This may not come as a surprise to many Christians, however, the truth that seems to be coming to my mind again and again is that it is all about Jesus.

In my own life just now I am studying ecclesiology, I’m looking at how the church is today and comparing it with scripture, the early church and the various expressions of the church throughout church history. Yet, if the truth be told, very little of what we do in church is centred on the revelation of Jesus Christ… So much of what we build upon our conversion to Christ seems to eclipse the tremendous revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this passage in 1 Corinthians

1 Cor 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

 16Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

and this one

Heb 12:25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

 28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our “God is a consuming fire.”

I believe that the Lord is currently shaking up our individual lives as Christians, he is shaking up our nations and he is shaking up our congregations.

Have you felt this shaking in your own life, church, and nation?

Part of the reason for this  is that everything that ‘can be shaken’ (everything that is not rooted in or does not grow out of Christ within us) will be shaken. That is, the storm are coming and if we are not built upon the rock our house will fall.

Matt 5:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Many houses are falling today. Ministers are falling into sin, denominations are struggling to survive, Christians are struggling to hold on to hope. The econonomy is full of uncertainty, people are living in fear, and illness continues to strike loved ones friends and family. The list is endless.

Jesus assured us that the storms would come. Are you in a period of shaking? I know I am. Allow the Lord to cut off everything that is not of Him in order that everything that is of him can come forth. The Lord is renovating his house and he is pruning his branches in order that he may have a people for his own glory.