Membership in the Church
Membership in the Church of Heaven is determined by God alone. God calls each member of the Church to His Son and places us in the body of Christ by the Spirit. Human beings play no role in the placement of the members in the Church. Those God calls cannot “qualify” for membership. There is nothing we can do to make us worthy of God’s grace and favor. Membership is not based on going to church, preaching the gospel or doing laps around the beads. Prospective members cannot simply go to a building with a cross on it and apply for membership in the spiritual Church. Membership is not about where we go or what we do. Membership in the Church of Heaven is a spiritual assessment determined entirely by God based on who we are.
Membership in the Church requires faith in God, but the required faith is much more than a simple belief that God exists. Saving faith represents both a belief and a location. True believers must hold a continuous expression of faith and that faith must be expressed from within God. Living faith is a reflection of the will of God. Living faith can only be realized through a covenant relationship with God.
Membership begins with the baptism of the Spirit. Water baptism only pictures what has already happened in the spiritual realm. Believers enter into a covenant relationship with God through the baptism of the Spirit. Paul explained the symbolism of water baptism to the members of the Roman church.
"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." (Romans 6:3-5)
Most churchgoers assume the death into which members are baptized is a figurative or metaphoric death, but the death to which Paul referred is literal. Only the washing of physical baptism is symbolic, but that symbolism pictures a literal death. This literal death is not a physical death, but a spiritual death. Our death on earth is a spiritual reality based on a covenant relationship with God, wherein covenant partners exchange places and natures. When we die, 1) Christ comes to live in us on earth through the Spirit, and 2) we go to live in Christ in heaven. Paul explained first part of this spiritual reality to the Galatians.
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:20)
Paul said that he had died but that he was still alive. He was not alive with his spirit in control of his body, but Paul asserted that Christ was alive in him directing and controlling the actions of his body. Paul asserted that the new life he was living in the flesh was being directed by the faith of the Son of God, not by his own faith. Jesus Christ was living in him on earth, and his life was with Christ in God in heaven. Paul explained the second aspect of this spiritual reality to the Colossians.
"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Col 3:3)
Under the inspiration of the Spirit, Paul could see the members of the Colossian church seated with Christ in God. Can you believe the Bible? Can you see the spiritual reality? Where is Christ? Where is God? If Christ sits at the right hand of God in heaven, and we are with Christ in God, how can it be so hard to believe that we are in heaven? Can you see yourself seated in the heavenly places with Christ in God? (Eph 2:6) The faith of the Son of God gives us the ability to see the spiritual realm the way God sees it. Only believers can comprehend the truth of scripture.
Membership in the Church of Heaven can only be achieved through a covenant relationship with God. In covenant we become one with our covenant Partner. We become one with God through Jesus Christ. He lives in us, and we live in Him. (1 John 4:13) A covenant relationship with God results in an exchange of places with our covenant Partner. We are dead on earth, (Col 3:3) and we live in Him in heaven. (Eph 2:6) While each of our spirits is dead on earth, the Lord lives in each of us as the Head and Director of our bodies on earth. We allow Him to direct everything we do. Jesus Christ assumes a visible presence on earth through each member of the Church. Peter revealed the reality to the scattered brethren of Asia Minor, but unfortunately this truth is entirely hidden in translation. Notice Peter’s literal words from the Greek text.
“Christ...is being manifest in these last times through you.” (1 Pet 1:20)
Peter revealed the profound truth that Christ can be seen walking and talking on this earth in these last times through the members of His Church. The Lord's work continues on earth through His Church—His spiritual body. Although His appearance is disguised by the appearance of the members' bodies, He is the Spirit in charge of what the members are doing. The Lord lives in each member individually and does His work through all the members of His body collectively.
Every believer is a member of the Church of Heaven, but not everybody who believes that God exists is a believer. Even the demons believe, (Jas 2:19) but their faith gets them nothing from God, because they demonstrate by the way they live their lives that they are not believers. Membership in the Church of Heaven requires more than just believing God exists. Members must rely on the faith of the Son of God. Members must believe continually, and we must be in Jesus Christ. When we believe and we are in Him, we further demonstrate the faith of the Son of God by continually living a Christian life. We demonstrate His faith by allowing Jesus Christ to direct every aspect of our daily lives.
Membership in the Church of Heaven is determined by who we are. When sinners acknowledge their lost and sinful state and respond to the call of the Father to the Son, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit changes their nature—changes who they are. They are no longer sinners. They become believers. Jesus Christ comes to dwell in these new believers through the Spirit, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes each member holy. The Lord is now in charge of each member's life, and that holy member becomes a reflection of Jesus Christ—a reflection of who He is. Christianity is not about what we do. Membership is about who we are. We must be believers. We must be holy. We must be humble. We must be compassionate. We must be kind. Membership in the Church of Heaven is determined entirely by faith according to who we are.
The reality of our life in heaven exposes another misconception most churchgoers believe. Most churches teach that their members go to heaven when they die, but faith based on the word of God teaches us that believers go to heaven when they believe. Therefore, the truth is: nobody will go to heaven when they die, unless they are already in heaven before they die. Heaven is a present reality for every faithful member of the Church of Heaven.
The author of Hebrews was given a spectacular vision of the magnificent, holy city in heaven, where the spirits of all faithful members have been placed with Christ in God. The city is described in Hebrews 12:22-24.
"But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made [complete], and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant."
Speaking to the scattered Hebrew brethren, the author of Hebrews explains that "ye have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." The members of the Church have literally come to the throne of God where God, Jesus Christ, a host of angels and the general assembly of the Church live. The writer explains that there is nothing fleshly in God’s city, but that only “the spirits of just men made complete” are in the city, not their bodies. The spirits of the members of the Church are there, because the members are spiritually dead on earth but alive in heaven. We have given up control of our lives on earth, and Jesus Christ is living in each of us on earth, directing the actions of our bodies. While He directs our lives on earth, our spirits are alive in God in the heavenly Jerusalem.
The reality of our life in heaven appears in many places throughout the New Testament, but most Bible students have difficulty believing the reality and usually relegate it to a figurative reference. Those who truly believe understand that the apostles’ words are literal but that they are only true in the spiritual realm. God separates true believers from those who only pretend to believe with spiritual realities which can only be understood through the faith of the Son of God. A deep respect for the truth of the word of God is required to believe the realities of the spiritual realm.
Membership in the heavenly Church may begin with a simple belief that God exists, but that belief must grow far beyond your own understanding and conviction. Simple belief must become a continuing trust in God to direct every aspect of your life. You must trust the Lord to direct your physical life on earth and trust God to place you in the body of Christ, where you can most effectively serve Him. You must use the power of the Spirit to resist the human inclination to sin and depend on the blood of Christ to cover every transgression. God has blessed the Church with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, (Eph 1:3) so you can use those fruits of the Spirit to accomplish whatever the Lord directs you to do. May the faith of the Son of God direct your life and secure your membership in the Church of Heaven.