has done and declared by Christ Jesus that He will build that son, the church against whom the gates of hell shall not prevail. We have however not been patient with Him to build it His way, and have built it by organizing the fulfillment of the promise according to our understanding, and there the organized church is built.
That which we have built has become so big, it is a threat to the son of promise. Notice from the story of Abraham and Sarah that as long as the maid was not empowered, she served Sarah. The moment she was given the place reserved for Sarah, she became haughty and felt superior to her. This is the same case with Christianity today, as long as we organize with our natural understanding, that which we build will be a threat to that which God has promised, the body of His Son, built on the solid foundation of the apostles with Christ as the corner stone.
The good news however, is that it is not all lost, for the promise of God cannot be nullified by our organizing something, however big that becomes. All that can be shaken will be shaken and only that which can stand will stand, the house built on the rock. May we all, brothers and sisters be found being built on that solid foundation.
Blessings to all that call upon His Name.
Amen,
Patrick.