Copyright
© 1994
Warren Litzman.
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Let the Church be the Churchby Frank Stigall
What is the Church? Ask this question of almost anyone and they will tell you it is a building on a corner where people congregate. It is mind boggling to think that the uniqueness attributed to God's people has been given to a lifeless building that decays every day (Hebrews 8:13). There seems to be a multitude of thought on this subject. Almost everyone who goes to a building called a church feels that the building is the Church. But as I read the Scriptures, I can find only one Church. So, I must ask, "Which one of these buildings is the real church? All these buildings can't be the Church, so which one do I choose?"
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It gets even more complicated. We have a Methodist church in our town that went into a building program and built a new church. They sold the old one to the Eagles. They in turn installed a bar somewhere in the area where the altar was located. Now when the Eagles have a meeting, they drink booze where the altar was in the church. If that, in fact, was the church, then we must ask, "Why is it not the church now? When does a church cease to be a church and, can it become something else?"
Then we have another group in our town called The Foursquare. They moved out of their church and into a vacated Safeway store. Now, on Sunday, are they all backslidden because they don't attend the church anymore but instead congregate in an old Safeway grocery store? Many religionists, motivated by law, make statements like, "they don't even go to church." They consider you backslid and hell-bound. Now I must question this statement. Are these people backslid because they attend an old Safeway store?
Isn't it strange that a grocery store, a union hall, a civic center, a lodge hall, or a theater can be a church, but they tell me that my home, where we have worship and teaching, cannot be the church? We have meetings that have lasted four hours with singing, worship, testimonies, prayer, and even an offering. It makes me wonder what the religionists think they are doing to deserve the prestigious title of church, and, yet, we do not. What do they do that we don't? Oh yes, now I remember. They practice law.
This skill of commingling requires mastering double-talk. Double-talk is incoherent babbling that says nothing, but it contains some religious words which fool the mind into thinking something was said. This requires a double-minded person who does not know law from grace. James says, "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." You see how complicated this gets. This kind of teaching is enough to make you have a nervous breakdown. At the least, it can lead to mental disorders and multiple personalities.
Let me tell you what is really going on in religion: commingling of Old and New Testament theology. The Temple in old times was the place where God dwelt; it was always the central part of life in those days, much like a town square around which life revolved. This Old Testament idea, that God dwells in buildings, has erroneously been brought into the New Testament church as New Testament doctrine.
I believe Jesus knew this was going to happen. The primary reason God allowed the temple, that Herod built for the Jews, to be destroyed by Titus was to put an end to the idea that God dwells only in buildings. We must stop and ask ourselves, "Where does God dwell now?"
Anybody who knows anything about Old Testament history knows that most of these things regarding tabernacles and temples were only shadows of things to come. The reality is Christ now dwells in temples not made with hands. This is the Church: "Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands... " (Acts 7:48).
You see, most ministries today that preach they are the church must develop a vocabulary to fit their doctrine, and they do, along with a forked tongue. It is like speaking out of both sides of the mouth; it's called commingling the gospel. Out of one side it comes out like a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal saying, "You must be here, folks, in this house of God, in order to meet God." What have they said? They said, "You must come here because this is God's house and God dwells here." If that is where God is then maybe I should move in, because I want to live in His presence. When I go to church and give three or four hours a week to it, does this mean the rest of the week I am in jeopardy without His presence? Does not being there mean I do not have His presence until I return? Believe me, they want you there for many other reasons than just to meet God!
Then every once in awhile they tell you the truth; you have Christ in you who alone is your hope of glory, and that you are the temple of God wherever you are. This is a direct contradiction to their requiring you to come to their building to meet with God. Because the emphasis is put on the building, many are not able to hear and receive the truth of Christ being your life.
Now, I know the clergy is not ignorant of the facts. They know the buildings they are using are only third dimensional, temporal and earthly. But in their messages, they tell us the buildings are the house of God. The building is a place where the Church not made with hands meets. The building is not the Church, regardless of the cost or how beautiful it is. Remove the people and the church is nothing but an empty building.
The Father does not stand and wait at the door to check you in on Sunday. The building is not for His dwelling place; that is Old Testament theology. The building is solely for your comfort. He dwells only in the house He has made (Hebrews 3:4). More than likely this truth will not be taught at all, for religion is not going to share this knowledge with you, because you just might be set free from its bondage.
Just don't show up at your selected building for awhile and see what happens. You suddenly become a second-class Christian, and many members of these buildings will consider you backslid and hell-bound. You see all religious programs require three fundamental things: people, money, and obligation.
It appears there is not much consistency when the clergy talks about the church. One time the church is you, the next time the church is the building. The rules keep changing to meet the need; one day the building is the church, the next day it is sold for a restaurant or a lodge hall. Only the Church (believers), built without hands, never changes.
You may think what follows is stretching the truth a little, but it really isn't. The reason is, it has become common to think of church-buildings as a holy environment. I have heard many say things like, "We have the Spirit here in our church, " or "This is God's house. " The truth is, buildings do not have spirit, and God does not dwell in houses made with hands. Some may never have stopped to think about it, but the heathen who worship idols give the same credence to their idols that we give to our church-buildings.
While we don't outright worship the building, we do make it a holy place to come and meet God. I think it is time to realize the Father does not come down to us because we go to a church-building, neither does He walk the aisles nor do we have to reach out to touch Him. Why? Because He dwells in all who are born again. You are never separated from Him.
Then why do we go to a church building? It is for fellowship, and to hear a message of hope and freedom. The fellowship, if genuine, can give you a warm glow and a feeling of being loved. But on the other hand, as many of you know, it can become the biggest hell you were ever in. As for the message of hope, you are lucky to get one. Most preaching is wrapped up in the cloak of law, and with this comes condemnation.
Wake up, and let the Church be the Church. You see this word "church" does not mean the same thing in the Bible that it has come to mean in our modern English language. In the Greek text, the word for church is ekklesia and it means "a called out people." It is also interesting to note that the ek in the Greek text means origin which indicates a birthing and a genealogy. Buildings do not qualify.
So there you have it! The Church is not a place on the corner, it is not an organization, it is not a building made with hands, even though this is what you have been led to believe. The Church can only be birthed, so it is made up of all who have been born again. They are the called-out ones who have a God-origin; they have the Seed from the Father implanted within them which is His divine nature. No building can ever be that Church regardless of the cost. The ekklesia is never a building.
One day this message of Christ in believers may end up in a building, because we have outgrown our homes. When this happens, that building will not be the Church; the Church will go to the building. Remember you are the Church. Jesus said, " ..upon this rock [speaking of Himself] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).
If the building is the church then it should be the showcase for all Christianity, bearing the fruit of the Spirit and running over with kindness. However, the opposite is true. My friend, you can get beat up in a church building and severely wounded mentally and sometimes physically. I heard of a group of elders who had a knock-down-drag-out argument in a board meeting and one of the members was actually shot by another member. There was another group that had to have a sheriff present at their board meetings to prevent violence. This, folks, is not going to church; it is more like going into a war zone.
You may say that is the exception, but I say it is the rule. I have had personal experiences with religious boards and I know things can turn nasty quickly. A lady at camp meeting this fall told her story of how she was kicked out of her church, even though her name was on the corner-stone. In subsequent meetings, the board debated on how they could remove her name from the corner-stone without damaging the building. I guess they were not successful as her name is still on the corner-stone. What was her crime you ask? Her crime was that she had an encounter with Christ that changed her life. Religion cannot handle anyone who receives a deeper understanding. Freedom from bondage and joy in the Holy Spirit are not permitted in religion. She was guilty of wanting to share the joy.
We can tell from history that the religious church has left a trail of blood. You don't have to take my word for it, just turn to Hebrews, chapter eleven, or read the account of the crucifixion of Jesus. It was the religious church that betrayed him. Read about Stephen. If that is not enough, then read Fox's Book of Martyrs, a book full of how Christians were persecuted by the religious church.
The awful truth is that very often the religious church organization is not a true representation of Christ and it is not a showcase of the spirit of Christianity. Too often buildings are built to exalt the leaders and to lift up personalities. They continue to use large amounts of money to build bigger buildings while an unsaved world slides into hell.
The first reference to a church in the Bible had to do with a body of people in the wilderness, although it did not have the same meaning attached to it as it does now. In fact, the word "church" does not appear in the Old Testament. However, it does appear in Acts 7:38, where Luke speaks of the "church in the wilderness." He was referring to the Israelites who were waiting for Moses to come down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. We should note at this point in time Israel had no Tabernacle and no house of God of any kind. There were three to four million people wandering out in the wilderness desert. Luke referred to the people only as "the church in the wilderness." It is very plain that this great number of people in the desert could not all enter into that little tent to worship. It must be equally true then, they didn't go to church.
Why did I pick on this portion to write about? It is because here at Sinai the first Pentecost was celebrated. Pentecost means fifty. Specifically it means fifty days from Passover. Pentecost is a fifty-day time period from the historical Passover in Egypt to Sinai. This is when God gave His Law to Moses. His presence to them was as a cloud by day and a fire by night to all Israel. It also was a time when the plan was given for the Tabernacle in the wilderness with all its assorted furnishings.
Many today look at that Tabernacle, and make a lot out of it, but if you were a Levite and had to work there, you might have wished you were of another tribe. The work was very hard. The slaughtering and burning of animals on the altar was back-breaking work. Only a select few were ever allowed to enter into the Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies.
Now I would like to point out that the Tabernacle was not called the Church. People were and still are the Church. Even so, God came down in a funnel-shaped cloud to the Holy of Holies to meet with the properly sanctified priests, who would only enter at great peril. If they were not ceremonially clean, their lives were in jeopardy. Now we must ask ourselves, if the people are the Church, then what was the Tabernacle for?
The truth is the Tabernacle of Moses was an object lesson for the children of Israel. It was full of meaning concerning heavenly things and the plan of redemption. However, it is highly unlikely that many understood it. They did, however, seem to understand that salvation required the shedding of innocent blood: "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, [which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Hebrews 9:24) "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22). "For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul." (Leviticus 17:11).
Copyright © 1994 Warren Litzman. The Bible text in this publication, except where otherwise indicated, is from the King James Version. This article appears on the site: http://www.peterwade.com/.
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