Introduction:

The Lord’s church has been challenged by this danger during most of the centuries of its existence. It was only a few hundred years from the beginning of the church on the day of Pentecost with about three thousand people in Jerusalem, until the establishment of a religious organization that called itself the church, but persecuted all who would dare to follow Christ.

Many times, people fail to recognize the changes until it is too late. A local congregation can begin with a dedication to New Testament teaching and practice, and with conviction, and commitment to Christ’s command to go and teach the word, but gradually become less and less a group dedicated to Christ that cares for people and more and more an organization that protects and promotes itself and its own interests.

How and why does this occur, how can we detect such changes, and what must be done about them? These are important questions that must be explored, and answers must be given. The first important lesson comes from what the Bible says about the nature of the church. Paul gave us this lesson by inspiration of the the Spirit of God in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27:

12 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. 13 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. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

God tells us that the nature of the church is that of a body, with one head and many members. Truly, this comparison teaches us many things, among them the following:

• • All coordination comes from Christ, the only head, and all members must obey

• • All members are important and none is more important than the other.

• • All members are dependent upon the other members, and all members must be dependable.

• • Every member must know and obey the guidance of Christ’s word in the Bible and carry out his/her function in the body.

• • There are no extra members that are not needed or that one would wish to do without.

• • It is not acceptable that a majority should look to a few to do everything and others should take little or no part.

The first clue is, then, that for a congregation to remain connected to the spiritual Head (Christ), it must be guided by Christ and his word only! When “leaders” decide what parts of God’s word are important and which are not or change the teaching of God’s word, and the congregation is willing to follow that, the connection with the Head is severed. This gives rise to human authority which is denounced by God’s word as diabolical. We find in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4:

3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

When people accept only parts of the word and refuse to allow teaching of all the word, for fear that someone will be disturbed by it, they are putting themselves in the place of God and are obstructing the teaching of the His word.

The only way we can be blameless and “innocent of the blood of all” is to preach and teach all the word. Speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus, Paul said in Acts 20:26-30:

26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Elders are responsible for the teaching of the word in a powerful and convincing way in order to stop the false teaching of those who would carry the members away from Christ for their own purposes. Titus 1:9-11:

9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. 10 For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

Once certain people in a congregation decide to obstruct the complete teaching of the word, whether for fear of the reaction of some or because of personal preference, and the members accept that, the process has begun for the separation of the congregation from Christ and the formation of a human organizational entity that can no longer fulfill the work of Christ, due to its separation from Him. 2 John 1:9 says plainly:

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

Once this separation occurs and the organization is guided by human reasoning, additional false teaching and practices will ensue, and the separation from the truth will gradually be yet more apparent. Because the group, now a human organization, still bears the name of our Savior, it will serve as a stumbling-block and a bad reputation for those who happen to become involved with it.

At first these changes will seem small, usually starting with the inability to correct those who drift into sin or those that begin to teach things not provable by the Scriptures. Often the emphasis changes from purity of life and bringing others to Christ to an emphasis on social occasions among the members and “good deeds” in the community, and there is an increasing dependence upon professionals to do most of the work.

There will be a resistance to any effort by members to correct the error that is accumulating, and an effort to squelch any voices that seem to be contrary to the status quo. Any member who differs and attempts do say or do something to restore the church to its faithfulness to Christ and obedience to God’s word will be considered a “troublemaker,” and may be invited to find another place to worship. This “invitation” will, in many cases, be acted upon, resulting finally in a group consisting of only “like minded” individuals or, at least, individuals who will fear to say or do anything that might provoke the disapproval of the leadership.

When the error in a congregation has reached this point, the leadership will have taken on a fully self-protective mode of operation, only allowing teaching to be done by those who are known to espouse the status quo. Any others will not be allowed to take part in any position of influence. Any way of thinking that might seem to threaten the power of the leadership or the financial well-being of the organization will be rooted out more effectively and ruthlessly than any sin, false teaching, or unscriptural practice ever was. The teaching will be strictly controlled and will reinforce existing errors and add to the errors that have already become a part of the group’s practice.

You will notice that at this point the word “group” is used. This is because the transformation has been fully made from the Lord’s church to a human organization. This concept is Biblical, because it is taught clearly by our Lord in Rev 2:4-5:

4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

The identifying marks of such departure are the following:

• • Decreased emphasis on the teaching and training of all members in the detailed knowledge of God’s word

• • Decreased participation and involvement of the members in general

• • Decreased care for the spiritual situation of each member and lessened involvement of each of the members in the lives and needs of other members

• • Increased dependence upon religious “professionals” to do the things that all the members should be doing

• • Avoidance of certain specific biblical issues that are considered unpopular or “controversial”

• • Correction of sin in the lives of individual members disappears

• • The teaching and preaching is only entrusted to certain “approved” individuals who emphasize only certain parts of the Scripture and neglect others according to the will of the leadership.

• • Lack of general emphasis in local evangelism and its replacement with “community involvement” and “good deeds”

• • A closed leadership with the suppression of any ideas not held by that leadership
  • The establishment of teaching and practices that are not biblically based

The difficulty involved in correcting such departures:

Such a transformation of a local church devoted to God’s purposes into a religious group governed by human control often takes place gradually, so gradually in fact, that many are not aware of what has happened. The previous rich spiritual heritage of the congregation, possibly spanning many years, makes it difficult for some to accept that such a transformation could have occurred. So the first barrier to any reversal of such departures is that many in the group do not accept the fact that a departure has taken place.

The second barrier is that, since the authority of the Scriptures is no longer respected, a return to it is not likely to occur, short of general repentance in the group and its leadership. Since the teaching is strictly controlled and the decision making process is a closed one, such a change does not easily occur.

The third barrier is that once certain habits of thinking and practice have established themselves, it is difficult to promote change. People do not often analyze how things have gotten to where they are, and short of a radical change in teaching, which is not probable because of the existing leadership, such a re-examination of beliefs and practices is unlikely, to say the least!

For the reasons mentioned above, we must face the fact that a return of such groups to their former faithfulness to Christ is not likely to occur unless something very unusual takes place. It is necessary to observe that the Lord’s work cannot be accomplished within groups that have surrendered themselves to human control.

What do we learn from all this?

• • That the leadership of men is dangerous; we don’t need to look to men, we need to be disciples of Christ.

• • That we all need to know the word of God and not just depend on what others say. The power has always been in the word and not in men.

• • That when we look toward men, instead of doing what God says in his word, it is deadly!

Then, brothers and sisters, let’s follow Christ!