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Are Nigerian Churches "ELITIST"?



"Seek First" is a platform inspired from Matthew 6:33 where we are encouraged to Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, live righteously, and everything we need will be given to us.

Our objective is to show you the practicality of this verse and hopefully inspire you to seek Him first daily. We use the S.O.A.P model as a study guide to help fulfill this mandate. We pick different scriptures and try to figure out how we can apply them to our daily lives, how they relate to the Kingdom of God and how we can live righteously through them. (S)cripture (O)bservation (A)pplication (P)rayer




(S)cripture: 


James 2:1-7 (MSG) "My dear friends, don't let public opinion influence how you live out  our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, "Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house! and either ignore the street person or say, 'Better sit here in the back row', haven't you segregated Gods children and proved that you are judges who can't be trusted? Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdoms first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God. And here you are abusing these same citizens! Isn't it the high and mighty who exploit you, who use the courts to rob you blind? Aren't they the ones who scorn the new name "Christian" used in your baptisms?"


(O)bservation: 

This piece of scripture really hit home for me, because i grew up in a church that operated this way. They had special seats for the rich, the rich rose up the church hierarchy quicker than those who had been in church much longer than they had, they got the weekly home visits by pastors and were regularly prayed for.




The key line for me in that verse "...haven't you segregated Gods children and proved that you are judges who can't be trusted?...". So, in essence, if a church is operating in this way, does it not signify and prove that they cannot be trusted? Aren't they building a culture in the church that is Anti-Christ? because the next line tells us what God does "...isn't it clear by now that God operates differently? He chose the worlds down and out as the kingdoms first citizens..."

In other words, God uses the people we call foolish, the people we look down on to confound the wise. Jesus came down to earth and didn't pick kings to be His disciples, He picked the down and out...but by the time He was done with them, Acts 4:13 "They couldn't take their eyes off them - Peter and John standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! Their fascination deepened when they realized these two laymen with no training in scripture or formal education. They recognised them as companions of Jesus..."


Can you just imagine a church that truly followed not just the teachings of Jesus, but followed His actions as well? What would happen if the poor were given as much attention as the rich? If the CEO of a multinational were allowed to randomly sit beside a carpenter in church, it could possibly build a relationship that leads to a business opportunity for both people, but we stop this opportunities from happening when we segregate church, we prove that we can't truly be trusted. The church is a place of equality, not discrimination!!!



(A)pplication: 

I randomly stumbled on a video the other day about a pastor who had just bought a house from a friend was who heading out for a missions trip in a few days, so his friend decided to help him fix up the house before he left. At a point, i think he stayed up for 72hours straight just working, then the door bell rang, he went to get the door, and the person asked to use the phone which is a strange request today, but he just felt this was a divine meeting, so he started talking to this guy about Jesus and for about 2hours they just keep going back and forth...but this is the kicker for me, after they prayed together, the man then asked if he could help him with the electrical work because he was an electrician. 

Can you imagine the number of people God sends to us on a daily basis, people who have access to the opportunities we need...they don't look like it, they may not be dressed in fancy clothes, but what do you think could happen if you just took the time to treat them like you would treat Jesus. 



This is what church should look like.

If your church is currently operating in discrimination, share this post with one of the leaders in church and get their opinion on it. 

You can also be the change you want to see, when you go to church and they are trying to give you special treatment, decline it and pick a random seat yourself.




(P)rayer: 

Heavenly Father, I just pray for every church operating a system of inequality and discrimination, they are probably doing it out of ignorance...i just ask that your Truth comes to set them free in Jesus Name. I also pray for everyone reading this, in any way that we are treating people differently, help us see them the way You see them in Jesus Name. Help us not to treat our potential blessings like curses, let Your Love be our guide in all that we do in Jesus Name. Amen!!!

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