[On May 31st, “deaconandusher” left an interesting comment to my post entitled Stability. The remarks resonated with me, and provoked these thoughts in response.]
Dear deaconandusher,
Thank you for your comments. I understand and appreciate your views and I want to affirm you in many of them. I sense a tangible hurt and anger in your words; I recognize those feelings because I too have experienced them. Much of the enterprise that passes for church today—including the charlatans and hirelings leading it—is deeply heartrending. But that is no reason for abandoning the Church. The Church is God’s idea; it exists for His glory, and is intended to mirror His divine image in the earth today. Like all of the gifts of God, it is administered through the agency of human beings, and unfortunately, like all things of humanity, it frequently falls far from perfect.
I make a distinction between the visible church—the institutions of brick and mortar with the people and leaders within, called or not—and the invisible church, made up of the elect of God, called according to His purpose and destined for final glory. You err if you think me an apologist for the institutional (visible) church, and I erred if I left you with the impression that our only recourse of worship is to be found in an institutional church. My aim was not to magnify the institutional church, but to highlight our tendency to find fault in everybody and every thing other than ourselves. At the end of the day, people drift between churches because everything is about them—about what they like, what they want, what they need. It has little to do with the church itself. Instead, these church migrants are not willing to surrender anything so that another may be blessed; they refuse to tolerate anything that does not satisfy their own desires. They balk at what genuine Christianity demands—the death of one’s own life, necessitating the death of one’s own wants, needs and preferences. The genuine Christian is one raised with Christ to live a new life for others—without thought of self. However, these church-(s)hoppers won’t surrender themselves. Sadly, after wandering from church to church, many ultimately end up alone, rehearsing a litany of complaints against the church to any who are unfortunate enough to have to listen. I fear that one day they will hear the voice of Christ, even as Saul heard it—questioning them with the words, “Why are you persecuting me?” If and when that moment comes, I pray God will have mercy on their souls.
No matter how corrupt the institutional church may become, we as Christians will never be exempted from the journey of Christian discipleship walked out in submission and in community, in the Church. That does not mean you are confined to the local mega-church, or even the small church down the lane that can be equally as corrupt or misguided. In fact, I would agree with you, Deacon Usher, that the time may well be coming when the last place any true disciple of Christ should find themselves is in an institutional church! Thank God, though, I am persuaded that we are not at that point just yet. So for now we must continue to seek out community, for genuine Christian discipleship will not result from sitting by one’s self in front of the TV or the computer!
Concomitant with a disciple’s need of community is their need of submission. We delude ourselves if we think Christianity an egalitarian democracy, where we shepherd ourselves and have neither need nor use of ministers. The form in which we worship these days may move away from the institutional church toward small(er) home-groups or house-churches. Yet even there we will require pastors and teachers, prophets and evangelists. We in the body of Christ need to submit to their ministries, even as we submit to one another in love and mutual edification.
Stop and think for a moment, Deacon Usher, on the many times throughout history when the church has been corrupt and rotten. Yet through it all, God never abandoned His plan to be glorified in His people, the Church. Time and again, God raised up men and women to go and rebuild His church—not “push it into the landfill.” He has never given up on the Church and neither should we.
I wish I could console you in the anguish you feel about the horrible things that men have done to the body of Christ, the Church. They crucified Him when He walked the land, so is it any surprise that they pollute His body today? But be of good cheer—He overcame the world, and He will overcome the mess men are making of the church today. The day is coming when His Church will be seen as His spotless Bride—when the fetid dross of human corruption is removed by a total infusion of the Holy Spirit—and the Church is revealed in the stature of the fullness of Christ. Until that day, we must look upon her with the eyes of faith, and humbly stay in faith.
Given the perverse condition of many institutional churches, we must be sure we are in the place God intends for us. This demands that we take the time to discern God’s calling. He may have me in an established church with a congregation of 1,000; he may have you in a home church of 15. Our task is not to look at each other in judgment, but to look at God in faith where we are.
I don’t know if these thoughts will mitigate the pain and anger you feel, but I pray that you will find a place of peace in your walk with God. Thank you again for reading and commenting.
