My thinking on why Church does not work by Stephanie McEntire

My thinking on why Church I.C..does not work.
I have been out of the I.C. (Church) for 20 years or so. I say that often not out of pride but because I have been a free believer for a while and I have seen a lot of things. I have seen churches try to make things better…different… inside the walls. I have gone back to buildings that don’t call themselves churches but call themselves a fellowship or something else and here is what happened time and time again. T hey evolved right back into the church as we know it today… with all the trimmings. Jesus said to BEWARE of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducee’s . He wasn’t saying to be aware of leaven but what leaven does and related it of course to the teachings. If you aren’t sure what Jesus had a problem with in the Pharisees and Sadducee’s teachings…Go to the Red Letters and read all the conversations and stories IN THEIR ENTIRETY. What I see when we try to “make” a church is a group of humans trying to make God in our image…by organization, rules and regulations…boxing up God so to speak. In all cases of reorganizing believers into something different, the leaven leavened the whole lump and all became religious again. You cannot put new wine in old wine skins…it just hasn’t worked. I am no scholar and can only share from experience but here is what has happened to me and this is my opinion only. (This goes for house to house or house meetings as well…all I have ever been a part of over the years have gotten religious or kept just enough of doctrine or form to be leavened completely.) All of what I am about to say is taken out of Mathew 16. Please read it for yourself. Jesus had just been confronted by the Pharisees and Sadducee’s and they were trying to trick him. They had heard about him and how people were changing. Show us a sign they said…in other words…do something for US…Jesus responded by using the weather as an example and my paraphrase..Jesus basically said “you wouldn’t see me anyway and it is an evil and adulterous generation that SEEKS after a sign..none will be given it..except the sign of Jonah”. Jonah had some control issues I think we could all agree on..The churches also have some control issues. The story continues The disciples forgot to bring any bread. Obviously Jesus knew this was concerning them…human hunger…human stuff…and it was at that time Jesus stated to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducee’s whom they had just left. Jesus reminded them that he had done this huge miracle earlier…you know the loaves and fishes that fed the thousands but still they got caught up in how to organize another feeding…again…they pulled something spiritual down into the natural. This is what I feel Jesus is talking about. You cannot pull the Spiritual things into the natural world without becoming Pharisees and Sadducee’s. At that point the disciples got what Jesus was saying about the leaven…this is about something spiritual that will be destroyed and destroy others by bringing it into the natural world and trying to duplicate it. You cannot make Spirituality into an earthly experience. Jesus continues this frame of thought in Caesarea Philippi, as they enter town. Jesus asks his disciples “what is everyone saying about me.” What they are saying about Jesus runs the gamut with them calling him Elijah, John the Baptist, Jeremiah…one of the prophets. Again…going with what they know. Pulling Jesus back down to the natural human terms. He asked Peter..”Who do YOU say that I am.” Peter answered you are Christ…son of the living God. PETER GOT IT. Jesus was nothing ever seen before and cannot be contained in the human organization. He gave PETER the freedom to decide who HE was on an individual basis. Flesh and blood did not reveal this to him…that is what Jesus said…no preacher…evangelist, motivational speaker…but the Father IN HEAVEN made this truth to him. Peter got it..maybe for just an instant…but he got it. Jesus then said to SIMON BARJONA (emphasis on the fact he was still talking to ONE MAN) “Upon this rock I will build my church.” This was not a commission to build a church made out of bricks…Time and time again he said that he would tear down the one made with hands….he didn’t change his mind ..but rather began to build the church or the ecclesia in Peter. In this church..inside Peter.. were all the keys to the kingdom. This is all he would ever need. PERIOD. Folks this all we should ever need. Then he did a very funny thing after saying all of that…tell no one I am the Christ. The Kingdom of God is within us. The Kingdom of God is at hand…look at your hand…that close. We are not happy with what we are given. We are not happy that church is within us. We want concrete walls…we want a sign…we want it all to fit in this natural world and tie a bow on it. I have seen hundreds try and try to make church happen here on earth but it always gets around to touch not, taste not, handle not. Believe me…I would be the first one there if church as we know it worked. One last thing out of Matthew 16. Jesus confided in Peter that he must die and suffer many things. Jesus was going to get out of the natural and bring us all into the Spiritual. Peter screwed up by saying…God forbid…no…not you..never you. Jesus reply was “get behind me Satan..you are a stumbling block to me…there you go again Peter…putting mans interest before Gods…(my paraphrase.) Isn’t that what we do ..become a stumbling block? Isn’t that what happens? Isn’t that why church does not work? If the fact that the Kingdom of God is within us is not enough…what will ever be?

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