Horizontal Dimensions Of The Church

The Horizontal Dimensions of the Church is the side to side relationship and how we are connected to one another as fellow Christians and according to Mueller, “unless we belong to him and believe in him, we are not part of the church.” (p. 233) we might be Christians, however without the horizontal we will not be the church or be able to carry out the tasks placed before us by God. The Vertical Dimensions of the Church is the up and down relationship between the Church and God and according to Mueller, “unless we belong to him, and believe in him, we are not part of the church.” (p. 233) in other words without the vertical relationship, the church becomes a social club or organization. These two dimensions are important in our understanding …show more content…
It is the spiritual realm where God rules by his grace and love considering that it is HIS greatest desire for human beings to hear the Gospel and come to faith; while the Left Hand Rule of God or Left Hand Kingdom is for the whole world and not just for Christians in other words he rules over all creations. Through this rule, God rules over the world, oversees it, and provides for it by law. He also guides, directs, and keeps order in the world while providing order through various means. We can relate to the two kingdoms as the Right Hand being the Church and the Left Hand is the State because God is concerned with both physical and spiritual matters and as Christians we live in the church as a family of God worshipping and honoring him through our good works to others. According to Mueller, God works in both kingdoms because we live in both kingdoms and “we receive his blessings in the church, but we also are under his care and his rule in the world…” (p. 248) There may be misunderstandings because some people believe that it’s the church role to make the state religious or to make the church Christian which is not necessarily true and an understanding of the roles and works of the Church and State plays in our lives will help Christians to understand their place in the world. The proper role and work of the Church is spiritual matters, to …show more content…
God has called us to do productive work through our service in a particular way and according to Mueller, “our vocations put us in contact with many people.” (p. 252) It is imperative to understand that our calling can change from time to time leading to us having more than one calling where we can serve others at any season in our lives. Therefore, Vocation of Relationships is a calling in our lives where we can live out our Christian faith and be a blessing to others. It could be as a Parent, as a Husband, Wife, Child, Sister, Brother, etc. God calls us first to be a Child to our parents; to honor, obey, love, and forgive them which is a very important calling. According to Mueller, Children “are called to serve them in Christian love and to be a blessing to their parents.” (p. 253) However, Vocation of Relationships starts with the Institution of Marriage which is the first human relationship established by God as the society’s cornerstone to serve as a blessing to us. It can be fulfilled by couples loving, and bringing joy and happiness to each other just as God had instituted it to be. Couples can enjoy a long lasting marriage filled with joy and gladness with God’s grace. Mueller explains that modeling of forgiveness and faith to Children leads to the joy of knowing that the children will become believers and children of God. (pp. 252-253) This means that Parents