THE FAMILY OF GOD

Just imagine being part of a family where two brothers have a disagreement with each other and as a result one of them refuses to talk to the other. They live in the same house but they eat in different rooms, watch TV in different rooms, and they talk to other members of the family that agree with them but not the brother or anyone who disagrees with them.

What would you think of a family that lived like that? Not much I bet as families are supposed to get on with each other, help each other, love each other despite mistakes and disagreements and be a haven from the cares and pressures of the world.

Do you know a family that lives like that? I do. It is called the church. In virtually every town and city, the members of the church of God won’t talk to each other unless you agree with them. They spend a lot of time criticizing each other and giving the impression that they are superior to everyone else because they believe this or that. They refuse to help each other because they believe different things and if problems arise, they ignore each other.

Some members of this family, if they have a disagreement they get up and leave the family and start their own, and cut themselves of from the rest of the family.

When you read about the church in the New Testament, it becomes obvious that there was only one church in each town. Paul writes his letters to the “church in Corinth”, the “church at Philippi”. Nowhere do we read about a letter being written to the “churches at Ephesus”.

There was only one church which met in various homes on a daily basis for fellowship and meals. There was only one church that cared for each other and met each others needs. There was only one church that didn’t spend its time shooting the wounded. There was only one church that was bound together on the basis of the redeeming work of Christ, not a long list of doctrinal beliefs or of do’s and don’ts.

Most churches today bear no resemblance to the church in the New Testament. They are more like businesses or social organizations with a set of rules and membership conditions and are run by a CEO and a few paid executives.

The New Testament church was a family. Paul said as much and was often referring to the members as “brothers”. The sad thing is that we excuse the fact by saying that we don’t have to have a literal interpretation of the bible, we can interpret it and take into consideration cultural issues or we justify the apostate church of today by reinterpreting passages that will support our theories of how church should be.

One example is the verse that says the labourer is worthy of his hire so that is justification for having professional paid pastors to run the church even though it is quite clear that the New Testament church was run by unpaid elders.

Another is the idea that you can’t lead a church unless you have theological degrees. We don’t seem to realize that we are emptying the church by degrees as we impose man made ideas as to how the church should be.

Very few churches in the western world are growing with new birth growth. The few that are growing are doing so by transfer growth from other churches which are losing membership to those churches that have a belief system that is three miles wide and three inches deep.

In other words, the church is attracting people with a wishy washy bless me message that says you can have it all and God will bless you if you give to the church.

What is really sad is that we are happy to allow this God forsaken status quo to go unchallenged. What is really, really sad is that we are being robbed blind by an organizational structure that denies the very nature and purpose of the family of God.