Ekklesia - the assembly of those who have been called and follow that calling. THIS is the Church. Not a building. Not just people who show up on Sundays. The gathering of people who have been called AND who follow that calling.
Who called us? Jesus did. It's His bride, the Body of Christ, that we are talking about. So, if He called us, that would mean it is Him we are following, right?
I think sometimes people stop at confessing belief in Jesus. They accept that He is their Savior, but do they accept that He is also their Lord?
A lord is defined as: one having power and authority over others (Mirriam-Webster Dictionary). A great example of an earthly version of a lord that helped drive home the concept of lordship was Lord Grantham on Downton Abby. In watching the first episode, I saw the servants of this grand English house, most of them completely devoted to serving their “Lord” of the manor. Everything they did from the moment they woke up to the moment they went to bed was in service of this Lord and his family. (You can read more about this comparison here.)
I'm convinced that if every Christian who has confessed belief in Jesus Christ also lived each day as though He was their boss or Lord, "discipleship programs" wouldn't need to exist. We would be ever aware of expressing the fruit of the Spirit and pointing the people in our lives to our Master through their observance of what we say we believe by how we behave. They would want that fruit as well (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - Galatians 5:22-23).
But until that is true for every believer - until they become disciples as well - our job and goal is to help people recognize that as the Ekklesia, the Church, our eyes should be fixed on Jesus, our Lord, and our actions should represent Him. As we build each other up, through discipleship, this can happen!
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