Righting the Ship of God

            Over the last few months, I have noticed every time I get on Facebook (which is usually once a day for just a few minutes to check for any messages), I see entries from several pastors I know that are sharing in various ways how the Church, universal and local, has failed. This is provided in order to give pastors, specifically, formulas by which we can rectify the mistakes that our churches are making, so that, in the future, with these changes, our churches can flourish and grow. Some of these insights are seemingly valid while others are more market driven and, thus, have more of a business, rather than a ministry, foundation to their analysis. The sense with all of their insights is that the Church is broken and it desperately needs fixing.

            I would agree heartedly with the last statement, but not with the basis upon which it is made. I remember years ago having a rather heated discussion with a former member of a church I pastored who believed that it was wrong that Christians should consider the perspective of unbelievers when examining ourselves for defects. He was adamant about this point that unbelievers have no place to judge Christians as to what is righteous and unrighteous because unbelievers cannot discern biblically between good and evil (rf. I Cor. 2:14; 6:1-4). I had made the statement to him at that time that unbelievers could have a clearer perspective of what we should be as Christians because, without the burden of man-made traditions and the blindness of our own created Christian subculture and language, unbelievers often have a better picture of Jesus than we do. Though some of the latter sentence is still true, I have come to realize that, in fact, my former friend was actually correct in his spiritual assessment of unbelievers. What unbelievers may know about Jesus does not even compare to the reality that followers of Christ experience, if, indeed, salvation in Jesus has been grasped. However, this still does not get Christians off the hook as to their brokenness and need for repair within the Church.

            This repair work should not come by virtue of new programs, ideas, and agendas borne out of denominational headquarters or the latest Christian magazines. The problem is not that we as believers have run afoul of the most recent trend in the business or marketing world and need to get “back on track” so that our numbers can regain their place at the top of the heap. When will we learn that we are not in competition with the world or with each other! Evangelism is not about who gets the most converts or who has the biggest church on the block or in town. Do we not realize that before the advent of Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, there was no such animal as the megachurch? Even the great cathedrals of Europe don’t qualify because these were built to be the parish church for an entire small kingdom where that church was literally the “only game in town”. The answer to our problem has nothing to do with strategies, plans, or adjustments we make to the everchanging tastes of our culture. No, our problems are spiritual in nature. Like Israel of old, specifically the Old Testament, we have gone a’whoring after other gods (rf. Hos. 2:1-7).

            This may sound harsh, and, no doubt, politically incorrect, but it is true. The Church in America has become a harlot. She is sleeping with the American culture and has no conscience about doing so. She participates in sin, iniquity and transgression without the slightest hint of regret. She upholds adultery, premarital sex, sensuality, immodesty, with the allowance of homosexuality, pornography, sexual, physical and emotional abuse, along with many other reprehensible acts, all under the banner of privacy. Then, she encourages her followers of Christ to glorify God in ways that magnify, not Him, but self, through words and actions that place the emphasis on the individual’s life as central to all things, rather than on the Lord, “to Him be glory, both now and forever, Amen” (rf. II Pet. 3:18).

            It is because of our unfaithfulness to the Lord that great enemies have arisen, enemies of unparalleled ferocity. Their hearts are full of evil and destruction. The Lord has brought them forth to be our discipline, I believe. They will not be defeated by military might or prowess. These enemies view our Christianity as a loathsome scourge, a reprehensible plight, destined to be wiped from the earth because it is a pollutant in their eyes. The fact that our lives have displayed a very healthy inconsistency as compared to the teachings of Scripture has not helped to remove these perceptions. In fact, the American Church has only enhanced their views by our insipid exhibition of what we have believed Christianity to be, divided, powerless, and materialistic, if judged primarily by what is seen on television.

            How can we right this ship? As Zech. 4:6 clearly states, ‘“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” It sounds very simple, but to do so requires total and complete submission to the power of the Holy Spirit. We must live our lives consistently in obedience to God’s Word, following the example of Jesus in how we operate each day. When we do this, we find the strength to overcome the temptations that would lead us to sin. Our lives would display holiness, instead of hypocrisy. Our witness would be powerful because it would be set in contrast to the world around us, not be in constant compliance to it. This is how the Church should be seen, different from the world because of its purity and the love of Christ that dwells within it.

            If His people would be so committed personally to live this way, the Lord would rejoice to receive His Church once again to Himself, cleansing her from her previous sins, even as Hosea was commanded to receive his wife as such a symbol of forgiveness (rf. Hos. 3:1-5). This may not mean a cessation of hate in the hearts of the enemies of the Cross. At least, though, it would mean that God’s people, by being cleansed and closer to God in faith and prayer, would be a greater force with which to be reckoned than they are at present, since we are pitifully broken in our sin, iniquity and separateness from Him.

Contra Mundum

Contra Mundum. This is a Latin phrase that means, “against the world”. It has all kinds of applications, especially for the Christian. We are commanded by Scripture not to “love the world, nor the things of the world” (I Jn. 2:15), because the world system, the culture, operates contrary to the ways of God. Yet, in so many aspects, the Christian church of today has chosen to follow the same path as that the unbelieving world to which we have been called to bear witness of Christ. This idea of contra mundum was so prevalent with the Apostles and the early Church that they saw themselves as being outsiders looking in at the culture around them, never fitting in nor ever having a desire to do so. So strong was this knowledge that they wanted God’s people to understand two important facts. First of all, they would be outcasts to their pagan culture (I Jn. 3:13). Secondly, because of which, the Apostles encouraged fellow brethren never to seek to join in with what the world was doing because it would only lead them away from God (Jas. 4:4). Think of the impact such teaching would have on present-day believers if they applied it en masse!

Take, for instance, the Scriptural principle that God uses the small and insignificant to accomplish His great work. How many times throughout the Bible does He Himself display this example for His people to see and learn! He starts out with only two people, a man and a woman, and populates a planet (Gen. 1:27-28). He chooses one reluctant man from one of the smallest tribes in Israel to lead only 300 soldiers to defeat an overwhelming Midianite army (Judg. 7). Jesus, His Son, is prophesied to be born in one of the smallest villages in Judah, Bethlehem, a seemingly insignificant dot on the map, though in times past it was known as “the city of David” because it was the birthplace of Israel’s greatest king (Mic. 5:2). Jesus Himself said that if any of His followers possessed faith the size of the smallest of the seeds of that region’s plants, the mustard tree, they could “move mountains” (Mt. 17:20). According to the Apostle Paul, God, willfully determines to do His mighty works using the small and noticeably unimportant (I Cor. 1:18-31).

Yet, modern Christianity, especially as practiced here in America, has both forgotten and neglected this truth. We have purposefully put aside the fact that God Himself established “the day of small things” (Zch. 4:10). We have become thoroughly and totally consumed in the American success and business model of “bigger is better”. Because of this, we remove from our lives the prospect of obeying God’s command to “walk (live) by faith” (II Cor. 5:7). In our pursuit of greater and grander things, jobs, experiences, we forget that God does not want us to look for the huge nor to depend on the expansive nor to find our excitement in the stimulating encounters that grab our attention. Rather, in the “walk(ing) by faith”, He is found in the “still small voice” (I Kgs. 19:12), “not in the wind” or “in the earthquake” or “in the fire” (I Kgs. 19:11-12). We must make sure that our lives are framed in such a way that we are living so that our dependence and trust is completely in Him and not on ourselves, our circumstances, our resources, our possessions, our loved ones, nothing that belongs to this world. We should also not look to the grand and glorious to capture our attention and allegiance, whether this is in the world, the culture or in the church. God, in all of His splendor and majesty, should be all of the magnificence we should ever require. If we truly trust and believe in Him solely and devotedly, He will operate on our behalf in ways that will undoubtedly blow our minds.

So, the challenge is before us. God calls us as the followers of Christ to live in consistency that exhibits complete faith and trust in Him in all things, not just the spiritual dynamic. In our jobs, work and play, we are to show that Jesus is preeminent, first and foremost, in our priorities. If we do and are obedient to His teachings, we will most assuredly be portraying ourselves as He desires, contra mundum, “against the world”. 

Part of the Body, the Whole

         Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near (Heb. 10:23-25, New American Standard Version).

            According the Apostle Paul, the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ is one body, made up of many members (Rom. 12:5). Because of this relationship, we are interconnected with each other. Unlike the kind of theology that we have been taught over the past fifty to one hundred years, especially here in America, the Bible clearly shares that individualism is not the primary goal of salvation. Though we are saved individually, one will note that the following text from which we typically gain this insight actually reveals a plural emphasis intended in this experience.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is

the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (Eph. 2:8-10, New American Standard Version).

            The reality in the Greek from which this text was translated shows that all of the pronouns used in this passage are plural in nature. Not one of them is singular. Even the “you” in the first of the verses (vs. 28) is plural, referring to all of those who have experienced salvation in Christ. This puts a different spin on our understanding of this text, especially, if we have grown up grasping this from a purely individualistic point of view!

            Now, how does all of this apply to our introductory passage? We were not saved by the Lord in His mercy only to go about this life as “Lone Rangers” in the Christian faith. Yet, far too many professing Christians believe they do not need the Church or the local church or “organized religion” in order to continue in the faith. In this, the writer of Hebrews states plainly that they are wrong and are in danger of great judgment when Jesus returns to render His due to all at His final coming (i.e. “the day”). You see, the writer of Hebrews in this passage states that there are things as Jesus followers for which we are responsible to do:

1.     Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.

2.     Stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

One cannot fulfill these requirements if one is staying home watching TV ministries in place of going to church on a regular basis. Obviously, what I just said does not apply to those who are bound to home by sickness or the caregiving of a loved one or having to work from time to time because one’s job necessitates absence from church. The Lord knows that these things crop up and your heart would rather be at church than away from it. The writer of Hebrews, however, is addressing those who purposefully choose to remove themselves from the church fellowship and who give excuses for being absent from the body. These are the ones who believe that they are individually strong enough to exist separate from the body of Christ, have no need for further strengthening or spiritual growth or mutual encouragement from others. Some say that they see no Biblical requirement for church membership; therefore, there is no need to be a part of a local body of believers. What they fail to understand is that the local fellowship is a microcosm of the larger body of Christ. If Jesus calls us into membership of the greater body, we are to purposefully seek to be members of the lesser body (again, Rom. 12:5).

            I encourage us all to review where our hearts are in regards to our attendance to the local fellowship. Are we being faithful to the Lord as shown by being in His house to worship Him regularly? Or have we been one of those to whom the writer of Hebrews is referring? If it is the latter of the two, we can always go to the Lord in repentance and begin anew, committing ourselves once more to rejoining ourselves with His people in service, worship, and in spiritual growth.