What's the Church

In light of some other discussions here and there, I thought I'd post my own few thoughts here rather than lengthy comments there.

Baptism is entrance into the church, outside of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. So baptism saves us. This simple and biblical statement bugs a lot of people. It comes down to two simple concepts, visibility and humility. I can see water on the outside of a body. I can't see Jesus in someones heart, however strongly I may wish for such discernment or however many people may claim to have it. Obviously, people who give evidence of open rebellion against God, and who have visible water on them, are lying against the water and what it means, and are in need of discipline. Without membership in the church just what sort of discipline can leaders administer? Those in rebellion must be grateful for the wonderful coincidence that they don't believe much in the church and they pretty much want to do what they want to do. People who seem submissive to God but refuse the water, well, what kind of submission picks and chooses. So, as far as we can see and make any meaningful statement, the saved are all in the church.

Pretending that shelter and warmth are not important seems to be the preferred strategy of people who don't want to accept the household rules. The church is like a family, not like a club or corporation; an organism, not an organization. Some people might leap at such a statement; Aha! So I don't have to join the organization, become a member, agree to the doctrine, etc. Bad move. . . Aha! So I don't have to be a part of the organism, become a member, agree with the head. That makes you not just out, but dead. You're dandruff and fingernail clippings.

Nevertheless the examples of "churches" that seem to be primarily organizational rather than organic presents an unnecessary stumbling block for people. An organism (a body) has a hierarchy, but it's a rather flat one with everyone taking orders from one head through a single central nervous system. This is a statement of an ongoing biological fact, not some sort of ultimate goal for the church. Notice the lack of a detailed pecking order among the members. Notice the noisiness, the messiness and the smells right along with the little flowers, fruit trees and singing birds. Organic. Beautiful.

This doesn't so much leave no room for denominations as it leaves no reason to be overly concerned with them one way or the other; arms, legs, fingers, toes, etc. The schisms Paul is concerned with are divisions in the local church when it comes together. The wider church in his time was already divided into separate jurisdictions simply due to geography. A member of the church in Corinth had less of opportunity to talk to an Ephesian than I have to talk to a Lutheran and the elders of one church did not concern themselves with exercising authority over other churches. This did not rule out providing charity to churches suffering poverty or persecution, nor did it rule out the need for the elders to occasionally convene in councils to resolve disputes and further instruct the elders themselves.

But an organization doesn't have a hierarchy it is a hierarchy. In this model only the leadership really counts, so if no one is present for the mass, no matter, the really important people are doing what they need to do and God is pleased. Nice and tidy, almost mechanical. Need more excitement? We'll manufacture some smells, a bunch of bells, and we've even got an art museum. Things hum right along, regardless of how the congregation is doing. Beautiful, ain't it.

(Now, I'm hardly against art, perfume and music, but the thing to understand is that a painting is not greater than what is painted, nor is it greater than the painter. The painter and the subject of the painting are made by God. And wonder of wonders, the Creator made creators. A painting only "points" to God mediately, backwards through its creator, and backwards also through the creation it attempts to represent. God made a creation to be painted, glory to God. God made a skilled painter of the creation, glory to God. But to pretend that the painting itself is doing the pointing or inspiring the gloria all by itself is idolatry.)

Steep and deep hierarchy tells us we need all these trappings because God does not have an open door policy in Jesus Christ. What he has is handlers, receptionists and automated phone systems. But this is not the church of scripture. The church relates to God as a bride, a body, a flock, all of which God wants to deal with directly and personally. Sure, there is a thin layer of undershepherds who are to work closely with the head shepherd, but not a thick bureaucratic crust of hierarchical excess. The people who hold these sorts of bureaucratic positions don't want to give you easy access because that would be an intolerable diminishment of their power. But Jesus doesn't teach us to view authority or power as central in His governing of the church, although they do play a major role in his war against the unbelieving world he is conquering.

So none of this is an attack on a truly biblical view of authority. God has so ordered the church in love that he has given us elders who rule by loving, feeding, teaching and disciplining the flock. The rulers of the Gentiles do it one way and God's ministers do it a different way. "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all." Those who think that authority over others is very important should not have it. Those who think that service to others is very important should be given authority over others as well. And those in authority over us should be obeyed.