I’m doing a quick study of Philemon with some brothers & sisters this week. I’m not even sure how to pronounce that name, but when my wife says it it comes out a lot like “Filet Mignon”.
I got a laugh out of that, but for years one botchery has stood alone as the funniest biblical mispronunciation of my lifetime.
My college roommate was convinced that HABABCOCK was a book of the Old Testament.
Hababcock.
No joke.
Anyway… Paul writes this letter “to Philemon… and the church that meets in your home.”
I’m reminded of the nature of the early Christian church. In any city, the “church” was simply a network of people who met in homes to exercise their gifts, to grow the body, & to follow the way laid out by Jesus Christ.
It was still a pretty underground, rebel movement & they had plenty of problems, as Paul’s letters show, but I think it means something that THIS is how they understood what it meant to be ekklesia, church.
These are the people who lived DURING or JUST AFTER Christ’s life. They had the message in it’s most natural, untainted, un-re-re-re-interpreted form and this is how they believed they should be living life as believers.
I wonder if Paul could write a letter today to “the church at Oahu (or your town)… grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” What would he say to us? How have we distorted the message? How have we added large chunks of human tradition to it like the Pharisees did? How have we ignored other parts of it like the Sadducees did?
I have the feeling Paul wouldn’t even know where to start.
Worship is not determined by places or buildings but by the spiritual vitality of the relationships between a people, God, and the Lamb.
One of my sisters found that commentary & it’s the T-R-U-T-H.
For the vast majority of Christians, church has become a place that we go to once a week rather than something we ARE every single day — an organic body of believers looking out for each other, hanging out, & figuring out what it means to follow Jesus Christ.
Is going to church on Sunday (& maybe Wednesday night for the very best of us) having a profound impact on your growth as a believer?
Personally, I realized it’s not. And as soon as your workout stops being effective for growth, you need to switch it up. If having coffee with your brothers & sisters or paddling out on a surfboard at sunrise draws you nearer to your Savior than dressing up & rushing to church on Sunday morning, dare I say those may be the types of things you’re supposed to be doing.
I think Christians worldwide need to be having this discussion right now. Rethinking how we got here.
Is there anything about the concept of a church building, hierarchical clergy, the order of worship, Christian education, tithing, baptism … anything about the modern “church” concept … that we’re doing for the sake of tradition rather than for Jesus Christ? To what extent are we modern Pharisees & Sadducees?
Just the fact that “going to church” is in our vocabulary should make us think. Church has become a destination rather than an identity.
And please understand that I’m a product of institutional church, and as a whole it’s been conducive to my growth. But it’s definitely worth a fresh discussion on whether it’s the most effective model, if biblical at all.
Here’s a final thing to think about. Today, in the U.S. alone, institutional churches own over $230 billion in real estate.
Could this money be better used elsewhere?
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