Week four of One Ekklesia bible study was anther powerful week. Although we only covered two pages of the book, they were potent pages.
We looked at a very profound section of scripture which took place during Jesus’ last hours with his disciples: the Gospel of John Chapters 13 through 17. We discovered that during this time of his last supper, Jesus gave his disciples his new commandment:
“Love one another as I have loved you.” John 13:34 and 15:12
One person in our study group commented that she had never realized he gave that commandment during the last supper.
Jesus then demonstrated how to carry this out by washing the disciples’ feet (John Chapter 13). He also explained that he was going to leave them (through his crucifixion and death) but that he would soon return to abide in them by the Spirit (John Chapter 14).
On page 17 the book states:
“Thus they (believers) would dwell in Him (Jesus) and the Father. This is another unveiling of the assembly: It is a group of people with Jesus living in them to constantly help them from within. Now, simultaneously, they would be living in the very fellowship the Father and Son together enjoy, in the Father’s house!”
We then witnessed in John 15 Jesus’ continuing revelation of how this works in His example that He is the vine and we are the branches.
In John chapter 16 we touched again on the Spirit of Truth which would guide the assembly into all Truth. And finally, we considered Jesus’ prayer that we would be one in John chapter 17.
But a large chunk of our time was set aside for discussion of the weighty topics we have covered in our first four weeks together, and it was not without Holy moments. One such moment was when someone said, “I am beginning to question everything I’ve thought about church.”
We are discovering that the meaning of words is so very important (and I’m reminded again that William Tyndale died for this!). There was considerable concern over the author’s use of the word “Democratic Assembly” to convey what Jesus said He would build, “I will build my Ekklesia…” (Democratic Assembly) Matthew 16:18.
The etymology of the word democracy comes from two Greek words “demos” meaning people and “kratos” meaning rule. When put together the term means “rule of the people”.
This is exactly what the Greek’s were practicing with their word “Ekklesia”, which again, is the word Jesus chose. (We must continually remember that Jesus Christ is the head of his Ekklesia and the Ekklesia is His body. The only thing that sets Jesus’ Ekklesia apart is that it is His! i.e. 1 Peter 2:9 “You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation. God’s very own possession.”
It is interesting how the meaning of words change over time. Another example of how words change over time within a culture is the word “rainbow”.
God has been so good to lead us through another week!