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"Petra"?
The church of today, those that identify themselves
as Christian both in the singular as well as the plural, is not as the
church was established by its founder, Jesus Christ. A great
percentage of the church(es) of this era do not hold to the teachings
and doctrine of the entire Word of God. The Christian,
speaking corporately of today, has become selective in biblical
understanding and application, often times lacking in the
discernment that is required to realize error from truth. Without such discernment, the
differences between biblical, unbiblical, and nonbiblical truths
become difficult to distinguish at best, and muddied and
undifferentiated at worst.
The Foundation of Christ
Christ gives us some important but often overlooked
details about the birth of this church "upon this rock I will build
My church" (Matthew 16:18), identifying three important and key
factors. Christ states that first, He will be the architect, the
builder of this church; secondly, He is the one in possession and
holding title to this church; and thirdly, Christ identifies himself
metaphorically as ‘this rock’, a specific and solid foundation or
bedrock of truth for this church.
The word "rock" used here comes from
the Greek word petra. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of
Old and New Testament Words, states that, petra denotes ‘a
mass of rock’, a sure foundation’, as distinct from petros, ‘a
detached stone or boulder,’ or a stone that might be thrown or easily
moved".
The Roman Catholic Church has identified Peter as
the rock, petra, being identified in Matthew 16:18. Jesus
clearly identifies Peter using the word petros another form of
the word petra (John 1:42). Christ changed the name of
Simon the son of Jonah, renaming him Cephas, which is Aramaic for
rock. Cephas translated into Greek is Peter (petros). From the
above definition of petros, it is easy to see from Peter’s
denial of Christ, and other personal struggles of faith he portrayed,
that he was a stone, easily moved or thrown, he was petros, and
not the sure foundation of petra, who is Christ alone!
The Lost Foundation
Our culture, as well as the church as we know it,
has lost the biblical understanding of it’s foundation. Our people no
longer have an understanding of its history in relationship to the
Word of God. What this means to the church is that most will no
longer recognize the relevance of God’s Word, our relationship with
Him, or the need of a Saviour.
The Church
of Today
Many would agree that much of today’s church is
identified by the Laodicean church of Revelation 3:14-22. Christ
vividly describes this church in the last of the seven church letters.
In His own words to this church that received only condemnation, He
says, "because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will
spit [i.e. vomit] you out of my mouth."
In this letter to the Laodicean church, where is Christ? He is on
the outside, knocking, waiting, waiting for anyone to open the door.
Note that He is not waiting for an usher, pastor or deacon to welcome Him in — He is waiting
for anyone. Christ is not a part of this church, He is absent
from it. If Christ is absent, so then the Holy Spirit must also be
absent.
Some would contest that there must be some
believers within the walls of this church, as it is called a church
. . .
and
was it not a recipient of one of seven letters to the churches
identified in the book of Revelation? If it were to be without any
believers, then it would be the only one of these seven to be in such
a condition. (Some include the possibility that the church in Sardis
was also a church without believers.) This defense holds little water
in light of what Scripture has to say in regards to the relationship
between Christ and the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit’s relationship
to the church.
If there were but one believer, then also the Holy
Spirit must be present within that individual, hence, within the
confines of the Laodicean assembly. With Christ on the outside,
knocking (calling), so must the Holy Spirit be on the outside, absent
from this church, for where Christ is rejected, so will the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit be absent.
Within the walls of the Laodicean church, the
Pentateuch, the writings of David and the Old Testament prophets, as
well as some of the New Testament writings (Peter identified Paul’s
letters as Scripture in 2 Peter 3:14-16, almost thirty years prior to
the writing of Revelation)
were
more than likely available to the teachers of this church. These
people would have had the opportunity to hear the Gospel. They would
have had the opportunity to respond to the calling of the Christ.
Rejection by Christ
The Laodiceans would have prayed together, sang
together and even possibly broke bread and shared communion together;
but
God would turn his back to their prayers, would reject their songs of
praise and would condemn them for receiving communion in an unholy
manner. (The form of rejection mentioned here is addressed in more
detail in
the articles "What Mean These Stones?", and "Of Faith
. . . Of
Judgment", in this issue of "What Mean These Stones?".)
Christ will reject all external forms of religion,
all external forms of Christianity, all external forms of worship and
praise that are offered without an internal regeneration and sincerity
of the heart. "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will
enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My
Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that
day ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name
cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’. And then I
will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who
practice lawlessness’" (Matthew 7:21-23; emphasis added).
We Have
‘Forgotten’
What we call the ‘church’ today, the ‘church’ we
identify with is nothing more than a building. This church of brick,
mortar, and glass, has become an icon, a temple to man’s ingenuity of
structural design . . . through the ability to raise or borrow huge
sums of money. Its primary intent or purpose is in the drawing of
large crowds, often at the expense of neighboring churches in a
process called ‘flock stealing’. We wrap this bundle called church
with a wide variety of programs that are offered to help a person in
every and any aspect of their life, and then tie it with a ‘fits all’
style of message, and label it with ‘seeker sensitive’ ideology.
J. Vernon McGee, now in the heavenly Kingdom, but
well know for his "Thru the Bible" radio and book series, says
in his commentary on the Book of Revelation,
. . . the Laodicean church was neither hot nor
cold . . .
just lukewarm. Between those positions
of hot and cold, you have this lukewarm state. I would say that this
is a picture of many, many churches today in the great denominations
that have departed from the faith. Many churches—both in and out of
these denominations—attempt to maintain a middle-of-the-road
position. They do not want to come out flatfootedly for the Word of
God and for the great doctrines of the Christian faith. And at the
same time, they do not want to be known as a liberal church. So they
play footsie with both groups . . . . This is the thing that makes
the Lord Jesus sick. He very frankly says that He will spew them out
of His mouth.
To my judgment this middle-of-the-road position
is the worst kind of hypocrisy there is. "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead"
(Revelation 3:1). "Having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away"
(2 Timothy 3:5).1
We have forgotten that the church is a living,
breathing organism. We have forgotten that it is the body of our
Christ, made up of the people that have committed their lives to the
truths of His message. We have forgotten who the church is, what the
church is, and the purpose of the church. We have forgotten that the
Bible is the history of man’s relationship with God, and God’s with
man. We have forgotten that the Bible is the Word of God.
The Love Worth Finding radio broadcast teacher
Adrian Rogers, speaking on liberalism in religion warns,
". . . there is nothing more damning, debilitating,
stultifying than liberalism in religion. We have churches today that
use the same religious language we use, but they don’t mean what the
Bible means. They use our words and their dictionary. That is very,
very dangerous. Now, I don’t know of anything that would be more
harmful, more hurtful to your child, than to have your child in a
liberal, Bible babbling church."
2
We Are Admonished
Few would admit that the church of today is
seriously flawed. Even fewer would admit that they are active
contributors to the demise of their local church assembly. It is part
of our human nature to believe in those things that we are
participating in. To do so otherwise would invalidate the very reason
for that participation. So, how does a person know where they are to
stand in relationship to the diverse cultural tangents and idioms that
are so integrated and intertwined with the normal part of the typical
church group of today, and the individual as well?
With much wisdom and through the guidance of His
Word, we must explore and hopefully expose how the church, the body of
Christ, has lost its first love, moving closer to an ‘easy-believism’
and the dangers of cultural Christianity. We must learn to identify
the differences of biblical, nonbiblical and unbiblical attitudes,
behaviors and beliefs that are confused, abused and misused, even from
the teaching at the pulpit. We must expound on these issues in
relationship to the original meaning, design, and purpose of the
church, ekklesia, within the framework of biblical doctrine
(i.e. teaching). With the leading of the Holy Spirit, our hope, our
intent, our conviction should be to give practical biblical council
and teaching on how to live in this world, without being of the world—being insulated without being isolated.
My prayer is that the church will move to the solid
foundation, Petra, that our Christ has given us—moving away from the cultural and societal pressures to
conform and fit within its worldly proclivities. With the Holy
Spirit’s guidance, we will be challenged as well as encouraged . . .
we will stand with conviction in holding ourselves, as well as church
leadership, to a biblical standard of accountability. This is my
responsibility to God. It is your responsibility to God.
1. J. Vernon McGee, THRU THE BIBLE
(Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983), p.922
2. Adrian Rogers, Love Worth Finding, www.lwf.org, radio broadcast
archives, date unknown
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