The Church and the Corporate Purpose

Ecclesia defined

The Church is more than just a building. The Church is made up of living stones that God has called together to form a habitation of His Presence where He places His Name. The Church needs to gather together and assemble as Christ’s Body.

The meaning of the word “church” comes from the ancient Greek word Ecclesia, which means “a gathering of those who were summoned” or “an assembly of citizens in a city or state.” It basically meant people coming together or forming a congregation. When Ecclesia is mentioned in the Bible, it is defined as the Church—as Christ’s gathered body. It’s a called-out assembly, called out of the world into the assembly of believers. It could also be defined as a gathering of citizens who have been called out from their homes into some public space to form an assembly, a gathering, or a congregation. It’s interesting to note that the word Ecclesia, with this definition, is used 111 times in the Gospels and Epistles. We see examples of this in the following verses:

“25 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. 26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” –Acts 11:25-26

“Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.”— Acts 14:27

“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,” –1 Corinthians 5:4

As a church, we are living stones. The Apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 2:5:

“ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

As living stones, we cannot make a building, gather, or assemble on our own. We must come together in one place. When we gather, Acts 27 tells us what to do. We are to come together, break bread, and listen to the Word. He did this on the first day of the week, which is Sunday. The new covenant’s Sabbath on Saturday has been changed to the first day of the week. The Lord’s Day is not a day for us, but it is a day to honor God where we must assemble and gather. If we love God, we are to keep His commandments and also love His children (1 John 5:2-3).

Being part of the house of God, we must consider one another to stir up love and good works (Hebrews 10:21-25). We must come to the assembly to provoke one another to do good works. These good works have to do with the corporate purpose and individual purpose in a believer’s life. Gathering is essential because our fellow believers will encourage us to act on our purpose. In the last days, false prophets, seducing demons, or doctrines of demons will appear. Anytime a commandment of God is contrary to what men are saying, we are to always submit to God and not to the commandments of men. Even with a pandemic or a dangerous situation, the Presence of God is the safest place. God is the One protecting us. He Himself rebukes the devourer.

Understanding your corporate purpose

The significant difference between the individual and the corporate plan of God for your life is learning submission and obedience. When it comes to the individual purpose, you learn by developing a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit coming under submission to His Lordship. This is where you learn and discover His plan. On the other hand, in the corporate, you come under the authority of the Lord Jesus not through your individual intimate relationship with God but through God’s delegated authority, whereby if you haven’t learned Lordship in your individual walk with God, you will have great problems in learning Lordship in the corporate setting because you must come under the delegated authority that Jesus has set in the Church, which is called headship ministry.

In the corporate purpose and plan, you learn submission and obedience through delegated authorities that are set in the local church by Jesus who is the head of the Church. Being planted in a local church is also God’s decision, not yours. Jesus sits as the Head of the Church as it pleases Him and not you. For someone who has set themselves in a local church that wasn’t set by God, they will be out of His will. Second, they will also be out of the geographical place where they can be blessed. Third, He will not receive their tithes and offerings. Fourth, they have no protection against the devourer because the blessing of God is determined in the geographical place of His purpose.

There’s a difference between when we pray as an individual to God and when we pray corporately. First, when you’re alone, you decide what you want to pray for. The other is determined by the leadership that God puts in the house or the headship ministry. In the corporate setting, you pray together for what the leadership or the delegated authority gives you. The same principle applies to fasting.

When fulfilling the individual plan of God in my life, it takes place in the self, in one’s marriage, family, friends, and the world. When a person fulfills the corporate plan of God in their life, it takes place in the gathering, assembling, and the congregation.

If we want to accomplish our corporate purpose in the local church that Jesus has planted us, there are things we must fulfill. Let’s look at them one by one.

1. 1. You’ve got to have your witness on earth, which is blood, water, and Spirit. This is the same as in your individual plan and purpose. If you notice, these three experiences primarily take place in the assembly. You will see this in the baptism of water and the Holy Spirit.
   2. You have to be established in the elementary doctrines of Christ as stated in Hebrews 6:1-3
      “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.”
   3. Your walk of love — the nine gifts of the Spirit are free, but the fruit of the Spirit must be grown. A seed must die to produce fruit. When it comes to your nature, God demands that in your corporate walk of love, you must die to yourself and be replaced with His nature. You must have love, joy, peace, faithfulness, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. In the assembly, there are specific commandments such as serving one another in love. This is where we also provoke one another to do good works.
   4. Your walk of faith in your individual purpose — you are to live from every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. You must live according to His Word when it comes to your walk of faith and the corporate purpose of God for your life. You are to live by the Word of God and by the words that come from His mouth through His delegated authority. Faith without deeds is dead both in your individual and corporate purpose. You must move according to His command once you hear from the Lord.
   5. Jesus’ vision for the Church through the Great Commission — this is where we become established as disciples of Christ within the Church. Then we’re to go out to expand the Kingdom of God through preaching, teaching, and baptizing in water to making disciples unto Christ, casting out demons, laying our hands on the sick, and speaking in tongues. Whether we obey or disobey, this command for the corporate gathering will determine whether or not we have any power. If you are not committed to fulfilling the Great Commission as a disciple, you will not have any power with God. You are endued with power from the Holy Ghost to be a witness, and when you do not fulfill this commandment, you have no real authority.
   6. Our walk of tithing — paying our tithes doesn’t happen in our home or ministries outside. It happens to the local church where God has planted you. How else can you live under open heaven without tithing to the place where God has set you? If you are set in the place where God assigned you, He himself will rebuke the devourer.
   7. The walk of what makes us a Church — while the Lord understands and knows that there are those who are not able to be in the local church because of their mobility and health, those who are capable must make it a point to be with the brethren on the Lord’s day. The gathering on the first day of the week, the Lord’s day gives us protection, covering, and blessing.
   8. The walk of praise and worship — how many understand that corporate praise is another level than individual praise? The only place that you will hear Jesus sing is in the corporate gathering. You cannot hear Jesus sing in the individual purpose and plan of God for your life. Only in the corporate does Jesus sing in the midst of His people, which is prophecy.
   9. Our sacrifices of priesthood — the higher level of both these two walks, the higher level is always the corporate level. Do you believe that we are in the end of days? We might not yet be in the desolation of abomination, but we are certainly in the days of sorrow. Jesus has things to say to the seven churches because they are going to be judged not as an individual but as a corporate, called-out company of believers from the world in the gathering. The focus in the end days is the church, not the individual. God will command the blessing of life when brethren come together in unity (Psalm 133).
   10. The Church as God’s instrument on earth — the Church can manifest God’s will to all of mankind. The Church is the city set on a hill, the world’s light, and the earth’s soul. It is the only body of people with the power to stop principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and the spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places. Only the Church can change society, culture, and the forces that control a city. The Church has been given the keys of the Kingdom of God where the Church can bind and loose what comes out of the gates of hell.
   11. The Lord’s table or Communion — communion is taught in the Scriptures from a corporate level and it deals with the forgiveness of sin, healing of all sickness and disease, receiving of all promises of the new covenant that was ratified or made possible by the shedding of Jesus’ blood that the Father accepted for a blood covenant that includes you as heirs of God.
   12. Operating and judging the gifts of the Spirit — the gifts of the Spirit are free, but you learn and operate them in the Church. This is so that someone can judge if you are out of order. The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet. In the gathering, you can prophesy one-by-one only on a certain level, such as edification, exhortation, and comfort, but it has to be judged by who the leaders God has set in the church.
   13. The gifts of God to the Church — God gave the Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. The purpose of this can be found in Ephesians 4:11-16:
       “11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the [e]edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
   14. The acquiring of crowns —The Bible says in Hebrews 10:24: “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” The crown spoken of in the Scriptures are good works God has planned for us to do as part of the Church

    

2. Why the Church Needs Apostles and Prophets As someone trying to fulfill their individual and corporate purpose, sometimes you need to be patted on the back. Sometimes you need to be encouraged, sometimes you need to be rebuked. Sometimes you need hands laid on you. Sometimes you need to be told to do something, whether you want to do it or not. Do you notice that every time Jesus would heal someone, He always told them they had to do something? If they didn’t do it, they wouldn’t be healed. You cannot shake a region unless there is a strong corporate body that understands the authority of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They also are the Ecclesia, the called out company that gathers, assembles, and congregates as the body of Christ. And that body must be built on one specific revelation — that Jesus is the Son of the living God. And the only person that has that revelation, able to build the church a foundation, are apostles and prophets. These are the people whose roles are to make the Church understand the structure and the order of God’s government.Why We Need to Keep Gathering as the ChurchWe must realize that we don’t come to church because we have needs. This may be a part, but not the primary function. Today, people go to churches because they have needs, and they want their needs met. But for us under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we should go to church to become empowered. We need to come and celebrate our victory and to proclaim who Jesus is. We have been planted in this house, and we’ve come to get the keys to the Kingdom. We’re not coming here out of need. We’re not coming here out of obligation. We come to church to remind ourselves that our citizenship is of a heavenly city. We gathered so that we could bind principalities and power and loose the blessing of God on us, the blessing of life. Let us not neglect the gathering of the saints, but let us keep on congregating, hearing from God our Head.