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I remember hearing an
older preacher say that he grew up in church and was bored most of the time.
Frankly, I cannot relate to that because it wasn’t my experience at all. I
certainly did not know much of what went on in the whole church nor did I
understand the complexities of church organization but, for my part, I always
thought of church as an important responsibility that I had before God. I would
later realize that taking an obligation seriously never allows boredom.
The church, however, is
not being taken seriously today. From many on the inside, the church is being
made like the world in an effort to combat the otherwise boring services. From
many on the outside, the church is being pushed into becoming a
social/political/medical resource in order to fill in where society has failed.
In either case, the church is not allowed to be what it uniquely is: the body of
Christ in the midst of a foreign and hostile world, boldly displaying what it
alone can display—peace with God.
The average citizen no
doubt thinks that the church exists to serve humanity in whatever way humanity
happens to display the greatest need. It is now being proposed by liberal
thinkers that the church should join hands with the government to support
government controlled healthcare, a moral imperative, they say, which the
government and religion have to all humanity. At the same time, it is being
proposed by conservative thinkers that the church should be building hospitals
and healthcare organizations as a kind of “faith-based initiative” to take the
load off government taxation. Tax exemption, then, becomes a political issue in
order to maintain the church’s ability to fund these programs through charitable
giving.
Both perspectives
display a lack of understanding of the fundamental and unique nature of the
church (and government) as described in the New Testament. If the general needs
of humanity become the moral imperatives of the church, why only consider
healthcare? Since food is essential for life, perhaps even more so than
healthcare, maybe churches are obligated to be in the grocery business,
providing economical and sufficient food for all the community or city. Maybe
it is the church which should be in the car business and not the government,
since it is imperative that people be mobile and able to get to places of
employment and other obligations. The mistaken notion that the church exists
for the social good of the community knows no limit (nor unique perspective) as
to its role in the world. This is also the government’s problem. It has lost
its perspective of why it exists as well. It sees no limit to its moral
obligation to humanity and therefore expands far beyond what it can and should
attempt to do. Oh, there are always those who see the obvious advantage of
being in charge of such processes and benefiting by being in influential
positions—both in religion and government. In the end, however, government will
fail to govern and religion will fail to convert and humanity will suffer from
both.
We see clearly that
government should enable, support, and protect free people to engage in the
process of making an honest living (1 Tim. 2:2). Some honest citizens will
naturally be in the healthcare business. But the church is even more narrow
(and therefore more important) than that in its New Testament perspective. It
is engaged in preparing men for the next world regardless of their station in
this one. It must maintain a unique assembly for those who believe so they may
be able to carry on this important mission of eternal truth available to all
humanity (1 Tim. 3:15-16).
Things Positive:
The church is a
local entity
Of the 115 times that
the Greek word for church appears in the New Testament, well over 100 of those
refer to local churches. Christ is the Head of every believer and therefore of
every church comprised of believers (Eph. 5:23). Local churches are autonomous
in their operation, answering to Christ, His Word, and the body of believers
making up that church. We call this the visible church because you can go there
and attend if you like. Most of the New Testament books are epistles written to
particular churches or to the pastors of those churches. The subject matter is
local church polity, doctrine, and evangelism.
The church is a
volunteer entity
No one is forced to be
a member of a local church although all believers ought to be. The first church
in Jerusalem was made up of those who had done three things: “Then they that
gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto
them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41). One must be saved, then baptized
by immersion (which is the mode of every New Testament baptism), and then make a
conscious effort to join with the other believers. This is the pattern
throughout the book of Acts and described in every epistle. The New Testament
does not entertain the idea of an unbaptized believer separate from a local
assembly.
The church is a
gospel entity
The saints of God,
dwelling in local churches throughout the world, have a commission from Christ
to evangelize the world. The gospels of Matthew and Mark clearly give this
commission in their closing remarks and Luke records a further commission in
Acts 1 just before Jesus ascended into heaven. The ordinances that belong to
the local churches are there for those who have received this gospel. No person
can be forced to have faith. The gospel is inclusive in that it is to be
offered to every person, and it is exclusive in that it presents Jesus Christ as
the only way to heaven (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
The church is a
closed entity
This means that it is
designed and built by Jesus Christ for His believers (Matt. 16:18). Though lost
people are always welcomed and would benefit greatly by attending, the purpose
for the church gathered is for the edification of the saints so that they will
be able to go out and be witnesses (Eph. 4:11-12). In times of revival and
peacefulness, evangelism has taken place within the church to a great degree and
invitations should always be given when the lost are present. The things that
happen there: the singing, the praying, the ordinances, the teaching, the
accountability are all for the saints. We understand that the lost person can
hardly understand most of what is going on but we know that is best for them and
for us. The great difference is Spiritual regeneration. This must be the only
thing that changes a person from one on the outside to one on the inside.
The church is a
working entity
The service of the
saints for one another is a beautiful thing. Love is always shared within the
family of God (John 15:10); sharing of wealth and goods provides for members
that are in need (Acts 4:35; 1 John 3:17); taking care of widows and orphans who
have no other believers to do it is a responsibility of each local church (Jas.
1:27; 1 Tim. 5:1-16); discipline and accountability to the Scriptures are sacred
obligations the saints have for one another (1 Cor. 5:1-13; 2 Cor. 12:21). All
of these things and more were done among the brethren. This was the blessing of
being in the church that far outweighed the antipathy from those outside the
church. In these cases water (baptism) was thicker than blood (relatives) even
to the point of laying down one’s life for the brethren.
The church is a free
entity
Believers have
obligations to the church by covenant. These cannot be ignored by members
without the reminders of accountability. But the obligations of Christians to
humanity lie in love and evangelism. In all things that pertain to life and
godliness, the believer is free to participate as his conscience leads, in
nothing, however, violating Biblical teaching. A believer may feed the hungry
or clothe the naked; he may rescue those in danger or help those in need; if he
is able he may donate to any moral cause such as hospitals or schools or homes
for unwed mothers. In these things, he is the Lord’s freeman but in things
specifically Scriptural he is the Lord’s bond-slave (1 Cor. 7:17-24).
Things Negative:
The church is not a
state church
Baptists especially have
objected to the state controlling the churches in any way. Neither have they
desired to control the state. The Catholic Church and most Protestant Churches
have at one time or another been the “state church” in a particular country.
Often this was enforced by persecution against all other religious beliefs.
Infant baptism was, from its first use, an identification of the church with the
state and placed the child not only in the state as citizen, but also in the
church. Government will not be able to force Baptist (and other independent)
churches to do its will. Even when such a project might be a good thing, local
New Testament churches may only give their allegiance to Christ and may refuse
to do the thing because it can only give unto Caesar what does not already
belong to God.
The church is not a
denominational church
Many in the world still
think of churches as referring to the denomination. I am in favor of
denominational names because I believe they are good and honest identifiers but
any Baptist is opposed to a denomination which would control individual churches
and take away their sovereignty. Baptists have always had ways of organizing
local churches into fellowships or associations for the sake of missions and
other inter-church projects. But these are always voluntary and carry no
authority over the individual churches.
The church is not an
activist church
Though a church may have
individual members who legally and morally participate in social or political
causes, the New Testament is silent in command and example about the churches
“as churches” doing these things. As terrible as the Roman Empire could be, we
have no example of churches or believers protesting or trying to pressure the
government in any way. Even the apostle Paul was beheaded by Nero without a
protest. Ignatius and Polycarp were martyred denying intervention. Jesus
explained that the wheat and the tares would grow together in society and that
we would not be able to separate them by force in this present age (Matt.
13:24-30). When the church begins to fight social and political causes in the
world, it soon loses its biblical focus and then loses its moral authority to
speak about anything. This is not to say that believers should not speak out as
individual citizens if the country they live in gives them that legal right.
But when the local church ceases to be a spiritual church with a greater
spiritual purpose of the gospel and a life of separated holiness, its
candlestick is removed from the place of blessing (Rev. 2:5).
And So . . . .
God has ordained a few
entities in this world. The family was first designed by God to consist of
husband, wife, and children. The family is sovereign also. No power on earth
can force people to live another way or even honestly define the family another
way.
God has also ordained
government. From the time Noah left the ark, the power of human government was
established (Gen. 9:5-6). It is also sovereign in the sense that it cannot be
forced by another country to practice in any way other than for the good of its
people. To do so is to invite God’s displeasure and to remove His blessing.
God has ordained Israel
to be His earthly people in the coming kingdom of God. Though they live under
“the times of the gentiles,” they will yet be His chosen people dwelling in the
land of Israel with the Seed of David sitting upon His throne.
The church as a whole is
the Bride of Christ but She exists today in local communities of believers.
These churches are sacred groups of believers who have accepted Christ as their
Savior and have testified of that faith in the burial waters of baptism. They
live in the world but are not of the world. They are the world’s best citizens
but are pilgrims and strangers within it. They allow tares to grow in the world
but not in their churches. They live for the good but they die for Christ.
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