The Church: What On Earth Is It?

By Kenneth D. Butcher

This book argues that the authentic church is the most precious thing on earth.

It addresses such critical issues as the Church’s true identity and God’s intention for the Church on earth in the 21st Century as opposed to alternate humanly devised paradigms.

It directs us back to God’s original glorious purposes and postulates that when we work to God’s original plan our experience moves closer to that of the New Testament church and we set in motion healing and restoration within the organic body of Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9780987476715

Book preview

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I am very blessed to have been raised in a Christian family. Both my parents and siblings were seriously committed to Christ but throughout my formative years it appeared to me that they often equated this with commitment to the Exclusive Brethren. My father joined them as a young man seeking after deeper truth and a more biblical experience of the church following active affiliation with the Salvation Army, whereas my mother was born into an Exclusive Brethren family.

From my earliest memory I was taught a deep reverence for the Bible as being God’s infallible Word and in my younger years there were occasions when I benefited from some of the best gospel preaching and Bible teaching I have ever heard. Concurrently, and especially as the Exclusive Brethren moved further and further along a trajectory away from God’s truth, I saw serious contradictions enacted before me. I was perplexed by many wrong and cruel things being done in the name of the Lord. This was very distressing and highly confusing to me as a young person although I did not then realise the extent of the problem. Although themselves victims of the Exclusive Brethren system, those I trusted attributed these things to individuals rather than to the movement or the universal leader, in this way excusing and defending the movement and its highest leader.

I witnessed many disturbing events and lived through many sorrowful experiences. I witnessed marriages broken asunder because one spouse did not conform fully to the beliefs and the rules of the increasingly introspective Exclusive Brethren. I saw vulnerable people abandoned because they had the temerity to raise questions. I saw people I loved psychologically bludgeoned into submission. I saw people seriously damaged and then blamed for the consequential outworking of that damage as though it justified their mistreatment. I saw people with problems condemned and cruelly excluded from fellowship rather than helped with their problems.

It was not until later that I came to fully understand the wrong and cruel things that had been done against my family, as well as many others. So much so that it seems as though virtually everyone in the local church had suffered hurt at some stage. The wrong actions were based on reasoned but distorted interpretations of Scripture and the abuse of authority which created a very tangled web indeed.

There were also good times, for which I am truly very thankful, with opportunity to participate in bible study discussion etc. particularly when in my teens. The good gave apparent credence to the sect and made it more difficult to see the creeping deception and understand the incremental abuses.

Over the years I agonised about much that was clearly wrong. I was periodically conflicted: my inner spirit was troubled over things that were not right but I saw no solution. My family shared this disquiet but frequently blamed secondary causes, especially particular individuals and misrepresentations, rather than the system. Unknowingly, I was being assailed by ruling religious spirits of fear and deception and I imbibed the Exclusive Brethren teaching that notwithstanding the turbulence, stresses and problems, they were nevertheless the most right of all Christians.

As a young man I became deeply impacted by Paul’s words: "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God".¹ I prayed that I would become such a person, in character a son of God, not tossed around by the opinions of men but led by the Spirit of God. I thrilled to the fact that this was an option God offered to me. I could be a ‘son of God’ living in the practical reality of being led by His Spirit. As I look back I believe that God implanted that desire and heard that prayer.

Eventually, I decided to put to the test the notion that it was local individuals who were at fault rather than the system. I wrote to the universal leader as to my concerns relating to activities in the local church and the behaviour of individuals claiming to be acting with his authority. Things quickly unravelled from there.

After some very stormy years, finally at age 32, I was ‘withdrawn from’ (that is, Exclusive Brethren terminology for being excommunicated) together with my dear wife, Anne, who was a very great strength to me, because we both refused to trust ‘implicitly’ in the universal leader of the Exclusive Brethren: we refused to give him the place of unquestioned authority and unconditional trust he demanded reserving them for only one man, Jesus Christ.

We were totally cut off from family, friends and lifelong acquaintances. We were put "outside the camp"² as having active leprosy (sin). We were rejected as unfit for any Christian fellowship and told that God would no longer hear our prayers.

The experience was like that of the man born blind but healed by Jesus who said:

"One thing I know: that though I was born blind, now I see".³

As he held to that "one thing" more revelation came to him. At that time, we did not have very clear understanding as to how far away from God’s truth the Exclusive Brethren had progressively strayed, but as we stood true to what we did know, more and more truth was revealed to us.

After being ‘withdrawn from’ my wife and I had a time of grieving and serious reflection in ‘the desert’. For two years, from 1977 to 1979, we chose to keep to ourselves and re-evaluate everything we had been taught in the light of God’s Word. I believe that this was what Saul of Tarsus did when he went to Arabia after his Damascus Road experience.

"I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go to Jerusalem, to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter."⁴

Few people may have felt the need to empty out their drawers, especially their deep bottom drawers, as thoroughly as my wife and I did in this period. During this time we were identifying what was truth and what was error, throwing out the rubbish of which there was a lot, evaluating each item, treasuring the valuable items that should be kept and there were many valuable gems. Some things needed longer and more careful scrutiny than others and some things were kept only after a vigorous cleansing scrub to clear away defiling attachments.

Then there were another eight years of lesser intensity during which we developed new Christian friendships and explored various Christian fellowships. As we prayed the Lord sent some remarkably helpful people across our path to encourage us. We attended a non-denominational Bible study which we later hosted in our home and on occasion shared the Lord’s Supper with other believers in our home. Anne became seriously involved with the ministries of KYB and CWCI⁵ (which she continued for the rest of her life) while I became a member of another non-denominational body that organised regional Bible teaching events.

Having come out from under one ungodly authority we were not looking to come under another: another man or system of man. We were looking for the fellowship of other disciples of Jesus who were moving under His authority. Accordingly, our search was a serious quest for a biblical experience of the church. Step-by-step, through many struggles, our Father wonderfully revealed both Himself and His guidance.

There was much that was good in the beginning of the Brethren movement and during this period we delved deeply into the history and re-examined the roots. We came to realise that the Exclusive Brethren had become in many ways the direct opposite of what they had originally set out to be and the contradictions became clear. As we studied the New Testament church and subsequent church history we came to a growing understanding of God’s plan and destiny for the church and how God meant the church to function.

We were not so unrealistic as to look for a perfect church but longed for a place of fellowship where biblical truth was both taught and practised. Where could we experience the church of the Bible? Where could we experience freedom in Christ? Where could we experience the presence of the Lord? Where could we see the Jesus of the Bible practically expressed in His corporate people?

With no predisposition to any denomination or sect, and a righteous antipathy to joining one, where did we fit? Was it possible to have an authentic church experience in our times? The search was long and difficult and we learnt a lot in the process of our often disappointing efforts.

It was through the struggles of experience that a deeper and more expanded understanding was acquired together with ongoing evidences of the Father’s great and abiding love. All along the way there have been lessons to learn and it has been a continuing path of difficulties and blessings.

It was more than ten years after being cast out by the Exclusive Brethren before we felt at all settled in a church fellowship and it was not because we did not care. We cared very deeply indeed and the search included the upheaval of moving home from country town to city in another State with four growing sons as we longed to experience the true family of God in a safe biblical church setting.

I believe that the beginning of the Brethren movement was a move of the Holy Spirit and that the rapid falling away of the Exclusive Brethren division of this wider movement has many parallels with the rapid fall of the original church.

In testing the validity of a new premise, it is helpful to apply it to an extreme situation and then evaluate it, for it often takes an extreme application to expose the hidden flaws of an otherwise seemingly benign premise. In this way, the extremes of the Exclusive Brethren have highlighted to me key principles of truth and spirituality that are affecting the church at large although often in less confronting or better disguised and more credible forms.

Over the years since leaving the Exclusive Brethren I have at various times been: a member of the Riverina Bible Teach-In Committee; involved in leading and hosting various home groups; preaching and teaching, mainly in non-institutional churches and home groups; a member of the Gideons; a member of the Australian board of an international mission; the initiator and a founding elder of Tuggeranong Christian Fellowship; an associate counsellor and teacher and Australian Capital Territory regional representative of Ellel Ministries jointly with my wife Anne.

At the time of writing I live in Canberra and have been greatly blessed with four sons, three daughters-in-law, and five grandchildren. I retired from a finance manager position in 2007 to be more available for the work of the Lord including writing this book.

My dearly beloved wife patiently supported my commitment to this book but in August, 2012 she went home to Jesus after suffering severely from metastatic bone cancer. Some weeks later I was diagnosed with extensive metastatic liver cancer. I then with difficulty pressed on to complete this book although with failing health there was not time to have it professionally edited or proof read.

My wife and I were blessed with a very rich marriage and life experience together and participated in many different types of church fellowship.

¹ Romans 8:14 - underlining added.

² Leviticus 13:46

³ John 9:25

⁴ Galatians 1:16-18

⁵ http://www.cwciaus.org.au/

INTRODUCTION

Tom and Fred were sitting on the jetty lazily dangling their lines into the peaceful waters of the estuary below.

"How can you say that you are a Christian if you don’t go to church?" asked Fred.

Well, it is like this Tom began. I believe in Jesus but the church! I’ve tried it! The most pathetic people I have ever met are people who go to church. They bow and scrape to the Pastor, throw away their own minds as they enter the church door, uncritically believe everything he says and feel guilty if they do not give the church money they really cannot afford. I have no desire to become one of them.

Oh come on, pleaded Fred, they are not all like that.

Of course not but too many are said Tom. Besides I thought the church is supposed to be about Jesus and goodness and love and hope and friendship but it seems to be full of hypocrisy and internal politics and about money and status and control and spin and mindless conformity. I find that my faith is assaulted every time I go to church. It often makes me feel angry afterwards and I am a lot happier if I stay away.

Going to church on Sunday makes me feel good responded Fred. I feel that I have discharged an obligation to God and that it puts me in a good place. It’s one way to get into God’s good books. If I give Him what He wants then He will look after me.

Well it makes me feel bad retorted Tom. Once the big-name preacher told us all that if we gave some extra money to the church God would give us back ten times as much. He was so persuasive that I thought I would try it out but it didn’t work - I have been in debt ever since. Lies and hypocrisy is what I call it!

You are very negative today Fred persisted. All real Christians go to church.

"Well it is not that I have not tried" Tom muttered. "I have visited lots of churches.

I have experienced the formal nonsense of incense and candles and robes and fancy hats and I have been to churches full of sad unfriendly people doing their duty by being there. Then I have been to more lively churches where they have lectured me on all of the things I should be doing which I already knew of course. I found that the most depressing experience of all and it left me feeling guilty and hopeless."

Just then Fred got a bite on his line and pulled in a poisonous toad fish.

That’s just like going to church said Tom angrily. It’s better to catch nothing than one of those poisonous things and I am better when I have nothing to do with church - it upsets me too much. You might think I do not care but I do care - a lot.

Fred frowned as he donned a pair of gloves to take the toad fish off the hook.

Tom went on angrily Well if going to church is what it takes to be a Christian perhaps I am not a Christian at all so why shouldn’t I just forget about it all and live as I please? If I can’t be a Christian I will just do as I like and be finished with it all!

Then under his breath, My neighbour has just turned Buddhist - I can hardly blame him!⁶

1. How would you have replied to Tom?

2. Do you think Fred gave him good answers?

3. How are we to evangelise when so many people find connecting with church such a quandary?

Research in Australia during the period of 1991 to 2001 found that significant numbers of unchurched people had been attempting to connect with the Church, looking for answers, hoping to find a connection with God, but had turned away from what they found, unsatisfied.⁷

Those surveyed stated reasons for not going to church with 42% saying that they found church services boring or unfulfilling while 24% included in their reasons the way churches are organised.

Similarly, a survey in Amsterdam in the early 1990’s revealed that 100% of the young people interviewed were interested in God while only 1% said that they were interested in church.⁸

I heard a Lutheran Pastor make a similar observation during a sermon in February 2006, saying that most people in Australia are interested in spirituality and give Jesus the ‘thumbs up’ but when asked about the church they give the church the ‘thumbs down’.

Research completed in 2004 by Market Access Consulting & Research for the Bible Society of NSW was summarised by the Society in a press release as follows:

"The Church is an ‘insurmountable problem’ but Jesus is cool."

Their analysis of the issues surrounding Christianity indicates that there are some major barriers to overcome when seeking to encourage people to consider Christian belief and faith.

"The positive attributes associated with the essence of Christianity have been badly tainted by perceptions and experiences of the formalised practices of Christianity.

A major barrier to reception of any overtly Christian message is the strong link between perceptions of Christianity and perceptions of religious practices and reactions to Christian Churches. As soon as people think of Christianity they think of Christian churches, the practice of religion and the negative associations they have with churches and their hierarchies.

Christian churches were strongly associated with intolerance and lack of acceptance, things seen to be directly contradicting some of Christ’s most basic messages. There was acknowledgement of the possibility of living a ‘Christian’ life with no association with organised practise, however being a ‘Christian’ was generally associated with church. Further there was limited acceptance of the relevance of the Bible separate to being a ‘Christian’ and therefore associated with the Church.

Essentially the Church was an almost insurmountable problem for most people and it was very strongly associated with being a ‘Christian’ and with the Bible.

Jesus himself was to large degree separated from all of these things and tended not to necessarily evoke these powerfully negative associations. Many people indicated that they believed Jesus himself would reject the rule-bound, prescriptive, rigid and doctrinaire behaviours and attitudes that they themselves had rejected in their separation from involvement in formalised religion."⁹

The above research was carried out in connection with the development of an evangelistic outreach promotion under the caption ‘Jesus All About Life’. This evangelistic initiative was held in the Australian Capital Territory region in 2006 and, supported by approximately 155 churches and Christian groups. A 126 page booklet was provided free to all enquirers and I was surprised to find a section entitled "The Church: Corrupt, Abusive and Out of Date. It was a section designed to convince the unchurched that Jesus should not be judged by the failure of the church. It spoke of some of the more obvious failures of church leaders and church institutions and said It’s no good making excuses or pretending these things have not happened". How true that is. I like the honesty of this statement. Denial only covers up the problem but never resolves it. It must be faced if there is to be any putting to rights.

But how horrible, how deplorable, it is that the church, which should represent Jesus Christ, has so badly misrepresented Him that an evangelistic campaign is forced to distance Jesus from the public perception of the church. How contradictory this is, how confusing it must be to the world, because the evangelistic campaign was designed to feed new believers into churches!

The June 2010 e-news of the National Church Life Survey reported that "Anglican and Protestant attenders" surveyed in Australia were asked to respond to the following statement:

"While I remain a committed person of faith, I feel disgruntled with the established church".

Only 15% disagreed while 37% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement and 49% were neutral or unsure how to respond.

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney wrote:

"Even though I quite like going to church, I find it hard to like the institutional organisation".¹⁰

The Canberra Christian Connection Newsletter for August 2007 concluded with a prayer which contained the following:

"Lord, the church is a sick Body… the church stumbles before a world that rightly recognizes her ineptness, her weakness and her ineffectiveness".

Hurting and damaged people are reporting their frustration with the church saying that they have turned to the church for help but do not feel valued, understood or encouraged by their church experience. Rather, they feel alienated, unappreciated and sometimes condemned.

If the church of Christ is not showing forth the character of Christ, what has gone so very badly wrong and what can be done about it?

Even the "common people", ¹¹ the sort who heard Jesus "gladly", know that something serious is wrong with the church. Whereas Jesus attracted the people, today, in our times, the contemporary Western church, which claims to represent Him, is repelling many.

In the USA:

"Recent studies show that churches across the country are seeing once-faithful members disappear from their midst".¹²

"nearly four out of every ten non-churchgoing Americans (37%) said they avoid churches because of negative past experiences in churches or with church people".¹³

What do these people do? Most do not believe there are any other options than the options they have experienced and with which they are familiar. It seems to be a matter of making serious compromises to fit in or opt out of church altogether.

However, in parallel with the decline in traditional church attendance, increasing numbers of informal fellowships are starting up here and there.

"God is doing both a new thing and an ancient thing - bringing us back to how church was in the beginning: bunches of people gathering in all sorts of places to learn about Jesus and grow together in Him".¹⁴

The purpose of this book is to provide biblical perspectives on the way in which God intends believers in Jesus Christ to relate to Him and to each other.

It is not intended to criticise the church in a destructive manner but to assist in identifying major issues, to provide insights into how to experience the true church and into how there may be healing within "the body of Christ".

It is born out of a lifetime of church experience with much pain and anguish together with the concurrent study of God’s word and church history and also much reflection. It builds on the frustrated search of my father and grandfather for a more biblical expression of church practice and as my journey with the Lord continues I wish to maintain a heart attitude ready to receive further understanding from Him on this important subject.

Such an attitude of heart is critically important for anyone who really desires to know God’s truth about the church. When long held beliefs or practices are challenged by the authority of God’s Word or non-supporting facts we naturally tend to reduce the dissonance by (often unconscious) processes of self-justification and rationalisation. And, the more fully we have identified ourselves with a non-biblical view or practice the less likely it is that we will be able to objectively evaluate our beliefs against the benchmark of God’s Word. For this reason I realise that some may prefer to dismiss this book without fair consideration but I appeal to the reader to lay aside all preexisting bias to honestly consider its message.

I recommend that when beginning each Part, the reader refers to the Table of Contents to obtain an overview of that Part.

I pray that this book will be used to bring a clearer understanding of the church to those who read it and that readers will find that following the principles of truth laid out in God’s Word will lead them to a richer and more fulfilling experience of the church in the 21st Century.

⁶ Constructed from real-life stories

⁷ Reference: Why People Don’t Go to Church by John Bellamy, Alan Black, Keith Castle, Philip Hughes, Peter Kaldor, Openbook Publishers, [Permission to quote granted by Lutheran Church of Australia and NCLS (National Church Life Survey).]

⁸ Houses that Change the World by Wolfgang Simson, Page 2, OM Publishing

⁹ Market Access Consulting & Research. Christian Media Project Qualitative Research. September 2003, Page 22

¹⁰ The Future of Jesus - Does He Have A Place In Our World?, Dr P Jensen, 2nd edition, © Matthias Media 2008, back cover

¹¹ Mark 12:37

¹² Quitting Church - Why the Faithful Are Fleeing and What to Do about It, by Julia Duin, Back Dust Cover - Published September, 2008 by Baker Books, Copyright © by Julia Duin

¹³ Research by the Barna Group published in April 2010

¹⁴ Extract from a report to a church Annual General Meeting in February, 2006

PART I

THE BIBLICAL CHURCH

DOES THE CHURCH REALLY MATTER?

Every true believer in Jesus Christ has a compelling reason to be interested in His church. Jesus and the church are inseparable. If Jesus matters His church matters too and it follows that anyone who loves Jesus should necessarily love His church too.

Anyone who loves Christ must necessarily love the church

There can scarcely be a more critically important subject for the serious disciple of Jesus.

Yet the church has been the subject of perhaps more controversy than any other single thing. When Jesus said, "the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it"¹⁵ He was foreshadowing the fact that the church on earth was to be strongly contested by the devil but that she would ultimately win through.

God designed His people for community. He intended that Christians function in corporate¹⁶ expression; that is, as the church. Without the church much biblical teaching becomes irrelevant and cannot be experienced. Without participation in the church we can never realise our full destiny in Christ as relational beings. Whole sections of the Bible cannot have practical application unless there is a corporate church. So what could be more important on this earth than the church of Jesus Christ?

But this begs the question - what on earth is it?

This book does not attempt to expound on the heavenly and eternal destiny of the church except in so far as it provides necessary context and spiritual ambience for the church on earth. Instead it attempts to address the heart of Jesus for the contemporary church with its feet on the earth and the issues Christians grapple with in everyday life. It looks at the here and now and the subnormal and even damaging experience of the church that is common to many. It considers the causes of the hurts and confusion felt by them and the resulting low expectations, disappointments and distorted perceptions many have concerning the church.

We do well to pause and consider the heart desires of Jesus for His church, His profound sacrificial love for it, and to ponder His longing that His character be demonstrated through the corporate love and unity of His people.

And the followers of Jesus have a very deep but often unfulfilled need to relate together as God intends and to experience the corporate life of which the Scriptures speak.

How far we have strayed from ministering to Him, each other and the world!

What should we do about all of this? Throw up our hands in despair and defeat?

Throughout this book there are many Scripture references. The intention is to encourage the reader to base his or her understanding of the church upon the teaching of God’s Word and to check out what is said, thoroughly test it, prove it,¹⁷ just as the early Berean Christians did. Luke wrote of them that they:

"were more noble than those in Thessalonica, receiving the word with all readiness of mind, daily searching the scriptures if these things were so. Therefore many from among them believed".¹⁸

No church or individual holds a franchise over God’s truth. Furthermore, not one of us has a perfect understanding of God’s truth, nor do we have the right to construct our own truth. It is normal that we grow in understanding and gain more mature perceptions of God’s truth as we ourselves mature. However, for this to happen we must stop simply believing all that we are told. We need to search out truth for ourselves. We must lay aside all prejudice and pride, submit our minds to the authority of the Holy Scriptures and seek understanding from the Holy Spirit.

How apt is George Muller’s comment:

"A Christian should read this precious Book every day with earnest prayer and meditation. But like many believers, I preferred to read the works of uninspired men rather than the oracles of the living God. Consequently, I remained a spiritual baby both in knowledge and grace."¹⁹

Oh how different the affairs of the church would be if people read their Bibles and thought about what they read instead of adopting the lazy approach of letting other people interpret it for them! Oh that people would read, believe and act upon what the Bible teaches! How different the church would be if "the Spirit of truth"²⁰ guided the church instead of a mishmash of truth and erroneous beliefs, church traditions and worldly culture, counterfeit spirituality, and the persuasions of men.

¹⁵ Matthew 16:18

¹⁶ "from Latin corporare ‘form into a body’, from corpus ‘body’" Compact Oxford English Dictionary

¹⁷ 1 Thessalonians 5:21

¹⁸ Acts 17:11-12 DBY

¹⁹ The Autobiography of George Muller, Page 21, Whitaker House

²⁰ John 15:26

OBEDIENCE AND BLESSING

Do you get excited at the prospect of going to church? Is your church a place you just love to be? Is meeting at your church fellowship a highlight in your personal schedule - something that life’s priorities are arranged around? Do you experience it to be the place of God’s blessing? Is it a place of refreshing and a place where prayers are answered? Is it a place of joy where you know that you are loved and valued? Does it provide opportunities for you to develop your God-given gifts and serve others? Is it a place where you are learning and experiencing spiritual realities and the skilful application of truth to the issues of life?

More importantly, is it a place where you experience the presence of the Lord? Is He central to all? Is He the powerful heart bond between the people of the church? Is He woven throughout the themes of their conversations? Are there times when God reveals Himself in such an awesome way that the fear of the Lord lays hold of all who are present?

If your reply is negative it would seem that you are not experiencing what the early believers experienced in the church described in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.

Is your church experience sometimes discouraging? Does it provide a godly environment in which you feel safe and in which you are free to serve Christ, or, does serving Christ there sometimes feel like pushing water uphill?

A lot of people will not have been able to respond positively to many of these questions. If you are an exception, that is wonderful, may you continue to be blessed!

But what most people have come to consider as normal church experience is very far below what God intends the church to be and we have to conclude that the spiritual health of the church in Western cultures rates poorly.

So what is the matter? Does it have to be like it is?

The striking difference between the generality of the contemporary church and the original New Testament church is that the New Testament church experienced God’s presence in power by His indwelling Spirit.

Where God’s conditions are met, we may expect to realise His presence

God’s Word informs us that His presence is conditional and what those conditions are. Where God’s conditions are met we may expect to realise His presence but to the extent that we do not fulfil His conditions His presence will be withheld.

It makes no difference whether they are simply carelessly neglected and overlooked, not practised through ignorance and misunderstanding, or superseded by the deceptive "wisdom of this world".²¹ It is as likely that they may be surrendered to the insistent desires of the flesh, but to the extent that God’s conditions are not met, whatever the reason, His blessing will be denied.

It is not complicated. It is as simple as that.

There are things that God will always bless and there are things that He cannot ever bless

There are things that God will always bless and there are things that He cannot ever bless.

Prior to the physical creation of Adam and Eve a spiritual order emanating from God and reflecting the very nature of the Trinity was already in place.

God’s preordained spiritual order and Satan’s rebellion pre-existed the creation of Adam and Eve. They were created into a dangerous world for Satan was intent upon destroying all that gave God pleasure. Then, as now, the only place of safety was the place of obedience.

At the creation of Adam and Eve we read "male and female He created them. Then God blessed them".²² He set them in a garden that He personally "planted²³ and we may be sure that that garden was planted with every pleasant and beautiful plant. Pause to consider the flowers, the fragrance, the foliage, the varied fruits, the colours, the birds and butterflies and other living creatures, the temperate climate, the overall environment. None of our botanical gardens could ever capture the beauty of God’s garden. It contained the tree of life and also the perilous tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were free to partake of the tree of life but they were warned that to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would bring the curse of death upon them. They had a choice between obedience and disobedience, endless enjoyment and tragedy, blessing and curse, life and death. Not only did God give them every reason to choose life but in the clearest terms He specifically commanded them to abstain from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" and graciously warned them that there would be catastrophic consequences for them should they disobey;

"The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’"²⁴

Hosea refers to this as a covenant between God and Adam.²⁵ It was an understood deal between them.

God warned them before the tempter came anywhere near them that this was the reality of the spiritual order of the created realms into which they were introduced in the Garden of Eden. They could choose between the tree of life and the tree of death and God’s command was for their protection and blessing.

Satan saw the vulnerability of these new and specially favoured creatures God had made in His image and likeness, capable of volitional, intelligent, emotional and spiritually intimate relationship with Him and acting out of hatred for God he determined to tempt them to their destruction.

If only he could get them to disobey God and obey him, Satan would have the mastery over them, "for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage".²⁶ He could then seize the authority that God had vested in them and take dominion over the earth and become "the ruler of this world.²⁷ After all that he had lost he would gain an area of authority to use against God and he would destroy His plan for these new creatures. Furthermore, Satan would rob God of worship and take for himself the worship of humankind by becoming the god of this world".²⁸.

God wanted to protect Adam and Eve from the burdensome knowledge of good and evil. All they had to do was to obey God’s command and they would be greatly blessed. There would be no barrier to relationship with God. They would be innocently free to commune with Him openly and without fear, and they only had to eat of the tree of life to live forever.

They were beautifully innocent and enjoyed unclouded relationship with God who as a wise Father had told them all that they needed to know. He had not left them to their own devices. He took pleasure in them and conversed with them in the delightful garden in which He had set them. In their innocence they did not need the Ten Commandments and the Almighty instructed them.

Only God knows how that relationship would have developed and what riches of blessing God had for them if they had continued in obedience. How innocent and free and full of wonder and joy life must have been without any consciousness of good and evil: man and woman naked together without any embarrassment, enjoying God and enjoying each other in the beauty of the garden God had planted within the awesome vastness of the wider creation.

While ever they remained in obedience they would not experience the tragedy of the world as we know it: heartbreak, grief, alienation, condemnation, rejection, betrayal, guilt, shame, fear, depression, insecurity, terror, horrors, violation, loss, disappointment, oppression, pain, tyranny, abuse, violence, brutality, addiction, war, trauma, floods, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, other natural disasters, sickness, disease, injury, disability, mental illness, plague, pestilence, thirst, hunger, famine, poverty, destruction, persecution, death and judgment… While ever they remained in innocence, for them there was no such thing as knowledge of sin or its consequences and there was such amazing freedom of relationship with God. But once they disobeyed everything changed.

We may wonder why "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" was ever included in the Garden of Eden, but one thing that is very clear is that, just as there were immutable physical laws in place there were also spiritual laws in place. Their disobedience violated the spiritual order and resulted in appalling calamity with instant guilt and fear and shame.

They were not given a complex system of rules to live under: there was only one single prohibition given to them and with it was given an explanation of the horrible consequences that would follow disobedience. Sin has an enormous, horrendous, price tag, and the loving and protective Father explained that to Adam and Eve.

Violation of God’s spiritual laws always has a negative consequence. Conversely, walking in God’s ways always has a positive consequence.

If we come forward some two thousand four hundred years in time God spelt out very clearly in the Pentateuch the terms of another conditional covenant made with the favoured children of Israel. This was a covenant conceived in grace to provide a way for the children of Israel to experience their Holy God dwelling with them.

This covenant required them to keep God’s Law in which God said He would bless thousands of those who love Him for God wanted more than a legal response. Having heard their cry in Egypt and having delivered them from great oppression, He was looking for the obedient love of His people.

"For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."²⁹

In Deuteronomy 28 the blessings that would flow to Israel from obedience to the Mosaic Law and the curses that would follow disobedience are stated in striking detail and contrast.

Again God offered them life or death:

"I have set before you today life and good, death and evil; and, I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live".³⁰

The subsequent history of the children of Israel can leave no doubt as to the severity of the curses. The dreadful consequences of the disobedience of the children of Israel are recorded in the Bible in sufficient detail for all to understand and tremble. The barbarities of the plundering Assyrians who took captive the Northern Kingdom in 721 BC were appalling. I have seen ancient art works in the British Museum depicting the children of Israel being led away into captivity by cords through rings in their noses while others were impaled by their merciless conquerors. Professor Sayce commented that their barbarities "would be almost incredible, were they not a subject of boast in the inscriptions which record them".³¹ The remaining Kingdom of Judah was overthrown by the Babylonians in the early years of the 6th century BC.

What tragedy, suffering and loss when God’s rich blessings had been within their grasp!

God had spoken so clearly through Moses explaining to them that His blessings would be abundantly poured out upon them:

"if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul".³²

And He had warned them:

"Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them".³³

It is noteworthy that the first hazard He mentions which might turn them from obedience and consequent blessing was deception.

There were those times of obedience when they were richly blessed but it was their disobedience that finally brought devastation upon them when the northern and then the southern kingdoms were overthrown.

Then centuries later when their Messiah came to the residual nation of Israel they rejected Him and another era of intense tragedy unfolded.

The connection between the love and obedience of God’s people and their entering in to His blessing, so graphically portrayed in the history of Israel, applies equally to the church in the 21st Century.

We have the immense privilege of living under a "new"³⁴ and "better covenant sealed in the blood of Jesus. We are no longer under a tutor"³⁵ for the law has brought us to Christ and all of our blessings are in Him.

From this most favoured position so much is within our reach but how much do we really lay hold of?³⁶

He "has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness and exceedingly great and precious promises".³⁷ Our difficulty is lifting these things from the pages of Scripture and into our hearts and actions.

It is too easy for us to fall into an unbiblical view of God’s grace and overlook the imperative to obey the instructions God has given us in His word, which are foundational to us ever realising the fullness of His promises for the church on earth.

There are conditions to be met, and when they are met, this will release God’s blessing upon His corporate church.

Charles Finney believed that:

"the law of cause and effect is more consistent in spiritual than in natural things".³⁸

When God’s spiritual laws are not observed His blessing is withheld and spiritual loss and impoverishment result.

First and foremost God wants our love.

"The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these".³⁹

If we love Him in truth we will obey Him.

"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments".⁴⁰

"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love." ⁴¹

He wants relationship with us and has done everything necessary to make that possible.

Genuine love for Jesus would mean that, without falling into the trap of legalism, we know and keep His commandments. Commandments such as: submission to the Lord, obedience, living by faith, loving others, forgiving others, not judging others, humility, exercising practical dependence upon the Holy Spirit and practising New Testament principles for the conduct of the church.

The more the church lives by God’s revealed truth for the church, practising the New Testament instructions for the corporate conduct of the church instead of our fleshly ways, the more we will experience His corporate blessing. I am not advocating works of law to gain favour with God which cannot ever succeed: I am talking about the blessings that come from obedience; persevering in the ongoing struggle against "the desires of the flesh";⁴² sowing and reaping;⁴³ and, abiding in Christ and bearing much fruit.⁴⁴

If we follow God’s order for the church and operate according to "the wisdom of God"⁴⁵ there will be blessing but if we choose to operate in "the wisdom of men"⁴⁶ instead we will deprive ourselves of blessing.

How different history would have been had the presence and power of God the Holy Spirit in the pristine church of the early New Testament continued unabated down through the centuries. How much of the tragic disaster could have been averted if the church had remained in close connection with her Head in heaven.

I am convinced that if we were to return to New Testament principles and practices we would experience many of the same blessings and many of the same conflicts that faced the New Testament churches. If we were humble enough to learn, we would also have the benefit of history and hindsight.

Out of his most extraordinary experiences of the Holy Spirit moving in power in the churches of Korea and China in the early years of the twentieth century Jonathan Goforth wrote:

"We cannot emphasise too strongly our conviction that all hindrance in the Church is due to sin".⁴⁷

"Pentecost is yet within our grasp. If revival is being withheld from us it is because some idol remains enthroned; because we still insist in placing our reliance in human schemes; because we still refuse to face the unchangeable truth that ‘it is not by might, but BY MY SPIRIT’".⁴⁸

If revival is being withheld from us it is because some idol remains enthroned; because we still insist in placing our reliance in human schemes; because we still refuse to face the unchangeable truth that ‘it is not by might, but BY MY SPIRIT’

We may long for the blessings but still take the easy path and settle for something less than full obedience. For the church to experience the promised blessings of the Bible literally it must obey the teachings of the Bible concerning church practice literally. We must 1) deal with the idols that displace Christ; 2) cease from human schemes; and, 3) deny the flesh and learn to depend upon the Holy Spirit.

Let us explore some neglected areas of truth and see how this will help us address these three things and understand their impact upon our church practice.

²¹ 1 Corinthians 1:20

²² Genesis 1:27-28

²³ Genesis 2:8

²⁴ Genesis 2:17 - underlining added

²⁵ Hosea 6:7 NIV, NASB, DBY

²⁶ 2 Peter 2:19

²⁷ John 14:30

²⁸ 2 Corinthians 4:4 NASB

²⁹ Exodus 20:5-6 - underlining added

³⁰ Deuteronomy 30:15, 19

³¹ Explore The Book by Sidlow Baxter, Page 160, Zondervan Publishing House

³² Deuteronomy 11:13 AMP, ASV and DBY use the word "diligently" - underlining added

³³ Deuteronomy 11:16

³⁴ Luke 22:20; Hebrews 7:22

³⁵ Galatians 3:24-28

³⁶ Philippians 3:12-14

³⁷ 2 Peter 1:3-4

³⁸ Lectures on Revival by Charles Finney, Page 26, Bethany House Publishers.

³⁹ Mark 12:29-31

⁴⁰ John 14:15 NASB

⁴¹ John 15:10

⁴² Ephesians 2:3

⁴³ Galatians 6:7

⁴⁴ John 15:4-8

⁴⁵ 1 Corinthians 2:7

⁴⁶ 1 Corinthians 2:5

⁴⁷ By My Spirit by Jonathan Goforth, Page 13, Bethel Publishing.

⁴⁸ Ibid, Page 138

WHAT ON EARTH IS

THE CHURCH?

STOP! At this point I invite you to pause, take a pen and write down, in the space provided at the end of the chapter entitled Eschatology on page 703, the first thoughts that come to your mind in answer to this question. Then review what you have written when you have read through to that place.

Jesus asked His disciples: "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Next He asks But who do you say that I am?"⁴⁹

Jesus asked this question in "the region of Caesarea Philippi" known for its long history of idolatry and where one then had the choice of worshipping Pan or Hermes or other gods.⁵⁰ In this context Jesus was interested to know who the people in Israel believed He was and He was interested to know who His disciples, those who were closest to Him and who knew Him best, believed Him to be.

"Men guessed and showed that they did not know who He was: they saw miracles, they heard teaching such as no other had ever taught and the nearest they had known to Jesus was a great prophet. So they guessed that Jesus was one of the prophets". While what they said was true, it was at best a gross understatement and a totally inadequate explanation of who He was.

Peter said: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. How was it that Peter knew better? It was by revelation. In reply to Peter’s answer Jesus said blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church".

It is only by divine revelation that we are able to know what the church really is

It is no different today - "men" fail to understand. It is only divine revelation through the Word and by the Spirit that will enable us to really know Christ, the Rock and the nature of the church He builds.

WHAT DO MEN SAY THAT THE CHURCH IS?

Answers to this question seem to be as diverse as the people asked but if you asked the people queuing at the bus stop these are some of the answers you might expect to receive:

A religious organisation;

The guardian of public morality

A particular building;

An institution for religious people;

A financially manipulative and self serving religion;

A hypocritical religion which is the enemy of happiness and freedom;

A failed religion;

An institution associated with cruel abuses and which cannot be trusted;

A voice for social justice and morals;

An irrelevant tradition dating from the unenlightened dark ages;

A charity;

Somewhere to turn to for comfort and support in times of crisis;

A crutch for the weak;

A fall-back for desperate people;

One of a number of equally valid alternative routes to God;

A denomination;

A place for traditional respectable weddings, christenings and funeral services;

An organisation responsible for the spiritual welfare of those who attend its services.

There are many who would struggle to give you an answer at all, for whom the question is an unsolvable conundrum and they may simply dismiss the question as being of no consequence. For others the word ‘church’ has become an offence.

Because the word church is applied in so many ways this further adds to the confusion:

"‘Church’ is an unhappy word, because nobody knows what it means."⁵¹

In Western culture the church is seen to be increasingly irrelevant and secularism governs the thinking of most people, although alternative spiritualities are attracting more people than ever before in recent history.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO SHOULD REALLY KNOW?

Jesus wanted to know whether His disciples knew any better than men at large when He asked the probing question: "who do you say that I am?"

Do those who are truly committed believers in Christ have a better answer than the general populace to the question ‘What is the church’?

Again there may be a range of answers and many of these answers will reflect the prevailing Westernised church view which is seen to be normal. But this ‘normal’ falls far short of the divine intent and reality.

There can be no doubt that the church on earth in the 21st century is suffering a crippling identity crisis which is severely impacting its practical function.

Peter answered Jesus out of personal revelation but what about you? What do you say the Church is? How do you answer this fundamental question? Has the Holy Spirit of God convincingly revealed the church to you from the Word of God?

It was this very question that weighed so heavily with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, eminent theologian and anti-Nazi conspirator who ended his life on a Nazi scaffold. From eighteen years of age this question and its implications took on such great importance for him that biographer Eric Metaxas wrote it became "the question that he would ask and answer for the rest of his life: What is the church?"⁵²

It is only as the precious and important truth of the church is divinely revealed to us that we will be able to answer with clarity of mind and deep heart conviction.

WHAT THE CHURCH IS NOT

In understanding what the church on earth is, it can be helpful to understand what it is not; to blow away the misconceptions for there are many misconceptions abroad as to what the church is.

A HIERARCHICAL INSTITUTION

It was never God’s intention that the church should become a hierarchical organisation. It was not so at the beginning and there is no biblical warrant for the church to be institutionalised today. To hold such a mental image of the church may block our understanding of what the Word teaches about the church and the precious spiritual reality of God’s intention for her.

Patrick Johnstone wrote of:

"the sad deterioration from New Testament Christianity, which was based on people, to a Constantinian Churchianity which was based on structures".⁵³

KINGDOM

When speaking of the church many Christians refer to it as a kingdom over which Christ is the supreme ruler, the King. The kingdom of God is a majestic reality but it is not the same as the church. The kingdom is a precious subject on its own and to adequately deal with it would need another book. However, to equate the church with the kingdom is a mistake which produces confused ecclesiology, eschatology and church practice.

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney wrote:

"the kingdom of God is not the same thing as the church - a distinction that is sometimes forgotten".⁵⁴

Scriptural references to "the kingdom of God"⁵⁵ imply a spiritual realm under the strong incontrovertible authority of Almighty God and permeated by the character of God. "The kingdom of God is the totality of all that comes under the rule of God as distinct from the rule of Satan or man. References to the kingdom of heaven⁵⁶ describe the heavenly nature of the kingdom of God" and speak of its unworldly character with total ascendency over the earthly order.⁵⁷

Jesus referred to "My kingdom" on two occasions but neither is a direct reference to the church:

"I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."⁵⁸

"My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."⁵⁹

All of these above expressions deserve careful scrutiny and there is certainly some overlap with the church but they are dealing with another concept, that of the authority and rule of God. There are many aspects to God’s kingdom and for those submitted to God it is a blessed rule, while those who are not submitted to God can have no part in it. The Apostle Paul described the character of the kingdom of God as "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit"⁶⁰ and he wrote of grace reigning through righteousness.⁶¹

The Scriptures also speak of a future time when the kingdom of Christ will be established on earth. This timing will be after "the first resurrection when those who had died because they refused to worship the beast or to take his mark are rewarded by being resurrected ahead of the general later resurrection of the dead. We read that they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years".⁶²

God is concurrently dealing with both the nations and the church and John wrote of "Jesus Christ in present tense as the ruler over the kings of the earth"⁶³ - the ultimate authority over the earth. His relationship with the nation of Israel is a very special one and this is working out simultaneously with His special dealings with the church. A Jew or Jewess who has made Jesus Lord is part of the church but may also be concurrently involved in God’s sovereign dealings with the nation of Israel.

When Christ is depicted riding a white horse and followed by the armies of heaven⁶⁴ that is a kingdom scene. I believe that it would be a mistake to equate the armies of heaven with the church. The armies of heaven may be expected to include angels and angels do not form part of the church. Michael the Archangel is presented in Scripture as the commander of the angelic military forces and I expect that he will be there when Christ rides forth majestically on His white horse.

No, scripture does not equate the church with the kingdom or teach that the church is ruled over by a King - bear in mind that it was not God’s idea in the first place that His chosen people should be ruled by a king.

It was His desire to restore the broken relationship with mankind through the nation of Israel, to reveal Himself in His temple, speak to the children of Israel through the judges and prophets He appointed, and through Israel bless the whole human race. The people of Israel decided that they wanted something different; they thought that they had a better scheme than God. So, they asked God for a king like the surrounding nations and He gave them a king but in His displeasure. God said through Hosea:

"I gave you a king in my anger, and took him away in my wrath."⁶⁵

Step forward to the New Testament. God’s plan for the church is more intimate and confronting. From creation He wanted a more personal relationship with His people so is it not rather ridiculous to imagine that God would rule His church by a King once "the Holy Spirit",⁶⁶ "the Spirit of adoption,⁶⁷ the Spirit of sonship⁶⁸, the Spirit of Christ"⁶⁹ was poured out upon His people?

Yes, Jesus is referred to in Scripture as "King in the context of the nation of Israel and twice as the King of kings"⁷⁰ who asserts His authority over all nations. He is both "the Root and the Offspring of David⁷¹ and is going to rule over all of the nations with a rod of iron".⁷² It will be a just but rigid and uncompromising rule. This is how His kingdom with its glory and wonder will be realised on earth but it is in contrast to His