Is Any Church Important?
by Stephen Bastin
Might
as well ask, “Are gnats important?” I
really think that I could get along very well without gnats!
Some
mornings when it is hot and humid, I go jogging and come home with my face and
neck covered with dead gnats. On
those mornings I definitely feel that God could have improved His universe by
leaving out gnats.
On
the other hand, gnats make a rather scrumptious meal for some birds.
Would the birds be happy without gnats?
Probably not. And I do enjoy
watching birds and listening to their songs.
Yes, I do.
Some
churches are like gnats without the birds. They
have forgotten why they exist (or maybe they never knew).
For such churches their demise would be no more missed than the gnats I
run into on a hot, humid morning.
In
this country the label, “toxic,” has been applied to all sorts of things.
There are toxic dumps, toxic rivers, toxic parents and, let me add, toxic
churches. They are churches that do
more harm than good.
Toxic
means poisonous. Toxic substances
harm human life. They are not good
for their environment. They are not
good for people. Some churches are
toxic
But
the question was not, “Is every church unimportant?” but “Is any church
important?” We want to show
that there can be a church that is important and it is important because of
Jesus.
Jesus
told Peter, “I will build my church.” He
spoke not of a church building, but of a church, a group of people.
Jesus was in the “people business” not the edifice business.
Jesus was interested in flesh and blood, not bricks and mortar.
There
are some clues in the New Testament as to why there is an important church.
These are statements that have to do with the purpose and function of the
church according to Jesus’ design.
In
1 Timothy 3:15, Paul refers to the church as the “pillar and support of the
truth.” When Jesus sent his
disciples out, it was with a commission to preach the truth about God and the
truth about Jesus. The church ought
to be a place where one can go to learn the truth about God, about Jesus, about
sin and about righteousness. The
church is to support the truth.
It
was never the church’s business to decide what the truth is.
Through the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent to his chosen apostles, Jesus
revealed the truth. They preached
the truth. Jesus said the Spirit
would guide them “into all truth.” (John
16:13) It was not the business of
the church in the following centuries to make up stuff that they would then pass
on to their people as “truth.” That
is the work of a toxic church.
To say that there are truths not revealed by the chosen
apostles of Jesus is to accuse them (or Jesus) of having lied.
Peter claimed that “His divine power has granted to us everything
pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called
us by His own glory and excellence.” (2
Peter 1:3) “Has granted” is past
tense. “Everything” probably
means, well, everything. Peter
The
history of the Christian religion can be traced down through the councils that
have met to make decisions. Instead
of supporting the truth taught by the apostles they came up with new
“truths.” Everyone who disagreed
with them was excommunicated (or worse). That
is a toxic church.
There
are regular reports in the news media about some church or another having a
meeting to decide about some moral issue. They
meet. They vote.
Their decisions become the new law for that church.
Instead of supporting the truth taught by the apostles they support their
own fallible decisions.
What
God has declared moral they declare immoral and what God has declared immoral,
that they declare to be moral. That
is a toxic church.
One
can read in the New Testament about how people became Christians, or how the
church worshipped or what was taught about marriage or how the church was
organized. Today, people say,
“Well, we don’t do it that way anymore.”
Well why not? If the church
exists to support the truth who is it that is deciding that the truth taught by
Jesus’ apostles does not matter any more!
That is a toxic church.
Pick
up a church bulletin and look at what is being promoted.
Is there an emphasis on Bible study, worship, caring for the sick and the
poor, reaching out to the lost (that includes all who are not Christians), or is
the emphasis on social activities, politics and supporting the organization.
Does
the church accept all people or just the “nice” people?
Are the members encouraged to love one another, encourage one another,
pray for one another, teach one another, stop complaining about one another
(gossip), fellowship one another, etc. or is the church just a bunch of
strangers who happen to be together for an hour on Sunday?
That is a toxic church.
Probably
no church sets out to be a toxic church. It
is just something that happens by accident.
Some church leaders have become convinced that the Bible is not the word
of God. Acting on that conviction
they see no truth to uphold and so they just muddle along doing the best that
they can.
Other
churches have become toxic over a long period of time, centuries in some cases.
Nobody really noticed that they were not following the teachings of Jesus
as given through his apostles. It
was something that they just gradually slid into.
A
lot of companies produced toxic waste and dumped it wherever it was convenient.
There was probably no intention in the beginning to create a disaster.
It just happened. One day
they woke up and realized what had happened.
At
that point there are several courses a company can take.
To fix the problem at that point was often expensive and in some cases
might even have spelled ruin for the company.
The
same is true for churches. One day
someone in leadership capacity wakes up and realizes that the church is no
longer following Jesus. To change
would mean many people in leadership positions within the church would lose
their jobs. It is far easier to
stick one’s head in the sand and pretend that all is well than to take the
necessary steps to make the church what Jesus intended it be.
May
God help those in toxic churches to take a stand for Jesus.