Understanding The Existence Of Two Churches Is Vital

It is a shame that our society and culture has such a strong pull on us, but it is nothing new. For centuries the Church has been pushed, pulled, and shaped by society. Certainly the Church was a major influence on society for centuries but we have to consider who was leading the Church and what was influencing them. For centuries the Church was used and abused by people who saw her as an opportunity to have power over people. It is a wonder that she has arrived to this day with still a notion to her own identity. But then again, she was not born of man's thinking but of the Spirit of God. No matter what man might try to do with her, the Spirit will always preserve the Church.

From the very beginning the Church was different from man's society and culture. She was not born out of any ideas of the age and she was never meant to be shaped by a changing philosophies or a shifting societal value system. The Church has always meant to be a beacon of light in a darkened world. She has not been there to try to control people but to influence the "sick and dying" of this age to turn to Jesus for "healing". We are not the movers and makers of man's politics but the voice calling out of the wilderness, that Jesus is the answer for everything. The message of God remains the same, it does not change as society changes. Hell does not suddenly disappear because it is out of favour. Jesus does not suddenly become one way out of many because of a multi-cultural society. Accept it or reject it, Jesus is the only way to the Father. That is at the heart of the message of the Church.

Some people might be surprised to hear, after all these years of fighting for equal rights, that the Church held out equal rights to everyone from the very beginning. Remember I am talking about the Spirit led Church, not the abomination that some called the Church. Read the Word of God and understand the relationship within the Body of Christ:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

There it is. We need no other argument nor any other plea. You and I are one in Jesus Christ. Neither our age, gender, height, size, colour of skin, level of education or anything else matters. The only thing that matters is our faith and because of that faith you and I are on equal footing, cherished and loved by our Father.

Now if we examine the history of the Church we will discover all kinds of things that happened that came against this very simple truth found in the Word of God. But remember, there is the Church that is shaped by the thinking of man, by the practices of our society, and then there is the true Church, led and controlled by the Holy Spirit, whose members live by every word found in the Word of God. These are those who refuse to be swayed by society and who hold out these truths as divine. I think many people would be shocked to discover the real truth if they could just get past the marketed version of the Church of this age. Many think they are living by the Word but in reality they are living by man's opinion of that truth. People need to read and study the Word for themselves.

Many of us are victims of the influence our society has on the Church and of our own selfishness. The Word says no but our society says yes. We find some arguments of why the Word doesn't really mean what it says so we can do what we want to do. I have done it. I have made major decisions, wrong decisions based on what society finds acceptable but the Word of God guides against. Most of us have. We have to stop and get back to the Word and study it for ourselves. We have to stop excusing it away and make the hard decisions. We have to stop watering down what the Church is, what she represents and the cost of being a stone in her walls. We are the Church, born of the Spirit, based on the Word, saved by our Lord and loved by our Father. Society has nothing on us as we give our hearts and minds entirely to Jesus. Be influenced by the Spirit and Word and refuse the pull of our dying society.

Is It Empty And Meaningless Offerings Of Praise We Bring To Our God Today?

As we gather to worship this morning I believe we need to allow God's Word to challenge us beyond our normal thinking and routine. As we gather we should seek what pleases God, not what satisfies us in our self-justification. The Word tells us that the only "religion" that our God finds acceptable is the one that places the same value on people that he does:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  (James 1:27)

To respond to the needs of our neighbour, the most vulnerable of our society, is what leaps out at us from Jesus' teaching. Jesus did not reveal anything to us that we did not already know about our Father from the Old Testament scriptures. Speaking to the people of that generation and this, God speaks through the psalmist:

How long will you defend the unjust 
   and show partiality to the wicked? 
Defend the weak and the fatherless; 
   uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. 
Rescue the weak and the needy; 
   deliver them from the hand of the wicked.  (Psalm 82:2-3)

Is this not the example that Jesus set for us and then he told us to love as he loved, to do as he did? The Father chastised his people for bringing to him empty and meaningless offerings. They did it from habit and obligation, not provoked by love and adoration, or even thankfulness. For our God, it is always a matter of the heart. Just check out the "Sermon On The Mount" that we find recorded in Matthew's gospel.

Our Father does not want the empty and meaningless praises of a people who have no understanding of what it is to follow his Son. He is not interested in our nice buildings and fine sounding music or the great sermons people will quote but never act on. He is only interested in seeing the Word played out in our lives by the actions of the Holy Spirit through us. He wants to see us act upon the love that compels us to respond in compassion to the needs of the suffering world around us. Our suits and dresses look great but the real question is: What is the condition of our hearts? And don't forget about the second part of the verse quoted from James.

The religion that our Father accepts as pure and faultless is for us to keep ourselves from being polluted by this world. Looking around I would say that we have failed pretty miserably in both of these aspects of acceptable religion. Honestly, what is the difference between us and our Christ-less neighbour? Maybe our language is a bit better and we go to church on Sunday but we watch the same TV, go to the same movies, work toward the same retirement, pretty well have the same values, give just as much to charity, in fact he probably gives more. What is the difference? If we can't see a major difference then we are doing something wrong. We have allowed the values of this world to become our values instead of looking to what our Father has placed as our values. We have allowed our favorite TV shows to form our heart, our opinions, our values. We come into agreement as people fall in love and have sex without marriage. We cheer as the down trodden rises up and exacts revenge on the oppressor. We start giving into the idea of same-sex relationships as we watch it played out as normal on our television screens. We are entertained by vampires, zombies and witchcraft. We call things that are not good, good. All this shaping and forming in the comfort of our home.

Something has to change. It really does. There needs to be a new breaking in the Church, where all of God's children fall on their face and repent for what we have made it into. We need to examine our own hearts and freely invite the Spirit to convict us of what is not acceptable to God. We need to turn and look into the face of our God once again and allow his holiness to strip the values of this world away from us so that his thoughts become our thoughts and his way becomes our way. Seriously though, as we gather today let us desire and expect a spiritual renewal in the Bride of Christ, call it revival if you want. If you listen closely enough you will hear him calling our names, calling us back to him, calling us back to the Word, calling us back to his heart, his calling, his purpose and design.

Listen.