Imagine if church was like a restaurant and you were offered menu choices… “Would you like the lunch or dinner menu today?”

That actually reminds me of an experience I had.  I had been invited to sing at a church and was able to be at their midweek meetings which met at the pastor’s home, and also their Sunday morning worship services held at their church building.  Same “restaurant”, different menu!  My first taste was actually the midweek gathering, and what a gathering it was!  Glorious in every respect!  How can I even describe it?  It pulsated with life!  So deep was the impression it made on me that even though it’s been 15 years, I can remember it as if it was yesterday: The freedom, the joy, the awe, the seriousness, the singing, the koinonia, the presence of God… it was all soooo TANGIBLE!  “This”, I thought, “is what gathering together should be!”  Gathered in that living room were a ton of mostly college kids who sought God, and it showed.  It was “Jesus centered” in worship, and marked by authenticity, vulnerability and transparency as those gathered poured out their hearts to each other and Him.  It was also contagious.  I went back many times just to be a part of what God was doing among them.  (These return trips did NOT include me being there to sing.)  I was there because GOD was there, and His people were there, and honestly I couldn’t imagine NOT wanting to be there!

If midweek was dinner, Sunday was lunch.  Someone switched the menu!  Imagine my surprise when I arrived for the Sunday morning worship service and it was NOTHING like the midweek gathering I had experienced.  It was like going to a seafood restaurant on Wednesday with all it’s nautical decor and tasty fish, then going back for more on Sunday because it was so good… only to find out they were now a burger joint!  (And not an especially good burger joint.  It was like a dry hamburger and stale bun!  What happened to the fish??  Where was that tasty, salty, seafood?)

Many people believe that “form” makes no difference to the church.  I beg to differ!  These were basically the same people, (mostly the same college kids coming together with a wider age range of the church).  The same pastor led both meetings.  The difference was the form, and the expectations people had of living within that form of church!  You cannot tell me that form doesn’t matter.  Form and function go together like a hand in a glove.  That’s why people act a certain way at formal gatherings, and act completely different at a backyard BBQ.  It makes ALL the difference to the church what form we adopt.

At the risk of sounding, “unspiritual”, the gathering of the New Testament Church is much more like a BBQ than a black tie affair.  The gathering of the church is all about family.  It’s not about a “special event” where we dress up to look the part.  The midweek gathering of this church rang so true simply because it was true; the informal form allowed for the family style function!

I just finished reading the book, “The Radical Christian”, by Arthur Wallis.  While there were many good points in the book, one thing in particular struck me as I read:  I couldn’t help but think how very much we are all a product of our times.  The book was written in 1981 and I came to be a Christian in 1984.  As I was reading, it was like being brought back in time!  All kinds of memories came flashing back of phrases and ideas that were prominent in the church at that time.  Whether we’ll admit it or not, I think we all come under the influence of the times we live in much more than we realize.  The fads, the concepts, the ideas the church embraces come and go, but at the moment they’re happening we have the tendency to believe that all these ideas and beliefs are scriptural.  But were they all?  25 years later many of these ideas and terms have disappeared or changed forms!  (I can also look back and remember some relatively recent “movements” which were widely embraced, but are now out of favor.) 

We always think that everything we believe is straight out of the bible, but is it?  Do you know how many times I’ve heard the statement, “Our church is just like the New Testament Church”? Honestly, I’ve always wondered how people can say that.  Have you read Acts?  It’s patently obvious that most churches are very different than what we read there!  In 1 Corinthians 14:26, for example, we see a picture of great participation among those who gather together, and stress laid on the fact that, “all these things must be done for the strengthening of the church.”  For the most part this kind of participation is nonexistent in our churches, yet we dare to say that we’re just like the New Testament church?  That’s an example of what we leave out, dare I mention all the things we add that have no biblical basis whatsoever?

So how have we come to believe that we’re so scripturally based when the evidence contradicts our practice?  I think it’s because we all see the Word of God though the glasses of the times we live in.  More than we’d ever care to admit, our understanding of God’s Word is filtered by the peer group, denominational structure, and spiritual climate that exists when we enter in as newly born again believers.  I have often asked myself, “If the only reference we had was the bible would we ever practice this, or do that?”  We believe that so much of what we practice comes straight from the bible, even though we can’t find a shred of evidence for it in God’s Word! 

I don’t exclude myself in this assessment.  I guess that’s what I’m trying to say… every one of us needs the courage to question our sacred cows.  Jesus warned the religious leaders that by their traditions they had nullified the Word of God.  He even gave an example and told them they did “many such things” that made God’s Word of no effect.  Who are we to think we’re any different? 

Read it here: Mark 7:6-13

Excerpts:

“They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.  You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men”.

And He said to them, “You have a fine way of settings aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”

“Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.  And you do many things like that.”