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The Christian reality
An onlooking world often sees a diverse, disintegrated, 'club-mentality' Christian church, with all the thousands of denominations and 'church titles', and often with very antiquated, though quaint, practices.
To my mind this paints a rather bleak picture, especially in light of Jesus' prayer that the world may believe that God sent Jesus through the unity of believers (John 17:21).
We need to begin to repaint the picture, getting back to basics, holding onto essentials, and learning how to walk in love when it comes to differences of opinion.
I suggest that we begin with two foundations:
1. Jesus Christ is the head of the Church.
2. The Church comprises only those who are born again by the Spirit of God.
Whilst it is true that God appoints leaders for every local congregation, and whilst it would be wrong for a local assembly to not allow enquirers to join with them for worship, I believe we need to emphasize again these supernatural elements of the Church. They cannot be denied from Scripture, and they are the only true basis for spiritual unity. I cannot emphasize enough what Paul said in Romans 8:9b "And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ", the evidence of which is either the ability to speak in tongues &/or ability to rejoice greatly in God and praise Him, both being accompanied with the ability to call God 'Father'. And this is nothing to be scared of - it is God's promise for all who call upon Him (Acts 2:38,39).
And let me say that we must not be ashamed of the 'supernatural'. We as Christians must not be 'shamed to silence' by the so-called proofs of 'modern science'. Whilst we don't need scientific evidence to prove our faith - the presence of the Holy Spirit is plenty! - there is vast material now available to give 'reasons to believe', from archaeological to historical to theoretical. We must remember that the scientific method cannot be totally objective, as many people believe. All scientific investigation occurs within a worldview as to how to interpret the data discovered, and even as to which data to retain and which to discard or ignore. For many scientists this is an evolutionary worldview with no place for God. Holding to this view is just as 'religious' as a Christian holding to the Bible, even more so, because it consciously ignores the testimony of eyewitnesses from the past as recorded in historical documents such as the Bible. But as we noted in Alpha, the evolutionary worldview is NOT true to reality! Therefore many of the pronouncements of the modern scientific movement are foundationally flawed, because they do not take into account all the evidence. Therefore a Christian has no reason to be ashamed of proclaiming 'Jesus is Lord'. In fact, it is the only truth that makes sense of life!! (For great up to date material concerning scientific evidence for the truth of the Bible, contact the organisations 'Answers in Genesis' and 'Reasons to Believe').
Secondly, let us continue to acknowledge the two specific rites which publicly identify a Christian:
1. Water baptism - signifying death to the old way of living and the desire to live a new life filled with the Holy Spirit.
2. The Communion meal (bread and cup) - signifying the ongoing relationship we have with Jesus Christ, our need of Him for daily living, and proclaiming His death until He comes again.
Note that however these rites are practised, and whatever specific content is associated with their meaning, they are very political acts. They both proclaim our allegiance to Jesus Christ as king, and not to the "Caesars" of this world.
Thirdly, let us practise the command Jesus gave us so that we shall be marked as Christians:
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34,35)
This means that:
a) As the Samaritan loved the wounded man, we as Christians are called upon to love all men as neighbours, loving them as ourselves.
b) Love all true Christian brothers in a way that the world may observe. This means showing love to our brothers in the midst of our differences - great or small - loving our brothers when it costs us something, loving them even under times of tremendous emotional tension, loving them in a way the world can see.
(see also "The Mark of the Christian" by Francis Schaeffer)
I suggest that all the other Christian disciplines (such as prayer, praise, worship, fasting, regular Bible reading, fellowship with other Christians, solitude) only have their place in the context of seeking to embody the above.
I believe we also need to redefine in our heads what we mean when we say "I am going to church on Sunday". What we are actually doing is going to worship God together with the rest of our Christian community. The Church is a living entity, a group of people, and not an institution, not a building. Have you noticed how impersonal that first sentence really is?! Imagine if we all instead started to say "I am going to worship God on Sunday"? Whilst this might start to reduce the meaning of worship to just a Sunday activity (whereas technically the whole of our lives should be lived in a spirit of worship to God), it is actually quite a more meaningful and penetrating statement!
Thus when we say things like "I'm part of Regent Baptist Church", or "I'm part of Richmond Assembly of God", we can start to unpack that as meaning "I'm part of a Christian Community that meets at Regent, and holds to the Baptist tradition of worshipping God", or "I'm part of an assembly of Christians that meets corporately in Richmond and is in the Pentecostal tradition". This should help us to reflect on what we mean and who we are (and also if we want to change!)
Guidelines for worship
Technically, Christians who meet on Sunday (or any other day) are an 'assembly of people called together by God'. Let us therefore have that self understanding, and into that take note of the following principles to govern our corporate times together:
1. Jesus can't stand hypocrisy. If you aren't in a right relationship with God that day, don't put on a mask to give the impression that you are. Address it, and watch the blessings come.
2. We are to rend our hearts and not our garments. God always desires deep repentance, not superficial change, when He wants us to change.
3. Humility and 'poorness of spirit' is what is required before God.
4. Worship is an expression of our relationship with God. It is not to win His favour or twist His arm.
5. We need to worship in spirit and truth, implying at least that it should be as the Holy Spirit leads us to from the depths of our being, and in genuine heart.
6. The "form of worship", and content, is governed by the gifts the Holy Spirit unleashes in the context of the culture you are a part of. Considering 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 and other passages of the New Testament, we could expect to see the following elements in our corporate times together:
songs
word of instruction
revelation
tongues and interpretation
public prayer
communion / Lord's Supper
offering for the poor / needy / missionaries / leaders of the church
7. The gifts the Holy Spirit gives are to establish the church - both internally in quality and to see it grow in numbers. Furthermore, we can expect these gifts to be distributed to more than one person in the assembly, so it shouldn't really be a 'one-man-show'.
A few comments are especially due regarding our 'tithes and offerings', especially since much of the world derides the church's emphasis on money.
Tithes and offerings
There is some confusion today when it comes to tithes (10% of your first-fruits) and offerings. In fact, some preachers within the church even insist that the reason some Christians are in material poverty is because they do not tithe. We do well to investigate this more thoroughly.
First, even before the Law of Moses was given, Abram gave a tenth of everything to Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of God Most High (Genesis 14:18-20).
Second, the Law of Moses gave clear detail as to tithes and their purpose. From Leviticus 27:30, Numbers 18:21-29, Deuteronomy 12:5-18; 14:22-29; 26:1-15 we can reconstruct the following scenario:
Annually, a tenth of all Israelite produce was to be taken to the city of the central sanctuary for distribution to the Levites.
At that time, at an initial festival, all Israelites ate part of the tithe - a great community celebration where all were equal and could eat to their heart's content.
The rest, which would be by far the major part of it, belonged to the Levites (who themselves did not have any inheritance in the land).
Every third year the tithe was gathered in the towns and stored for distribution to the Levites and the less fortunate: aliens, fatherless, and widows.
The Levites themselves were to present to the Lord a tenth of what they had received.
We can thus see that the tithe system was a system of social justice and also to be used for great community BBQ's with the LORD as their focus !!
Third, God spoke through the prophet Malachi to warn the people of Israel in Nehemiah's day to not neglect bringing "the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house" (Malachi 3:10). That is, they were not to neglect this means of social justice, and to realize that God would provide all they needed - they could afford to give!!
Fourthly, Jesus derided the Pharisees for only seeing the minute details of social justice which the tithe represented, and neglecting the big picture of justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23).
Fifthly, it seems that the early church practised the spirit of tithing, giving to any who were in need in the Christian community (Acts 4:34,35). There seemed to be a community bank of food/money which the apostles first had oversight of, and which was then handed on to seven people who were full of the Spirit and wisdom (Acts 6:1-7). Furthermore, a list of qualifications was drawn up as to who should qualify for the daily distribution (1 Timothy 5:9-16).
Sixthly, the apostle Paul, when he encountered poor Christians in his churches after they were established, never told them that the reason they were poor was because they weren't tithing. Rather, he desired that Christians would have eyes to see the need of others and give according to their means, so that those who were in plenty would be able to supply the need of others. (cf 2 Corinthians 8:1-15; 9:1-4).
Seventhly, this 'giving to those in need' became a systematic venture at one stage, most probably due to the prediction of a severe famine that would come across the Roman world (Acts 11:27-30). And so Paul organized a collection amongst the churches, which for the sake of orderliness, efficiency, and discipline, he advised people to set aside and save up a certain portion of their weekly income until he arrived, upon which time he would be able to take it to the needy saints in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:1-3).
Eighthly, and finally, when it comes to the elders of the church, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching, they are worthy of receiving double-pay (or "double-honour", 1 Timothy 5:17-18. Honour here can relate to "respect" as well as to "money" or "practical support", just like Jesus said that honouring your parents means looking after them financially/practically in their old age - cf Mark 7:9-11. Therefore Paul could be saying that the elders are not only worthy of "respect" but also "financial support". But if Paul is actually meaning "double-pay", note that he says 'worthy', not that they actually should or did! I think the context implies that they should at least be supported.). Indeed, Jesus said that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:14). [Note that Paul on occasion didn't take up this right where it would have been misinterpreted as though he only preached to get money, thus hindering the gospel message, choosing rather to work with his hands (1 Corinthians 9:1-23)].
So how can we summarize this for today? In short, we can say that we give of our income to provide for the needs of those called by God to the work of teaching, preaching, and spreading the gospel, and to provide for those materially needy people in our Christian community first of all, so that we can all be equal and enjoy what God has given. The fact that in Australia we have a social-security system means that we have greater capability to give to those Christians in other parts of the world who do not have that safety net. And if we want to know how much we should give, the figure of a tenth should be considered as an Old Testament paradigm, but it is not law for us. We are not under law, but under grace. We are to give as the Holy Spirit leads us. Let us not covet but give.
And what about 'offerings'? There seems to be two uses to the word in the Old Testament. Firstly, it concerns sacrifices for sin, and with respect to this, it is totally out of place to mention this in the context of giving money. Those offerings were for the atonement of sins, which has already been totally taken care of by Jesus on the cross.
But there is a second use of 'offerings', and that is when the people willing gave of their resources for the construction of the temple (cf 1 Chronicles 29) and at a later stage for its reconstruction. Now in the New Testament, we know that buildings are not God's first priority! God does not dwell in temples made with human hands! But we as the Church of God are His temple! Therefore, it is totally legitimate for people to voluntarily give toward missions and the expansion of God's church worldwide, but it can never be 'forced' upon people. It is to be totally free-will and 'inspired by God'. But of course, as Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive", so let us give!
Finally, instead of the bleak picture painted earlier of all the denominations and disunity amongst the churches, allow me to paint another picture of the current state of affairs.
When I look across Greater Melbourne, for example, I like to paint the 'church scene' in medical terms. I see a few big hospitals, really able to specialize in emergencies, and having numbers of staff and trained personnel to really help people get well. Then I see a number of General Practitioner (GP) outlets, scattered all across town, helping local believers stay well. There are also specialists, catering for 'minority communities' and special illnesses. There are mobile clinics which go from locality to locality where there are not yet established GP outlets. There are GP's who do house calls. There are also the medical schools, training up new doctors and practitioners. I think there are also some GP outlets practicing 'out-of-date' medicine, and actually keeping its people in the dark as to the fullness of life available. I think there are also some 'quacks', who should be banned. There are also possibly some dinosaur institutions, which seem to have gotten off the track with their real purpose, and are chewing up a lot of resources for no real gain to the people. But they do serve as reminders that there is such a thing as a medical practice, and that people can go somewhere for help when they are sick! But finally, there are not many who actually go door-to-door to make pro-active check ups on people to see if they are all right. This seems to be reserved for overseas countries where we really sense people are sick! I think this needs to be addressed.
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