“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:20-21
Both churches and Christian groups consist of two or three gathered in Jesus' name with Him in their midst. They are gathered under his authority and for his glory, in obedience to Jesus, for the honor of Jesus. This is by His Spirit in each of them and with all of them.
Because this is true, the two or three shouldn't start a christian group or church unless it is under Jesus' authority for His glory. In other words, He is actually the one who starts the group or church. It's his group. It's his church. Any so called "by laws" should only be an exposition of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in which Jesus is Lord and Savior. Each member honors and obeys the Lord, and when any member dishonors or disobeys the Lord, that member is lovingly, gently, yet firmly confronted, first in private, then with two witnesses, finally before the group, according to Jesus' instructions. There should be only one fundamental problem that ever comes up in the group: Jesus is somehow being dishonored or disobeyed. He is Lord. And because He is also our Savior, from sin and from sinning, we can be reconciled to Him and each other whenever there is a problem, whatever the problem is. We can be forgiven and the problem forgotten as if it never happened, thanks to Jesus.
Yet in America, and amongst American Christians, it's usually not this simple. We war and fight over our individual and collective opinions. We fight about whether we are true to Calvin, Armenian, or Charlotte Mason. We want to be "Charlotte Mason Purist," allowing no deviation from Charlotte Mason, as if she died for our sins or rose from the dead.
Our allegiance is to Christ alone, and where our leaders or founders deviate from Christ, we should deviate from them. After all, Jesus is Lord. He started whatever group we're in, right?
But how do we know He started the group?
By His Spirit, as it is written, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
Let's say the Spirit leads you, the one reading my words right now, to start a group. How would you know He was leading you, and not you just coming up with a group all willy-nilly, wanting followers? Because the Spirit is not you, and you are not the Spirit. It really is that simple. No one in scripture had to question whether the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was leading someone because God Himself made it abundantly clear. In fact, that is consistent with God, from Cain to John in the Book of Revelation. God Himself honored Abel's sacrifice and dishonored Cain's. This was clear to Cain himself. God took Enoch so that Enoch didn't see death. Who else could've done that? God came to Noah, and He alone could give Noah instructions to build an ark to save his family. Who else could cause a 100 year old man and a 90 year old woman to have a child? We can go on and on. From, Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph, to Moses, to Joshua, to the judges, to the prophets, to the kings of Israel, to John the Baptist, to the Apostles and early disciples, God always made his callings known. The same is true today, because the Lord does not change. "Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
If Jesus is leading you by His Spirit to start a group or a church, to lead two or three who will gather in Jesus' name, believe me, you will know it with absolute certainly, and so will the two or three. Can you say that about any Christian group you have started or joined? Why are you part of the church or christian group that you are a member of? Can you say with certainty that God called the leader of your group as surely as He called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt?
"Well, we all can't have burning bush callings," some may say. No we can't. But we all can have the witness of the Holy Spirit, as it is written, "The Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God." It is also written, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God." We can clearly see the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit in our lives, and in the lives of those we follow. So even though we may not have a burning bush calling, we have the same Spirit that came upon Moses, Joshua, and the elders of Israel. Paul said that if we don't have the Spirit, we don't belong to Jesus. This is especially true of those we follow in churches or Christian groups; it is true of you and me if we presume to lead anyone in the Lord.
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How do we start or join a Christian Group? By following the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.
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