Jesus Christ, Stickin' It To The... Church?

At the beginning of the last post I mentioned I was a bit upset at my church, and the state of many churches. That continues, and possibly more so today than yesterday.

I feel like God's church is to be a group of people that journey together toward God, and in the process affect every place they step foot on. I want to believe it is a place of equality, where we do not judge because we have "all been there" and we seek understanding and knowledge of life's happenings and questions. As we grow in fullness and in numbers we continue to make right the things of God. That is what I want to believe, because that's the picture I thought I got from the Bible.

But I'm afraid that hasn't been the case exactly. Maybe some places it has, and in fact I know some places it has, but I'd say in most it hasn't.

The more I think of it, the more the "church" has become the problem. The structure that often times resembles a government of sorts. I spoke with a man last night who, although not that great a communicator (or listener), did say he felt like the church was just trying to sell him stuff. It's like the church's worth is based on it's customers. Has the church given into consumeristic America? Has the church sold out?

I probably just lost a lot of people who think that is ridiculous (if a lot of people read this blog, we'll pretend). But I often choose to liken us to the Israelites, which I think is the point of the Bible following the Israelites. We know they are symbolic of those whom God has called. Let's look at if they ever did this.

Now we know that they had issues with worshiping idols. Even a very short time after being rescued from Egypt they were attributing their freedom to their old god and building a golden image of him. But that's a little different than this.

What I think of comes in 1 Samuel. God had set up a system in Deuteronomy where the people were "governed" by judges. This is to say that the judges handled disputes and issues that come up as a society develops. The different tribes were appointed different judges, maybe kind of like state's rights or something in the U.S. These judges were meant to be men of God and to judge fairly, with their call being to be just and bring justice. This is how God set things up.

Fast forward a while, and things start going wrong. Samuel, a prophet of God, has kind of retired as judge. His sons are taking his place in Israel. Here's the problem, the sons are a few apples that fell far from the tree. They aren't doing their judge duty justly. Instead they're bringing perversion to the good of the society.

Some old dudes (elders) come up to Samuel with a solution to Samuel's evil sons. They need a king.

:::Insert "tires screeching to a stop" sound here:::

God kind of knew this was going to happen. So he told them to make sure they choose the right king when they ask for it. God says what will happen if they do the whole "King Thing," oh wait... "Silver King Thing" (I like it) the way he instructed. And it'll turn out well.

Now that it's about to happen, he has a warning for what will happen if they do this. God already knows who they will choose and how things will work out in the long run. And as you might have guessed, the warning comes true under Solomon mostly, I believe.

Now if you're a thinking person, this might have arisen: "Well either way they are ruled under corruption, so what does it matter?"

Good question, you're very smart. Here is a large difference that I see. The people with the judges were aware of the right. They lived with justice. It was important to them, and they were all partially responsible for it (even though it was the appointment of the judges) it was certainly not a dictatorship. When the judges go bad, the people know it. They know right and wrong, and they can see what is going on is wrong.

But at the heart of their cry is something more. It's conformity. They want to be like all the other nations. They want a structure like everyone else, because it helps you justify how you're running things maybe.

They gain a king, and that begins a line of many kings who lead the people astray, even to the point of killing the prophets of God.

Is this what the "church" has done? Or is this what those who have shaped our interpretation of what "church" is have done? Are we looking for a king, and naming it church? When the church dictates what we do more than what the actual words of God call for, who is king? Sure the church does everything in "the name of Jesus," but if it's not following how Jesus would do things, then is it really?

Jesus talked alot about a church we have no idea about. He really spoke very little about what we hold so dear.

I read this today. I recommend reading it if you've made it this far. The guy who wrote it is a little extreme at a few parts, but really comes to what the church (ecclesia) is. I did some minor research to check what he said and it seems legitimate.

We need to get away from those kinds of governments, and become a people of God. We don't need church doctrines as much as we need God's law and those who will uphold justice. When you become an organization, like many churches have become, success is key. If it's key we will sacrifice justice for success at times. It happens in business, and in some ways I think the church has become just a "glorified" business.