Cry Wolf
Ants are a curious example of the church. The ants are not strong but their nest is. In
an ant colony, there is the visible part above ground. It provides no useful purpose. It can grow to be very large but its
appearance of strength is an illusion.
It is actually a frail structure that is easily swept away. Then there is the invisible part below
ground. That is the part that provides
shelter and protection. There the queen
is nourished, eggs are laid, and larva grows…
Where is the God of Elijah?
2 Kings 2:8-14 KJV
8 And Elijah took
his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were
divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.
9 And it came to
pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha,
Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy
spirit be upon me.
10 And he said,
Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from
thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.
11 And it came to
pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot
of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up
by a whirlwind into heaven.
12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My
father, my father, the chariot of
13 He took up also
the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank
of
14 And he took the
mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and
when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
At this point in Elisha’s life, having heard the power of Elijah’s words and
having seen Elijah’s miracles, Elisha had yet to
experience them for himself. He was an
upright man, a fine Jew who believed in the scripture, but like so many of his
countrymen, he had yet to “experience” the reality of God.
Most Christians
spend their entire lives like Elisha. Jesus and the apostles, like Elijah, have
gone before us. And, like Elijah, they
performed many wonders and miracles through the Spirit of God. Like Elijah, their words were full of power
and grace, the likes of which this world has never known since. Like Elijah, they have been received up into
the heavens, leaving us alone. But God’s
Spirit, like Elijah’s mantle, has now fallen upon us just like the mantle did
upon Elisha.
It is the same Spirit that performed miracles in the days of Elijah,
Jesus, and the apostles. The question
is: what will we do with this mantle?
Consider what did Elisha once he received the mantle. Did he walk home and put the mantle in his
closet? Did he watch it fall to the
ground and tell himself that it was not his mantle? Or did he scoop it up and experience the
reality – the substance – of its power?
This story tells us
that Elisha took up the mantle and experienced all
the power and grace that comes from God’s Spirit. But can this be said of the Church
today? Has the Church taken up the
mantle of God’s Spirit, or has it allowed the mantle to fall to the ground
while it goes on its way?
Today the
Our Christian
leaders are misled in believing that people are seeking the truth. It is not the truth they want, for truth is
all around them. A trip to any Christian
bookstore clearly demonstrates this.
But if not truth,
for what then are people looking? What
people are looking for is the very thing that was left to us just as it was
left to Elisha.
People are looking for substance.
I believe that
people have grown weary of all the promises.
They see the contemporary church as the pep rally it has come to be – full
of hype but lacking substance. They
have tried each new church that has sprung up, even the newly remodeled ones,
in the hope of finding the real thing.
But each such attempt has ended in bitter disappointment. It’s like a repackaged brand of pickles on
the supermarket shelf. The label may say
“new and improved,” but inside they are the same old pickles.
Churches try
gimmicks and marketing campaigns, they preach the “truth” as they know it, but
still they get little response. Why?
Perhaps the church should quit trying to draw and influence people
through the wisdom and talents of men, and pick up the mantle that lies before
them.
Substance,
Not Structure
2 Tim 3:1-2, 5
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
5 Having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
The true agnostic
is not the person who does not attend church.
The true agnostic is the person who attends church every Sunday but does
not believe in God’s power. It is the person
who has accepted structure over substance.
Most churches have
replaced the substance of the Holy Spirit for structure. Substance results in permanent changes in our
lives whereas structure is nothing more than a temporary fix. Our salvation experience is an example of
substance. The change was
permanent. Whatever the Spirit of God
does in one’s life is permanent.
Conversely, whatever men do is temporary. Men preach sermons that are forgotten the
following week, but who forgets the times they were touched by God?
Structure now fills
Christian gatherings in the form of the lively rhetoric and gifted performance
artists. People leave feeling better but
without the substance of a permanent change.
Yes, every now and then God is able to touch a life by breaking through
the veneer of holiness that shrouds these meetings. The person who is touched, having experienced
the substance of God, far too often attributes his experience to the pastor and
the church they attended. The veneer
prevents them from seeing the true source of their experience. They then attend faithfully hoping that
maybe, just maybe, they can experience it again. But church is not the answer nor is it the
substance they are seeking.
Books have replaced
the Bible in our homes, but more importantly, they have replaced personal
revelation received from time spent with God.
They are “how to” guides. They
are interesting and skillfully written, but far too often they serve merely
fill us with excuses as to why our lives lack substance.
People are tired of
the empty promises from churches and books.
They have tried all the self-help guides and thirty-day programs such as
The Purpose-Driven Life. They
always end up leaving the naïve Christian in the same state at which they
began.
Consider the
Ants
Proverbs 30:25 KJV
25 The ants are a
people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer
Ants are a curious
example of the church. The ants are not
strong but their nest is. In an ant colony, there is the visible part above
ground. It provides no useful purpose. It can grow to be very large but its
appearance of strength is an illusion.
It is actually a frail structure that is easily swept away. Then there is the invisible part below
ground. That is the part that provides
shelter and protection. There the queen
is nourished, eggs are laid, and larva grows.
Churches are like that.
There is the
visible part of the church that provides structure but lacks the substance of
the Holy Spirit. This is often all that
people ever see. They see the programs
and performances of speakers and other talented leaders. They enjoy the comfort and décor of the
facilities, but all these tangibles are not the true essence of the
Spirit. Like the part of the ant colony
that is below ground, God’s Spirit is the true strength of the Church. It cannot be seen. It is invisible, yet somehow it is able to
bring about true growth in the hearts of people. Traditional churches come and go as easily as
sweeping away an anthill, but the true substance of the Spirit of God is
eternal.
Once you come to
understand that the traditional church (as it exists in its buildings and
programs) is nothing more than structure created by men – weak and temporary –
you will begin to see that the real church cannot be limited to a membership or
attendance count. Memberships only
define the size of a social club. It has nothing to do with the church. That is important.
Most people cannot
separate the structure created by men (buildings, property, staff, and
programs) from the spiritual Church that extends beyond the limitations of
their facility. They have misidentified
their membership in their social club as being membership in God’s Church, and
it is not. They sense the weakness and
temporary nature of the structure and become protective of it. They channel large volumes of money into its
upkeep and improvement, marketing it to others in an attempt to grow attendance
and thus justify its existence. None of
that has anything to do with God. It is
more like the maintenance of time-share properties that are jointly owned by
many.
The true Church
does not exist in the structure created by men.
Buildings and property do not limit it; neither can a pastor and his
staff own it. The dictates of ministers
cannot control it, nor can their excuses replace it. It’s everywhere. Pastors insist that they must approve every
decision, every Bible study, and every teacher.
Much like the anthill, this control is just the temporary structure they
impose, the bylaws of the social club they have formed. These things are NOT part of God’s Church or
His kingdom. They are part of man’s
kingdom.
Conclusion
The contemporary
church continues to evolve. It looks to
the public for relevance because it has come to believe that it is key to its survival.
Unless the church is relevant, people will not attend. If people do not attend, it will cease to
exist. So it continues to change and
evolve in an effort to grow and exist.
The contemporary
church has come to believe that people are looking for social fulfillment. Consequently, churches race to develop the
best programs and facilities to create a social club environment. When they do this, they often see a brief
increase in interest and attendance, but eventually flattens and contributions
once again fall off as the public’s interest fades. Why?
People are looking
for substance. They often attend new
churches (or newly remodeled), attend special programs and other social events,
looking for this. Church leaders see this
as their answer to what people want. But
this is NOT what people are seeking.
They want God and the true Church that exists in His Spirit.
Each time a church
promotes a new event, they are crying, “Wolf!”
People get excited and hopeful, so they come to see if perhaps this
church is for real. But, just as
quickly, their hopes are shattered when they see that it is still the same old
social club, just repackaged.
People are weary of
churches crying wolf. Their marketing
strategies and campaigns are nothing more then deceptive advertising. They promise substance but deliver structure,
they advertise God but provide a social club, and in the end, they will fade
into obscurity while the true Church, born of God’s Spirit, unseen and
unimpeded by men, continues on.
In many ways, the
contemporary church has become the cheap “generic” alternative. It’s a replacement for God. It continuously builds new buildings and
improves the old ones. It gets new
speakers, tries new programs, changes its music, and holds special
classes. It claims to have what people
want, but when the veil of form falls away and the counterfeit is exposed, it
turns to other gimmicks. It is
structure without substance. It’s the
vanity of men instead of the reality of God’s Spirit.
People have an
innate need for God. It eats away at
their soul until they turn to Him.
People want God. He is all that
can fill their hearts, fill their need.
They are tired of churches claiming to be something they are not. They are tired of going to church believing
they will find substance just to find that they were scammed again. When will the contemporary church learn that
there are only so many promises you can break before people just stop
believing, stop coming, and stop trying?
When will the church stop crying wolf?
Amen
Ron and Karen Schwartz 11/8/06