Part
5 of 12
House
Church
Meetings Vs Church Buildings
The
practice of liturgy and ceremony in much of the church today is a
conglomeration of aspects derived from the Old and New Testaments mixed
with practices carried over from
Constantine
’s “state church of the
Roman Empire
.” The church today on the whole maintains some form of a hierarchical,
mediatorial, clergy system, with a collection of humanly devised
traditions in church form,
practice, liturgy, and manmade precepts and laws. They maintain little
if any fidelity to Paul’s simple “gospel
of the grace of God” and the absolute truths recovered by Reformers.
Constantine
’s Christianity was impressive with its external displays of spectacle,
pomp, and ceremony in ornate grandiose “church buildings.” No such
“church buildings” as
Constantine
’s, or as today’s meg-church buildings with their grandiose
“Christian performances and entertainment” are found in Paul’s
epistles. After offering his gospel to the Jew first in the synagogues,
Paul preached his gospel message publicly
and he went from house
to house with the grace gospel message; there were no grand church
buildings.
“And how I
(Paul) kept back nothing that was
profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have
taught you publickly, and from house to house” (Acts 20:20).
Note here below how Paul
consistently acknowledged and greeted the members of “the
church… in the house of…” in his epistles.
Romans
16:5 -
Likewise [greet] the CHURCH
THAT IS… IN THEIR HOUSE…
1
Corinthians 16:19
The churches of
Asia
salute you… with the CHURCH
THAT IS… IN THEIR HOUSE.
Col
4:15…the
brethren which are in
Laodicea
, and Nymphas, and the CHURCH
WHICH IS… IN HIS HOUSE.
Philem.
1:2 …to our
beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to THE
CHURCH… IN THY HOUSE
There was a change that came
with
Constantine
. Instead of meetings of the believers in homes, as had been the custom in
previous years, Christians under
Constantine
’s “state church of the
Roman Empire
” then congregated in large ornate buildings erroneously called
“churches.” The church is not
a building or religious organization, it is “the
church, which is the body of Christ.” The construction of grand
church buildings that resembled
Rome
’s State buildings indicates the close relationship that the Church
and State had now attained. These weren’t like pagan temples, but
like the government’s civic auditoriums.
Even a cursory reading of
Paul’s epistles shows us that we, the believers, are “the
church, which is His body” (Eph 1:22b-23a). Instead of the
simplicity of the early church that met in homes, there came pride and
pomp. The “reproach (disgrace)”
of the cross (Heb 13:13) had
turned into royal fame and glory. The Bishop’s who ruled over cities did
so in the same way the pagan governors had; they set examples of luxury
which stood in opposition with Jesus’ and Paul’s teachings. Their
grand living stood contrary to the message they were originally tasked to
spread.
Constantine
’s Roman church, by its outward display and pomp, was promoted to
attract and allure people. These externals then and still today may affect
some people because “man looketh
on the outward appearance” while
“the Lord looketh on the heart” (1Sam 16:7).
Some
might ask; “How could
Constantine
’s
grandiose church buildings, with their ceremony and
liturgy be a problem?”
Or; “How could today’s
neo-evangelical mega-church buildings and displays of showiness be a
problem so long as it’s unto the glory of God?”
These
things become a problem because by adding and substituting their manmade
grandeur, tradition and practice, most of the church, both Roman and
Protestant, has obstructed and stifled the genuine living, breathing,
functioning “headship” of
Jesus Christ (Eph 1:22, 4:15) over “the
church, which is HIS body”in their meetings.
The gospel itself and the great bulk of the Pauline Christian teaching
that nurtured the life
of “the body of Christ” had
and have been compromised. The church today has largely forsaken the
simple truth of the grace gospel in favor of Roman and Protestant
tradition, grandiosity, showiness and practice.
“It
is harmful to dilute the authority of God’s Word by either addition
or subtraction. We break the Scripture just as much by burying it
under a mountain of human tradition as by ignoring its
principles”
(Taken from “Pagan Christianity” by Frank Viola and George Barna,
Published by Tyndale.)
Now
consider the negative impact of
Constantine
with regard to church buildings.
Sadly, in these
institutionalized church edifices the people look
at the back of the heads of
one another, while being mere attendees
and observers of “the
mass,” liturgy, rituals, and ceremonies. They then are docile crowds
attending to watch the performance and perhaps add a memorized prayer or
two (though Jesus spoke against such prayer as “vain
repetition” (Matt 6:7) and a song or two. This is not a functioning
“body of Christ.”
The
problem is the organized formal liturgy of Constantine’s time and even
today has replaced the genuine living household gatherings of perhaps up
to 30-35 members of “the church,
which is body of Christ” who in Paul’s day met in the round, face
to face. They thrived by every
believing member functioning. Paul below prescribed the order of the
meetings of the members of “the
body of Christ.”
“…
brethren? when ye come together,
EVERY ONE OF YOU hath
a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an
interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying (building
up). 26For ye may
all prophesy (speak forth) one
by one, that all may
learn, and all may be comforted. (1
Cor 14:26, 31)
Paul
said “every
one of you” can
function. There was no “one man show” behind an elevated podium. Note
that the Biblical “church, which
is His body” consists of individual
members. All members of the
“body” are equally needed, feet, hands, toes and fingers, etc. –
only Christ is “the head” (
Col
1:18, Eph 1:22, 4:15).
“Now
ye are the body of Christ,
and members in particular.
(1
Corinthians 12:27) “But
now hath God set the members
every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 19
And if they were all one member, where were
the body? 20 But now are
they many members, yet but one body. (1 Corinthians
12:18-20.
The
equality and need of each and every individual functioning member of “the
body of Christ” is unique to the true church in this age of grace.
This distinction in man’s relationship with God is in contrast to “time
past,” when God dealt with
Israel
as a Nation through the intermediary Priestly tribe of the Levites.
Each
member of “the body of Christ”
has “the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus” living within their own human spirit (1Cor 6:17). Each member
simply has a different function within the “one body.” God has set in “the
body of Christ” today some members who function as
“Apostles (Gk., apostolos, meaning “sent
ones”), prophets (prophetes, inspired speakers), evangelist,
pastors (poimne, shepherds or elders), and teachers” (Eph 4:11). These
members of “the church which is
the body of Christ” are NOT
set above any other member of “the
body of Christ.” These are not mediators set between God and man. We
should note that in “the body of
Christ” there is no Pope, Cardinal or Priest.
The
Priesthood of Israel has past with the
Israel
’s “fall” (Rom 11:11-12),
then being set aside during “the
times of the Gentiles” (Rom 11:25) in this age of grace.
After Jesus death, burial, and resurrection, and after Paul’s beheading
in AD68, the Lord saw to it that in AD70 the one acceptable place to
worship, the
Temple
at
Jerusalem
, was destroyed by the Roman General Titus. This is why Jews today meet at
a “synagogue,” simply a place of teaching. With no
Temple
there is no place for sacrifice and thus no need of the Priesthood to make
sacrificial offerings. This is because Christ’s one offering of His own
blood and life has fully satisfied God’s righteous demand for justice
(Heb 7:27, 9:14, 26). Paul in Hebrews writes of Jesus who Himself is our
“High Priest” (Heb 5:1); and in 1Tim 2:5, the “ONE
mediator” between God and man.
“For
Christ is not entered
into the holy places made with hands, which
are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us: 25 Nor
yet that he should offer himself often,
as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with
blood of others; 26 …but
now ONCE in the end of the
world hath he (Christ) appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. (Hebrews
9:24-26)
Christ
entered the Holiest of all with the One all-sufficient sacrifice of His
own blood and life to pay for and “take
away the sin of the world” (John
1:29).
