Simple Church Minute 8--church is not a business

8—church is not a business    

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            C. S. Lewis wrote “…love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion.  It is a state, not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.”

            As I desire to live to glorify Jesus, how do I do that?  Maybe this is a function of my age, but I am actually aware that, at this time in western society, executives of major public corporations within their company wish to enforce a worship of maximizing short term profitability, without regards to whether it hurts customers, vendors, employees, or the world at large.  That’s why businesses do advertising, not apologetics.  If they had to do any dialogue why they treat people as they do, it would be publicly embarrassing.       

            The church is not to look like the world.  Jesus isn’t a medicine to package and market.  He is God, come to earth, who died for those of us who believe and will believe on him.  One of the problems that we, in this culture have in living for Him is that, when most of those who do not believe hear the word “church”, the first thought in their minds are of aspects connected with the traditional church, which are at least unscriptural, at the worst demonic deception, and possibly both simultaneously.  Buildings and corporations, according to law and common use, are called churches, and some have human leaders who do not hold the historical faith in Jesus.  The Bible teaches that the church is people, a group of believers.  If I say Christian ethics, anyone, whether they believe the historic Christian faith or not, whether they agree or not, can know what that entails.  If I say business ethics, have I said a phrase George Carlin failed to get into his famous monologue on oxymorons?  We believers are responsible to not get the two confused, for God’s glory.

            In fairness, today’s blip I will label as my opinion, and not necessarily that of anyone else connected with house church.  To email me, send it to simplechurchminute@gmail.com. For more info on organic simple church*, go to http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.

Simple Church Minute 7--marketing plans

7—Marketing plans   

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            Whether it is formally laid down on paper or not, almost all traditional churches have marketing plans.  It includes a name, which inside of it includes a denominational name or not, sometimes a logo, a location—sometimes a small building down a residential street, or a supermarket sized building on a heavy traffic count street, or something in between.  The building will have a certain look—maybe historical, maybe ultramodern.  Usually it has a person designated to serve as the head of the organization, presenter of lively, witty speeches, and, if he and his family are young and attractive, may also serve as mascots on billboards, websites, and TV.  Certain other features might be done to attract higher than average income and education types—or maybe lower than average, or a certain ethnicity, or a mix of ethnicities, or something else.

            None of that is scriptural, although some of these items may not actually be wrong, depending on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  We all fall somewhere on the attractiveness scale, where the church meets will have a traffic count, even if only two or three are gathered.

            BUT if everyone, or at least many groups of believers do these same things the same way to the degree that it looks like we’ve added it to scripture, then—have we? Revelation chapter 22 verses 18 and 19 says, For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book.  Jesus addressed this in his day, as the Pharisees added, and the Saducees deleted, with regard to the Old Testament.  It is personally each of our jobs to desire to live in the direction Jesus is pointing.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For info on organic simple church*, see http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally, (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.

Simple Church Minute 6--oration

6—oration

NOTE:  I originally wrote a segment for each of the 61 points Frank Viola and George Barna make in their book, Pagan Christianity, about traditions in the institutional church not based on scripture.  After writing it, I chose to not include this segment merely as I felt that in wouldn’t be an interesting radio commentary.

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            A few days ago, I mentioned that oratory became an entertainment form in the Roman Empire in the days of the early church.  Apollos was an orator before his conversion to Christianity, and Paul grew up in Tarsus, the “city of philosophers.” The early church was taught that all believers were kings and priests of God, per Revelation 1 verse 6.  All were important in each other, which is growth in both mind and spirit.  Still, over a couple of centuries, mutual ministry faded, being replaced with religious specialists.   Over this time, some orators and philosophers became Christians, and some of their skills entered the church.  Paid specialists came from paganism; Jewish rabbis of the Pharisaic side, which appear to be the only type that survived the revolt of 130 AD, learned a trade so they did not need to either charge for their teaching or depend on the tithe, in case unbelief swept the Jewish community, as happened at times during the Old Testament days.  History shows that converted orators spoke in a style that was similar to before their conversion, which may not be all that surprising, quoting scripture instead of Homer. Eventually, as the church became formalized, the person giving the sermon was required to have studied rhetoric, and those without such training were not allowed to speak.  Orators called their speeches homilies; the Catholic church uses that term to this day.  The legalization of Christianity by the Romans solidified the Greek style of speaking and professional clergy.  By the time of the Reformation, it was taken for granted that the sermon was how “lay people,” another concept foreign to the Bible, learned the Christian faith.  Of course, in the Middle Ages, non-professionals did not have access to the Bible to know whether what they were being taught was true.  That was what Martin Luther’s 95 Theses was about.

            Speeches do not teach well.  That’s why, in school, there is a mix of studying texts, hearing lectures, having discussions, and doing presentations.

            You…

Simple Church Minute 5--baptism

5—baptism     

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            In the early church, baptism was a sign of initial confession of faith in Jesus.  One can find in the New Testament that baptism and faith are used like synonyms.  Somewhere in the 2^nd century, the two started getting divided, with most baptisms taking place on Easter.  By the 4^th century, official church leadership had taken over instruction and direction of new believers to the degree that a person had to wait 3 years to be baptized.  The baptism ceremony became a rigid ritual that borrowed from Jewish and Greek culture.  Somewhere along this path, a teaching got started that only baptism forgave sins, and if one committed a sin after baptism, it was unforgivable.  Some, like Emperor Constantine, waited until just before dying to be baptized.  With such a weakened physical state among those wishing to be baptized, the idea came about that, since baptism was a sign of belief, as opposed to actually washing something away, if a person was so ill that they would not be able to withstand immersion, a sample amount of water—sprinkling on the forehead—was a sufficient sign.

            With the disconnection between faith and baptism, infant baptism came along, being taught as the New Covenant equivalent to Old Covenant circumcision, with reference to a case in the New Testament where someone was baptized (quote) and their entire household. (unquote)

            Another interesting connected ritual that has come along this past century has been the insistence of those in some flavors of the church that hold to the literal adult believer’s baptism to call it “water baptism,” as if those who do not follow that direction are somehow not using water.  In biblical days, the Greek word “baptidzo” was also used for the process of pickling pickles and dying cloth, but there isn’t any confusion about that anymore—at least, I don’t think so.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic simple church*, go to http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally, (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.

Simple Church Minute 4--ordination

This is read at a really fast pace to get into 2 minutes.

4—ordination

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            In the early church, elders came about through time.  In the world, an elder meant one of the older, experienced persons.  In the church, it meant one not just physically older, but experienced as a believer, who had grown to spiritual maturity.  It was not a title as used today.  There are three places where elders were recognized, and in one, First Timothy chapter 3 verse 1, there had been 14 years between the time of the founding of the church and the recognition of elders.  This recognition was only recognizing seniority and godly service these persons had been doing in all those intervening years.  A believer should be growing day by day into this role from the day of first believing on Jesus to the day one passes away, without regard to whether there is any person to comment on it.

            The word “ordain” did not mean to place into an official position.  In the early church, there was only one office—head of the church, occupied by Jesus.  Ordain meant to recognize and endorse what was already taking place, insofar as believers desiring to serve Jesus.  How did ordination get its meaning of placing a person into an official position?  The ordination ceremony was borrowed from the Roman ceremony for appointing civil servants, even to some of the words used in it.  By the 3^rd century, ordination became a ritual that marked a person passing from laity to clergy.  After the Edict of Milan, which made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire, church leadership became interconnected with the societal structure of Rome.  Gregory of Nyassa said the priest, as was the title at the time, by ordination was (quote) invisibly but actually a different, better man. (unquote)

            That was far from what the apostles taught the early believers.  First Peter 5 verses 2 and 3 directed, which commands, “shepherd, serve, willingly, not dishonest, eagerly, not as lords, examples.”  This is not to be critical of traditional church pastors; almost all honestly desire to see the church of Jesus go forward.  Its just that there isn’t solid scriptural precedent for our traditional structure.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic church*, visit http://www.simplechurch.com/ or (an area’s local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.

Simple Church Minute 2--clergy wear, pre-Reformation

2—clergy wear, pre-Reformation

NOTE:  I originally wrote a segment for each of the 61 points Frank Viola and George Barna make in their book, Pagan Christianity, about traditions in the institutional church not based on scripture.  After writing it, I chose to not include this segment merely as I felt that in wouldn’t be an interesting radio commentary. 

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            In Mark chapter 7, the scribes and Pharisees accused Jesus of not following their traditions, which were based on, but not part of Tanak, what the church now calls the Old Testament.  In verse 5, Jesus calls them hypocrites, which wasn’t sensitive to their feelings, but then, Jesus knew men’s hearts.  (Note:  I considered substituting Mk. 12:38 for this paragraph).

            The early church did not have a distinction between clergy and laymen; you can’t find it in the New Testament.  Shortly after the death of the apostles, some men started taking such positions in churches.  Most were orators, and they wore white, an idea they may have borrowed from Plato.  When Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal, clergy changed to match that of Roman officials, as Roman pagan priests had done earlier.  Later, the color changed to purple, and the designs on the robes became more elaborate.  Next came the idea that clergy were never to be seen in public wearing normal clothing, and after that, the idea that these special clothes had mystical and symbolic meanings.  By the 7^th and 8^th centuries, vestments were accepted as sacred objects inherited from the Old Testament Levites.  It must be remembered that, by this time, the average person had no access to the Bible to know what it said.  Paul wrote in Colossians 2 verse 8, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”

            You…

Simple Church Minute 1--sermons

1—sermons

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            Why are there sermons in church?  It’s only been in the last few years I’ve even thought of this question.  I’ve just assumed that there is scriptural reason for it.  Matthew 5 is called the Sermon on the Mount.  But, if you look at it, scripture doesn’t call it a sermon.  It covers way too many different topics in the couple of minutes it would take to read it aloud.  Also, was it really a teaching to believers, or a series of statements so radical as to turn off those who were only chasing the next big thing, and to allow the Spirit to speak to the heart of those who would follow in spirit and truth.  John chapter 6 verses 66 to 68 indicate Jesus wasn’t at all concerned about having a large number of fair weather friends.  Acts 17, where Paul speaks with those at Mars Hill, it is clear that Paul was doing dialogue, not monologue.  From Acts chapter 20 verse 7 and other places, where we do see someone doing something that appears to us as preaching, the Bible uses the word “spoke”, and these occurrences are infrequent.  Some say Second Timothy  chapter 4 verse 2 connects preaching with speaking to the church, but that context is not clear.

            The church we see in the New Testament shows itself as using speeches such as what Paul gave while visiting Troas as an exception, not the rule.  Why?  We don’t get nearly as much out of one-way communication as we do multi-way, where one can ask a question if something is unclear, or where a variety of people with various skills and experiences can paint a fuller picture of a subject.  Romans chapters 12 and 15, First Corinthians 14 and Colossians 3 show that worship involved every member, included teaching, exhortation, prophecy, singing, and admonishment, was conversational and impromptu.

            For more on organic church*, see http://www.simplechurch.com/ , or locally at (local website).  You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com .

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.