Words Mean Things

Okay, so after reading this, you may think this preacher is a fry or two short of a Happy Meal.

As a Christian, I often ask myself, “Am I doing what God wants me to do?” As a church leader, I ask the corresponding question, “Are we doing what God wants us to do?” Alright, so I am not a deep thinker. But really, Jesus didn’t die for a religion did He? “Religion” just means habit. I religiously put my pants on left leg first. I religiously brush my teeth left to right; top first and then the bottom. I also religiously put my car in gear and then buckle my seat belt. Honestly, I have no idea why I do these things the way I do, I just do; Mindless actions to achieve an end.

Now consider how religious you are in your Christian walk. We go to the same services, sit in the same seats, sing the same songs, in the same manner every Lord’s Day. We could stand, sit, and kneel it in our sleep.

A professor of mine once shared with me a telling story from one of her Lord’s Days. It was the custom at her congregation’s worship service to sing the “Doxology” after the collection as the deacons were marching the spoils back up the aisle to sit them on the Table. The said hymn was sung acapella, but cued by the organist playing an appropriate chord, to which the congregation would stand in unison and sing its chorus. One Lord’s Day, the church was having a special mission’s speaker and the service order was rearranged to accommodate him. Instead of having the collection after the Lord’s Supper, as usual, it was moved to the front of the service, “Doxology” and all. This went along fine, but after the Lord’s Supper was served, the organist, out of habit, hit the usual chord. Despite the lack of context or purpose, the entire church arose, without missing a beat, in the likeness of Pavlov’s dog, and again sang the “Doxology” in glorious unison.

This begs the questions, “Were these people really worshipping together, or doing some sort of religious calisthenics?” Now I am not saying that some habit is not needed to prevent chaos and to give people some needed security, but the mindlessness of our habits are just wrong. We are to love the Lord “with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our minds, and with all our strength.” Therefore, with such shallow worship, God is not well pleased.

Now back to my question, “Are we doing what God wants us to do?” And additively, “Why do we do the things we do in our Christian walk?” As I posit these questions, I suggest an answer: We are thinking inside a box called the “church.” I had a conversation with a preacher last week that helped me arrive at this conclusion. He made a couple of statements that have taken me about a week to unpackage. “We should stop using the word church,” He said. “Huh?” I thought, “Isn’t that one of the good words?” He continued, “When we use the word church, few people form a Biblical thought.” Too which I intelligently replied, “Hmmm.” As we were talking about many other things, little else was said in that meeting, but it has consumed my thoughts ever since.

Before you write this off as silly preacher-to-preacher banter, first think about it. In most English Bibles, “church” is used to translate the Greek word “ekklesia.” So I decided to look up the word church in a popular dictionary and here are the fourteen noun definitions I uncovered:

Church –noun

1.	a building for public Christian worship.

2.	public worship of God or a religious service in such a building.

3.	Christendom.

4.	a Christian denomination.

5.	that part of the whole Christian body belonging to the same city, country, nation, etc.

6.	a body of Christians worshipping in a particular building or constituting one congregation:

7.	ecclesiastical organization, power, and affairs, as distinguished from the state.

8.	the clergy and religious officials of a Christian denomination.

9.	the Christian faith.

10.	the Christian Church before the Reformation.

11.	the Roman Catholic Church.

12.	the clerical profession or calling.

13.	a place of public worship of a non-Christian religion.

14.	any non-Christian religious society, organization, or congregation: the Jewish church.

The etymology dictionary says that the English word “church” comes from two Greek words meaning Lord and house. It was used to describe the house of worship of the Lord and reflects the evolution of thought away from New Testament principles dating back to the year AD 300, that “ekklesia” was focused around a building. None of these are good equivalents to the Bible word “ekklesia.” It refers to the company of believers as “ones who are called-out.” It highlights the distinctiveness of their election. Fit this as a puzzle piece with other descriptions such as the Kingdom of God and the Body and Bride of Christ and you are left with a much clearer and accurate portrait of what God intends his children to be. He cares not for buildings and clergy, and institutions, rather He is a Father who has adopted a holy and distinct people, that have been remade in the likeness of His Only Begotten.

The modern concept of a church is a box that inhibits people from becoming those who resemble their Father. Perhaps it is time that we start thinking outside this box. Over the millennia, people have tried to conform, reform and restore the church, but if the concept formed by this word is rudimentarily flawed, perhaps we need to go back to the Bible afresh and let God define the nature and habits of his people, and dare I say, find a new word to represent it.

Oh, but perhaps it is too late; some will say, “the die is cast.” The story has been told that when the genius Henry Ford conceptualized what we now know as the V8 engine, he brought the idea to his team of top notch engineers. They studied his drawings and then told Mr. Ford that his concept was impossible. He told them such a conclusion was unacceptable and instructed them to spend as much time as it takes to get it done. Six months later, he checked in on them. They still had not come up with a working engine. They proceeded to show him that every retrofit they made to the combustion engine led to failure in producing Ford’s concept. To this Henry Ford responded by fetching a sledge hammer and proceeded to smash every engine mold the company possessed and instructed them to start from scratch, from the bottom up. A few months later, the first V8 engine roared to life.

I am not suggesting that we smash anything that God has established, but too often we let manmade concepts prevent us from seeing the true possibilities. God intends for his children to be more than religious creatures of rote habit, but to truly be his children. If our concept of church is getting in the way of us truly achieving what God wants for us, it is time to break those molds.

Let us be the Bride of Christ, and His Body. Let us be a separate and holy people, called out of the world into the Kingdom of God. And let us be Christians, striving to live up to that divine appellation of our Savior.

I leave you with this question: If God dropped His Bible in on a group of people who knew none of the concepts of the modern church, how would those new believers understand God wishes His children to think, talk, assemble, praise, worship, and act? Now ask, are we doing what God wants us to do?

Come into the waters of spiritual thinking and discernment; it is nice and warm here. I am interested in your comments.