Those who would shepherd the church of Jesus Christ must always be on their guard against the perils of worldliness, worship via entertainment, secularism, success syndrome, materialism, authoritarianism, formalism, the cult of personality, etc. Having said that, I am content, when such warnings are lovingly set forth, to trust that if shepherds DO indeed have a heart for their flocks, they will prayerfully take such warnings to heart and wrestle with them within their own respective fellowships.
I have to be content with that pattern because of the equally dangerous peril presented by some who see themselves as prophetic voices to the church at large. You know the type. They speak as though they know “the problem with the church today.” They speak very generally, indicting most churches at once. They paint all churches with sweeping brush strokes. They allow for no wisdom, discernment or sensitivity to the Spirit on the part of local leaders. No one within Christendom is enlightened except those within their own camp. To put it in the simplest terms I can find: They nitpick everything. But, I guess “nitpick” is too weak of a word. In fact, they indict everything of which they disapprove as heresy and apostasy.
I recently ran across a YouTube video that attempted to be an indictment of what it called “the
false church system.” It fussed about everything from platform speakers, paid pastors, offerings, worship practices, church polity, buildings … if you can identify it with the twentieth-century church, the video fussed about it. There were a number of points worth pondering, but just as many counterpoints left unmentioned. There was much scripture set forth. However, there were also many relevant Bible texts not addressed at all.
Ultimately, the model that was being endorsed was a home-church model based on the worship gatherings in 1 Corinthians. Lots of people spoke. There were no visible leaders of the gatherings and no conspicuous authorities over the gathered congregation. However, there was no mention of the later pastoral epistles with the worship guidelines that Paul installed after of a few decades of the church’s existence. There was no mention of the order and polity that he prescribed in those letters. There was no mention from Ephesians of the role of gifted leaders in the church whose task it is to equip others for ministry.
I have no criticism of home-church models, provided that these other guidelines are in place. But, I also have no criticism of the plethora of models and issues that this video essentially condemned. I reserve the right to voice the same cautions that I mentioned in the first sentence of these thoughts, but I choose to keep my words of condemnation a little closer to the vest.
A closer look at this particular YouTube channel revealed that exposing heresy and apostasy is pretty much all this channel is about. The problem seemed to be that no one is safe from indictment … from Benny Hinn, who many would number with the apostates, to John MacArthur, a name that rarely comes up in discussions of heresy.
What actually prompted this current rant was a perusal of the comments section for the video. There were an alarming number of respondents who have checked-out from going to church at some point in the past who now seemed to feel very affirmed in that decision. There were others who I sense now feel emboldened to drop out. And, there were some who thought they might like to try a home-church (as though those are easy to locate). In short, there was much spiritualized rhetoric from non-church-attenders lamenting the shortcomings of the churches of their assorted experiences.
I guess I took the long route to getting here, but I essentially have two takeaways:
1) If you have checked-out from any association with any church fellowship, no matter how piously you make your argument, you are living perilously. You cannot refuse to be a part of that vessel which God has provided for your safety. You cannot refuse to love that which Christ Himself loves.
2) Any spiritual curiosity remaining in you will probably not be nurtured in a healthy fashion on the Internet. The fellowship of you and the similarly critical and disengaged is not a healthy recipe for your spiritual growth.
