3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. Matthew 15: 1-6 (same message in Mark 7)
1 I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom: 2 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
5 But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you. 2 Timothy 4:1-5
10 “This will happen because these evil prophets deceive my people by saying, ‘All is peaceful’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to reinforce it by covering it with whitewash! Ezekiel 13:10
In Forgotten God, which was a Sunday School study a few months ago, Francis Chan gives an interesting illustration:
Imagine someone is stranded on a desert island for years and years. This person has never experienced church or Christianity of any kind. On the island, the person discovers a Bible, and reads it, cover to cover, numerous times over the course of his survival on the island. Many years later, the person is rescued, and decides to visit a church- any "regular" Christian church in Lancaster county, let's say. How shocked, confused, and bewildered will that person be?
The decision was made to continue our worship in the same way, or as close as we can get it, to what is described in the Bible. I don't take this lightly- like we are trying to be authentic just for authenticity's sake. No, for me, whatever is in the Bible, is granite-solid Truth- not a single letter is out of place, nor is one word or phrase simple fluff. It's the perfect, inspired Word of God, our ultimate guidebook, an immeasurable gift from God to light our way! I can't read from it and then say, "Well, that's just for those Corrinthian people. If God wanted us to be like that, He would have addressed the letter to us."
But, in fact, He has. I believe the Bible is the only way we know what on this earth we are doing! Sure, we have the Holy Spirit- but there are certainly other spirits out there, trying to mess with us- how do we know for SURE? THE BIBLE!
The bottom line is, for too many years, the church in America has been whitewashing itself. Becoming a corporation instead of the Body of Christ. A finely tuned machine working by the strengths of men and their money- not the leading of the Spirit, or the Word. What has grown out of this man-made watered-down feel-good Christian stuff, are watered-down consumer Christians that expect Church to be one way- a way not based on what we read in scripture, but by scholarly folks in big conference rooms talking about attendence, seeker sensitive mumbo jumbo ca-ca.
The word clearly states,
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
The Lord adds to their number. So what do we do? We seek the Lord's Will, we are obedient to the commands of Christ, and to the leading of the Spirit.
Let's go back to the verse from Ezekiel about whitewash. It says the people have constructed a flimsy wall, and the false prophets circulating at the time were saying all sorts of flowery junk to cover that man-made wall with a nice coat of whitewash.
I believe that is a very accurate description of what has gone on in Western churches for the past few decades. We have built for ourselves a very corporate, boxed, comfortable version of 'church'. It is a church we can accessorize with- plug in and then pull out when we feel like it. Many churches you could visit, be heaped with welcoming smiles, and then if you don't come back, no one would really notice. The current church is packed with supplemental Christians. Convenience Christians. The church is part of their life like basket ball practice is a part of their life, or their book club, or their zumba class. I don't need to tell you, I hope, that ain't Biblical.
But, like those false prophets heaping fuzzy-lovin on the people's shoddy construction, so do the leadership of today's church. The fact that we have ordained people, decorated ministers- well, once again, that ain't Biblical. And I hear many people saying, "Just cuz something isn't Biblical doesn't mean it's wrong. We can make our own model of how a church should be, and as long as our basic beliefs are Biblical, the way we function during worship shouldn't matter."
I recently heard a sermon by a pastor about worship, and ideas behind worship. Worship styles, all that good stuff. Contemporary worship. Traditional worship. Snake-handling worship. It's all worship, right?
7-8"When you say, 'The altar of God is not important anymore; worship of God is no longer a priority,' that's defiling. And when you offer worthless animals for sacrifices in worship, animals that you're trying to get rid of—blind and sick and crippled animals—isn't that defiling? Try a trick like that with your banker or your senator—how far do you think it will get you?" God-of-the-Angel-Armies asks you.
9"Get on your knees and pray that I will be gracious to you. You priests have gotten everyone in trouble. With this kind of conduct, do you think I'll pay attention to you?" God-of-the-Angel-Armies asks you.
10"Why doesn't one of you just shut the Temple doors and lock them? Then none of you can get in and play at religion with this silly, empty-headed worship. I am not pleased. The God-of-the-Angel-Armies is not pleased. And I don't want any more of this so-called worship! Malachi 1:7-10(The Message)
11"I am honored all over the world. And there are people who know how to worship me all over the world, who honor me by bringing their best to me. They're saying it everywhere: 'God is greater, this God-of-the-Angel-Armies.'
12-13"All except you. Instead of honoring me, you profane me. You profane me when you say, 'Worship is not important, and what we bring to worship is of no account,' and when you say, 'I'm bored—this doesn't do anything for me.' You act so superior, sticking your noses in the air—act superior to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! And when you do offer something to me, it's a hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I'm going to accept it? This is God speaking to you!
14"A curse on the person who makes a big show of doing something great for me—an expensive sacrifice, say—and then at the last minute brings in something puny and worthless! I'm a great king, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, honored far and wide, and I'll not put up with it!" Malachi 1:11-14
Here, God talks about crappy sacrifices- animals and such. What do we compare this to? Our sacrifice is TIME, comfort, control. Most worship services around here are orderly, timely, and very choreographed. That's great if we are putting on a show. But that is NOT what we are doing. We are WORSHIPPING GOD! At least that is what we are supposed to be doing. The Holy Spirit- He's got no room to move among all that choreography. "But if we did worship that other way, it would last for like, 3 hours!" Yeah? Then take your 3-legged, one-eyed lamb and go. Go ahead then, if you don't have the time to waste on something silly like worshipping God. Really worshipping Him- communing with Him, hearing from Him in multiple ways....nah. Let's just punch our time cards- get in, get out.
I hear you saying, but oh, our worship is meaningful! We have set time for prayer, songs, and everything, but I am moved by it!
HOW we worship is important to God. If not, why would He put those passages in the Bible? 1 Corrinthians 14? That bit of Malachi there? Our selfishness gets the best us. Our know-it-all attitudes. We know how God wants us to worship. We know how God wants us to organize ourselves as the Body of Christ. Do we? And where are we getting this knowledge? Because it's not the Bible. The Bible says something different. Our 'method' leaves out some very significant stuff.
We have become the Laodicean church:
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Revelation 3:14-20
For those of us who consider ourselves Christians, I hope we can find that salve for our eyes. We need to clear out the fungus and goo of our traditions, because while they stood nicely for a while, as that shoddy wall with purdy whitewash paint makin' it shiny and clean-lookin'...but not anymore. We have begun to crumble. The megachurch generation is going down. People acting out Christianity is not going to cut it anymore. It's time for this to be LIFE. And LIFE on God's terms, as He has given us in the Bible, as we read about in the pages we have of the life of our Savior. His life, His instructions, His teachings, His commands, His Will.
No more whitewash. No more defiling sacrifices. No more crowd-pleaser comfort Christianity. Nope. This is the Christianity of the Bible, The Christianity of the Cross. The Christianity of the One True Living Creator God.
