Jesus Our All in All (#9)

From part of chapter 9 of "Jesus Manifesto" by Frank Viola and Len Sweet:

"A House of Figs"

"God has chosen to vest all of power, authority, and life in the living Christ. However, God in Christ is only known fully in and through His church (Eph. 3:10).

The authentic Christian life, therefore, is not an individual pursuit. It's a corporate journey...Those who insist on flying life solo will be brought to earth with a crash. Thus Christ and His church are intimately joined and connected...You will never know the depths of Christ on your own. It matters not how intelligent, gifted, or spiritual you may be. It takes a functioning body to know Him fully...and to display His fullness. It's only by being vitally and organically connected with other members of the body in a living way that we experience the fullness of God (Eph. 3:16-19).

The church is Jesus Christ in corporate expression...Practically, this means that we know Jesus Christ through one another...We see Him, hear Him, touch Him, taste and smell Him through our sisters and brothers within whom He dwells. Genuine church life is born when groups of people are intoxicated with a glorious unveiling of their Lord. Jesus Christ is the only foundation upon which an authentic church can be built...

The calling of every person involved in church planting, then, is to build the ekklesia upon a ground-breaking revelation of the Son of God...May God give us more people who have had a head-on collision with Jesus, who have caught a glimpse of His radiance, and who, as a result, can meld a group of people together with a living knowledge of their God in the face of Jesus Christ. May He raise up countless servants who can faithfully steward the divine mystery and turn it loose on this world."

Amen and amen...this is our prayer, Lord, in these critical days of preparation before Your return.