TIME FOR A STANDARD CHURCH

ISN'T IT TIME YOU HAD A STANDARD CHURCH FOR YOUR BIBLE?
R. D. ICE

What might a standard church be like? Would there be a three-ring manual giving exact details of all the services down to the smallest detail? Would all the church-buildings be clones of the pattern? SciFi writers ask what if a brotherhood of churches were set up as a franchise, much like the Fast Food industry does.

The entrance room of First Church is, of course, just like all the others in the franchise. A picture of Evangelist Brother Billy-Bob is placed so you will see it as you enter. A stylized picture of Jesus receives the emphasis. A counter sits to one side, done up in fake wood so it looks like something from an old church. Behind the counter, an elderly lady sits, a flimsy sort of choir robe thrown over her shoulders.

There's a little rack along the front of the counter bearing gospel tracts, free for the taking, donation requested. The lady types some stuff into the computer. The worshiper snaps her Visa © card down on the fake wood counter top; it sounds like a rifle shot. The lady pries the card up, then she swipes the card through its electromagnetic slot with a carefully modulated sweep of the arm, as though tearing back a veil, hands over the slip, mumbling that she needs a signature and daytime phone number. Since cash and checks are no longer used, the collection must be taken up before the service. (We are to "lay by in store.").

Then it just remains for the "Word from On High." But computers and communications are awfully good these days, and it usually doesn't take longer than a couple of seconds to perform a charge-card verification. The little machine beeps out its approval code. "Thank you for your donation," the lady says, slurring the words together into a single syllable.

The worshipper hurries toward the double doors. The song leader has already walked to his place to convene the service. The interior of the church is weirdly colored. Fluorescent fixtures are wedged into the ceiling. Large colored light boxes simulate stained-glass windows. The largest of these, shaped like a fattened Gothic arch, is bolted to the back wall, above the pulpit, and features a waterfall pouring into a river basin. The baptistery is placed beneath this. The song leader announces the first number and the singing begins.

But what is the church? Campbell disliked the word church, because, he said, there were too many unreal ideas attached to it. In his "Living Oracles Version" he used the word congregation. "As Jesus was going to the district of Cesarea Philippa, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of Man is? They answered, Some say, John the Immerser; others, Elijah; others, Jeremiah, or one of the Prophets. But who, returned he, do you say that I am? Simon Peter answering, said, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus replying, said to him, Happy are you, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I tell you, likewise, you are named Stone [Peter]; and on this rock I will build my congregation, over which the gates of Hades shall not prevail. Moreover, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you shall bind on the earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you shall loose on the earth, shall be loosed in heaven." Matt. 16:13-19 Living Oracles Version

Jesus preached: "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand." If you will substitute the word kingdom for church, you will find you cannot say some things. And Paul the Apostle wrote: "who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his beloved Son: by whom we have redemption, even the remission of sins." Col. 1:13 Living Oracles Version

"Now, then, you are no longer strangers and sojourners; but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God: having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the foundation corner stone; by which the whole building being fitly compacted together, rises into a holy temple of the Lord; in which you also are builded together for a habitation of God by the Spirit." Eph. 2:19-22 Living Oracles Version

[For the believer, the Church is a reality of an entirely different order. The Church is a mystery at once visible and invisible, given the task of making real the Gospel of Jesus Christ and translating it into action for each new generation. But the Church is activated by God The Holy Spirit, clothed with His power and possessing His pledge of loyalty. Compare 1 Cor. 12:12-13.]

What the question really asks is: "Can I find a church like the one I [think I] remember from my childhood?" This writer remembers a small church in Columbus, Ohio, that has not been there for many years. It was replaced by a Disciples Church. The small church was rural in nature, even though in the city. The Disciples Church was city-oriented. The small church had a series of preachers who Kept Things Just Like They Were. Then a new preacher came Who Thought Big. There was some difference in doctrine, yet basically the emphasis was still on Jesus and the gospel. But they began to Do Things and as population grew in the Columbus area, so did they! To several hundreds! [If preaching the truth means we will continue to be small - what about the Jerusalem Church? They baptized thousands!]

But when we say "standard church" we set the boundaries of the answer. The Roman Catholic Church to some extent grew out of a wish to produce a STANDARD CHURCH WHICH WOULD BE EXACTLY THE SAME EVERYWHERE. Centralized Authority ruled that each (local) Church would follow the matrix-pattern: Latin language; Latin Vulgate Bible; fixed order of worship; priestly ministers trained and certified by Authority. But even this eventually has had to change. The charismatic movement has changed even the Catholic Church. And now many speak in the language of the people.

The Old Testament does not describe in detail just how worship was done under The Law (even though we are told certain things they did). The New Testament does not show us in detail a worship-service under the Gospel. Certainly we have an opinion of what things were done, but not all the fine print details. And certainly a Jew and a Gentile did the same things "differently." [Campbell stressed FACTS over words and theories.]

"God is not impressed with what other people think of us, or even with our own opinion of ourselves. He sees what we really are, and He knows our motives as well as our deeds.... Christian worship, with familiar psalms, hymns, prayers and readings from the Scriptures, brings God the praise 'in spirit and in truth' which He seeks (John 4:23)." Wallerstedt

An English writer of the 19th century wrote: "The whole world is a temple and man is everywhere a worshiper." This is in harmony with the "living sacrifice" which Paul speaks about in Romans 12. We worship God with purity and holiness and good works and especially love. We intend to be faithful throughout our whole life. [Surprise! The Judgment is about how we treated others. Matt. 25:31-46]

Solomon's Temple was destroyed. The Jews were sent to Babylon. Temple worship was no longer possible. Certainly by God's design the synagogue was developed. Jews came together at a location to worship God, to study the Scriptures, and to share Jewish life and culture. This predates the pattern of the Christian community - the church. The synagogue was both visible and invisible. Their loyalty and relationship to God was invisible. When they met for worship they were visible.

Christians are commanded to meet together as a worship-community. "Don't give up the habit of meeting for worship." And even during times of severe persecution we see Christians meeting in secret as a group to worship their Lord and Savior. Some belittle the "institutional church," yet we see huge congregations at Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, etc. Many blessings for the individual Christian and a pooling of energies and abilities exist only in the Institutional Church. Note Paul in 1 Corinthians 12.

But all this doesn't see the one factor common to each local church congregation - God The Holy Spirit. "...that He may abide with you forever." "...but to wait for the Promise of the Father, 'which,' He said, 'you have heard from Me.'" "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" "in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." "For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people."

Jesus said in John 4:14, "But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." Note the inspired explanation of what Jesus is saying, in John 7:37-39. [Jesus was glorified in the Cross & Resurrection.] It surely cannot be right to deny grace and try to explain it away. Nor to try to depersonalize The Holy Spirit and say "It is just a power like electricity" as some do. Nor to fail to elevate JESUS in our lives and worship.

A good case can be made for the fact that it is the presence of God The Holy Spirit who "standardizes" the church The Book of Acts could be spoken of as the "Acts of The Holy Spirit." God indwells the church (The Congregation of the Saved) by The Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:22). God indwells each Christian by The Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 3:6,18). It isn't necessary that we become "Pentecostal" in what we do (nor JW's in what we don't do). But to "DENY" The Holy Spirit places us on dangerous ground. [Few would admit to denying The Spirit. But what are we doing? We should look carefully.]

Someone has written about Christian believers and worship.

"Without God The Holy Spirit,
God is far away,
Christ stays in the past,
The Gospel is a dead letter,
The Church is simply an organization,
Authority is a matter of domination,
Evangelism is a matter of propaganda,
Worship is no more than calling on a
deity who isn't there,
Christian living is only a slave morality."

WITH GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT PRESENT, ALL THIS CHANGES!!!
The Creation is resurrected and groans with the birth-pangs of the Kingdom (Romans 8:18-23).
The Risen Christ is there.
The Gospel is the power of life.
The Church shows forth the life of the Trinity.
Authority is a liberating service (cf. Luke 22:25-26).
Propagation of the Faith is a "Pentecost."
Worship-service is both memorial and anticipation.
Human action becomes "in the image of God."

Consider the following which I have adapted from a letter.
"I had been a member of the church for 48 years and was about as strict a Bible-Christian as anyone could be. I never missed Worship and was there every time the "church" met. Then I discovered through the Holy Spirit that what I had been trying to do for 48 years by works and service to the church, had already been done 2,000 years ago at Calvary [Hebrews 1:3]. At that moment I knew the only way to heaven was through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. As I tried to share this truth with others, I got a severe lecture from the preacher. He said I could not get to heaven by grace but had to work out my salvation through the church. Sadly and reluctantly I was forced to leave. It was so strange being both in the 'Lord's Church' and on the verge of being kicked out because of my belief in salvation through grace as Paul taught."

What Jesus taught is not the normal human way of looking at things. God The Father deals with us as we deal with our children. Not punishment in the sense of revenge. But chastisement to protect and mature. God's response to the prodigal who brings himself back is to receive him home! Note what Paul said in Philippians 3:8-11. The righteousness that is given through faith in Christ! "...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The average person is "soft" on forgiveness. They cannot believe that God forgives sins. Note this from one of our brothers in Romania. "In general Romanians do not trust each other, prompted by their communist experience. Associated with this is the difficulty of believing in God's grace. To them, the older brother in Luke 15 is a hero and the father inexcusably unfair in receiving the prodigal back."

The "older brother" was loved and accepted by the father. Yet the older brother had problems with the "grace" extended to the prodigal. Perhaps he felt no need of grace for himself. He had works and faithfulness! Yet his acceptance by the father also involved his own acceptance of the returned prodigal. Note 1 John 4:20. "...for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" Our own love of God is circumscribed by our love for our "brother."

And take note of what God said to Jonah. "But the Lord said, "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left--and much livestock?"
Jonah 4:10-11 (NKJV)