Whatever You Bind...
Yo bros!!
So here is the question I've been wrestling with: What grieves the Holy Spirit more - (1) a local church member breaking fellowship, and potentially dividing the congregation over a non-essential, or (2) the church leadership implementing a program (could be a non-essential program) that has the potential to divide up the congregation and thus play a major role in scenario #1. ?? First off, I do believe our churches must be kept accountable by its members to some degree; this is wise as many churches have run a muck, taken radical left turns in doctrinal matters, and started to care only about marketing strategies and growth potential instead of the feeding of the flock. However, I have come to realize how unbelievably "nit-picky" church members can be (yes, even here at CBC), to the point of antagonistic behavior. To be honest, I have even had to repent of this myself from time to time, as I've been guilty of playing the "arm-chair" pastoral board of directors from the comfy confines of my apartment on more than one occasion . Our intentions can be good (and usually are) when having a concern w/ a local church, but the methods can tell a different story, even ending up spoiling the good intentions with sin. We all want to be members of THE perfect church. But unfortunately, this will not...CAN NOT happen until Christ sets up His perfect theocracy in the Millennial Kingdom. Until then, we should be grateful and remain humble that God has established a place of worship to come and glorify Him corporately, as well as enjoy each other's fellowship (Matt. 16:18; Rom.15:32; Heb.10:25) even when OUR hearts don't deserve this privilege, and even when our church leadership may be wrong in certain matters. John 17:21 tells us that Jesus Himself wants us to be united as "one" in the Body of Christ as this is our corporate testimony to the world that we have a relationship with our God and Savior. However, this is never to be at the expense of truth (which interestingly enough) is presented to us before unity, in verse 17. So what's my point? Basically, if there is nothing in Scripture that the church is violating (like starting a new service geared for younger folks), and the pure truth of the Word is still in tact - being guarded by the church's leadership - than we MUST submit to it's leadership and trust God that He will protect the unity of the Body as well. Our church(es) are given the special anointing of having the authority of Christ Himself behind her decisions (Matt. 18:17-20), and for this reason, and IF only for this reason, we as slaves are to submit to her decisions, pray, and trust God with the consequences.
So here is the question I've been wrestling with: What grieves the Holy Spirit more - (1) a local church member breaking fellowship, and potentially dividing the congregation over a non-essential, or (2) the church leadership implementing a program (could be a non-essential program) that has the potential to divide up the congregation and thus play a major role in scenario #1. ?? First off, I do believe our churches must be kept accountable by its members to some degree; this is wise as many churches have run a muck, taken radical left turns in doctrinal matters, and started to care only about marketing strategies and growth potential instead of the feeding of the flock. However, I have come to realize how unbelievably "nit-picky" church members can be (yes, even here at CBC), to the point of antagonistic behavior. To be honest, I have even had to repent of this myself from time to time, as I've been guilty of playing the "arm-chair" pastoral board of directors from the comfy confines of my apartment on more than one occasion . Our intentions can be good (and usually are) when having a concern w/ a local church, but the methods can tell a different story, even ending up spoiling the good intentions with sin. We all want to be members of THE perfect church. But unfortunately, this will not...CAN NOT happen until Christ sets up His perfect theocracy in the Millennial Kingdom. Until then, we should be grateful and remain humble that God has established a place of worship to come and glorify Him corporately, as well as enjoy each other's fellowship (Matt. 16:18; Rom.15:32; Heb.10:25) even when OUR hearts don't deserve this privilege, and even when our church leadership may be wrong in certain matters. John 17:21 tells us that Jesus Himself wants us to be united as "one" in the Body of Christ as this is our corporate testimony to the world that we have a relationship with our God and Savior. However, this is never to be at the expense of truth (which interestingly enough) is presented to us before unity, in verse 17. So what's my point? Basically, if there is nothing in Scripture that the church is violating (like starting a new service geared for younger folks), and the pure truth of the Word is still in tact - being guarded by the church's leadership - than we MUST submit to it's leadership and trust God that He will protect the unity of the Body as well. Our church(es) are given the special anointing of having the authority of Christ Himself behind her decisions (Matt. 18:17-20), and for this reason, and IF only for this reason, we as slaves are to submit to her decisions, pray, and trust God with the consequences.
posted by Cory M. Marsh at 10:10 PM
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