May 16, 2007
Leveling a Church
More and more we’re hearing about denominations breaking up. Whether a major congregational split, a small group splintering off, or a local body ignoring their higher authority, denominations are showing signs of stress fractures. Discussing the turmoil a friend recently said, “If God can destroy His own temple, then He certainly isn’t above destroying a church.” Say what? We usually think in terms of God disciplining and pruning the church, but few of us can imagine God destroying my church. Can you envision God destroying your church?
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3 comments:
Gail;
-----When I was a boy I lived where the ground had a high clay content. I used to mix the dirt into a smooth mud and coat my hands with it. I would sit motionless in the summer sun until the mud coating had dried. Then I would watch it crack and crumble off as I began to move and flex my hands. Regardless of all the amusing thoughts I had about that mud coating while it was drying and while it was crumbling, it was nothing that I imagined it was, and it was not my hands. It was just mud.
-----So also are the denominations and all of their imagined theologies, creeds, and doctrines. They are nothing that man imagines them to be, and they are not God’s Holy Temple. They are a mud smeared over God’s temple. His temple is the people who have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The mortar that bonds brother to brother in the structure of the temple is not doctrine and creed, worship style and evangelistic method, or mission statement and obedience to leaders. It is love. It is mutual acknowledgment, respect, and honor. The mortar that bonds us together is the godly traits we learn from the Bible and practice towards one another.
-----That the denominational mud is crumbling does not indicate to me that His church is being destroyed. Hopefully, it indicates that man’s church is crumbling away from the real body which it has been concealing.
I really like your friend's quote!
I would like to add to the idea of God's pruning or destroying a church. In Scripture, "the Lord's pruning" was for spiritual growth. The temple was destroyed to advance His people's spiritual purity and prune out the "dead wood". I feel that a denomination crumbling or a congregation splitting may actually be the result of spiritual problems. What appears to be destruction is in reality spiritual pruning and a positive opportunity for spiritual growth. Let us be careful not to become too attached to denominations or facilities. God cares more for our souls than the temporal things of the world.
Windypenguin-rh
I think you’ve written before, glad to have you comment again.
Isn’t it interesting though that the older generation worries about getting younger people into the ‘temporal’ church so someone will be able to carry on after they are gone?
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