Church Hoppers

There are so many people “church hopping” these days. They go from congregation to congregation seeking the one that’s right for them, according to their criteria for “right.” Our advice to them is: Don’t try to find the perfect church because once you find it, you’ll ruin it. That’s sarcasm with a hint of truth because people who go from church to church are not spiritual people.

The kind of person who flees from the challenges of fellowship in one place is incapable of bringing a blessing to the place they transition into. They are not loyal people. They are self-centered.

But the worst thing is that they have their priorities wrong. Ignoring Christ’s injunction to 'seek first the Kingdom,' they are in constant pursuit of their ideal Christian fellowship. They want a perfect community now. They’re not working to become a part of the eternally perfect community of believers in the Kingdom.

Seek first the Kingdom and a church will be added to you. Instead of seeking friends, seek to be a friend. Instead of seeking the benefits of fellowship, seek to benefit others who have no fellowship. Instead of seeking the best worship music, sing praises when nobody else will. Aim at loving even the most unlovable people. God will add a church to you now, in this temporary life, if you pursue eternal life.

No Pilgrimage Cities Now

Christians have no earthly place of pilgrimage. We hold no city in the world as dear. Not even Jerusalem is our aim. Jesus affirmed this truth with a Samaritan woman who believed that the correct place of worship was Samaria.

‘Sir,’ the woman said, ‘… Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’ ‘Woman,’ Jesus replied, ‘believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem… a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth…’ (John 4:19-23)

The time has come. You can now worship God from any location if you worship in spirit and in truth.

Muslims must do haj to Mecca. Catholics perform pilgrimage to Rome. Buddhists visit eight holy sites in northeastern India-Tibet. Hindus have four temples. If they visit all four, they achieve “salvation.” The Crusaders thought that the conquest of Jerusalem was God’s will, so they attacked it militarily. All these groups are and were wrong.

An Obsolete Covenant

God commanded the Jews under the Old Covenant to make the Temple in Jerusalem their place of pilgrimage. Priests actively performed the sacrifices and worship service to God in the Temple there until the Romans destroyed it in 70 AD. God allowed the destruction of the Temple for one primary reason: A New Covenant has been established. The Old had become obsolete. After Jesus had become established as High Priest in Heaven, the Temple ministry became ineffective for salvation.

The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah… This is the Covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts…  By calling this Covenant ‘New,’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear (Hebrews 8:8, 10, 13).

Although God chose to put his name in the earthly Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:36), now we know that God’s many promises to establish Jerusalem as the city in which he would put his name forever actually referred to the New Jerusalem.

In this Temple and in Jerusalem… I will put my name forever (2 Kings 21:7).

God’s promises pointed students of Scripture to the earthly Jerusalem temporarily. The earthly Jerusalem represented something greater, something eternal: the New Jerusalem in Heaven.

… he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel (Revelation 21:10-11).

Aiming Towards New Jerusalem

Like Abraham, our goal is to dwell within the walls of the New Jerusalem. The Bible says that ‘he was looking’ for it and so must we. But how exactly do we look for the city New Jerusalem? Obviously, we don’t need to seek it like the Greeks sought Atlantis or the conquistadors sought El Dorado. It’s not a hidden city. It’s not among the cities of this Earth right now. You can’t travel to it like you would travel to Tokyo, London, New York, Rio de Janeiro, or Dubai.

By faith he [Abraham] lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11:9-10; NASB).

If you are seeking out the New Jerusalem, it because your lifestyle in the here and now is that of a foreigner. You see your house as a tent, a temporary shelter. And you’re attempting to qualify as a legal resident of the New Jerusalem. For you, faith in Christ is your application for legal citizenship in the Kingdom. By baptism, you have presented yourself as a candidate to immigrate into his Kingdom.

Disqualified

The requirements for entry into the New Jerusalem are given to us in the Bible: You must be victorious against temptation and you must be pure. Those who do what is shameful or deceitful will be disqualified. Your name must be written in the Book of Life.

Those who are victorious will inherit all this… Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 21:7, 27).

Certain people will never enter the New Jerusalem. Among them are people who are sexually immoral and liars. No idolaters will enter the New Jerusalem. Also, cowards and people involved in witchcraft will not enter.

… the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur (Revelation 21:8).

Registered in Heaven

The Church is that group of people who are on a pilgrimage to the New Jerusalem. Can you see that now? New Jerusalem is our destiny. Together we are heading to that city the same way Christian and his companions headed towards the Celestial City in the famous book Pilgrim’s Progress.

New Jerusalem will come to Earth, but for now it is in Heaven. That’s why it’s called ‘the Jerusalem that is above.’ When the hope of dwelling in it takes hold of our hearts, we are born again—and New Jerusalem becomes our mother.

… the present city of Jerusalem… is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother (Galatians 4:25-26).

The true Church is not what you see here on Earth meeting together every Sunday. There are still tares among the wheat, false brethren. God knows who are his, and he has the exact number of Redeemed who belong to his assembly enrolled in Heaven. By faith, that assembly is what you come to be part of when you come to Christ. You become on of this massive group of people who are registered in the Kingdom of Heaven. God calls his assembly the ‘Church of the Firstborn.’ Are you a member of that Church?

… you have come to Mount Zion and to the City of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn who are registered in Heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect (Hebrews 12:22-23; NKJV).