Hidden in plain sight

I can’t remember when I started having an aversion to denominations but I know it was long before I understood what was happening in what our country calls the ‘church’…that is the ‘church’ buildings that are so prevalent.

I may not be able to remember when I developed an aversion to denominations but it sure showed up. I wasn’t introduced to the idea that denominations were wrong…at least not in a worldly way…it just kind of showed up one day. In time I began to see that nowhere in the Bible does it teach that denominations are okay. In fact it teaches the opposite.

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16: 18 esv

Nowhere in that verse does he speak of different ‘churches’. In fact nowhere in the Bible does it speak of different ‘churches’. There are plenty of verses that talk of people that hold other beliefs but of all the verses they basically boil down to God’s chosen people…the elect...and the unregenerate or the lost.

There are those that belong to Christ and those that do not.

Scripture doesn’t tell us that it’s okay to take the Bible and split it into multiple beliefs and call them denominations…denominations that all think their belief is the way to heaven, even when they teach a separation of the Church by the simple fact that they hold to a certain denomination.

In fact Scripture never even uses the term ‘churches’. It never implies that there is more than one church. The church is the body of people that belong to Christ throughout all time. There is only one.

There are different meetings of people of the church that come together…we can see that in Paul’s teachings…but they aren’t identified by different beliefs. They all hold to a common belief. And Paul is teaching to those that he calls ‘brothers’ or ‘saints’.

If we look at the above verse…Jesus not only said that he will build his church, he said the gates of hell ‘shall not prevail against it.’ It won’t be destroyed. It will remain throughout all of time.

I think back over all the verses that speak of the mystery of Christ being entrusted to a certain people. In the verse above Christ speaks of his Church…of the people that belong to Him…of those that He would entrust the mystery to.

When I was a kid there was a movie about a group of kids that found a treasure map and wanted to go on ‘one last adventure’ together before some of them moved away. That movies was one of my favorite movies…it also happens to be something I wouldn’t want my children to watch. I watched it so many times I could recite it line by line.

That movie was fascinating. It held just enough adventure to be slightly scary and to capture and hold my attention. But the thing about that movie was that those kids were going on a treasure hunt…they held in their hands a map that would lead them to the treasure. By way of finding the map, they had been entrusted with the treasure.

There is a treasure to be found in Scripture. But it’s a secret. Something that is entrusted to only a few. Scripture tells us that it is veiled to most people. That they do not understand.

How privileged those who receive the mystery are.

But I think again of that movie, of how those kids were privileged to be in the possession of the treasure map, of the adventure they went on because of it…and of the peril they experienced because of it.

That was a movie. It wasn’t real and it wasn’t biblical by any standards. But as I think of the mystery spoken of in Scripture…I think of that movie. Not always…but today. It is what comes to mind.

Being entrusted with the mystery is a great gift. We have been chosen to know the secrets and the mystery…but we are also told that we will be hated because of it.

Christians are now the most persecuted group of people in the world. We are targeted for nothing more than our beliefs in Christ. In America we are blessed to experience little of that but it happens even here…every day.

In a country where the majority of the population claim to be ‘Christians’.

I remember another movie from my younger years where a man said something to the effect that ‘some say if I don’t believe in Jesus I’m going to hell, some say if I do believe in Jesus I’m going to hell’…I’d say that’s a pretty good way of summing up the many denominations in our country. When those denominations hold differing beliefs…they can’t both be right. One of them has to be wrong.

I recently experienced just such a scenario with someone I know. We discovered that we hold very differing beliefs even though we both believe in Christ. Those beliefs were in direct opposition to each other. This person believes that what I believe is wrong, and I feel the same about what this person believes. We can’t both be right. One of us has to be wrong.

Such is the case with the many differing denominations today.

But what if we look away from the denominations and turn instead to the Church that Christ spoke of building. If Christ built it…we know it’s there…and it must be the right church…the only church…the true church.

Christ told us that the ‘gates of hell’ would not defeat it. he essentially said that it would stand the test of time no matter what comes its way.

So where is it?

It has to be out there somewhere. And it has to be a single church and not the many varied denominations laying claim to that title today.

Scripture tells us that the church is in fact the body of believers. It is those that belong to Christ. They will be in the world but not of the world. And the world will hate them.

Chances are highly unlikely that that church will be found inside the popular denominational buildings in America.

For just about every denomination…every ‘church’ building…there is a way to join the ‘church’. This generally requires a person go before a group of people or at the least an individual with high status in the ‘church’ and making some sort of confession of faith. At that point they are deemed to be a ‘member’ of the ‘church’.

Anytime man (or woman…or child) is required to make some sort of pledge of support or alliance to a group…it just seems wrong to me. Not only that but many of these ‘church’ buildings then believe that they hold some sort of power over that person because that person is now a ‘member’ of the ‘church.’

I have witnessed these meetings…and unfortunately been one of those being initiated. Aside from the brief confession of faith there is little or nothing asked of the person about whether or not they meet the biblical definition of a Christian. They aren’t asked to test themselves and see if they are really in the faith…as Scripture says they are to do.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 2 Corinthians 13:5 esv

Most people that ‘join’ a ‘church’ don’t even know that verse exists. And most of them don’t know that the ‘church’ they are joining isn’t the church spoken of in Scripture. Nor do they know that they cannot chose to join Christ’s church.

You did not chose me, but I chose you… John 15:16 esv

We don’t just decide to become a member of the true church. We are pulled into it.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him… John 6:44 esv

In the Greek instead of saying draws…it uses the much stronger word…drags. No one can come to me…unless the Father draws or drags him. In other words we can’t just decide to join the church and make a confession that will get us in.

The Lord chooses us…He elects us…He pulls us into the church whether we want to be there or not. Once there we don’t generally complain but even if we did…there is no getting out. It isn’t like the ‘churches’ built of men. There is no membership that can be revoked. Once we have been dragged into the church of Christ…we are there forever.

It isn’t for us to choose to join and therefore it isn’t for us to choose not to join. Either we are given membership by the Lord or we are denied membership by the Lord.

This isn’t the same kind of ‘church’ that our minds are conditioned to think of when we hear or read the word ‘church’. We think of buildings, of groups of people with different roles within a building or group. We think of memberships that can be entered into of our own accord and can be given up the same way.

Much the way we enter into any kind of agreement or partnership. Our human, earthly…American…minds see ‘church’ as what we have been conditioned to see. And so we see ‘joining’ the ‘church’ as being as simple as making a confession of faith and gaining access. Much like buying an annual pass to an amusement park or one of those members only stores.

You meet the requirements…whatever they are…and you get in.

You’re a part of the ‘church.’

Only…the ‘church’ you just joined isn’t the church. I’d be more inclined to liken it to a pact with the devil than to joining the church Christ spoke of.

It may not be that bad but the ‘joining’ of those ‘churches’ does serve to make people think that they are members of the church spoken of in Scripture…that makes them false teachings at best. They are delusions that make people think they have something that they don’t.

How many of those people that claim ‘membership’ in the ‘church’ even understand Who God is? How many of them are believing in a god that doesn’t exist…or just going through the motions of the club they want to join for whatever reason.

And when they ‘join’ the ‘church’ they believe that they have become ‘members’ of the church. Some of them don’t understand enough to know the Bible teaches of a church…and some of them don’t care enough to worry about it. But they are ‘members’ of the ‘church’.

Much like the so-called sinners prayer that guarantees entry to heaven to every person that says it, ‘membership’ in the ‘church’ gives the person that looks deep enough into their Bible to know that it speaks of a church the illusion that they have gained membership into that church.

Most of them never realize that they have been duped. They never know that they have been tricked into joining a group of people that doesn’t come close to being the true church spoken of in Scripture.

Because you can’t join that church. You are either pulled into it or you are denied entry. There is no joining. There is no working your way in. Either you get chosen to be a member and receive membership…against your will…or you are denied entry. There is no other way.

Denominations exist and they confuse…and trick…many a person into thinking that they are in the true church when in reality most…if not all…are teaching false doctrines to the many that may find the wide path but may never find the narrow gate.

And the true church exists but you’ll never find it in a building that can be joined because it isn’t a building at all. It is the group of ‘few’ that are dragged onto the path that will take them through the narrow gate.

Much like the mystery in the Bible…or the treasure map in the movie that I watched as a child…the church is there, hidden in plain sight. It is a treasure waiting to be explored by those that are granted entrance by the only One that holds the key.