Are We Offering a Way In or a Way Out?

[HKHaugan]

Are We Offering a Way in or a Way Out?

 

One of the great problems in the spiritual world called Christian is the number of denominations spanning Roman Catholic to the independent groups and all in between.  What is really happening here?  Simply this.  When a group starts by picking a verse, a passage or an event and builds an institution around it apart from the rest of Scripture, that strays from the original concept of having a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ who is presented in the whole of Scripture.  What happens as a result is the separation of believers into competitive groups where cultural attitudes exclude relational interchange of believers.  They begin thinking the one they belong to is better than the others.  Expressions like we belong to the true church, our church is bigger than yours, we have the best preacher, church hopping to find the ‘best’ church and so on.  This is so far from what Jesus intended. 

 When Jesus said that he was going to build His church, it would include all who accepted Him personally.  Gathered fellowships of believers had one authority, the Word of God.  It doesn’t mean they are all perfect.  Far from it.  What it does mean is that fellowships have only one authority, the Lord Jesus as He speaks in the Scripture through the Holy Spirit.  With that basic principle the Body of Christ is a worldwide fellowship.  Sure there are those, both leaders and members, who trip on their walk with the Lord but the Body is the place they need to be for loving restoration.  Remember Paul’s warning that there are none righteous, no not one.  We are not in the judgment business.  We are always directed within by the Holy Spirit sharing the love of God as we move together in the restoration only Jesus can bring.

 Now does all that mean we shouldn’t join a denominational or non-denominational church?  Far from it.  There is a way to satisfy the basic principle of a true personal relationship with God.  That is first to pray to be in a group that can help you grow spiritually.  The Holy Spirit will give you help all the way in your choices.  Just pray and stay in the Scripture.  But if a group demands belief in man made dogmas and following sets of man-made rules before you can take part it probably means it is not going to help you grow spiritually because their bottom line is physical membership not a spiritual relationship through personal faith.  So, if it’s all about the leader of the group demanding a certain verse, passage or event that must be accepted before you can join it, look somewhere else.  Believing is not about religion, it’s about relationship.  A leader’s responsibility is to lead you to growing in a spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Nothing more, nothing less, since it is the Holy Spirit who works a relationship with the Lord into the receptive mind, heart and spirit.

 One really important thing to carry here.   Every single person is unique.  No one gets their faith and its growth in a package deal.  We all grow differently and at different paces.  But it starts with Jesus Christ and keeping our focus on Him.  People come into a fellowship broken and distrustful, alert to possible rejection because of their inner struggle.  That struggle takes time to resolve.  Keep the focus on Jesus and the patience He has with us. To demand that someone who comes into a fellowship changes in order to fit in is like crushing a ripe tomato with a hammer.  Then they come in knowing that to be accepted there is a game plan they have to accept.  They never really open up.  If they stay anyway, they will falsely accept the rules just to have a place to associate.  That’s neither personal, relational nor spiritual.  When anyone come into a group, they need to know acceptance not rejection awaits them.  Love, God’s love and ours are the mandate.  Keep focusing on Jesus.

 Accordingly, any group of gathered believers is sin conscious.  Therefore, humility brings acceptance of others who are coming out of their past like we did.  That’s how the presence of the Holy Spirit was the gift intended to give positive direction, the ‘how to’ as we all move forward in faith, an every-person relational growth experience.   Therefore, it is vital that we do not forsake the assembling of ourselves.  There is no such thing as a Christian hermit.  A relationship with the Lord is designed to be experienced within and shared in the world with others.  And, it starts in the Body, the family of God.  That is precisely seen in the visible image of the Cross; its’s vertical beam reaching up to God and the horizontal beam reaching out to others.  The Cross is the significant symbol of our spiritually relational life.  The Cross is the symbol of Jesus’ life given for all who have a personal struggle living in this world.  His Resurrection guarantees none of us ever have to walk alone.  We are in this for the long haul and for each other as we carry the eternally risen Jesus in our hearts.  It’s not about denominations or ‘best’ churches.  Our personal lives are about Jesus and presenting Him in our every next moment.