What if we did not have the Church?

Of course when I ask this question, hopefully it is understood, that there is a difference between the body of Christ and the physical "church" buildings we go to on Sundays.  We are the church, but what if we did not have the churches to go to? Sometimes asking difficult, even incomprehensible questions, can provoke us to think, and it can also expose our flaws!

Sometimes, examining the hypothetical can illustrate the kinks in our armor, or the holes and weak points in our shields! It is the shield of faith that we are supposed to have above all!

You hear these sort of things: "I don't know where I would be without the church".  "You can't live for God without the church of God!" "If I didn't have the house of God and solid preaching, I would be in prison or dead."  If we didn't have the house of God, where would we be?"  Where would you be?  A valid question, although these are all rhetorical statements, meant to stress the importance and adherence to attendances of the physical structures we have built as mankind in the 21st century. Oh yes, we have Temples, just like the Early church had the Temple!  Make no mistake, the presence and power has become the institution. It's all very denominational!

What if there was no church?  What if we were prohibited from meeting, and doing our things, whatever things they are today?  What if all your traditions and observances were suddenly brought to a halt.  What if you were powerless to resist?  These sort of things have happened in history, but I fear Americans today, who can't even "hear" truth, would see serious repercussions if they no longer had the ministry, or the "house of God" to worship in at our appointed times.  Would our Laodicean stripes and colors shine through then?
Would the word continue to be preached, as dogmatically, and boldly as many men do on Sunday morning!  Would you even here it preached?  What if you literally couldn't even hold a bible or quote a bible in any public forum, or any private forum, and the penalty for such, depending on circumstances, and severity would be fines, imprisonment, and even death! 

What if there was no law or constitution to run to so you could prove our rights you Laodicean, like all of us!  What if they were completely stripped and annihilated by the nation we reside in, and the principalities and powers that be?  What if we were somehow transported to the time of the early body of Christ?  What about 90 ad?  What about the time where they were sawing people "asunder", and crucifying believers of a risen Messiah upside down on inverted cross and X's?  Would you still be preaching strong?  Would you still be confrontational with your message as you are today?  Would you be a suicidal zealot, quick to be martyred?  What about the Dark Ages, would you Sons of Thunder and Zealots still get your "Elijah" on?

What if your conversion happen in Egypt? What if you were born again in the Sudan, or Northern Africa, would you parade your knowledge around like you do today?  Would you try to expand your ministry endeavors?  Would you attempt to keep up your goals of passing out leaflets and tracts with loose messages of a weak presentations of salvation, which usually completely leaves off "the blood of Jesus Christ"!

Would you still feel the incessant need to have your annual revival meetings and faith promise conferences?  Would you still be so aggressive in your out reach tactics?  Would you still preach with such pomp and pride?  Would you still allow people to worship you and give you honor of which you do not deserve?  If you didn't have the brethren to fellowship with, the opportunities to preach, the plates with the money in it, would you still be living by faith?  All of these weights and shackles we have made for ourselves has so corrupted the very idea of what true faith is.  There is not an ounce of faith in how we solicit money, and run the church today!

All of these sort of hypothetical questions show us our dependency problem on the institutionalized, or established churches.  The "building" is our strength!  The appearance of "church" is our power.  Have we become so soft, so weak, so dependent on these physical manifestations that are supposed to be places of service and worship?  Where would you be, if they were non-existent?  Would you still do right, when the pastors are not there to praise you and encourage you!  Would pastors say faithful to God, without a pulpit to preach in and people to amen them?

Pastors, many of you definitely could not survive without the physical church, so what then? I have heard men say things like, "If I didn't have the church, I would just go back to the bars, or back to sin!"  I have to ask about the man's spiritual out look! Why?  How could a veteran missionary/pastor say to me, "If I didn't have the church every week, I would be in the world!" Is the church our strength?  Is the people we associate with our power?  Does the buildings we build and meet in have some special anointing.  It is all brick and mortar people.  Is the pastors we listen to our gods!  IS anyone looking to the TEXT anymore.  We have put our pastors words above GOD's word!

According to the sentiment and ideology of preachers today, if we didn't have the church, if we didn't have the local autonomous, independent Baptist churches, according to almost every pastor I have ever meet, we would be hopelessly lost in the world!  This to me is absolute Rubbish!

People did more for God with less before we ever came along!  This is what I mean, how people have a fantasy view of the ministry and the church.  They don't want to serve God by faith, they want to serve God in the ministry! The mysticism of the call, the romanticism of the far away lands, the positions of prominence, and preeminence!  We are so wrapped in our own doings!

Missionaries, would you still sacrifice so much?  You wouldn't have deputation to count on.  There would be no faith promise to expect.  No men and women pushing inordinate affections that have a biblical sound to it to pump you up for the battle.  No prayer meetings before the street meetings!  Would we still be so bold?  Would we still be so forthcoming with his holy word.  Would we still deal in such absolutes?

Facts are these, one of the defining traits of the early church was there was an exodus from the Jewish Temple and the Synagogues.  The body of Christ was meeting in houses of individual believers in Acts and all throughout the early church. They were not getting together, and building new Temples and places to meet (this began much later around 250 AD when Roman pagans began building structures again).  There are reasons they meet in houses. They were being persecuted one, and two, it was the NT pattern it seems.  This is very strong in the scriptures, and I hardly see how people can be so down on those that choose of their own free will to meet in homes.

I know home church folk and regular church folk.  And it is always the established church folk who are attacking, slandering, persecuting, withdrawing, and downplaying the home church folks.  The home folk that I know are like, "I could care less what they do, if they want that, they can have it.  They don't attack and use tactics like character assassination, saying things like they are compromisers!  It's such foolishness.  

What's it to you pastors if people are having a strong relationship with God through home meetings and Bible studies!?  Why must these people that leave you be wrong, left God, left the church, or are backslid?  They left you, for your lack of preaching the book, your aversion to traditions and doctrines of men. They left a building and traditions, they never left God, so get off your high horse thinking you are the anointed preacher for these last days.

Is it the fact that you are loosing the tithes and offerings, or do you just care for their spiritual well-being so much?  Maybe if you men would start actually teaching the word of God, verse by verse, comparing scripture with scripture, teaching on other things besides the great commission, evangelism, soul winning, missions, faith promise, and your standard ho-hum Christian service stuff, people wouldn't see the need to pray and search out other opportunities to fed their souls. This is not pride, but just common sense.  You can't pigeon hole your members to a small percentage of biblical teaching while excluding the rest.  This what cults do, and this is why people are starving and unedified.

Make no mistake, men are afraid of this kinda talk.  They say it is divisive!  It is almost genius how they can deflect and misdirect.  They are the ones creating the division.  The divisions and contention and strife exist because of the leaders of our churches refusal to deal with the written word, while holding to the better, time tested gimmicks, denominational doctrines and traditions, the monetary gains in our systems, and finally mans approved, pragmatic logic for all their ministerial pursuits.

I will finish with this question for you to ponder, and meditate on. What is the more important factor to a believer?  Our attendance to the buildings, which is full of corruption today, or our attendance to his word, which is incorruptible and fully perfected forever.