The Church not a Democracy

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The Church not a Democracy

Forum: Theological Expressions
Re:

New Testament Teaching VS. The Traditions of Men (CH)
Date: 2001, Apr 23
From: <thetrue@protestant.com>

Those who espouse the following simplistic comments do err, not knowing the scriptures. Our answers are as follows:
#1 Traditions of Men: Attending church is a spectator event with ministry and edification limited to professional clergymen. Very little is expected from the "laity." Saints are silent and passive in the church meeting.
New Testament: Attending church is a participating event where each believer contributes his spiritual gift for the common good (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12:4-7; 14:12,26; Col. 3:16; Heb. 10:24-25; 1 Pet 4:10-11). Saints are active participants in the church meeting.
A. Saints are silent and passive in the church meeting only if they are sleeping or have wandering thoughts. [read Richard Steel's Remedy for Wandering Thoughts in Worship]The fact that worshippers [and we are supposed to worship] attend to the Word as it is being read is worship. This is tantamount to God spaeking and it behoves us to engage our minds and heart and entire being to hearing God speak. This is not a passive activity. When the pastor lead in [public] pray, we pray actively with him and when we sing the psalms we sing them to His praise.
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Traditions of Men: Only those specially called, trained and "ordained" are viewed as ministers with the authority to minister to the assembly. Promotes a false division between God's people known as the "Clergy-laity" distinction.
New Testament: Every Christian is a priest before God with the authority to minister and edify the saints (1 Pet 2:5,9; Rev 1:6; 5:10 Eph 4:12-16). The New Testament knows nothing of a "clergy-laity" distinction nor does it confine "ministry" to a select few.
A. The clergy-laity distinction is not helpful although there is a difference in ministration. Not all are called to preached and hence not gifted for it.
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Traditions of Men: A church is to be governed by a man known as the "pastor." He is the final say on church-related matters. In reality, the "buck" stops with him.
New Testament: A church is to be watched over by a plurality of older men known as "elders" (Acts 14:23; 20:17.28; Phil 1:1; 1 Thes 5:12-13; 1 Tim 5:17; Titus 1:5; Heb 13:17; 1 Pet 5:1-4). Leadership decisions come through a non-authoritarian and consensus process (1 Pet 5:3; Acts 15:22-25).
A. The power of the church is executive, not legislative. She makes no new laws binding on a man where Christ has made none. There are of course certain rules that members have to observe for the sake of order and decorum but these do not pertain to the essence of Christianity. The pastor is not the supreme haed of the church but Christ. He is but one of the elders of the church. When elders are mentioned in the New Testament, it is always in the plural. 'Plurality is written in the boldest terms across the pages of the New Testamnt.Singularity bears the hallmark of despite to Christ's institution' [John Murray, quoted from memory]. Plurality implies parity. The elders make a joint decision.
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Traditions of Men: Church leadership is divided into a hierarchy of "pastor," "deacon," then "laity."
New Testament: Without denying that there might be leading men among the brethren ("First Among Equals" - Acts 15:22), the New Testament knows nothing of such a rank structure among the brothers. Elders may be gifted differently (1 Tim 5:17), but there is no need for special titles or "offices" among them.
A. The elders are to have oversight of the members. They are the undershepherds and not dictators. In terms of government, they are elders and rulers and therefore worthy of respect but they and the members are all equal spiritually in the sight of God. 'Obey those who rule over you' [Heb.13:17] means there are those who rule and there are those who are ruled.
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Traditions of Men: Church leaders are to be given elite and honorific titles such as "Reverend," "Minister," "Father," "Bishop," "Senior Pastor," and "Pastor." Religious garbs, collars, and suits and ties are also important. Calling an "elder" or older brother in the church, "Pastor so-in-so."
New Testament: Special titles not only feed the pride of men and divide the Christian brotherhood, but they contradict the words of Jesus who taught that such honorific titles should not mark His followers nor are we to call any man "Master", "Teacher", "Rabbi", "Father", "Pastor", "Reverend", or "Elder" for in Christ alone are these titles to be given (Matt 23:6-12; Mark 10:35-45; John 10:1-18). Religious garbs are unnecessary and draws attention to the individual rather than to Christ alone.
A. We have to use some titles, as a mark of respect and because of courtesy. [Mr, Mrs. Dr etc]. But in a status-mad society, we can dispense with Er for engineer or Lr for lawyer so-and-so. The terms 'elder', 'deacon' or 'pastor' relate to the office and is not a title and should not be used as such. When Christ said we are not to call any man master, teacher or father etc, he could not have meant it literally. Othewise we would have to address them as 'a man who has authority over me' , 'the person whose job is to teach' and our 'male parent'.
The prophets in the OT wore some disctictive clothing but certainly not the effeminate lace and embroidery that some wear today.
************************************************ #6
Traditions of Men: Elders are viewed as different from Pastors. Elders are to do the non-spiritual work (e.g., church administration, property oversight, budget and finances, etc.) while "the pastor" is to do the spiritual work (e.g., preaching, teaching, praying, etc.).
New Testament: Terms such as "elder," "pastor," and "overseer" are used interchangeably within the New Testament to describe church leaders. All elders are older men, are pastors, and fully involve themselves in the spiritual oversight of the local church (Acts 20:28; 1 Tim 5:17; James 5:14; 1 Pet 5:1-4).
A. The preaching elder is the pastor' and is devoted to the ministry of preaching and pastoral duties. The ruling elders assist him in ruling the church. They are all equal and are concerned with spiritual matters. Deacons are to be concerned with temporal issues.
************************************************ #7
Traditions of Men: One man alone is to do the corporate teaching on Sunday morning (i.e. "the Pastor"). He is to be the dominant, focal-point of the gathering. The church is held together by a precarious reliance upon the pastor's pulpit eloquence.
New Testament: No church should be expositionally dependant upon one man for its instruction, regardless of how eloquent and gifted he might be. There is also a corporate dimension of teaching which every believer is to contribute to (Rom 12:7; 1 Cor 14:26; Col 3:16).
A. The church is united in Christ and as the members attend to the means of grace, are built up.
************************************************ #8
Traditions of Men: Great importance is attached to a professional and polished "sermon." The "sermon" comes from the same man, week after week, and follows a monologue format with zero feedback.
New Testament: Without denying the need for teaching within the assembly (1 Thes 5:12; 1 Tim 4:13; 5:17), the New Testament knows nothing of a professional "sermon" as we conceive of it. Teaching within the early church was less formal and seemed to follow a dialogue format (Acts 20:7). In contrast to our closed system of communication, they had an open system which allowed teachings or prophecies to be evaluated by all (Acts 17:11; 1 Cor 14:29-32; 1 Thes 5:20-21; 1 John 4:1 Rev 2:2). Discerning Christians recognize the importance of feedback and that genuine learning comes more fully by provoking dialogue, questions, and even differing viewpoints among church members (1 Cor 11:19).
A. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.[Rom.10:17]. The feedback the pastor gets is from his pastoral visitations. Christ never invited any to have a dialogue with Him. We never hear him say,"Let's discuss about my divinity today shall we?
That there are 'polished' and 'professional' sermons we do not deny but there is nothing that men have not touched and not abuse. This does not invalidate the methods that God is pleased to bless. The foolishness of preaching seemed to be just that to those who decry preaching.
************************************************ #9
Traditions of Men: The Lord's supper is an elaborate and mystical ritual. Only the "ordained" minister has the right to "administer the elements." A cracker and a small glass of juice replaces the meal.
New Testament: The Lord's supper is an informal and joyous occasion within the context of a full-on meal (Acts 2:46; 1 Cor 11:18-34). The New Testament never speaks of an elite class which alone has the authority to dispense the bread and cup. Such thinking, in practice, denies the priesthood right of the believer. The Lord's supper is a community meal.
A. Only lawfully ordained ministers of the gospel can administer the sacraments. There are not an elite class of super saints but sinners just like we are. But there are called to preach.
************************************************ #10
Traditions of Men: Attaches great importance to a building and all that goes with it (e.g., pulpit, pews, stained-glass windows, etc.) The average local church suffers from an "edifice complex." Buildings are called "churches." Exorbitant amounts of the Lord's money is spent on securing property, building projects, and maintenance.
New Testament: The early church met almost exclusively in homes as opposed to large, religious edifices (Acts 20:20; Rom 16:19; Col 4:15; Philemon 2; 2 John 10). The "church" is God's people, not a pile of bricks (1 Cor 3:9, 16-17; Heb 3:6 1 Pet 2:5). Money is spent on people-oriented ministries (e.g., the poor, missions, needy believers, etc.) instead of purchasing large buildings which might only be used once or twice a week.
A. We need to meet somewhere and a 'church' building would be most suitable to house a sizeable number. The building should be simple with just a pulpit and pews for the worshippers. The preacher has to speak from somewhere and the people has to sit somewhere. But the popish trimmings [stained-glass, organs, crosses, flowers, candles etc] we can do without.