Church s To Go by Troy Cady

Church s To Go by Troy Cady I have to confess: sometimes I read about the silly things Christians argue about and I wonder if this thing we call church is really worth it. Sometimes I hear about the hurtful and hateful things we do in the name of Jesus and I say, Really, God you mean to tell me the church was your idea to bless the world? Don t you have a Plan B or something? Sometimes I feel we must be confused about what God wants the church to be. Otherwise, why would there be so many different denominations today? In any case, what I mean by church does not necessarily match what others might mean by it. So, I want to tell you a couple ways I ve experienced church in my life. The first way is a church which I call the Nice, Calm Family Church. This was the allwhite church, filled with many friendly and respectable people (in fact, there probably aren t any sinners who go there). This church has a good way of doing things, and woe to anyone who wants to change that. The adults want good doctrine, a pastor who is neither too heady nor too informal, and a service with lovely music, but not much else to do with religion on the weekdays. We wouldn t want to get carried away, would we? On the surface, the second church seems to be the opposite. Let s call this The Show Biz Church. I was on staff at one of these churches for a while. When you attend this church, the band plays songs you might hear on a top 40 radio station. At this church, everything that s done on a Sunday is geared for seekers as the church calls them. This church seems informal, but the fact is: a creative programming team plans every Sunday service down to the minute because they don t want to waste anyone s time and they don t want to bore people. They even have a production team (complete with lighting technicians and stage hands) to make the church seem like a cool place to be. Don t get me wrong: these churches all do good things. But sometimes I have to wonder if this is what Jesus meant when he said, I will build my church. 1 Sometimes, I wonder: isn t there more? To consider that question, let s look at what the Bible says the church is. Church in biblical history My thesis is that the church is an on-the-move community that has been created and is being recreated by the Spirit of God to experience and bear witness to God s loving presence in every place and every time for everyone and everything God has made. Because this vision of church is all-encompassing, it follows that church is so much more than an event-based place to which we come once a week on a Sunday morning. Church is concerned with all of life. It s more go and encounter than come and see. To establish this thesis, let s look at how the Spirit has shaped the church throughout biblical history. The historical markers include: 1 Matthew 16:18 1

-The Tabernacle Church in the wilderness -The Temple Church in Jerusalem -The Dispersed Church in exile -The Second Temple and Synagogue Church in Greco-Roman civilization -The Jesus Church in the Gospels -The Pentecost Church in the Acts and Epistles Ekklesia As we begin this survey, I want us to note that the Gospel writers record Jesus using the precise word church in only two instances and both are found in Matthew, who wrote his Gospel especially for a Jewish audience. It may surprise us: Jesus uses the word church because it was familiar to his fellow Jews and meaningful to them. Note also that Jesus did not coin this word. In Greek (the language in which most of the New Testament was written) the English word church is ekklesia. It s composed of a root and a prefix. The root comes from kaleo which means to call ; the prefix is ek which means out of. The church, from a simple linguistic perspective, simply means called out ones. Jesus concept of church is actually derived from an Old Testament pattern, but we often miss it because the English word church does not appear in the Old Testament of our Bibles today. Significantly, however, the Greek word ekklesia appears in a famous Greek translation of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint. That s right: church ( ekklesia ) is in the Old Testament and Jesus 1) draws from this Old Testament meaning, 2) draws from the cultural meaning of his time, and 3) demonstrates its fullest meaning. So, to understand what Jesus had in mind when he spoke of and formed his church, we need to go back to the beginning to see how church is portrayed in the Old Testament and how it developed up to the time of Jesus. The tabernacle church in the wilderness First, we turn to Deuteronomy 4:10 where Moses says to Israel: Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, Assemble the people before me to hear my words... That word assemble is a verb form of ekklesia. It could be rendered as church the people before me. The noun ekklesia is used in 5:22, in the context of God giving the 10 commandments to the people. Notice what it says: These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly (or, ekklesia / church ) Here in Deuteronomy 4 and 5, Moses is referencing a pivotal event forty years prior: Israel had just been set free from Egypt, and they came to Horeb (which the account in Exodus refers to as Mount Sinai). Because they were just released from slavery, they didn t really know how to be a cohesive nation yet; so, God assembled them at Sinai to give them laws and customs by which they would be formed (or assembled ) as a people from one generation to the next. Were we to read the original account of Moses reference, we would start at Exodus 19 and read all the way through the book of Numbers. We would first read in Exodus 20 about God 2

giving them the Ten Commandments, which is properly known as the Decalogue (or, literally, the Ten Words). These ten words instruct us in life-giving ways of relating to God, creation, work, family, property, and neighbors (including immigrants). These ten words assembled them as a people. Notice that, as they were churched before God in this scene, there is no command in the Decalogue to hold any meetings. Their Sabbath observance was simply to stop working and to remember how God delivered them from slavery. Each household did this. That s not to say they didn t assemble regularly, however. Their assemblies were arranged to celebrate and remember the mighty acts of God in their history. So, they had three assemblies each year: 1) The Feast of Passover, 2) The Feast of Weeks, and 3) The Feast of Tabernacles. In the first they remembered when God delivered them from slavery. In the second, they remembered God giving them the Law at Sinai. In the third, they remembered God s abiding presence with them through the tabernacle. Taken together, the Law, the Sabbath and these festivals governed their spatial, relational and temporal lives, but it was the tabernacle that really assembled them daily. In Numbers 2, we read that the tabernacle literally stood at the center of their life together as the 12 tribes were positioned to the north, south, east and west of the tabernacle. The tabernacle signified to them that the High God would be right in their midst; in fact, at the center of their life together. This is how they lived for forty years. When God s leading (signified by a pillar of fire or a pillar of cloud) remained in one place, they d set up camp. But, when the pillar moved, they broke camp and followed. Their assembling was on the move. Their church was to go! I want to pause at this point and invite you to see (in your mind s eye) where you live. See the rooms in your home. Now see the street on which you live and see the people who live there. See where you work. See where you shop, the places you play, rest and converse. Now reflect: just as God led Israel from place to place, he goes before you in all those places, leading the way, showing you who he is. To really be the church, we need to remember: there is no such thing as a sacred-secular divide. Every place is pregnant with God s presence. Being the church is not about doing more at 4201 N. Monticello. It s about following God s lead in every place. The temple church in Jerusalem Flash forward to the time of David: this is the first time the tabernacle settles down in one place (Jerusalem) where David s son Solomon built a permanent structure: the temple. But, notice: even Solomon understood that the real church was not confined to the temple. In 2 Chronicles 6:12 we read that Solomon stood before the whole assembly (there s that word again!) and prayed. In verse 18, Solomon prays: But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! The dispersed church in exile After Solomon, the nation divided in two: the northern kingdom was called Israel and the southern was called Judah. Eventually, Israel was taken away from their home by Assyria and Judah was taken by the Babylonians, who destroyed Solomon s temple. Most of the people were now foreigners, living in a strange land. 3

It s instructive for us as we consider what it means to be the church to listen carefully to what God told them to do when they were in this situation. Jeremiah 29:4 and 7 says: This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. That s what they did: they made a home right where they were; they sowed shalom on foreign soil. Even though they were dispersed, they were still assembled in their identity. I m convinced many American Christians today feel like Israel in exile. They lament that America is not what it used to be, so they feel like foreigners in a strange land. They want to take America back for Christ (that s the way they put it). Some adopt an aggressive posture in this struggle, because they feel like we are under attack. But, even if Christianity is under attack, Jeremiah 29 tells us there s a better way to respond than by counter-attack: seek peace, shalom the total wholeness and well-being of everyone and everything. It s a peace-loving way that another prophet describes in terms of loving mercy, seeking justice and walking humbly with God. (Micah 6:8) I wonder: what if the church today was known more by her gentleness and integrity than by her condemnation and hypocrisy? God s desire is that we are known more by our deeds of mercy on the weekdays than by the content of our church services on the weekend. God wants us to be lovers of peace, not speakers of hate. It s time for us to let the Spirit be enough instead of relying on a mere edifice of legalities. The Spirit has us in this place for a reason. Let s be known not as those who curse, but as those who bless. The second temple and synagogue church in Greco-Roman civilization After about seventy years, the exiles were allowed to return to Jerusalem. Those who returned rebuilt the temple but not all of them returned. Some had made a new home outside Jerusalem so they remained there. This is the period when synagogues came into existence. Though we don t read about synagogues in the Old Testament, we can get a feel for the role they filled in the life of Israel when Ezra the scribe read from the Torah after the temple and the wall of Jerusalem was rebuilt. In Nehemiah 8, we read: So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. Skipping down to verse 7, we catch a glimpse of what would later become the role of a rabbi at a synagogue. As Ezra read: The Levites instructed the people in the Law making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read. Though this scene takes place at the temple, it provides a snapshot of synagogue life, too: the synagogue was a place where the Law was read and interpreted by a teacher, called a rabbi. The Jesus church in the Gospels That is the context of Jesus ministry in the Gospels. As a Jew, Jesus went to synagogue and celebrated the great festivals in Jerusalem, where the temple was located. And, as he grew, he became a rabbi in his own right. When Jesus began his public ministry, Luke records how Jesus 4

identified with the structures of the synagogue and the second temple and how he responded to each. We catch a glimpse of this in Luke 4. This text is so fascinating because it recapitulates the history of Israel up to the time of Jesus. In 4:1, Luke reminds us that Jesus had just been baptized when he spent 40 days in the wilderness. Taken together, those two events re-enact Israel s deliverance at the Red Sea (baptism) and their wanderings in the wilderness (one day for every year). Then, in the following passage, Luke alludes to the essence of the tabernacle, in which the Spirit was visibly present. Notice verse 14: Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. He [God s living tabernacle] was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. Now, notice the rabbinic function he fills: He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place [in Isaiah] where it is written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. [They were waiting for the rabbinic explanation of the text, so ] He began by saying to them, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. 2 They were enraged by his interpretation, because he was claiming to be the one on whom the Spirit of the Lord rested Immanu-el, God-with-us, God-immanent. Jesus church, then, is a direct response to the synagogue and temple of his day. He took Israel back to her roots when they structured their life around the personal presence and leading of the Spirit. Jesus, thus, formed his own synagogue; the difference was: Jesus synagogue was on the move! In fact, he claimed to be the tabernacle, the Lord s mobile temple. It is no mistake that, in Luke s Gospel, Jesus s calling out of his own disciples to form his own synagogue quickly follows from this scene. It is also noteworthy that, in Luke s Gospel, the largest portion of the author s biography is spent relating what Jesus did and said on the way to Jerusalem. 3 Luke s Gospel also employs three features that set his account apart from the other Gospel writers: 1) Luke uses the precise expression kingdom of God more than any other writer, 2) Luke includes more parables than any other writer, and 3) Luke s Gospel especially appealed to non-jewish readers. Jesus is for everyone. I mention this because it has big implications for what we are to be as the church today. It tells us that the church isn t really supposed to be about the church. It tells us the church is supposed to be about the kingdom of God, which Lesslie Newbigin says is but a sign, foretaste, and instrument of the kingdom. It tells us the church is supposed to notice stories (parables) of the kingdom of God breaking forth in everyday life and that we are to tell those stories in a way 2 For the entire text read Luke 4:1-21. 3 The journey to Jerusalem section of Luke begins in Luke 9:51 and ends in Luke 19:27. Everything you encounter in the text between those verses occurs as Jesus is on the way from northern Israel to Jerusalem. Luke s corresponding narrative in Acts also emphasizes a church that is on the move, going from place to place by following the footsteps of the disciples in the dispersion (e.g. Philip see Acts 8) and especially the footsteps of Paul s journeys. It may be of interest to note that Paul s conversion occurs in Acts 9, and from that point on he is the central figure of Luke s narrative a counter-point to Jesus in Luke s earlier Gospel-account. In Acts, Paul is destined for Rome where he will die much as Jesus was destined for Jerusalem. 5

that others will notice that the kingdom of God is in their midst. It also tells us that we are not allowed to pick and choose just who can be part of God s kingdom. Too often today we are concerned with who is in and who is out based on what they believe or how they behave. But, in Luke s Gospel, we find a Jesus-tabernacle who invites prostitutes and tax collectors to commune with him. We find women and children at the table, slaves and traitors, the forgotten and beaten down. With Jesus, we are to find a church (a group of called out ones ) that seeks the wellbeing of those we regard as other. The Pentecost church of Acts and the Epistles What s exciting about the Jesus Church is this: what Jesus inaugurated is just the beginning! In Acts we read about a fuller flowering of God s church. In Acts 2, Luke tells us in verse one that the events he is about to relate happened on the day of Pentecost, when God s people were assembled or churched in Jerusalem from all over the world. Remember, many of the people present that day were part of the diaspora (the dispersion of God s people beyond the land of Israel). They learned to live in a culture not their own and their language of choice was not what was commonly spoken in Jerusalem at the time. On this day, when Jesus new synagogue was assembled in Jerusalem alongside their fellow Jews of the diaspora, they were baptized in the Spirit and proclaimed a new Pentecost. During that Pentecost, Jesus followers were led by the Spirit to proclaim that the Ten Words of the old Pentecost are now summed up with just One Word: Jesus! That Pentecost, the apostles a church-assembly of sent ones proclaimed that Jesus was God s Son, who lived and died and rose again so that all who confess his tabernacling Lordship will have new life. The Church of Pentecost and the Epistles is a church that assembles around Jesus, by his Spirit, who is on the move, at work in the world all around us. We just need eyes to see how God s kingdom is already in our midst and join God in his work. Friends, the invitation for us today is to be a Pentecost church! And, as a Jesus-Pentecost church, we need to remember that the church is not really about what we do here on Sundays. It s about what God is doing in the world 24/7. A Pentecost church brings together people of every race, nation and language by the Spirit of Jesus. In a Pentecost church the Spirit is not confined to our walls and our time slots because the church is more than a place to which we go once a week. In fact, to be all that God has in mind for us to become, we may need to do less at the building in which we meet each Sunday so that we can be more present to what God is already doing in the midst of our everyday lives. In conclusion Through a survey of biblical history, I suggest that the church is an on-the-move community that is being continuously created by the Spirit to experience and bear witness to God s loving presence in every place at every time for everyone and everything God has made. The question is: will we respond to the call? Will we let God call us out to be his people on the move in the world? I pray we will say yes, Lord with all our hearts. Let s be the church. 6