The Greatest Threat to the Body of Christ -- The Church

I have no particular interest in being petty or judgmental, necessarily.

I have come to this conclusion only after going into many church buildings, where the Pharisee spirit of "get in line with our teaching" has come to dominate the discourse of the community.

In some churches, men and women are convinced that still they must go through the motions of confessing their sin and working for his grace and forgiveness in their lives. They are refusing to rest in the knowledge and belief that Jesus Christ has paid for it all.

This mixed message is playing havoc with people's mind. Some of the parishioners behave better  than the clerics. The older class of individuals who attend these services give off the impression that they both know and believe better than everyone else. I was appalled at the rude comments which would fall out of the mouths of some elderly people in the churches which I had attended.

Church people can be the meanest people out there. I am certain that I was one of them, convinced that if I did more things for the church, if I helped out in kid's clubs, if I went to Bible studies, if I went out and told people about Jesus, then I would be a "good little Christian boy" with no qualms before God the Father.

Of course, this was never the case. Much of the time, I found myself involved in activities which did not magnify the love of Jesus and His Finished Work. In many cases, the believers whom I sat and worshipped with would talk about Jesus as if He were not even in the room. It was a sad sight, to say the least. Jesus gets a lot of attention from our mouths, but then we spend the rest of the time focusing on ourselves and what we must do for Him.

Where have we gotten these ridiculous ideas from? The Bible is clear -- we are dead in our trespasses from the moment that we emerge from our mother's womb, and only the life of Jesus Christ sets us free from sin then grants us the liberty to walk in His Spirit and serve Him in His strength.

For too long, this has been lost on almost every church that I have attended, even Lutheran and  Four Square churches, both Protestant denominations which have done nothing to advance our righteous standing before God because of all that He had done for us. Jesus is so wonderful, yet to this day many believers have not yet even begun to taste and see how good the Lord is!

Instead, the jealousies and rage and hurting and devouring that carry on in many churches discourages people from doing anything. It also discourages people, myself included, from going to church on a regular basis, only to hear demands and not the supply which we receive by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us!

I cannot believe the amount of back-biting and gossip which is so pervasive in many churches. Sometimes, I am so tempted to get upset, upset, upset, but that I see that this is just a set-up, and in Christ I am already seated in heavenly places.

Prayer meetings have turned into covens where old women dish on the latest news about other members in the local church, then the women sit around for hours begging God to move in their lives, when from the Cross until today the Holy Spirit has never stopped moving, and if we would only believe, then He can move His grace into our lives.

I was offended at one church, when one elderly lady insulted me when I refused to drop everything and run down to Mexico to build a house for the impoverished indigenous people in Ensanada. Even from an economic standpoint, such pious charity does more harm than good. What use is there to live in a new home if you still have a spirit of poverty, shame, and condemnation which holds you back from doing anything?

How many people have I run into in local churches who are scurrying around doing, doing, doing, and in all of their doing, the badger and bully others, shaming them because they are not as busy as they? All of this provocation is no good, and does no good.

Let us rest in what Jesus has said to us:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. " (Matthew 11: 28-30)

We are called to rest in Him, for Jesus is our rest. Sadly, many church people know nothing about rest, which in fact is the Promise which God the Father has left to us:

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." (Hebrews 4: 9)

Have you entered into this rest? Does it mean that we "do nothing"?

Paul cuts through that folly right away:

"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (1  Corinthians 15: 10) 

God's grace flows in us when we stop striving in our own efforts. When we let our flesh rest dead, then the Spirit of God flows, flows, flows. His grace glows, glows, glows in us, too, and the Light of God's Truth shines forth in us to a dark world:

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." (Matthew 5: 14)

Yet back to the issue of bitterness and back-biting in the Body of Christ. The biggest reason, I believe, as do many believers and teachers, is that many people are still trying to please a God who has called us fully justified and wants to fully supply all our needs:

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4: 13)

and

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4: 19)

The way that many believers live, though, they act as if Jesus is outside of us, or even if He lives within us, He is nagging us for not doing enough for Him.

Yet the two verses make it crystal clear that He is working, not us!

The members of the Body of Christ do not believe that they are full righteous, yet that indispensable element is crucial to fellowship:

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1: 7)

The Blood of Jesus keeps on cleansing us, therefore we have no further reason to keep looking at ourselves to make sure that we are OK in God's eyes. We are called instead to fix our eyes on Him who called us, who redeemed us, made us righteousness and sanctified, and supplies us with all wisdom (1 Corinthians 1: 30).

When believers rest in the truth that they do not have to earn God's love -- as if they ever could! -- then the rivalry and rage will fall away. Men and women will spend time looking at one another's faults and fall in love with the Savior who gave us all, and still gives all, that we may in turn give all that we have to Him and to others:

"We love him, because he first loved us." (1 John 4: 19).

If we spent more time focusing on how much He loves us, then we find the grace and truth to go out and give the same to everyone else.

Sadly, though, many churches are still pushing a mixed-message on the world. God has died for us and given us His grace for forgiveness. The worst of sinners can then enter the church and receive goodness at the hands of God. But then after joining the church, he suffers under hurt and condemnation from the same people who so warmly accepted him just two weeks ago! This lack of love and tolerance is just stifling. No wonder people are leaving churches in growing numbers.

The greatest enemy to the Body of Christ is no longer Satan, who has been judged, but the erroneous teachings of men and women from elite seminaries who are receiving a mixed message about the grace of God, or who do know it yet refuse to preach it for fear of "losing control" of their congregations.

For this reason, I have not attended church in the last few  months. I see no value in attending services where people spend more time warring about social issues while railing against particular sins instead of rejoicing in the life and godliness and grace which we have receive through Christ Jesus.

I believe that a growing re-revelation or re-revolution of God's grace is hitting the world. From Bob George to Andrew Wommack to Joseph Prince of Singapore, and even here and now, the gospel in all of its fullness is preached, and for this cause Jesus call to us:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 29)

then

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)

The more that we see Him, the more that we believe in all that He has done, then the more that we will see Him in us, and the more that He does in us for the world. This is the call of the Body of Christ, and at this time, the "little C" Church is not doing it.