What do you think of when you picture a “church”?
Do you think of a tidy, white building with stained glass windows and a
steeple? Or do you think of something grander, like a cathedral? We tend to
associate “church” with a building, in a certain location. But the building
itself really has no significance. “The true church” must refer to more than a
building. Some churches don’t even have buildings. Or they have very ordinary
buildings. Our church building here, for instance, is nothing special. It
wasn’t even built as a church originally.
We can think of a church as an institution, like the
Great Commission Association of Churches (GCC) that we belong to. GCC might
sponsor big events like Faithwalkers, but it is actually a very loose
association, with individual congregations retaining a high level of autonomy.
Other “churches,” in this sense are much stronger as institutions, like the
Roman Catholic Church, which is still the largest denomination in the world.
More than a billion people accept the religious authority of the pope, who is
the revered leader of this huge, hierarchical organization. The Catholic Church
calls itself the “true church,” since it traces its origins as an institution
back to the time of the apostles. In fact, for hundreds of years, it was really
the only “church” in this sense. However, you probably know how it got off
track and became focused on its own political power rather than on the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
How do most people in South Carolina think of
“church”? Church is still very much a part of the culture here. 2014 Gallup
statistics report 42% of people in SC say that they attend church weekly. This
is 6th highest in the US. However, because this is self-reported,
this percentage is likely much higher than reality. Other studies indicate that
actual weekly attendance at any kind of religious gathering in the US as a
whole is probably about 20%. But here in the Bible belt there is still some
social pressure to be regarded as a “churched” person. People who don’t attend
regularly may still want to get married in a church as a cultural tradition.
But even among people involved in church, how many of those are real followers
of Jesus? The true church should actually confront the culture, not be an
easygoing part of it.
So is the true church a human institution or not?
The answer needs to be a qualified yes. The church is undoubtedly made up of
people, relating to each other in some sort of organized way, whether we think
of it as a group of believers meeting together under an acacia tree on an
African plain or as a large denomination with congregations and connections
around the world. The key element is actually the lordship of Jesus Christ. The
true church, whether global or local, is defined as his body, with him as the
head. He needs to be in control, and truly worshiping and serving him needs to
be the object of our relating together, otherwise the church becomes merely
some sort of human structure, as dead as an abandoned church building on the
North Dakota prairie.
Jesus didn’t specifically state how he wanted his
followers to organize themselves. In Matthew he promised his disciples that
where two or three of them would come together in his name he would be there
with them. So he clearly wanted them to gather and relate to each other.
Earlier, when Peter made his confession of Jesus being the Christ, the son of
the living God, Jesus told him that this statement would be the petra, the “bedrock” on which he would
build his church, and the gates of hell would not overcome it. So Jesus clearly
affirmed his lordship over the church. And we know that the Holy Spirit guided
the apostles after Pentecost as the believers began to grow in number and meet
together in various places and worship and pray and eat together and take care
of each other and reach out and nurture new believers and develop leaders and
all the other things that we read about in Acts.
So what went wrong? How did divisions creep in? How
did heresies get started and lead people astray? How did a large part of the
church get so off track, that by the time of Martin Luther the accepted
practice was that people had to pay money to the church to forgive their sins
and do all other kinds of good works to receive salvation? Some people realized
the dangers of equating the true church with any single human expression of it.
St Augustine, way back in the 4th century is thought of have
originated the concept of the “invisible church,” made up of all true believers
in Jesus as opposed to the church as an institution. He was opposing the
Donatists, who refused to readmit to fellowship people who denied Jesus under
persecution. The visible church would always contain both saved and unsaved
people and be prone to human error. But even as the church went astray in some
regards, God has always preserved a remnant of true followers. We have what he
told the prophet Elijah, as referenced in Romans 11:
God has not
rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture
says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed
your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they
seek my life.” But what is God's reply to him? “I
have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So
too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.—Romans 11:2-5
Elijah thought he was all alone in faithfully
following God. Perhaps Martin Luther felt quite alone in standing up to the
abuses in the church. But God has promised to preserve true faith – and indeed
it has remained for thousands of years, despite all the pressures of society to
compromise and worship some idol in place of the true God.
One of the earliest statements of Christian
doctrine, the Apostles’ Creed, affirms belief in “the holy catholic church” and
“the communion of saints.” Roman Catholics have tended to assume that they can
capitalize the word “catholic” and affirm their institution as the original and
true church. However, in this declaration the word “catholic” with a small “c”
refers to the universal church, the true reflection of the body of Christ, made
up of all the believers who have received salvation by faith in Jesus and are
set apart – sanctified – made holy – for his purposes. It recognizes that the
church crosses physical and temporal boundaries. Similarly, the communion of
saints does not mean that we should pray to deceased people designated as
saints to intercede on our behalf, but it is a reference to the fellowship that
we can have as true followers of Jesus, regardless of denomination or culture
or location. It might appear to refer to the Lord’s Supper, but it is much more
than that. It is a glimpse into the nature of the true church.
One of the things that we have to accept about the
true church is that it is always going to be bigger than we think it is –
simply because God is so much bigger than we can grasp. In an effort to avoid
error, various groups have tried to come up with a set of doctrines to create a
watertight boundary around what they have defined as the true church. I have
already mentioned how the Roman Catholic Church thinks of itself as the true
church. It used to be very blunt in this regard. For example, Pope Boniface
VIII in 1302 wrote: "We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is
absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to
the Roman Pontiff." However, since Vatican II it has softened its stance
quite a bit, accepting that non-Catholics can be saved, but that this salvation
somehow comes through the Catholic Church without the person being a part of
it. It’s a bit complicated; I won’t get into the details.
Some Baptist churches are very exclusive. Only
members of their particular group have salvation. Many cults have sprung up on
this premise: we have it all figured out, our way is the only way, and everyone
else is going to hell. But let’s remind ourselves of what the Bible says is
necessary for salvation, starting with a very familiar verse, John 3:16:
“For God
so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
What is the only basis for salvation? Faith in
Jesus. That is all it takes to be forgiven of our sins and welcomed into
heaven. We have the stunning example of the thief on the cross turning to Jesus
at the last minute in faith and Jesus assuring him that “today” he would be
with Jesus in paradise. We are saved by grace, through faith. That’s it. Of
course it has to be true faith – we have talked about that several times. If
what we say we believe has no impact on our behavior then it is not true faith.
Let’s consider another passage, from Romans 10:
“The word is
near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we
proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will
be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the
mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone
who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction
between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his
riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of
the Lord will be saved.”—Romans 10:8-13
True faith results in a true confession. The
resurrection of Jesus represents his victory over sin, death, and the Devil.
When we live in the reality of that victory, we will be able to make Jesus the
Lord of our lives and live in submission to his will. Early Jewish Christians
struggled with the cultural shift that this represented for them. Someone could
be a true follower of Jesus without being a Jew? This was a radical idea. But
it is confirmed in Galatians 3:
So in Christ Jesus
you are all children of God through faith, for all
of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There
is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.—Galatians 3:26-28
The old distinctions didn’t matter anymore. Everyone
has access to salvation through faith in Jesus. We all stand equal before God.
We are all unified into his body, with him as the head. As it says in Ephesians
1,
And he [God]
put all things under his [Jesus’] feet and gave him as head over all
things to the church, which is his body, the
fullness of him who fills all in all.—Ephesians 1:22-23
Jesus fills all in all. All of us who are a part of
his body are completely filled up by him. Therefore I can have as brothers and
sisters in Christ people who are very different from me. Faith in Jesus is our
common ground. The differences that we have in belief and practice do not
affect our standing before God. I believe that is why God has chosen to leave
certain parts of the Bible open to different interpretations: to keep us humble
and focused on the essentials. True believers differ on many points of
doctrine. Why didn’t God just make it all clearer? Just a few extra verses in
the Bible would have cleared up so many doctrinal disputes. He apparently wants
us to accept as brothers and sisters people whom we don’t agree with! Jesus
wants diversity in his body. Every person adds a unique piece and has a unique
role. No one has a corner on the truth, as they say. First Corinthians 12 reminds
us that we can’t say that one part is more important than another:
The eye
cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the
feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body
that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body
that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable
parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts
do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the
part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that
the members may have the same care for one another. If one member
suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.—1
Corinthians 12:21-26
So this doesn’t just apply here in this local
expression of the body but also to the whole body of Christ around the world,
everyone who believes in Jesus, including people who seem to us to be weaker
and less honorable and less presentable than we are. There is no room for a
sense of superiority. We need to have the same care for everyone, it says.
So then, if we can accept the essence, the utter
simplicity of what it means to be a Christian, we need to take a fresh look at
what it means to be a church. Down through the centuries there has been a
tremendous amount of cultural baggage attached to how Christians “do church.”
I’m talking here of how the local body operates. GCC should be commended for
wanting to get back to get back to a first century model of the church, without
the trappings and rituals that have complicated and distracted so many
denominations. But you have to admit that we “do church” here in a pretty
prescribed way, following the same pattern Sunday after Sunday. I’m not saying
that is necessarily a bad thing, as long as we remain flexible and open to how
God might want to change the “culture” of our church. There is always more to
learn and experience about what the Holy Spirit wants to do among us. In 1
Corinthians 9 Paul says
To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win
Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being
myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those
outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law
of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the
law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win
the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I
might save some. I do it all for the sake of the
gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.—1 Corinthians 9:20-23
This is a huge challenge for all us, but it is what
incarnational ministry is all about. Paul didn’t say, “Come, be like me. You
will need to adapt to my religious culture.” He became like the people that he
was trying to reach. I don’t really know what this might mean for us as a
church. It would be good to talk more about it. The church as a whole is
becoming more and more culturally irrelevant in America. Maybe we don’t see
this quite so much here in the Bible belt, but it is certainly true elsewhere
in the country. It doesn’t work anymore to stick up a sign out in front that
says, “Come Join Us for Church.” Too many people have no idea really what
church is, or they have such a false impression that they won’t even consider
“giving it a try.” Christians in general have to take up this challenge from
Paul to “become all things to all people.” We need to start from where they
are, rather than from where we are.
This is an approach that is spreading organically
among Muslims. There is a tremendous cultural barrier for a Muslim to become a
Christian. Many Muslims in the world think of America as a Christian country.
And they look at our moral decay and hypocrisy and want nothing to do with
being a Christian. But even as a Muslim, they can still be attracted to Jesus,
or Isa, as he is called in the Koran. Many have become willing to study what
Jesus said about himself in the Injil (the Gospels) and pray in the name of Isa
to approach Allah. Isa has met them with his joy and peace and healing and
provision in various ways. Some have experienced amazing miracles. Gradually
they learn more and more about Isa and discern through his word the changes
that he desires in their lives. They might refer to themselves as “Muslim
followers of Isa.” And at some point when they are willing (or perhaps forced
by circumstances) to confess Isa as Lord they may experience intense and
perhaps fatal persecution. But perhaps by then others in their community may
have already seen how their lives have been transformed by the power of Holy
Spirit and they will want the same for themselves. No one knows what the exact
statistics are, but there are reports of thousands of Muslims coming to faith
in Isa in this way, perhaps as many as 200,000 in the last 20 years. There are
reports of similar “insider movements” among Hindus and Buddhists as well. I
wonder if this is what Jesus was referring to when he said in John 10:16:
And I
have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also,
and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one
flock, one shepherd.
What is the true church? Only God knows. He is the
only one worthy and able to judge. I am continually surprised by each new
expression of the body of Christ that I experience in my travels. I have been
blessed to worship with very poor people with a very simple faith. They are
just hanging on to Jesus, because they don’t have much else. We were in a
church in Kathmandu on one Christmas Day when a woman came in who was clearly
demon possessed. Believers prayed with her until she was delivered, and she
went back to her village – where a church was planted because of her testimony.
I was in a church in India recently where in some ways the setting was out of
19th century Germany, where the original missionaries were from. The
congregation sang from a translated liturgy, led by a priest dressed in a
vestment that was clearly not designed in India. But then for a few songs they
brought out their drums and traditional music, and the whole place came alive
and everyone started dancing. Cultural forms are so important in allowing
people to worship from their hearts.
One time we went with friends in southern England
to their village church. They pointed out some parts of the sturdy stone building
that date from the 1200s. People have been worshipping God there continuously
for almost 800 years! In quite a different setting, not far from here,
actually, we attended a mega church on Sunday where the sermon series was called
“Bonding with James.” The pastor drove out on the stage in a sports car, amidst
clouds of smoke, flashing lights, and thunderous rock music. Our kids went to
Sunday School and were a little overwhelmed by finding out that part of the
program involved playing video games and screaming for Jesus. Last May I
attended a Sunday service at St Andrews Church in Oxford, England, and met
several university faculty who are working together to bring their commitment
to Jesus and Christian values into their classes and research – effectively
just around the corner from where Richard Dawkins is based. I have worshiped in
mud huts with people who could hardly sing and in soaring cathedrals with
beautiful choirs. I have worshiped with rock bands and with contemplative Taizé
music written by Catholic priests. One Taizé song that I really like just
repeats the words of the thief on the cross: Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. When it comes down to it, as part of the True Church, we are
all just sinners saved by grace.
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