Upside Down Church

Can't 'go to church' if you are the church.

“Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am among them.” Matthew 18:20

The LORD’S ways are not always yours; His thinking is not yours.

It's difficult for some Christians to grasp that they are the church.

Anytime I hear of Christians who are "upset with the direction of a church," or "angry with the church," or "tired of the church," I wonder if they truly understand what they're saying.

They are the church!

It's rare to hear a Christian say "I'm angry with myself," or "I'm tired of myself," or "I'm upset with the direction in my life," etc.

Why do many see "the church" as something other than union with Jesus Christ?

I think the fault lies with Christian leaders—particularly pastors—who have attempted to elevate churches and church ministries to the level of ancient Temple and Old Covenant worship.

From massive church buildings erected to inspire, to stained glass windows or elaborate decor intended to tell stories, to a "priesthood" of authoritative pastors/leaders who separate themselves from 'laity,' to injunctions to tithe into the storehouse of the church or risk being devoured by the devil, and to programs that are set in stone (unalterable and unchangeable) like Israel's Ten Commandments, the modern church looks more like Old Testament Israel than the early followers of Christ who were radically different from the "religious."

In early Christian faith, there were no institutional churches or pastoral leaders.

Early Christians were known for their radical departure from dependence on worship places, authoritarian priests, and religious performance through ceremony, holy days or offerings.

As Adolph Safir reminds us in his brilliant work on Hebrews:

“The Greeks and the Romans were not merely astonished at, but felt irritated by the worship of the early Christians, who without image and altar, without priests and vestments, appeared to them as atheists, men and women ‘without gods’ and at times felt threated by the mysterious power Christians possessed as they rejoiced in suffering and met with calm courage the tortures of death itself.”

The crystallization of the institutional church using Jewish modes of worship is not limited to Roman Catholicism, which began in the 4th century AD.

Eventually, Baptist churches and other conservative evangelical churches, though historically shouting 'no creed but the Bible,' have come to ignore the New Testament teaching on the nature of the true church, and they now:

1. Replicate Israel's hierarchy of priestly authority (calling them pastors);

2. Imitate Israel's emphasis on a particular type of worship at a specific place (calling it sanctuary worship); and

3. Perpetuate Israel's obligation to the old 'if-then' covenant with God ('if we will obey God, then God will bless us').

The freedom of a sinner to personally trust Christ and experience the power of God at work within- transforming that sinner from the inside out - is substituted for a form of behavioral control imposed by a spiritual authoritarian from without (usually a pastor) who uses Old Covenant passages of Scripture to bind believers.

The simplicity of New Covenant worship 'in spirit and truth' has been overwhelmed by the desires and the demands of leaders within the institutional churches.

Pastors often spiritualize everything we do in an attempt to protect our jobs and salaries (or future jobs and current reputations), acting as if our ministries and programs are God's ministries and programs.

What is done at church buildings on Sundays and Wednesdays is just a small part of who we are as the people of Christ.

Whether it is giving, serving, or attending other places of worship, our people should have the liberty and freedom to give, serve, and attend wherever the Spirit leads.

Christ's church always leaves the building on Sundays, therefore the church should never be called the building.

Whatever is done on Sundays or Wednesdays in the building should be designed to empower and encourage "the church" (you) to worship in spirit and truth every day of the week.

A pastor’s job is to lead people so that they cheerfully give to the Lord, joyfully serve the Lord, and willingly worship the Lord.

If the Spirit leads someone to join another corporate church, a non-profit institution that uses different methodologies and ministries to encourage "the church" to give, serve, and worship, every Christian should celebrate!

We Christians are all on the same team. We are the church.

We are the church.

If the Spirit leads His people to give less, attend less, and serve less, then institutional non-profit budgets, ministries, and mission efforts should adjust.

If the Spirit leads His people to give, attend, and serve more, our organizational ministries will expand.

Regardless, the New Testament is clear that Christ’s church is not a new building, our pastors are not a new priesthood, and no law prescribes our religious activities.

God's people should give, should serve and should worship as the Spirit leads, where the Spirit leads, and as long as the Spirit leads

It is not the Law that constrains us but the Spirit who compels us.

Unfortunately, many modern Baptist churches have taken promises and laws of the Old Testament and attempted to force them into the New Covenant church. The result is a dysfunctional gathering of law worshippers who are more concerned with conformity than a gathering of firm, individual believers empowered by the Spirit.