Recently, members of a Baptist Church came to our door, the
man asked me if I was saved. My answer was an emphatic, yes! He then asked if I
was sure, to which I replied, “I am absolutely certain.” He asked what Church I
attended, and I told him that presently I don’t go to Church. My reason is, “it
matters more for me to be invested in Jesus than to be invested in a Church. My
purpose in all that I do has to be to elevate Christ as Lord. I try to imagine
the community of believers in early times;
They were continually devoting themselves to
the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to
prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were
taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together
and had all things in common; and they began selling their
property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have
need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and
sincerity of heart…[1]
That picture is idealistic, yet, as you follow believers in
the expansion of Christianity, the idea of community was always present. There
were believers spread throughout the world, yet all were connected by a bond of
faith. Jesus was their Lord and King. It is sad, that today believers are
assessed and categorized by what Church they attend. We no longer recognize
believers as children of God, unless they come to our Church, and follow our
rules. “For the one who
sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason
Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters…”[2] I came across a paper from which I
have taken the following quote;
I do not attend church, except when asked to lead a service or conduct a
funeral or wedding. The only way my current faith could be considered (kinda
sorta) orthodox would be if Webster’s Dictionary totally revamped its
definition of the word. Much of what the institution does and stands for seems
inconsequential, petty and, at times, unconscionably insensitive (gays again,
and others). And yet, at its heart, the church is people, good, solid people
who are trying to find their way in a world that often makes little or no sense
to them. I wish them the very best in their journey.
I doubt that I will ever be an active part of the institutional church
again. But I remain open. My hope is that its walls will disappear, that its
pew-lined sanctuaries will be replaced by the sanctuary of the world. That is
where I live, where most people live; that is where so many of us question and
search and wonder and hope and struggle; that is where we try to celebrate
Something larger than ourselves, Something we glimpse in each other; Something
that we feel in the spaces between us; Something alive where the walls come
down. I would gladly come home to that church curl up in its pew and rest.[3]
I imagine the ideal situation would be, that when a disciple
of Jesus meets someone who also claims to be a believer, they would be united
in a bond of faith. The same though was expressed in an article dedicated to the
Memory of Thomas Campbell speaking of the Church;
Its bond of unity was the personal
allegiance of its members to the personal Christ as Saviour and Lord. Their
common faith was faith in him. Their common love was love for him. Their common
hope was hope in him. Their common baptism was baptism in his name. Their
unity--the unity of the Spirit--was in him. Their union with each other was the
direct result of their union with him.[4]
Paraphrased; the bond of unity was a personal allegiance to
the personal Christ as Saviour and Lord. That to me is the key of unity. A
personal relationship with God through Christ, is the most essential
relationship we need to develop. The prophet Jeremiah indicates God purpose to
enact a new covenant tied to individuals rather than to a nation.
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like
the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was
their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within
them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. "for they shall all know me, from the least of them to
the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their
sin no more.[5]
Jeremiah’s prophecy indicated the personal connection to
God’s new covenant. It would not be like the covenant given on Mount Sinai
which was based on compliance and obedience. The new covenant would be founded
on God’s grace.
You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and
how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if
you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession
out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for
me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall
speak to the Israelites."[6]
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts
of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were
not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.[7]
The first covenant according to scripture was faulty, the
new covenant enacted by God through Jesus is a gift of God’s love. Under the
first covenant, God’s presences was in the inner sanctum of the tabernacle, and
later the temple. But, in the new covenant God’s presence would in the hearts
of believers. “I will put my
law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people. for they shall all know me, from the least of them
to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember
their sin no more.”
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God
dwells in you?[8]
Some suggest this reference applies to the Church, but I
believe it fits better with the prophecy of God’s new covenant being in the
hearts of believers. According to the prophecy and reading its fulfillment in
the Hebrew letter, God’s covenant is personal and individual. Some institutions
have mistakenly taken personal obligations as group functions, which I believe
must be avoided. Jesus is Lord of our lives, he has said that our lives must
reflect his life and God’s love. Our duty as his disciples is to reflect the
grace and love of God as seen in Jesus his Son. Church is a place of
encouragement to elevate Jesus in our lives. It is a community and fellowship
of faith. Church isn’t to be an entity itself, it is a gathering of believers
being recharged to go back into the dark to shine as lights for God.
The first covenant God made with Israel was national, the
temple was built in the holy city of Jerusalem. Sacrifices were made for
atonement and thanksgiving. The new covenant was ratified by the blood of
Jesus, sacrificed on the cross. The new covenant was to be personal, not
national, and justification would be through faith. “…we know that a person is justified not by the
works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe
in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by
doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the
law.”[9] The better and more accurate
translation of “the law” is simply “law”. If attending Church services becomes an
imperative, to that person it has become a burden not a blessing. If
contributing money to a Church substitutes for loving your neighbour, it has
become a ritual and has no spiritual value. Believers must not think of the
Church as being comparable to the temple, the temple was destroyed, and God’s
presence was removed; God dwells in your heart. As someone wrote, “If a temple
is to be erected, a temple must be destroyed.”[10] We
all must keep in mind that Christ saves, and the Church supports.
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In
the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers
seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the
temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the
money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the
doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a
marketplace!"[11]
Jesus was passionate about the temple –the house of God. He
was incensed to see it reduced to a Centre of commerce. The reverence for God’s
house, and the zeal with which Jesus purged the temple of commercial
transactions took place under the first covenant. Under the new covenant,
believers are the temples in which the Spirit of God resides. Prepared and made
ready by Jesus, “…you were
washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”[12] My relationship with God is, a child to my father. Also, I am a citizen of God’s kingdom. I am a
member of the body of Christ. I am a temple of the Spirit of God. All of these
facets of my relationship with God are personal. They are privileges under the
new covenant.
…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the
life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me.[13]
[1]
Act 2:42-46
[2]
Heb 2:11
[3]
Why Don't
I Go to Church? David B Seaburn Ph.D., L.M.F.T. Psychology Today
[4]
CHRISTIAN UNION: A Historical Study. J. H. Garrison, LL.D. (1906)
[5]
Jer 31:31-34
[6]
Exo 19:4-6
[7]
1Pe 2:9,10
[8]
1Co 3:16
[9]
Gal 2:16
[10]
Friedrich Nietzsche. Essay 2, Section 24.
[11]
Joh 2:13-16
[12]
1Co 6:11
[13]
Gal 2:20
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