Dominion

Who has authority over the space you are in right now and the things in it?

I am sitting in an airport right now waiting to board a plane. When I entered, I received my boarding pass, then passed through security. Those in authority over this place required my personal belongings to be scanned, even requiring my belt to be removed from my trousers! These are safety measures required by the authority of the country (and other countries) for passengers flying on airplanes. It is their domain and those in it are beheld to certain conditions.

When a person becomes a Christian, they are freed from the law of sin and death in the kingdom of darkness. But, they are also brought under the domain of the kingdom of the Son where their mind, heart, soul, and body along with all their possessions are surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has sovereign domain over that Christian. He also has eminent domain, the right to appropriate for his purposes anything that may belong to us. In return, we have him as our perfect and satisfying compensation for any real or perceived loss.

What does this look like in the local church?
The all too common approach to the local church by those who claim to be Christians is that the local church and its "services" -- baptism, the lord's supper, childcare, fellowship snacks, networking, preaching, etc -- are commodities offered to any and all self-proclaimed Christians to come and enjoy. It is believed that the Christian has eminent domain over a local church's "services" and compensates that local church for the use of its "services" with the currency of participation and perhaps financial gifts.

In this way, the Christian is the sovereign Lord of his/her life in the church and the church is a producer of free spiritual commodities. A choice in which church to get these commodities is then merely a matter of preference or judgement as to which is offering those commodities at the best quality, convenience, or cost.

The Dominion of Christ and the authority of his Church
Jesus Christ is Lord over all things and is head of the church, his body:

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1:22-23

If a person is a Christian, then Jesus is his or her Lord. To participate in the fullness of Christ, as described in Ephesians 1:22-23, a Christian cannot be part of the church in a functioning, interactive, life-on-life way. Ephesians 4-6 is only doable by Christians in committed (not assumed) relationships expressed in visible (not "in your heart") ways. The individual Christian has a participating responsibility to submit to a local church, both its leaders and members to carry out the functions and mission of Jesus in the world. Another word for this is, membership.

Membership is expressed submission to the domain of Christ through his fullness seen, heard, and experienced in a local gathering of covenanting Christians.
What does this stir in you?
How does Christ's "domain" over all inform your relationship to your local church?

Together for your joy in Christ,
Pastor Loren