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I currently fellowship in a home. For more info, I suggest reading the book
"Constantine's Sword" by James Carroll. (C) 2001 ISBN 0-618-21908-0,
Mariner Books. In the process of reading this novelization, you will begin to
see why wicked Constantine did what he did and his spirit lives on. I am still
reading its 756 pages.
-- slade
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, 13 March, 2003
21:57
Subject: RE: [TruthTalk]
differences
Amen, Terry! I hope to hear more
soon. This was my experience in a church at home also. Such places
are few and far between. Izzy
-----Original
Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Terry Clifton
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 9:43
PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [TruthTalk]
differences
You asked about differences,
comparing the institutional church with home church. They are
many, and I cannot think of them all at one setting, but I will point
out the most obvious.
If you study the New
Testament, you will never find reference to a building fund, or even to
a building. You will find that the Church at Jerusalem met mostly
outdoors, and those in other cities (Thessalonica, Ephesus, Galatia,
Corinth, ect.) met in homes.(Rom.16:5, 1Cor.16:19, Col.4:15, Phil.2 and
so on.) There was no church house until around 300 A.D., when
emperor Constantine converted to Christianity from paganism and brought
the temple with him. Why he had the audacity to take what was
pleasing to God and change it into something that pleased men is hard to
figure, but from then on we had meeting places, the more ornate, the
better.
Before long, people
are calling these meeting places "the Church". I have been guilty
of it as have most people, but it is a terrible lie. It is not a
Church and it is not God's house. The Church is a living organism,
not an organization. It is a spiritual house, made of living
stones. Jesus is the corner stone, the apostles are the
foundation, and every saint is a living stone, part of that
spiritual house that continues to be added to
daily.
Please note that there
are no "Clergy" stones between the foundation and the living stones, and
please note that the Church is composed only of saved persons.
Lost people make up a large part of what we call the church today,
partly because we bring them there hoping they will get saved. If
we did it correctly, we would lead them to a relationship with Christ,
then bring them to a meeting of the Church.
If you were invited to a
gathering of the Church in NT times, you would find what Paul described
in 1 COR.14:26 "When you come together, each of you has a song, has a
teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation.
Let all things be done for edification." In other words, every
saint takes part. It is not a performer on stage and an audience
in the pews!
If you are invited to
any mainline church in America, you will not find this. Try
interrupting the preacher. Tell him you disagree with him, and see
how fast the ushers swoop down on you. What you will find, in all
probability, is that you are handed a program as you enter.
Nothing spontaneous will happen, everything is planned. You will
be seated facing the pulpit. The preacher occupies the pulpit, the
choir is seated behind him. The music minister tells you what song
to sing, they make the announcements, have another song, maybe a choir
special, followed by the offering, then the message. The preacher
talks or screams for twenty minutes, followed by three verses of "Just
as I am" and you are out the door by 12:05 at the latest. You do
not know the names of eighty percent of the other pew dwellers.
All you know about them is what the back of their head looks like.
Two hours later, you cannot even remember what the preacher talked
about. That's church, in God's house. A worship
service.
Remember what Paul said in
that verse. It's all about "edification". We do not meet in
our home for worship. We worship our God every day, all day,
starting with prayer in the morning and ending with prayer at night,
with a few short ones sprinkled in during the day. We worship by
being obedient, by loving our neighbor and our fellow saints and our
enemies, by caring about those who hurt, and helping those who need
help. When we meet, it is to celebrate God's goodness and to
encourage each other.
We are free to do things
like buy a tractor for a Christian orphanage in Slovakia because we
don't have a pastor to pay or a building to maintain. Any spending is on
those in need.
We meet across a table,
eating a full meal, looking each other in the face. I know their
problems, their good points and their faults, and they know mine.
We are Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Family...................... of
God.
(It helps to have a
good Christian wife who sees her cooking and cleaning as part of
her reasonable service.)
Well, I can see that I have
gone on too long, and not said a tenth of what I wanted to share with
you, so I will wrap it up for now.
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