Could going back be a step forward?

Some Christians say that the modern church should be just like the church described in the New Testament. Their focus is on the positives described, yet the church had its challenges then just as it does now.

For instance, right from the beginning, some taught that the OT law must be obeyed if a person was going to be saved. This false teaching is common today. Also, there were those who taught that Jesus did not come in the flesh because flesh is sinful so they dismissed His deity. Today, some ‘churches’ still deny the deity of Christ. Also, Paul wrote about spats between believers, not as serious perhaps, but it happened then just as it happens now. We are not perfect, at least on this side of heaven.

The second letter written by John is short. He seems to be writing to a congregation that meets in a woman’s home. After his greeting he writes:

I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. (1 John 4)

Note that he says “some” of your children. In a ‘perfect’ church, would he be finding ‘all’ of them walking in the truth? We have similar burdens today with family split over matters of faith.

He also reminds his readers that we are to love one another by obedience: “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” He adds, “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for but may win a full reward.” (1 John 7-8)

Again, this is not perfection. They had be on guard against false teaching just as we must do in our modern world. John warns that part of this battle included how to deal with those who tried to infiltrate the Body of Christ by taking advantage of Christian hospitality. For this, I need to remember that the church met in their homes. They did not have church buildings like we do. Should today’s church go back to that model, would it pose some problems? I think so.

For instance, our church has several hundred members. We also have small groups that meet to study the Bible and pray during the week. If those small groups were our only gathering, we’d need many more of them, perhaps hundreds more. How would scattered groups serve one another and our community? How would we demonstrate our unity and keep one another accountable? How would the elders and overseers ensure that all needs were met? I can imagine the flurry of calls, texts and email as each house church tried to keep up with sound doctrine and with ministry to the needy and all the other activities done by today’s church.

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Lord, I am not in church leadership yet as I read this, I see how I need to do my part in spotting false teaching, or in noticing what needs to be done. We do our best ministry together and would suffer if we confined our size to “us four, no more, shut the door” as might happen if we met only in homes. Small groups are good for developing deeper relationships, yet worship would suffer (especially if us four all sing as badly as I do). Community service would also suffer if church were confined to as many people that fit into the average living room.

It seems that we must preserve major teaching and yet encourage each other to express our life in Christ in the culture and situation we are living. We need to be okay with church sizes, from a few to a few hundred, even a few thousand. We have our struggles yet a focus on glorifying You is more important than all of them.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- Jesus promised to build His church and He is doing that with the same amazing variety and diversity as He used when creating the world!

- No matter where we go, fellowship with other Christians is genuine and wonderful.

- As we worship, our difficulties and differences fade away.

- That God put His creativity into us.

- Finally developing enough self-discipline to start doing Pilates again.

- Finding out some of the possibilities of Painter 2019 and a Wacom tablet — as in drawing and tossing the mistakes without wasting paper!