Religion or Life
One of the biggest problems that is stopping the church from being a living organism is organized religion. I don’t mean some heretical faction but mainstream Christianity.
Right at the very beginning the church was alive but it was still very much part of Judaism. It was the fulfilment of Judaism. The Jewish Messiah had come. Jesus was the Messiah. It wasn’t for the Gentiles, just for the Jews (or so they thought).
Eventually the Gentiles were accepted but there were thousands of Jews who believed on Jesus and they were all zealous for the law. They persecuted Paul continually because he said that we are not under law but under grace.
Christianity moved on from Judaism as it became more accepted by non-Jews. Today many Jews are recognizing Jesus as their messiah, however many of them are once again zealous for the law. Many non-Jews join with them as they feel more religious and they go round the churches to promote Judaism where they can. Some of the articles below are about this problem in the church.
There have been many changes over the years, from the Roman Catholics to this present day, each one an improvement on the previous one. We have had the reformation which brought in justification by faith, however there was more that they could have done but didn’t do. They have large buildings and the gowns and pomp and ceremony. They kept the priesthood and the laity separate. The Baptist Church followed emphasizing water baptism, also the Wesley’s with the emphasis on sanctification, these became known as the Methodist. Worldwide missionary endeavors followed where Christians went out to places like Africa, China and India to spread the gospel. In the early 1900’s there was the Pentecostal outpouring with the gifts of the Spirit. All these were moves of God but what now? Is there anything left for God to do before Jesus returns? Well, I do believe that Jesus could return at any time, but one thing that has not changed enough since the reformation is the structure of the church when it comes together for fellowship. The structure has been carried down from the Roman Catholics and although it has vastly improved it is still nowhere near what it should be.
Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. Because He said it He will do it (see also Luke 14:28-30), we haven’t seen the finished product yet but when it is finished it will be glorious. Jesus is the Head of the church, His body, and when we meet together in His Name, He is there in our midst yet so often He never gets the chance to minister to us. When revival happens the false structures and traditions are cast aside then Jesus once more gets the chance to minister to us but it’s not long before many in leadership want to get back to the traditions and structures which were in place before the revival broke out and then the revival is finished. Thank God for the men of God who made a stand for the real thing, if only the leadership as a whole had stayed with what God was showing them instead of going back to having their own church name and their organized religion.
Finally, how is the Lord building His Church? He has put in the Church men filled with the Holy Spirit with ministering gifts for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (see Ephesians 4:11-13). Many men of God in the past had a vision of what God’s church should be but although they may have seen glimpses of the finished product they have died before seeing the whole church come into what God has designed it to be. However their works have been preserved to help us see what God is doing. Some of these can be found in the bibliography below. King David wasn’t allowed to build the temple but he did prepare the plans for it (1 Chronicles 28:11-12). The blueprint for the Church is in the Bible, the Holy Spirit will reveal it to those He has prepared beforehand that they may teach it to others who also have their eyes opened by the Spirit. When King Solomon prepared the stone for the temple it was all chiseled and prepared at the quarry (1 Kings 6:7), so also is God preparing the living stones for His house outside the camp (Hebrews 13:12-15), “that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). The last thing for the Lord to do before He returns is to finish building the church which He will present to Himself complete and glorious.
Articles
Was The New Testament Written in Hebrew
By Tim Warner
By Mark Greenwood June 2014
Is Aramaic and Hebrew the Same Language?
By Mark Greenwood June 2014
By Richard Engstrom
By Mark Greenwood
Word of Faith Movement Exposed
By Jim L. Smith
By Mark Greenwood