Straining Gnats & Swallowing Camels
Missing the heart of being the church
In Matthew 21 Jesus finds God’s house turned into a marketplace for profiteering and reacts strongly. Then in chapter 23, He rails against the pharisees for inventing precise systems that elevate and ritualize trivial aspects of the Jewish law into entire economies used for virtue signaling and creating power-hungry hierarchies.
Early in the book of Acts, we see that all those hierarchies have been smashed. Virtue signaling is dealt with abruptly by Jesus Spirit (Annanias & Sapphira). And then as things progress Jesus reinserts himself in human history to pluck Paul out of his situation and give him a unique job to roll out Jesus’ master plan, which if done well, would unleash the Spirit to work with exponential results. And that’s exactly what happened. If you look at a map of the church communities that existed at the end of the third century and compare it to those at the end of the first century, you see that Paul was incredibly successful, not only in establishing a worldwide network of churches, but of passing on his role to others who continued that work for two centuries.
So, let’s consider our situation today. What should we think about the professional class of institutionally trained and credentialed pastors? The competetive elbow-swinging attempt for social status internally in our churches? The “sacred” religious activities we engage in regularly, such as professionally led worship services, holy communion, church lingo, etc.? And the accompanying sets of moral “rules” that act as our defining framework for what it means to be the church?
Doesn’t it seem like we have somehow sacralized the trivial? Attempting to avoid accusations of being overly strict by allowing for a very wide variety of church experiences, so long as they maintain some form of those sacred details. Hasn’t this, in effect, turned Jesus’ household into a marketplace where each individual can shop for the experience that suits them best (Goldilocks Syndrome)? It seems we have somehow successfully reinvented the two things that angered Jesus the most in the gospel accounts – pharisaical rules and rituals, and turning His church (household) into a marketplace experience.
By doing these things, we have missed the heart of what it means to be Jesus’ family (living together as a community whose lives are shaped by the gospel). The family that Jesus was setting the stage for when He was here.
So what are we going to do about it?
