"the church" And Jesus

Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,”

I had the wonderful pleasure yesterday of having lunch with my friend Jim Spivey. Among the many things we talked about, it came up that he had recently counseled yet another full-time minister in anxiety. This is certainly a shared passion as I have so ex-ministers and even current ministers disenchanted with “the church.”

Jim described this nameless young man as someone who is anxious at the realization that “the church” (building, denomination, congregation) is not Christ. And it is this realization that “burns out” so many ministers. Men and women on fire for God, wanting to make a difference in the world, wanting to not only be a disciple of Jesus Christ, but to follow His command and make them as well. And so this desire leads them to the most logical of places… church staff membership.

But “the church” is not The Church. And “the church” is certainly not Christ. Even more so the pastor of “the church” is not Christ either. Suddenly for the minister the mystique of a utopian work environment engineered and managed by Christ is shattered.  It is with this shattering that the mundane task associated with running a church are seen as not materialistically different from any other business. Facilities have to be maintained, accounting must be done, bills must be paid, trash taken out, communications made. If they are “smart” there is marketing to be done. And the minister wakes up with the realization that the difference he wanted to make in the world for Christ is barely making a difference in the church for management. Worse, the tasks asked of ministry staff are usually paid at significantly less that the worldly equivalent.

This in no way is critical of the institution of church. I love church I attend, and it does a tremendous amount of good. But like all “institutions” it is run by men. Men (and women) who I trust seek God for guidance, but who at the end of the day have laid their personality, and character on everything "the church" has done.

And so I laugh a little inside. Here Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples…” with little or no instruction beyond that. And look what man has done with AND TO that command. Jesus could have said, ‘go and take over the synagogues in all the towns and appoint for yourselves ministers.” He could have said, “go and sell this gospel that I have taught you in the market like fish.” But He didn’t.

No, we… men and women (with the purest of intent) have done that.  It is a great day when God opens your eyes to see that “the church” is not Jesus. It allows you to appreciate the institution all the more, and yet keep it in perspective. Of this vision and spiritual eyes seeing The Church as opposed to “the church” T Austin-Sparks says this:

“The Holy Spirit's illumination concerning the church is a thing so difficult to explain to any who may not have experienced it. But to those who have seen it, it needs no explanation. It makes such a difference on all these matters. You will be able to preach Ephesians, Colossians, Romans; preach all about the church as the Body of Christ; you may read it all in books, and still there may be no real expression of it. Then one day it is as though the heavens opened and the thing broke upon your spirit, and you saw it; and all kinds of adjustments became necessary in life. You can say – I saw that the church was no denominational or national thing; I believed in the oneness of all believers. Yes, you can say all that! And yet there is something more. That something can only come by revelation. You can have the other, and it will just take you so far. But get that something more, and it will take you a long way ahead. It brings you into the realm of the conflict and cost, but you are out in an altogether new realm. It is necessary to God’s end.

It is one thing to say these things and point them out and emphasize them; you say: "How do you get it? We see what you mean, it is all quite clear, but we have not got it!" Well, if you really are of the undivided heart, if your heart is wholly set upon the Lord and you see as far as you can see these things, and have very definite dealings with the Lord about it; (it may not be in a day, it may be slowly, steadily, quietly) you begin to move into a new realm of understanding. And you find that your point of view changes; your standard of values changes; your insight changes. It may take months, but at the end of the time you say: "I am changed! Something has happened to me. I can no longer accept what I used to accept!" It may be like that, or it may come in a flash. How it comes does not matter very much, the fact is the importance of this thing – spiritual illumination. The apostle prayed that these to whom he wrote might have it. Let us pray that we might have it, and that all the Lord’s people might come into that.”

Now go and get something more.