Many believers err in being converted to the program, not to Christ! Those who fail at seeing the light in service within the church don't do Him justice as servants--we are here to grow up into a mature person able to serve Christ within the capacity of our spiritual gifting. While others love Christ and are anti-establishment, fearing and disrespecting any organization. The church is not an institution or organization so much as an organism, a living body of believers learning to interact and connect with others, serving Christ in concert and set up for its purpose of fulfilling with a great commitment to the Great Commission.
But there are believers who push their brand of Christianity as if they are right and everyone else is wrong by default. That's what defines a cult! No church has a monopoly on the truth and we are all in this together as one church in Christ though there are many local bodies of believers. Many churches are too involved in programs such as charity or relief efforts and not in spreading the good news of Christ. We must turn stones into bread but not at the expense of the Great Commission or the sharing of the gospel message--some don't even know it.
We all have a place in the church body and we must seek to find a church not only that we can agree with but where we can feel at home and even serve in the body; after all, the Great Commission was given to the church at large as well as the believer--we must not shirk our duty in either capacity. Being a member of a church and not an attendee who has no commitment is also vital for growth. Just as we are dedicated to Christ we must not avoid dedication and service to our church. Belonging to a church fulfills us in the sense of feeling a sense of belonging that may take away our desire to belong to the world and its entities. The divine order is to believe, then belong, and then to become.
Finally, we bear Christ's image and become a living and serving member in the body doing His will. We must never forget that our paramount belonging is to Christ and we must never compromise our faith. It is the duty of the church to prepare the body for service and application of the faith within their spheres of influence. A genuine believer can worship in any authentic Bible-believing church, but that doesn't mean we are to become interdenominational or come to the conviction that doctrine doesn't matter in the church's teaching--we must adhere to sound teaching and always fight heresy that can creep in. But for cooperation purposes, it's not wrong to be nondenominational and some churches label themselves that because they only want to be known as Evangelicals that are not necessarily affiliated. But note that we are not trying to impress a church or advertise and promote it, but must keep our eyes on promoting Christ and promulgating the gospel message in its purity.
Sometimes churches can become dysfunctional! Some members are in rebellion and refuse God's will and go astray and disobey the gospel. We should never be offensive believers, neither in the body or without. We must remember that Satan fosters rebellion and desires to split the fellowship into factions or parties. This can happen when zealous believers (but not according to knowledge) favor their own agendas and hobbyhorses and don't seek God's will but only ask God to bless their wills. We must realize that there is authority in the body for a reason and Christ commands the respect of authority as well as purity of doctrine.
So then, we must refrain from playing church and even doing church or our version of it and submit to all authority, even in the body. All of us contribute and are meant for a purpose in Christ, He has a place for us in His body and can give us purpose, meaning, and dignity within it. One's church ought to be known by its message, fruit, and mission. "For lack of vision, the people perish," (cf. Prov. 29:18). Churchgoing isn't a passive activity, but being involved and a chance to connect and take a spiritual checkup or workout and to examine our fruit!
Christ is perfect as the head and we must all remember that we are imperfect, we still can be used by God, but also that God has chosen to use us as vessels of honor to do His will and we can do everything to the glory of Christ and in His name--that's why we are known by how we exalt our Lord and give Him preeminence. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! (cf. 2 Cor. 3:17). We shouldn't be known by our doctrines or distinguishing teachings as much as how we are obedient to the Great Commission and provide a place for the members to fit in and grow together as a functioning body.
So what is Churchianity?
Some Christians "play" church and go through the motions of worship and never go for the right reason--to worship God--they say, "I didn't get much out of worship today!" (maybe they should concentrate on what they put into it). God condemns us for having worship without our heart in it or hypocritical worship, this is just "memorizing the Dance of the Pious." A real hypocrite (hypocrite means wearing a mask, or acting in a play) is not one who falls short of his ideals, but one who uses religion as a cover-up and knows he is insincere.
The theme of Psalms is Ps. 29:2, "Ascribe the Lord the glory due to His name, worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness." Deut. 17 condemns insincere and dishonest worship or sacrifice. Amaziah (cf. 2 Chron. 25:2) was known for doing the will of the Lord, but not with a true heart. Malachi condemned the lip service of his day. Jer. 12:2 and Isaiah 29:13 also bemoan lip service and insincere worship not from the heart.
Someone has said that there are four persons that we show: The one God sees; the one you see; the one the world sees; and the one your intimate friends see. Let's be careful not to just have a "public persona" and parade our spirituality or piety. Worship should be a delight and our feelings should be in it (or we are blaspheming God, which is like doing it as a "duty" not because we want to) as the command "Delight yourself in the Lord..." says.
In summary: Psa. 84:1 says, "My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the Lord" and Psa. 122:1 says, "I was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord.'" "Blessed are those who hear the joyful shout," (cf. Psalm 89:15).
We can worship or be edified in a "crowd," but we need to function in a local body of believers with our spiritual gift. Rick Warren says that there is no "one-size-fits-all" for worship and there are many ways to worship. We are to be committed to our church as a token of our commitment to Christ--they go hand in hand--and then we will grow and be accountable.
I denounce and disapprove the legalistic crowd that goes to church thinking that will make them a Christian, like going into a garage will make you a car, or eating a donut will make you a cop. They are called the "nod-to-God" crowd, which thinks it is fulfilling its obligation by a short visit to the local church, just out of guilt. The true Christian wants to worship God fellowship with other believers with whom he is a "fellow on the same ship."
I think some megachurches miss the boat in worship, they don't know the preacher nor each other (and is the worship in the Spirit and in the truth?). But different people are at different stages and God has a purpose for their existence--megachurches aren't where I'm at though.
Some think their religious performance is enough to save them. To some, it's only a formality and not a relationship. John MacArthur says, "We can't enter through our religious emotion or our sanctified feelings...Lip service is no good--there must be obedience...You don't get into the kingdom by sincerity, by religiosity, by reformation, by kindness, by service to the church, not even by simply naming the name of Christ; you get there only by personal trust and faith in [the person and work of] Christ." We can have a form of godliness and be empty. The church at Sardis had a reputation that it was alive, yet it was dead (see Rev. 3:1). We can even have "sanctimonious emotions" and be sentimental and not know Christ. There is a difference between knowing the Word and knowing the Author of the Word.
We can have many experiences in church and everyone has a different one, but I believe we should test our experiences by the Word of God and not the Word of God by our experiences. That's an important concept--we are not to become either rationalists nor empiricists (going by reason or experience only), but belief in the Bible (revelation) and anchored in sound teaching or doctrine (cf. Titus 2:1).
The more we learn, the more we realize where the wiggle room is and what is not worth fighting about--they generate more heat than light and are not worth the adrenaline. We are to "maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," (cf. Eph. 4:30). Sectarianism is a sin according to 1 Cor. 1, and we shouldn't divide into factions if we can help it. As Augustine said, "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."
In sum, we must not major on minors and be certain to keep the main thing the main thing; they will know we are Christians by our love. Soli Deo Gloria!
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