In a world of many

Not all that long ago I wrote a series of articles on preachers and the ‘church’ buildings of our times. I have written other posts about that very same issue. It seems that no matter how many times I move away from the issue…I always wind up coming back to it.

That’s okay. I write as I’m led to write and if that means I write about…or against…modern day ‘church’ buildings, I don’t mind. How long has our country looked at ‘church’ as being the ‘church’ buildings we see today? If you were to walk the streets of your town and take a poll…how many people would know what the true meaning of the Biblical Church is?

I have no idea but having grown up in and out of ‘church’ buildings I would guess that the numbers are few. So many in our country today associate the word church with the ‘church’ buildings that fill every town.

And that very image…of a building with a steeple…is what comes to the minds of most people when church is discussed. I know someone that says they always associate church with the body of believers but this same person uses the term ‘church’ when speaking of a physical place. In talking with this person I know they know and understand that there is a difference, yet by their conversations you wouldn’t know it.

I know other people that are regular members of big ‘church’ buildings that couldn’t begin to grasp the concept that church doesn’t mean the building they spend their Sundays in.

In Scripture we see that the Church is called out of the world.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John 15:19

…Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself and enemy of God. James 4:4

Funny how the world looks to the worlds ‘church’ buildings to find the Church. Having set through numerous Sunday sermons…I have yet to find the Church inside the ‘church’ of America. Label it with any denomination you want but if you spend very much time in the pews of the building looking for the true Church…you won’t find it.

Scripture tells us what the Church is…and where it is to be found. The word for church is ekklesia…or the called out ones. I find it remarkable that it literally translates as the called out ones.

The church…is called out.

We are called out from among the world, told that because the world hated Christ it will hate us.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John 15:18-19 esv

When I first heard of the reformed belief…after I already held the belief…I found it remarkable how anyone could consider what takes place in any ‘church’ building to be the true Biblical Church. I’ve yet to see a ‘church’ building be persecuted in America. I’ve yet to see them be hated by the world.

In fact if you look at most of them you will see that they are just a slightly cleaner version of the world. Movies? We got that. Child care centers? Check. Halloween celebrations? Yep. Santa? He’ll be here on Christmas Eve. Idolatry…love of money…encouraging of the separation of family through programs designed to teach about Jesus? Ummm, yes, we have those too.

I’ve even been in ‘church’ buildings that not only encouraged the separating of children and parents they all but insisted on it. Have had them all but try and pry my babies out of my arms to put them in the nursery…without success I might add. I never believed in sending babies to the nursery.

If Scripture teaches…and it does…that the Church is called out why then does the world want to look to a worldly institution to find the ‘church’?

Is it any wonder that there could very well be times in history when it appears that the true Church doesn’t exist?

I remember telling my husband once that being one of the elect is like knowing a secret that we can’t share. No matter how much we might want to share the secret people just won’t listen. They have ears that don’t hear and eyes that don’t see.

They are veiled…blinded.

And they can’t understand what is so plain to us. I encountered that recently with someone I know. I tried to share the secret…the mystery…but they could not see it, could not understand it.

And so…it’s like knowing a secret that can’t be shared. Because even when we try to share it’s as if we share the secret in English to a person that speaks only a foreign language. They can’t understand what we say no matter how much we try to break it down for them. We speak a language they do not understand.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 2 Corinthians 4:4esv

Is it any wonder the Church has been hidden in plain sight for thousands of years?

I read recently how the true Church has been labeled as a cult and has often been relegated to the edges of society…an outcast.

But isn’t that what Christ himself said would happen?

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. John 15:18

Wasn’t the whole world warned that the true Church wouldn’t be that which is popular and accepted by the world? I don’t see any of today’s ‘church’ buildings being hated as Scripture tells us will happen to His people.

Those that are not one of the Church…belonging to Christ…are blinded (2 Corinthians 4:4) and are separated from God.

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Isaiah 59: 1-2 esv

That same verse goes on about iniquity and the things that the unrighteous do.

Their feet run to evil…their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths, they have made their paths crooked; no one that treads on them knows peace. Vs 7-8 esv

…we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. Vs 10 esv

…we hope for…salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before you and our sins testify against us; vs 11-12 esv

Because of these things…because they are separated from the Lord…they are not of the Church.

Scripture tells us that there will be many that will belong to Christ…so many that they will be like grains of sand. And yet we also know that they will be few in number compared to the world.

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32 esv

So though the numbers belonging to Christ will be many…it is still few.

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13-14 esv

Despite the clear teachings of Scripture our world still wants to label the many as the true ‘church’. They give the name ‘church’ to physical buildings. They call them the house of God. And the many flock to them in great numbers.

They flock to these buildings in great numbers because they are taught a doctrine that doesn’t exist. They’re fed a steady diet of a god that believes in everything they do. They can believe in this god because he asks little of them.

Just one example of this is the ‘church’ I occasionally visit, this ‘church’ boasts a membership of hundreds at least. They claim a weekly attendance (in just one sermon) of 800-1200 people. Is that few? Compared to the world’s population…yes. But is it truly few?

Few would be five out of a hundred…or a thousand. Few would be if this was the only ‘church’ in a city with a population in the millions…or if it was the only ‘church’ in the state. This isn’t even the only ‘church’ within a quarter of a mile. You can stand in the parking lot and see another ‘church’.

Where is the few in that?

And yet they wear the label of ‘church’. As does the building down the road…and the one further away…and the rest in the same town.

These buildings can’t even all agree on what a ‘christian’ is.

Is it any wonder that the few are called out of the world? Is it any wonder that they are hard to find?

And still the ‘church’ in our country lays claim to the title that belongs only to those that belong to Christ. And they insult the title more and more every day. The ‘church’ that I sometimes attend has a large attendance…but it’s small compared to some. There are those ‘churches’ that have thousands, even hundreds of thousands of members. I haven’t verified the information but I recently read that there’s at least one that has over a billion in attendance.

Is that few?

I don’t think those numbers could be labeled few by anyone’s standards. They certainly aren’t by my standards.

As I think of this…I’m reminded…again…of the conversation with my husband. In a world of many…

There are few that are called out of it.