An Audience with the King

By Victoria Holt

I woke up multiple times last night, and always with the same thought ricocheting through my spirit in acute awareness: “You’re not a ‘group’…”

Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, I simply stayed up. I chose to be still, and listen.

Prior to last night, I’d been praying about this for some time because whenever I would hear someone use that word in reference to any local assembly of worshippers of our Lord, it really bothered me. So yes; I was very ready to have an audience with Him about this matter. And what a time we had together! What sweet reminders He gave of the truth.

The truth?

We’re not merely some “group.”

We are a local ἐκκλησίᾳ that meets in a house. We are worshippers of the Lord Jesus Christ who has reconciled us to the Father and sealed us with the Holy Spirit, and in fact, we’re one of many ἐκκλησίαι that meet in a house as described in 1 Corinthians 16:19, Romans 16:1-5, Acts 2:1-47, Acts 5:12-42, Acts 12:1-17, Acts 16:1-40, and Acts 20:18-21; and Matthew 18:20 is as true here, as it is elsewhere. Where most translations translate ἐκκλησίᾳ as “church” and ἐκκλησίαι as “churches”, some translations use the words “all who gather”, or “congregation/churches”, or “assembly/assemblies”, or some believers use the anglicized “ekklesia”.

Bottom line?

We’re His people through His loving sacrifice, knit together tenderly by Him for His express purposes, on His terms. And we’re so blessed to be that!

Each local fellowship of those who are born again in Christ Jesus is blessed to be very much a part of the entire holy household of the Living God… the family of God; and that’s regardless of whether we meet in a house or elsewhere, or what native language we speak, or whether we sing hymns or more modern music, etc., etc., etc. 1 Corinthians 1:1-31 (!!), 1 Timothy 3:14-15, Ephesians 4:4-6 and a host of other such passages of the Scriptures make that crystal clear. We each are one part of His household built of “living stones” (1 Peter 2:4-5), and in addition, in the boundless mercy and grace of our Lord, we are also part of “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

We are part of the household of God, and of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).

Wowsa!

That does not get old to me. I remain in awe.

We are a part of the Bride of Christ, as testified to by Isaiah 54:5, Matthew 25:1-13, 2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:25-27 and 32, and Revelation 19:7-9.

We, like the rest of the Body of Christ, are His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Matthew 28:18-20; etc.).

We are a part of the redeemed!! Thanks be to God!! (See Psalm 107:1-3, Isaiah 43:1 and 44:22, Luke 1:68, John 3:16-18, Romans 5:8, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:17, Colossians 1:12-14, Titus 2:11-14, 1 Peter 1:17-19, and Revelation 5:8-10 among other passages).

Like a multiplicity of other Scriptures that testify to the following, Ephesians 2:19-22 so beautifully reminds us, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

Fellow citizens with the saints… of God’s household… of His dwelling place…

Does that shield us from the “curveballs” of life? Ha! Nope!

We, as a part of the Body of Christ, must be ready at all times for even that.

I was just now reminded of that again, because, literally, as I was writing this a few minutes ago, our doorbell rang, well… unexpectedly.

It was one of our neighbors. This particular neighbor had never been to our door before. She was in tears. She told us that her adult son had unexpectedly passed away a few weeks ago, and that she is in need of a ride somewhere so as to take care of some personal business, and asked if we would please do that for her. She said she knew that she could call on us. We stopped and sat with her. We listened as she poured her heart out. We grieved with her. We rejoiced with her when she said that her son loved Jesus and was now with Him. We loved on her, and when she calls in a few minutes to say that she’s ready to run her errand, we’ll be honored to give her the ride she’s requested.

That, friends, is the Lord’s own doing.

He’s made His people to be “salt” and “light” (Matthew 5:13-16). We, His people, are His very own servants. We all get to love on others for His sake, and they, too, can come to know Him themselves; and those who already do know Him will find Him among us: us, firmly rooted in His presence, and therefore, Him, graciously inhabiting ours. We are His people. We’re not some innocuous “group.” We are, individually and together, of His Body! And so it is written, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, for His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Through these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world on account of lust” (2 Peter 1:2-4).

Imagine that!!!

We’re co-laborers with Christ, God’s fellow workers, His field, His building, His temple… all that packed into 1 Corinthians 3: 9-11. And we’re so very much more! But since this is a post and not a book, I’ll let that be enough for now. 😊

One last thing, though, family:

Remember the story of “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Andersen?

What everyone thought to be a duckling (and a very ugly one at that!) turned out to be “the most beautiful of all the birds.” It was never ever a duckling, ugly or otherwise! It had been of a completely different species all along! It had always been… a swan! It’s just that neither the swan, nor anyone else, had realized that.

What about us?

Will we, like the swan of Andersen’s story in its earlier years, allow ourselves to be mistaken for something other than the beautiful ἐκκλησίαι that Jesus has created us to be? Will we allow an evil world, or our own carnal thoughts and shabby, inaccurate, completely inadequate opinions (or those of others) to tell us that we’re something far different than who we really are in Him?

Or will we listen to our Lord and Master who plainly declares from Genesis to Revelation the truth of who we are, how we came to be, why we are who we are, and truly Whose we are by His own doing and for His own delightful purposes?

Will we acknowledge what He Himself has built and is Himself continuing to build, or will we persist in calling it something far different than He does… with increasingly disastrous results?

If we don’t know who we truly are— as dictated only by our God who has revealed that in and through the written Word, and in and through the Word Who took on flesh and tabernacled among us— then we’ll never function as such.

And that’s a huge deal.

The thoughts above are from my good friend Victoria Holt. Sign up below for my bi-monthly newsletter so you don’t miss a post.