Headless Church?

Last Monday, over on Dave Black’s blog (Dave is a New Testament scholar and teacher, a missionary and a Greek Professor), he posted this.

The New Testament church was a brotherhood of believers who were all priests. By the third century it became a community centered in the bishop. This trend can and must be reversed today.

During this week, I’ve been reading ‘With God in Russia’ by Walter Ciszek, A Jesuit Priest. I found the timing providential, as Ciszek’s experiences reflect almost exactly what happens when a group of people become completely reliant on ‘the church’ to meet their needs. It is still a great book for other reasons, but it highlighted the effect of a bishop centric church model.

There are endless books and blogs on this topic, and I am not qualified to address most of the deep theological questions and issues on either side of the divide, so I will leave it to those better qualified to continue that argument. What I will say from the outset is that I agree with Dave completely, and this book further reinforced my view and experience in this matter!

In regards to this topic, the key thing mentioned in ‘With God in Russia’ was a lot of people were ‘Catholic’, but they had no Priest. For a committed Catholic, this is very bad for them, as there is no one to give communion (The Blessed Sacrament), without which they do not have sure sign of salvation. There is no one to hear confession, or to give absolution (to speak the forgiveness of sins – generally this is done before communion). There is no one to marry couples or Baptise children (both considered Sacraments, therefore essential, especially baptism). In multiple occasions Ciszek ministered as a priest, but was forced by the authorities to ‘move on’, in many cases leaving hundreds of people without a priest.

This was heart breaking for both him and his congregations – he was worried about the flock being left behind without a priest, the flock was left leaderless and unable to perform the basic rites of the Christian faith.

Now my question is – is this right?

There are clear definitions in the New Testament about Elders and Deacons. These are often also called Overseers or Bishops (translation dependent). But these definitions don’t say anywhere that only these people can teach the Word, or can give communion. These limitations were placed later by Church councils and the like. (For example, if you would like a quick read up on why only Priests can handle the Blessed Sacrament you can read here. The context is based around their interpretation that Christ’s real presence is in the elements (bread and wine), and that it relates to a sacrifice like such as in the Old Testament, hence the limitations)

We know in the New Testament we are all called to be priests. We also know that each of us has a gift, if not multiple gifts, that are to be used for good works and in the service of the Body of Christ (the Church). But no where does it limit the functions of the church to a small group of ordained people who are ‘specially trained’ (to use the words from the Catholic site). Instead, we see this -

1 Corinthians 12:4-13 (ESV)
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

(In fact, the whole of 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 covers the gifts of the spirit.)

So back to Ciszek’s book and the divide between Clergy (priests, bishops) and Laity (every one else). What it highlighted was that once we go down the path to this complete divide, the church almost stops functioning in it’s gifts. Lay people still occasionally provide some services, maybe administration, or singing, or some other small task. But most of the body essentially does nothing, and even ceases to function in the absence of Clergy.

This is not what we were called to do!

We are called into God’s service, each and every one of us with at least one gift, many of us with more than one, with the express purpose of using them both within the Body of Christ and for good works, often outside that body but for the good of the Kingdom of God. Without us all acting, in unison, just like a body in Paul’s analogy in first Corinthians, the church is nothing but a head, unable to move, and unable to function completely. Sure, some things get done, but as soon as that one person is taken away, such as the examples in With God in Russia, the whole body stops functioning.

So back again to the start – where Dave commented that we need to get back to the New Testament understanding of church and the Body of Christ. Rather than relying on our Priest, Pastor or Bishop to do all the work, and to be the only one who is ‘called’, we all need to step up, acknowledge that God has called each and every one of us to a task and get on with it.

How can we achieve that today? The first step is to read the Bible and see for ourselves what is written there. Then we need to acknowledge that our current system is indeed a legacy that was built many generations after Jesus lived and died, and seek the answers from there. I know I don’t have them all, but the first step is to at least admit that something is wrong, and seek for the answer.

As a final clarification – let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. Don’t storm out of your church today yelling ‘this is un-biblical!’. There is still a place for our congregations, and there is still a place for elder led churches that serve God in the best capacity they can – we need to just start with the confession that ‘we may have a problem here’ and begin to seek real solutions. I may well post more on this in the future….

What is God’s Will for you – Right Now?

Some of you may have read this quote before. It was written by Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit who found himself imprisoned in the Soviet Union for many years after World War II.

“God’s will was not hidden somewhere ‘out there’ . . . the situations [in which I found myself] were his will for me. What he wanted was for me to accept these situations as from his hands, to let go of the reins and place myself entirely at his disposal.”

What Water is saying is that for most of the time, God’s will is where we are. He has willed the things that are put in front of us moment by moment – for a reason. Yes, we need to seek His will all the time, especially with the ‘big’ things (like where to live, where to work, who to marry) – but it’s moment by moment that His will is worked out in our lives, in all the things we face and are challenged by daily. He has a great point – even the little things we face are God either working on us, or using us to work on others. The detail is mind boggling and pretty amazing all at once!

So take a look at your day. Who did you talk with? What challenges did you face?

Mostly*, it is these things that are God’s will for your life. He is guiding you, shaping you, turning you into the person He wants you to be, to fulfill the good works He has already set aside for you – through your every day life.

Ephesians 2:10
For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.

(*I say Mostly – there are things that happen in our lives that I would not consider to be God’s express will for your life. Sin and suffering being the two things that come instantly to mind. He can use both of these things, and often will, but they are not what God wants for your life)

And as a final note, I must say thanks to Craig for the good chat today (which was caused by his email being hacked) – that led to remembering this and therefore, this post directly! See? God can even use the really annoying things that happen to us for something good.

Perspectives in Time…

Genesis 12:1-3
The Lord said to Abram:

Go out from your land,
your relatives,
and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you.
I will make you into a great nation,
I will bless you,
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse those who treat you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.

Just a random and interesting thought.

Did you know that the time this happened to Abram (soon to be Abraham, father of the Israelite nation), was around 1850BC (dated range from about 1800-1900BC, depending on how you count).

So, even at the oldest estimate, Abraham was closer in time to Jesus than we were?

I know, that was a useless piece of information, but I thought it very interesting none the less!

Playing the Pokies with God

(Cultural reference – Pokies/poker machines/slots/slot machines/fruit machines – same thing!)

Over the next few posts we are going to look at some aspects of Prayer. Prayer is one of the most misunderstood things that Christians involve themselves in. We struggle with it daily – because, quite simply, it doesn’t seem natural to us. There are barriers in the way of our understanding and doing, and many of those are our own preconceptions of prayer!

Luke 18:1-8 (HCSB)

He then told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not become discouraged: “There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect man. And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ “For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect man, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so she doesn’t wear me outby her persistent coming.’”

Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not God grant justice to His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay to help them? I tell you that He will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find that faith on earth?”

Most Christians will have heard this parable read out aloud in Bible studies, prayer groups and from the pulpit. I still remember one preacher using it to remind us we need to continually go to God – to bring our needs to Him over and over until He acts – in one way or another!

It reminds me of the pokies (slots).

You know, you turn up with a pocket full of change. If you don’t have a pocket full, the nice person in the nicer clothes will offer to convert any convenient notes, credit cards or other items into a handy pocket full of change.

Then you walk up to the magic machine, pray your prayer, insert a coin and pull the handle.

If all goes well, your ‘number is up’ – unless you are on the fruit machines of course, and then you hope for three oranges… In any case, a bunch of money comes out the bottom, in a convenient denomination that you can keep on inserting until it is all gone again.

Though most of the time, you insert your coin, pull the handle and nothing happens, or maybe you just get 5 or 10 coins back. That’s not enough, put another one in the slot, cross your fingers, look to heaven and promise you will double tithe your winnings and pull again.

Is your prayer life like this too? I know mine sometimes is – God, heres this (pull handle), and this (pull handle) and that (pull handle), and I really hope you deal with one of them today. By the way, I’ve got this whole pocket full of things for you, should I go through the whole list? So we throw our list to heaven, not really believing God can deal with any of it, but feeling righteous, holy and utterly ‘Christian’ because we spent 40 seconds bombarding God with our pocket full of cares.

What’s wrong with this picture? We aren’t approaching God in faith – we don’t believe that He is actually going to do anything, we are just throwing our cares in the air and hoping the God (magic problem fairy) will maybe pull one or two of them out and deal with them, but if not, there is always tomorrow…

We start to see God as the unjust Judge, who we need to pester daily to ensure that he hears us, and finally gets sick of us and gives us something – anything! We think if we can come up with enough things to throw up to heaven, surely some of them will get dealt with, because if we put more coins, surely our odds are better of winning…

What then is our challenge?

To come to God in faith. Not in doubt. Not looking at God as the Magic Problem Fairy who can solve all our needs if we just pull the handle often enough. But looking at God as the Righteous and Holy Creator of the universe that He is – and yet, the loving and caring God that He has shown Himself to be.

It’s a tough call, but it is a start. So next time you go to God in prayer, instead of playing the pokies with God, why not focus on who God is, and bring your cares to Him, knowing that God can and will deal with what you ask – if you would only ask in faith.

Born to Eat?

Here is an interesting question – were we born to eat? Or to ask the question another way, how important is eating?

I guess in some ways i’ve answered the question already by the way I’ve posed it.

Eating is important. But it is not all that there is to life. We have all heard the saying ‘eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die’. For if life was just about food, then that would be the best we could hope for – to eat, to be happy, and to die in the end.

So are we born to eat? No. Eating is something we must do if we are to continue to live, but it is not what we are here for. And now, let’s take it just a little further again.

How important is our work? Are we born to work?

Hmmm. Much trickier. In some ways, yes, we are born to work – to do a special work that God has called us to. If that work is to be an office worker, or a truck driver, or a street cleaner, then yes, we were born to do those things, because God has called us to do them. This is your ‘vocation’. Maybe you are called to be a pastor full time – or maybe you are called to be in a secular profession full time and minister in place. Either way, God has called you to something – to a place where you will be the most effective for His kingdom.

So are we born to work? If by work, you mean do something to earn some money so you can eat, then no.

But if you mean to fulfil God’s purpose and plan for you in this life, then yes, that is what you are born to.

And the final challenge? To keep that in perspective. We do not work to eat, but we work for God. Whether we work as a pastor or a truck driver, both of us do what God is calling us to do – to fulfil His purpose in this life, whatever that is.

So when you get up for work tomorrow morning (or today!), think of this – when we work it is not for us, it is not for food, it is not for our family, but it is for God that we work. The other things are good things, but they are secondary to our Lord and Saviour who has called us to our profession, and is using us, daily, to bring about His purpose in the world.

Matthew 6:25-33 (HCSB)
“This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you-you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

(photo flickr\globalmouser)