Jesus’ Church!
Jesus’ Church!
Jesus’ church is a group of friends who have become His family, and He invited all of us in. Let us look at His devotion to His friendship group and to His disciples.
Jesus Was a Friend Because!
1) He was intimate with His Father: “No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known]” (John 1:18, Amplified).
Jesus’ love and intimacy with the Father brought the same love and intimacy with His disciples. It is important, as shepherds of our homes and churches, that we have an unbroken and intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father, or else we will have a group without edification, exhortation, and comfort.
2) He acknowledged that His disciples were a gift from His Father: “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).
Jesus did not start and distribute a program and call it “church,” but valued His disciples as a precious gift from His Father. We must consider everyone God has brought into our lives as God’s gifts, which include our own family, friends, and congregants. When we consider everyone as a gift from God, we will not abuse them but try to preserve them with fear and trembling, because we submit to our Father.
3) He taught them the mysteries of heaven: “But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. And He said to them, ‘To you it has been given to know the mystery (secret or hidden truth) of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables’” (Mark 4:10-11).
Jesus revealed that His words were the words of the Father, and His work was the work with the Father, and that He and His Father were one. It is through His knowledge of God and His will that He taught His disciples while He spoke in parables to the masses. We need to learn, and constantly learn, from God, and communicate as a coach to our families, friends, and our church groups. The more we learn, they learn. The more we are clarified in our learning, the more they too are.
4) He loved them and had fellowship with them: “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1).
Jesus’ love was authentic and divine. He was truly their leader in showing genuine love to His disciples. It is love that binds us, not products, provisions, stories, or anything else apart from love. Love is the highest good that God has offered to mankind, and it is His love, divine love, that must bind our families, churches, and communities together. The opposite of love is selfishness, hatred, envy, jealousy, etc. We must allow the divine love shed abroad by the Holy Spirit by yielding to God. Then, our families will be edified and so will our church groups.
5) He did not lose any of them on His own: “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day” (John 6:39).
It is important to know that our Heavenly Father does not want to lose anything He has saved. It was, and it is, our Father’s will, as Jesus showed it to the world. Judas Iscariot left Jesus’ fold on his own, and yet Jesus called him His friend when he came to betray Jesus in the Garden. We live in a world where people move from church to church. We must not harbor bitterness or envy against those who have left our church for a different one but pray for their continued walk with God. We must also keep the doors open for those who have gone away from our homes and groups to a different place, to bless them and keep the doors open for their return.
6) He gave His life for them: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Jesus paid the ultimate price for His love for His loved ones, you and me. God so loved the world that He gave us His Beloved Son. Jesus so loved the world that He did not relinquish the cross but yielded to it. Divine love is sacrificial love that does not boast or envy. Jesus is the example of greater love!
How did the church of Jesus respond to Jesus? Let us see how Jesus’ friendship group, His family, and the first church responded to Jesus.
Jesus’ First Church - Jesus’ Friends – The Apostles!
1) They became Believers: “Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:69).
There is no church without believing in the deity of Jesus. I have taught the Word of God in so many circles, and especially to the elites and educated in the universities. Most of them would take Jesus for a “great teacher” or a “good human being.” Rarely, some of them would call Him the Son of God. Even a percentage of seminary students do not believe that Jesus was born of a virgin and that He rose from the dead. A church without believing in the deity of Jesus is no more than a social group without edification or life! Jesus is alive today, and He is the Son of the Living God!
2) They became His disciples: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
The disciples of Jesus were learners of God’s Word from Jesus. They prioritized learning the Scriptures explained by Jesus more than the miracles and the blessings they had received from Jesus. People who received the miracles walked away from Jesus. They even showed up with the crowd to judge Jesus, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!” But the disciples of Jesus stayed with Jesus for the life-giving Word! Jesus said: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). It is important that we read the Word every day and spend time with God to be taught by the Holy Spirit so that we will not be swayed by the winds of doctrines and confusion caused by erroneous teachings.
3) They became His servants: “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen” (Matthew 28:18-20).
The disciples of Jesus understood the very mission that Jesus was engaged in: “to seek and save that which was lost.” They became Jesus’ servants to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. They had done a wonderful job after Jesus’ death and resurrection, for the church of Jesus is alive and well in all the world right now. When the church is transformed by Jesus and what He has done for us, we truly will serve Jesus in whatever capacity He has called and anointed us to serve Him.
4) They became His friends: “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another” (John 15:15-17).
Jesus loved His family, His church, His fellowship group so much that He did not keep them as His servants but called them His friends. Jesus addressed even Judas Iscariot as His friend when he came to betray Him in the Garden. Jesus gives us a promise in this passage that “we must go and bear fruit, and the fruit should remain.” I believe the fruit is none other than the “Fruit of Jesus’ Friendship,” which deliberately shows up outside more than just words. If I say that I am a friend of Jesus and have no characteristics to show for it, I am an empty vessel. But if I bear the friendship of Jesus, I am being transformed into the very image of my Master; then the world will see the fruit of my intimacy with Jesus. We will then come into God’s immense favor, so that whatever we ask the Father in Jesus’ Name, we will receive it.
5) They became His family: “Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’” (John 20:17).
Jesus called His disciples “brethren” after His resurrection. He implies that He and His disciples belong to one family, the family of God, where God is our Father and that we are His beloved children, Jesus being the firstborn among many brethren!
6) They, almost all, died as martyrs for Jesus! Apostle John wrote: “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (I John 3:16).
The disciples of Jesus in the first century yielded their lives for their Master, whom they knew was real, authentic, and God in the flesh to save the world. They too gave their lives for the One who died for them.
Here is a list of all the disciples/apostles who gave up their lives for Jesus!
Traditional Accounts of the Martyrdom of Jesus’ First Church Family!
Peter: Crucified upside down in Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero.
Andrew: Crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras, Greece.
Thomas: Pierced with a spear in Mylapore, India.
Paul (replacing James/early leader): Beheaded in Rome under Nero.
Bartholomew (Nathanael): Traditionally said to have been flayed (skinned) alive and beheaded in Armenia.
Matthew: Reportedly killed with a sword in Ethiopia (though some early writers suggest a natural death).
James, son of Alphaeus (James the Less): Thrown from the temple pinnacle, stoned, and beaten with a club in Jerusalem.
Philip: Crucified or hanged in Hierapolis, Turkey.
Simon the Zealot: Said to have been sawn in half in Persia or Syria.
Jude (Thaddaeus): Martyred with arrows or an axe in the region of Persia or Armenia.
Matthias (who replaced Judas): Stoned and beheaded in Judea or Colchis.
John died of natural causes in Ephesus when he was 100 years old.
Jesus’ Church Believes in the Deity of Jesus!
Jesus’ Church is Discipled by Jesus!
Jesus’ Church Serves Jesus as Their Lord and Savior!
Jesus’ Church is Intimate with Jesus as His Friend!
Jesus’ Church Sacrifices Their All for Jesus!
Jesus is the Most Precious Gift of God to the Church, and the Church is the Gift of the Father to Jesus!
We Are A Family of God!
Prayer
“Heavenly Father, I love You and adore You. I am forever grateful that You sent Your Beloved Son, Jesus, who gave His life for me on the cross. I yield mine into Your hands so You can use me however You desire until I come to stand before Your holy presence, worshiping You forever. In the Most Precious and Wonderful Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen!”
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John Jeyaseelan
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