June 26, 2008
Mistakes
The
church as the body of Christ is a unique organism. It is visible and invisible
at the same time. The church appears visibly in various denominations and groups
but is actually at the same time invisibly made up of all true believers
world-wide. The visible church contains parts of the invisible, but also many
who claim the name Christian but who are not.
The
church does the work of Christ and acts as His ambassadors yet is far from
perfect. The church has a perfect head in Christ but because it is made up of
flawed people is far from perfect in carrying out His plans. Many things have
been done in the name of God that were never God ordained. We need to look no
further than many forms of racism, sexism, anti-Semitism and the Crusades to
find examples.
Yet
despite her imperfections Jesus chose the church to be His representative. From
a human perspective I sometimes question the wisdom of Him doing so (although I
am delighted to be in His service) but I know He is God and He makes no mistakes
even when His church does blunder.
I
want to look at a couple of mistakes the church has made. Understand please that
I love Christ's church, both the visible and invisible, imperfections and all.
The
early church was growing quickly and transforming the world around them.
Acts
2:42-44 NET
They were devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Reverential awe came over everyone, and
many wonders and miraculous signs came about by the apostles. All who believed
were together and held everything in common, and they began selling their
property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone
had need. Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the
temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad
and humble hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And
the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.
It
wasn't very many years later that someone had the great idea of building a
public gathering place so that more people could gather at a time rather than
the small groups in people's houses. It was a great idea and in many ways has
served the church well.
At
the same time however, it was a mistake. You see in the minds of many outside
the faith and even believers, the building became the church. We "go
to" church. We "meet at" the church. We have this idea that a
group that doesn't have their own building must be somehow suspect.
We
have forgotten that we are the church. A building is just a building. No
building is ever going to be raptured up to be with the Lord. All buildings,
even the most marvelous and magnificent of cathedrals, are going to be burnt up
in due course.
I'm
not against church buildings. I think they are a wonderful thing. I think we
often invest way too much time and money on them when it could be better spent
on other things. I think we sometimes worship the building which is clearly
idolatry. Yet, when used properly, maintained modestly and kept in the right
perspective they are a good thing.
Now,
on to mistake number two. In the days of the early church, God made it clear to
people that they were given spiritual gifts.
Ephesians
4:11-12 NET
It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists,
and some as pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry,
that is, to build up the body of Christ,
In
recognizing those gifts and callings the church allowed certain people to rise
up and fill those roles. That makes sense. The problem is that over the years we
have become so entrenched in someone else filling those spots that we forgot
that we are also to do those things.
We
expect the pastor to provide the "pastoral" care yet we are called to
care for each other. We expect the evangelist to share the gospel but we forget
that the great commission is for all of us.
There
is nothing wrong with having (and paying) people to fill these roles. However we
must also rediscover the fact that each of us bears some responsibility in these
areas and that while some are gifted more particularly than others we all have a
role to play in getting those things done.
I
could carry on and talk about worship/music teams that are so professional that
it is awe inspiring that at they same time have killed the place of all people
making a joyful noise unto the Lord. I could speak of formalized children's
programs that have allowed us to relegate care and teaching of our children to a
few. I could go on and on.
There
is nothing inherently bad with church buildings, professional pastors and
evangelists, great church music or kid's programs. The mistake occurs when we
think that is all there is.
You
and I are the church. We have roles to play. We have a part in each area of
ministry. Let's use the tools God had given us and revolutionize the church.
God
is calling His church to renewal, revival and expansion. All of those things
start in our own hearts. They don't come from bigger and better buildings, more
articulate pastors, bigger evangelism campaigns, a better "show" at
worship or more programs. Let's not make the mistake of maintaining the status
quo.
The
renewal, revival and expansion of God's kingdom comes one heart at a time, one
decision at a time and one act of love at a time. It starts with you and me
standing in the gaps and doing the things God told us to do.
Will
you stand with me?
Darrel
Mason