Lesson 3
Hellenist Christianity in the US Today
“Men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32).
When the tribes of Israel gathered to
crown David king, all of them journeyed to Hebron with
thousands of troops. One tribe in particular, the tribe of
Issachar, came with two hundred men “who
understood the times and knew what Israel should do.”
If we today are ever to see the power of
the first century Church restored, we must become a people who
are convicted about what we must do. Then, if we have the trust that produces
loving obedience to our Lord and the courage to walk against
the worldly tide, we can be part of the Hebraic Restoration of
the Church as Jesus founded it: His Body of followers consumed with love for
Him, for our families, for other believers, and for the lost.
Before we consider what God is requiring
of His people as He restores the Hebraic facets to the Church
today, let’s assess the current status of Christendom in
the U.S. This will clarify the religious and cultural realm to
which the Hebraic foundations are being revealed. As you read
the information to follow, keep in mind that pollster George
Barna has found that there is no
lifestyle distinction between Christians and non-believers in
the United States.
Carle Zimmerman, in his book Family and Civilization, provides unique insight into the culture in which
Christianity currently finds itself. Zimmerman traces the
typical development and eventual disintegration of the family
in a variety of cultures. In most great civilizations, including
Greece, Rome and now the United States, the shifts in family
relationships and in societal attitudes toward the family
follow a similar course.
Initially a society will harbor great
respect for the family as an interconnected
relational entity. Individual
desires are set aside in order to meet the greater family
needs.
Eventually this attitude gives way to its
opposite: a deification of individual rights and a
depreciation of family commitments. As this shift occurs, the society begins to
disintegrate. This was the pattern, Zimmerman contends, that
took place among the Greeks and Romans — the same pattern
that now operates in the U.S.
Zimmerman identifies three types of
families, each of which prevails at various times in the life
cycle of a civilization: the trustee family, the domestic
family and the atomistic family.
The trustee
family is the most stable family
form. Great value is placed on the resources and truths that ancestors have passed along from generation to generation. The governing authority is normally a
patriarchal structure ruled by the oldest and wisest males.
[The trustee family pattern was
predominant in the earliest Church. For more on this, see Pastoring By Elders.]
All the family members are welcome to give
input when typical problems arise in each family unit. Because
family loyalty is held in such high regard, senior members
function as the recognized disciplinary agents because of their
acquired wisdom and experience. They can demand obedience in a
way that those outside the family or clan might not respond to.
Divorce is rarely practiced in this type
of family structure. Individuals are expected to relinquish
their own interests for the greater good of the family as a
whole. Family members are willing to work together selflessly
to provide for the needs of their kin. The solid stability of
this family type is found in the Hebraic Stream of Judaism who
first placed their trust in Jesus.
The next stage of development in any
civilization is the domestic
family. This occupies a middle
ground between individualism on the one hand and authority
within the family on the other.
The structure in this family type values
the strength of family ties and stability but leaves room for individual expression and a certain creative autonomy to present new ideas. The authority of the elders within the
extended family is diminished. They are often replaced by,
religious and state agencies. Divorce is infrequent but does
occur occasionally.
A husband and a wife function as a family
unit to assume major responsibility for raising their children
according to the values they believe are right. Parents are
willing to undergo the pain of childbirth and trials of
childrearing because they view their children as an extension
of themselves.
Often parents in this stage will sacrifice
their own desires and interests so that they can focus on the
needs and training of the next generation. They’re able
to see beyond their own gratification. Generally mothers and
fathers of this family type are willing to forego luxury cars,
upscale homes, and even time-consuming hobbies in order to have
energy, time and resources for their kids.
This type of family structure epitomized
Greece and Rome at the height of their culture. The subsequent
decline of these civilizations occurred when the state took over the responsibilities that up until then had been assumed by the
families.
Up until the 1950’s, this structure
characterized the majority of American households. But
since then, the dismantling of family as a priority that
ultimately led to the downfall of Greece and Rome has rapidly
infected this nation.
When the ties within the family unit
disintegrate, an obsession with
individualism develops. This marks
the atomistic family stage. Each person
perceives himself as a distinct unit, disconnected from the
family. Individual rights are emphasized, while family
responsibilities are neglected.
Whereas self-sacrifice was the norm under
the trustee and domestic families, complete and unabashed
selfishness characterizes the atomistic family.
At this stage, childless liaisons and
increased divorce rates are typical. Because the majority are
unwilling to sacrifice for the future, fewer children are born
to those who have the means to raise them.
Religious and moral standards have little
effect on protecting the sanctity of the family. “The
individual, having no guiding morals, changes the meaning of
freedom from opportunity to license. Having no internal
or external guides to discipline him, he becomes a gambler with life, always seeking
greener pastures. When he comes to inevitable difficulty, he is
alone in his misery.”1
Not content to suffer in silence, the
shameless atomistic individual seeks out like-minded others to
establish a political “voice.” His special-interest
group (gay rights, pro-abortion lobby, civil liberties), can
then gain power and influence to force social institutions to
meet their needs, even if the majority of citizens protest.
The sense of personal
responsibility in the domestic
family is replaced by victimization (“It’s not my fault; someone else is
to blame!”) in the atomistic structure.
Picture a swarm of antagonistic insects
engaged in mortal combat.
That’s a reflection of atomistic culture at work.
Individuals become obsessed with their own desires and concerns,
and disregard the needs or suffering of others. They may
respond superficially by tossing a few dollars at a
catastrophe, but in general, commitments and responsibilities
infringe on their personal sense of freedom.
Consider the symptoms of an atomistic
society. Remember, these characteristics imploded the great
civilizations of the past! Now, take a good look at U.S.
society today:
• Marriage loses its sanctity as a
stable, committed institution. The permanence of marriage as a covenant is
lost. The relationship is often broken by relatively easy,
“no-fault” divorce.
• Feminist movements abound as
women lose their inclination for childbearing and child
nurturing. The birth rate decreases. Daycare facilities replace
intimate parenting as mothers are no longer motivated or
encouraged to raise their own children in the security of the
home.
• Public disrespect for parents,
parenthood, and authority in general rises. Parenthood becomes
more difficult for those still trying to rear children with
biblical values. The media impugn time-honored values and
traditions.
• Young people are increasingly
disrespectful of their parents and others in authority.
Juvenile delinquency escalates, as do promiscuity and
rebellion. Neither the legal system nor educational
institutions are able to deter the unabashed violence and
immorality.
• Adultery is accepted and even
promoted in many circles. Alternatives to marriage, such as
cohabitation, are increasingly accepted. Sexuality is flaunted,
from marketing to entertainment.
• Sexual perversions of all
kinds (homosexuality, rape, incest, pedo-philia) move from
toleration to proliferation.2
In 1986, we first began to share
Zimmerman’s thoughts with clergy and other people on
retreats. There was unanimous consensus that the United States
had entered the atomistic stage, the period when social
disintegration was occurring. A few of us began to seek ways in
which we as followers of Jesus could be “salt” and
“light” no matter what happened to our country.
Eventually, in 1993 our Father led us to
Israel. It’s during our stay there for several months
that He revealed to us what He was doing to restore that which
has been lost. What HE termed “The Hebraic Restoration” has little to do
with the Christianity touted in the U.S. today.
Our Father isn’t trying to prop up
23,000 competing denominations and sects. He’s letting it
all crumble so that the Church that Jesus is building can arise.
It’s no small thing that marriages
are being discarded in record numbers in favor of self-pursuit
and personal gratification. Under the guise of
“grace”, Christians are swallowing the lie that
their “happiness” is more important to God than His
righteous Word.
Our Father’s heart grieves that the
marriage covenant He designed to mirror in the physical realm
the spiritual intimacy He wants with His called-out ones has
been so defiled. Insert into the following passage many of the
people you rub shoulders with in your congregation, and
you’ll get an idea of the lawlessness that pervades Christianity in this country.
Another thing you do: You flood the
LORD’S altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from
your hands. You ask, ‘Why?’ It is because the LORD
is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your
youth, because you have broken
faith with her, though she is your
partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
Has not the LORD
made them one? In flesh and spirit
they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So
guard yourself in your spirit, and do
not break faith with the wife of
your youth. ‘I hate divorce,’ says the LORD God of Israel, ‘and
I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as
with his garment,’ says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith (Malachi 2:13-16).
Hellenist Christianity in the US Today
In his thought-provoking book Marriage Savers, author
Michael McManus provides some startling facts concerning
Christianity and single parenthood. He writes,
According to George Gallup, Jr., two-thirds of
Americans are members of churches. Seventy-three percent of
first marriages are blessed by the church..., and we are
troubled by the more than 50% divorce rate. Clearly, the
American church — 300,000 local congregations — has
access, a latent power, to influence most people. This is in
sharp contrast with the church’s access in Europe, where
church attendance is 4% in Finland, 12% in France, and 14% in
Great Britain according to a 1986 Gallup Poll. [While these
statistics are 20 years old, worship service attendance has decreased in Europe
in the intervening years.]
Yet... Japan, with almost no Chris-tians,
has one quarter as many single parents as America, and every
European country and Canada do twice as well as the United
States in holding two-parent families together. Clearly, the
nation with the deepest church
penetration has the least impact on central
issues involving rearing of children.
US: 22.9% of homes headed by a single parent;
Japan: 5.9% of
homes headed by a single parent;
United Kingdom:12.7% of homes headed by a single parent;
France: 10.9% of
homes headed by a single parent;
West Germany: 17.5% of homes headed by a single parent;
Canada: 14.8% of homes headed by a single parent.
(Source: Bureau of the Census report, “Children’s Well-Being: An
International Comparison,” Bureau of the Census, 1992.)3
In the United States, divorce among
churchgoers is higher than those who don’t attend
services. In fact, it is 50% higher in the “Bible
Belt”. Protestant clergy are among the top occupations
for divorce in this nation.
Strong supportive ties between parents and
their children have been shredded by crammed work schedules on
one side, and peer-dependence and Internet addiction on the
other. During the 1960’s, adolescence spanned ages
thirteen to nineteen. In their most recent studies, however,
sociologists have extended adolescence from age twelve to over age thirty.
(This assumes that adolescence begins with the onset of puberty
and ends when a person takes complete responsibility for his or
her actions and decisions in life.)
Our culture has, in effect, produced a
generation of “adult adolescents” ill-equipped to
assume the roles of responsible adulthood and leadership.
During our time at the retreat center we
were asked to conduct a singles ministry representing many
different congregations in our region. We did this for about
two and a half years until individual congregations began their
own singles ministry.
The average age of those who attended our
monthly potluck and quarterly retreats was 28-29 years. The
size of the group varied from thirty to sixty people. Except
for one or two, the participants had never been married. Only a
few resided at home with their parents; many lived alone in
apartments.
Over a several month period we encouraged
these men and women to ask their parents, “Is it a joy
for you to have me as your child?” The vast majority of
the singles were held too captive by their fears to ask their
folks that question. Perhaps seven of them did inquire. Their
testimonies to the others were filled with wonderful parental
love and affirmation, much to the surprise of those who’d
asked! Still, the majority couldn’t overcome their
hesitance to approach the very people who had once changed
their diapers. Their expectation of a painful response kept
them from even broaching the topic.
Many of these people were college
graduates. They’d experienced a certain measure of
personal freedom due to disposable income and an enormous
amount of discretionary time. Many of their options and
decisions centered around what “toys” to buy and
what activities could occupy those extra hours. Their maturity
level was commensurate with that of the 14-17 year-olds we had
guided in youth groups ten years earlier.
No matter what counsel or suggestions we
presented, few allowed themselves to leave behind their
navel-gazing self-focus. At that time, we were still unaware of
how crippling the demise of the
three-generation family had
been on personal maturation. Family fragmentation that
separated people from their grandparents, siblings and cousins
left a void in healthy relational development. We observed a
disquieting pattern of migration of the unmarried from one
singles group to another to yet another.
About a year after we were “relieved
of duty” from the singles ministry as various
congregations developed their own singles groups, a man
we’ll call Bill came to us. He’d been asked to
start a singles group on behalf of his faith community, the
largest congregation in our area.
Someone on the staff had recommended that
he talk with us. After our introduction Mike asked,
“Bill, do you know what hell on earth is? It’s
being forty, single, and wishing you’d been married the
whole time.” Bill peered at Mike sadly, replying, “I’m forty,
single, and wishing I’d been married all that
time.”
As we talked, Mike encouraged him to pray
for an older grandparent-aged couple to lead the singles
ministry. We had discovered that even in our forties, we were
too young to significantly help our single friends. Bill
disregarded our advice, and after one or two years of
struggling with the group, suffered an emotional collapse.
“Unless the Lord builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain”
(Psalm 127:1).
“Today, many Christians question the
meaning of our forms of worship and service. They dutifully
attend services and meetings, yet are burdened by the
meaninglessness of so much that is traditionally a part of our
churches. They sense a need for a new perspective, a new
awareness... Their Sunday-at-eleven culture is timed to fall
between the two milking hours in the agricultural society.
Sermons remain one of the last forms of public discourse where
it is culturally forbidden to talk
back...
Made up, usually, of a small inner core
of believers who assume the necessary posts of leadership with
gratitude and devotion,...[leadership is] surrounded by a cloud
of uninvolved and mildly approving
witnesses... Basically, we do not
want anything to happen on Sunday morning that will upset our
daily routine. We want to be ‘inspired,’ to come
away with a warm feeling, but we do
not want to be disturbed, so
subconsciously we structure the service in order to assure
safe, predictable, comfortable results...
We say that our faith must be lived—that Christ
invades us to transform every aspect of daily life. Yet we teach this faith in
formalized classes or sermons far
out of a life context... We say that every
believer is a priest, gifted and responsible for building up
others in the Body of Christ. And we bring adults to church,
set them down and tell them to
listen to a teacher or to the
pastor. They have exercised no
ministry, held no responsibility but
to be quiet and orderly, and have helped
no one by their presence...
We say that parents are responsible for the Christian
nurture of their children. Yet we develop more and more church programs to minister to them and thus promote the idea that
parents can turn their children over to the church and the church will do the job of nurturing them...
It does not matter what we say. What we do talks most
convincingly. And the fact is that our current church patterns
and our educational programming intellectualize
Christi-anity, promote parental irresponsibili-ty, prevent believers from
ministering to one another, and
permit Christians to feel comfortable without any personal ministry.” (emphasis added)4
Prophetically penned by Lawrence O.
Richards in his book, A New Face For
The Church, do these observations
correctly describe the present state of the church in the
United States? Or more specifically, can you see any similarity
to what is happening in your congregation?
David Wilkerson, pastor of the Times
Square Church in New York City, wrote in his 6-13-94 Pulpit
Series letter,
The denominational church system appears
to be in the throes of death. It has almost no influence in the
secular world, no mighty power in Christ. Growing numbers of
ministers are falling on all sides—to adultery,
covetousness, pride and perversions of all kinds. Pastors...are bringing in entertainment and
showmanship...[and] many pastors today are cowards when it
comes to naming sin. They merely go
through the motions of the ministry, having a form of godliness but no power. It is because they have grown comfortable in their
position. They have lost the touch of God and no longer hear His voice.5
Note that he drafted these words over a
decade ago! The situation has vastly decayed since. In May,
1994, Wilkerson stated,
I believe the gospel can’t be fully
preached unless it is accompanied by the power and
demonstration of the Holy Ghost—working mighty wonders,
proving the gospel is true...The church today has become weak
and ineffective. Why? Because it no
longer believes in the supernatural! Theolo-gians tell us that at some point God quit
performing mighty deeds. Yet, exactly when all of this
supernatural activity stopped, no one can say!”
(Authors’ comment: This theological position reflects revisionism, altering
Scripture to reconcile its meaning with current cultural
beliefs and standards.)
Wilkerson continues, “The miracles
of this last-day church will be genuine, real, indisputable,
undeniable—and yet they will not be well-known. Instead,
they will issue forth from the hands of ordinary, holy, separated saints who know God and are
intimate with Jesus...If you think
you’re too ordinary for God to use, listen closely: God
is not going to do His last-day work through big-name
evangelists or pastors...The fact is, God is going to need
every housewife, teenager, elderly person and all who love Him
to carry out His mighty work!6
“As he
was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him,
‘Look, Teacher!
What massive stones!
What magnificent buildings!’
‘Do you see all these great
buildings?’ replied Jesus. ‘Not one stone here will
be left on another; every one will be
thrown down’” (Mark 13:1,2).
You must not let the size of your
congregation or the beauty of your place of worship deceive
you. Massive congregations filled with apathetic spectators are
not what our Lord intended. Wayne Jacobsen, in A Passion For God’s Presence, illustrates Satan’s plan to make the
church big and impersonal:
In the third century Satan must have
called a BIG meeting with his demons. Hades 1, he probably
called it. Since persecution had failed so miserably, this
diabolical council needed to develop a new strategy to
undermine the life of the church...
The objectives were clear: The plan would
have to diffuse the self-sacrificing love that carried the
church through conflict, distract it from intimacy with God,
and devalue the importance of the individual believer...
Someone came up with a very simple idea: ‘Trying to keep
it small hasn’t worked—let’s make it
big!’ What would happen if the church suddenly
became acceptable? Many would come just for social reasons.
They would quickly dilute those who are really in God’s
clutches.
And imagine all the programs and
activities they would have to plan to keep those people happy.
Nothing chokes out intimacy as well as busyness. The church
would eventually become a machine, chewing up individuals
instead of loving them.
They couldn’t possibly teach all
the followers to walk with God personally, so they would soon
substitute rules and guidelines for His ever-present voice. The
machine would have to be run by professionals. The others would
become nothing more than spectators and billpayers.8
Whether or not such a demonic meeting
actually occurred is debatable, but the deception of the
demonic goal can readily be seen throughout the church today: “Size equals
success.”
We were visiting friends in a large
Florida city a few years ago. As they drove us around, our host
pointed out different church buildings. Many were vacant. His
tale sounded something like, “This one once had 5,000 in
attendance... This one had 3,000...This one...” Each
church we were shown had grown to tremendous size and then
destroyed itself from within.
Soon after our visit to Florida, we were
visiting other friends outside Washington, DC. As we drove down
one of the main streets enroute to the Sunday morning worship
service, our host remarked that this particular street was
listed in the Guinness Book of World
Records. It contained more church
buildings than any other street in the world!
As we drove along, Karl pointed out which
congregations had split from others along that same
thoroughfare. Interestingly, during the service we attended, a
letter of reconciliation from the church leadership was read to
the congregation. It was addressed to the congregation from
which they had split some years earlier.
This state of affairs wouldn’t be so
serious if the two examples cited represented just a few
isolated cases in the U.S. However, we are now talking about
the rule, not the exception. Congrega-tions have become human institutions,
not living spiritual organisms.
Corroborating this thought is the
following from Ernest Wright in The
Rule of God:
God, through the work of the Spirit, has
always been at war with human institutionalism, because the
institution becomes idolatrous, self-perpetuating, and
self-worshipping, because church membership becomes synonymous
with the new birth, because man tries to make the Spirit follow
law.
How complex we have made the simplicity
of the gospel, with our programs, methods, organizations and a
world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but
can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of
our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that
we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of
God scarcely at all.(emphasis added)9
John Stott, a well-known Christian author,
was asked to explain why Christianity has declined in the West,
and how this process can be avoided as more and more of the
world becomes Westernized. Stott replied,
It began with these philosophers who
mounted a frontal attack on the Christian church, seeking to
replace revelation with reason... And the church was feeble to capitulate to
that assault... Another reason why Christianity is declining is
that what is declining is pseudo-Christianity. It is not the
authentic Christianity described in the Gospels and the New
Testament...
Christianity has declined in the West
because Christian people who claim to follow Christ don’t look like it... If Christians lived like Jesus Christ, the world
would be at our feet today. The greatest hindrance to the
spread of the gospel is the church. The church that is intended
to be a stepping stone to faith is more often a stumbling block to faith. (emphasis added)10
Probably the biggest reason for the
church’s difficulty in breaking its ties with people
management systems and programs is institutionalism. An organized and recognized body called
“the church” more often follows the pattern of
corporate America than relying in obedient trust on the
standard of God’s Word and living as extended spiritual
family.
Both Jesus and the early Church
disregarded institutionalism, preferring the power of the Spirit and the relationships among believers for interpersonal ministry. It was obvious to
them from the Hebrew Scriptures and from the society around
them that the institution of the priestly system had failed to
produce an obedient people who loved and served the Lord.
Institutional efforts can appear
“successful” even when the vitality of Jesus
isn’t real. That’s what is so deceptive about it.
You think you’re pleasing God for all your activity and
its results, yet beneath the programs and entertainment lies an
emptiness that few will admit. Institutionalism
deceives you into feeling good about yourself even after your responsiveness to God has ceased.
A dear friend of ours was teaching in
England a few years ago when he asked the congregation this
question: “If Jesus Christ were dead, how long would you
keep on doing what you’re doing here?” The people
were convicted as they realized and admitted that everything would go on just as it had. The institution provided all that they
needed or wanted to fulfill their social and religious needs.
“‘You do not realize that it
is better for you that one man die for the people than that the
whole nation perish.’ So from that day on they plotted to
take his life” (John 11:50,53).
You may wonder why it’s so hard for
followers of Jesus in the US to get back to the relational
intimacy and spiritual fruitfulness of the believers in the
Book of Acts.
A hindrance that hampers restoration of
intimacy with our Lord is “vested interest” in the
religious establishment. Vested interests are found in those
who, because of their position and power over others, strive to
keep the status quo. They have no intention of encouraging
change that would foster greater dependence on the Holy Spirit!
For example, while Mike was in the Navy he
read a dramatic account of vested interest that required an Act
of Congress to overcome. During the early 1900’s,
airplanes were introduced aboard certain military ships. The
pilots were in control of the missions of their planes,
independent of the direct decision-making of the ship’s
captain.
Throughout Naval history, a ship’s
captain had always exercised total dominion over everything
that was aboard his vessel. Many captains perceived the
pilots’ autonomy as a threat to their own vested interest
of absolute authority. A number of ship captains even tried to
jeopardize the success of aircraft missions launched from their
ships.
Some actually endangered pilots’
lives by putting their ship into a turning maneuver just as a
plane was attempting to land onboard. The subsequent crash
would then prove the captain’s point that planes had no
business being on ships!
Therefore Congress stepped in and enacted
a new law: Any ship with aircraft stationed onboard was
required to have a captain who was also a qualified aviator.
Today over half the people in the Navy are connected to
aviation in some way. Once vested interests are exposed and
challenged, changes can occur.
In A Passion
For God’s Presence, Wayne
Jacobsen vividly exposes the power of vested interests in
churches today. Jacobsen illustrates his point with the story
of The Emperor’s New Clothes. In this tale, a group of royal advisors seeks to
keep their jobs by lying about the emperor’s nudity. As
the king parades through the town in his “new
clothes,” a little boy with no vested interest at stake
shouts the obvious: “He’s naked!” Jacobsen correlates
the fable with the history of the church:
It’s easy for us now to look back
at those generations, not sharing their vested interests, and
see how believers sold out to political and personal corruption
during the Middle Ages; to high finance prior to the
Reformation; to terror and murder during the Inquisition; to
natural reason during the Enlightenment; and to liberalism
early in this century...
We stay captive to deception by the same appeal of personal interest... So it is with the church today: many people
are making Christianity just what
they want it to be, whatever fits
their interest... It doesn’t take great wisdom to unmask
deceit—only a desire to look at things the way they really are,
not the way we want to see them.11(emphasis added)
A growing number of observers are now
pointing to the institutionalized church in the United States
and crying, “We’re spiritually naked!”
A tale from The
New England Church Resource Handbook further illustrates the concept of vested
interests.
Henry Cabot Lodge, a [former] senator from
Massachusetts, was convinced that many bureaucrats have little
else on their minds than maintaining their power and position
(a problem sometimes encountered in churches as well as
government). ‘They are a lot like old Si Haskins,’
he said.
One day we came upon Si sitting on
the dam up above the town. ‘What are you doing,
Si?’ we asked.
‘I’m paid to shoot the
muskrats,’ he replied. ‘They’re diggin’
under the dam.’
‘Well, there’s one over
there right now.’ We pointed to a big one with his eyes
just above water. ‘Why don’t you shoot
him?’
‘You don’t think I want to
lose my job, do you?’ he replied.12
Many of the Pharisees of Israel were
captive to their own vested interests. Numbers of people had
put their faith in Jesus after He raised Lazarus from the dead.
Now think about how far the vested
interest the religious establishment went to protect their
positions: “So the chief
priests made plans to kill Lazarus
as well, for on account of him many
of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in
him” (John 12:10,11).
Do you wonder if Lazarus, having been
brought back to life, ever found out that the priests were
planning to kill him? At what point does a vested interest so
thoroughly blind a person who thinks he or she is doing God’s will from
discerning the truth?
“‘Do not go beyond what is
written.’
Then you will not take pride in one man
over against another” (1 Corinthians 4:
6).
Revisionism. Does that word mean anything to you? Most people in
congregations today are so subtly influenced by its effects
that they don’t even notice. The Random House Dictionary defines revisionism as “attempting to reevaluate and restate the past based on newly acquired standards.”(emphasis
added)13 In other words, historical truth is revised to
suit what you want it to be rather than what it actually was.
Revisionism within the church has had a
profound effect throughout the centuries. Many today think that
the customs, practices, even the organization of the church
date from the time of Jesus and the apostles.
Yet, an extraordinary amount of
revisionism has entered the church over the centuries.
It’s no wonder so much of the vitality of the early
Church has been lost!
History, however, shows that prejudice and
vested interests over the course of time “revised”
the way the early Church carried on. Subsequent believers were
handed something far different than the “extended
spiritual family” that was intended by our Lord. In fact,
much of what you consider key elements of church practice may
even violate 1 Corinthians 4:6, quoted earlier. We’ll
explore these factors in lessons to follow.
Not even the Bible is safe from
revisionism. One version contains a genderless God to
accommodate the feminist movement. Another has modified verses
that pertain to sin so that people can excuse their failure to
repent yet still think of themselves as
“Christian”.
Revisionism is a child of deceit. The
Bible tells us, “The great
dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent, called the
devil or Satan, who leads the whole
world astray. He was hurled to the
earth, and his angels with him” (Revelation 12:9). The deceiver has been at work
since the Garden of Eden, and it’s no surprise that his
work continues unabated.
Jesus tells us that lies are Satan’s
native tongue: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.
He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth,
for there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks his native language, for
he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
“Now the Bereans were of more noble
character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message
with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to
see if what Paul said
was true” (Acts 17:11).
The opposite of revisionism is apperception, comparing new information with what you already know beyond
doubt to be true. In other words, you evaluate a newer teaching
or practice to see if it lines up with older, proven truths.
Jesus relied on apperception in His
teachings by often quoting the Older Testament and then applying that truth to
a situation He was addressing. For instance, while speaking in
the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus read aloud the messianic
prophecy of Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the
poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
freedom for the captives and recovery of sight for the blind,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (vv. 1,2).
His listeners already believed this
prophecy to be true, so Jesus used these verses as the basis
for understanding Himself, telling them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your
hearing” (Luke 4:16-21).
To justify His disciples plucking ears of
corn on the Sabbath (see Matthew 12:1-8), Jesus reminded His
critics of the commonly known fact of “sanctified Sabbath
breaking”. David and his hungry troops had entered the
tabernacle and eaten the consecrated bread that by law was
relegated solely to the priests (see 1 Samuel 21:3-6).
Jesus went on to declare in apperception
that on the Sabbath, the priests regularly broke the
commandment that demanded no work on that day in order to offer
sacrifices and circumcise babies (see Matthew 12:5-7, from
Hosea 6:6). His lesson for application? That mercy surpasses
sanctimonious self-righteousness!
So important were the Hebrew Scriptures as a basis for the Gospel message that they were quoted for application, or apperceived, all
throughout the gospels, epistles, and the Revelation.
The Bereans were commended for studying
the Scriptures because they apperceived Paul’s new
teachings in light of Hebraic scriptural truths (see Acts 17:
11).
We’re writing with apperception
in mind, trying to clearly discern
God’s intent at the time the
Scriptures were written so you will
apply
it to your life.
In order to be true to the Word of God, we
must be willing to leave behind today’s church structure
and traditions that may seem “sacred” yet have no biblical
foundation. If we are honest with ourselves, the Christianity
that revisionism and institutionalism have produced bears
little of Christ’s image.
Pursue for yourself the nobleness of the
Bereans. Investigate the Bible to apply what God has said. Like the Bereans, you may
yearn to reach the point in your faith experience in which your
practices “do not go beyond
what is written” (see 1
Corinthians 4:6).
God is seeking those who long with the
intensity of David to be touched by Him personally: “O my Strength, I watch for you; you, O
God, are my fortress, my loving God” (Psalm 59:9,10).
Our Lord penetrates hearts, not programs.
That’s what intimacy is all about, and that is what you
are called to pass on to others. You can’t expect to
impact prisoners of the spiritual forces of darkness throughout
the world — or even your family, neighbors and coworkers
— if you offer them a religious formula but withhold your
heart.
The following poem addresses the
resistance of so many to forsake that which has been so
ineffective and harmful. As you appraise the loss of the
Hebraic influence of the early Church, you may see in
today’s church the dominance of Greek philosophy.
You’ll recognize it if you believe the
“spiritual” realm is far holier than the physical!
The Hebraic roots have also been
supplanted by Roman organization, which insists on a hierarchy
of church leadership in order to perpetuate the church system.
Ask yourself, “Is this what God wants?” Have the reforms of the past centuries been
able to reestablish the biblical Church that Jesus would build?
THE CLIFF
‘Twas a dangerous cliff, as they
freely confessed,
Though to walk near its crest was so
pleasant;
But over its terrible edge there had
slipped
A duke and full many a peasant.
The people said something would have to be
done,
But their projects did not at all tally.
Some said, “Put a fence ‘round
the edge of the cliff,”
Some, “An ambulance down in the
valley.”
The lament of the crowd was profound and
was loud,
As their hearts overflowed with their
pity;
But the cry for the ambulance carried the
day
As it spread through the neighboring city.
A collection was made to accumulate aid,
And the dwellers in highway and alley
Gave dollars or cents—not to furnish
a fence—
But put an ambulance down in the valley.
“For the cliff is all right if
you’re careful,” they said;
“And if folks ever slip and are
dropping,
It isn’t the slipping that hurts
them so much
As the shock down below—when
they’re stopping.”
So for years (we have heard), as these
mishaps occurred, Quick forth would the rescuers sally,
To pick up the victims who fell from the
cliff
With the ambulance down in the valley.
Said one, to his plea, “It’s a
marvel to me
That you’d give so much greater
attention
To repairing results than to curing the
cause;
You had much better aim at prevention.
For the mischief, of course, should be
stopped at its source,
Come, neighbors and friends, let us rally.
It is far better sense to rely on a fence
Than an ambulance down in the
valley.”
“He is wrong in his head,” the
majority said;
“He would end all our earnest
endeavor,
He’s a man who would shirk this
responsible work,
But we will support it forever.
Aren’t we picking up all just as
fast as they fall
And giving them care liberally?
A superfluous fence is of no consequence,
If the ambulance works in the
valley.”
The story looks queer as we’ve
written it here,
But things oft occur that are stranger.
More humane, we assert, than to succor the
hurt,
Is the plan of removing the danger.
The best possible course is to safeguard
the source,
Attend to things rationally.
Yes, build up the fence, and let us
dispense
With the ambulance down in the valley.
Author Unknown
Many of the past church reforms stemmed
from Hellenist philosophical arguments over revisionist
writings. You are experiencing the results of Hellenist
intrusion even today: over 23,000 denominations that have been
established over creedal divisions. Are these fragmentations
all acceptable to God? Is yours?
Each disagreement and resulting division
operates like the ambulance down in the valley. Today’s
creedal differences have distracted God’s people from
personal intimacy both with Jesus and with each other. Most
congregations keep people occupied with programs and meetings
but generally fail to lead them to the fullness of loving
obedience in Christ.
In fact, church busyness often lures
people away from intimacy. Instead of a source of
edification and mutual support as extended spiritual family,
“church life” is all too often a wellspring of
pettiness, gossip, and manipulation.
It appears that there are two possible
options open to followers of Jesus today: One, to continue
to”effect repairs”, i.e., to put the ambulance down in the valley to
pursue the mistakes of the past, struggling to patch up the
church as it has been revised over the centuries.
If you use the same processes of reforming
the church that your forefathers used, you will find yourself
still clinging to non-biblical or extra-biblical forms and
patterns that have, over time, become hallowed because of
tradition.
Just possibly, this generation can be
honest with itself and recognize that the whole edifice is
crumbling. A new generation is rejecting empty form that lacks
living substance.
Your second option is to accept the
challenge of restoring the true biblical foundations of the
early Church. If you understand that Jesus is the only Head
and Builder of His Church, you need to search the Bible.
Discover that which He and the apostles presented through the
Hebraic framework in which it was initially addressed.
Those who are willing to do this can work
together in agreement with the Holy Spirit and in our time see
a true expression of the Church of Jesus Christ. Will it be
popular? Probably not. Will it be powerful? Yes, exceedingly
so!
Bibliography
1. Carle C. Zimmerman, Family and Civilization
(New York, NY: Harper and Bros., 1947) p. 761.
2. See Ibid, pp. 776-777.
3. See Michael McManus, Marriage Savers Study Guide (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994). p. 3.
4. Taken from A New Face for the Church by Lawrence O. Richards. Copyright © 1970 by Zondervan Publishing House. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House; p. 6.
5. David Wilkerson, Pulpit Series Letter, Times Square Church, 6-13-94.
6. David Wilkerson, Pulpit Series Letter, Times Square Church, 5-23-94
7. C. Peter Wagner, “Those Amazing Post-Denominational Churches” Ministries Today, July/August 1994, p. 7.
8. Wayne Jacobsen, A Passion for God’s Presence (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1987) pp. 169-170.
9. Quoted in David J. DuPlessis, The Spirit Bade Me Go (Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1970) p. 53.
10. John Stott, reported in World Pulse, June 24, 1994.
11. Jacobsen, A Passion for God’s Presence, p. 25.
12. Don Gill, Editor, The New England Church Resource Handbook (Boston, MA: Evangelistic Association of New England, 1980) p. 27.
13. The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (New York, NY: Random House, 1971) p. 1227.
