I am finalising my paper for the AA conference in April, and am referring to our discussions on church life about "What is missing and how do we get it?"
The thought struck me that there is also something(s) "present" that ought not to be there, and I think we know what some of these are! It is a cocktail of basic unfaithfulness, control freakery, denomination before Scripture, our identity seeking to supercede all others, etc. The denomination's distinctives have to be preserved at all costs, even if certain ministers have to be removed. We just cannot have the church being expected to conform to Scripture in every aspect of its life. Indeed, today, ministers, like the police and army in Northern Ireland, can only minister "with the consent of the people."
Now where have we heard that principle before? This philosophy is enveloping the church, even the best churches. What controls many churches is not God's Word, but man's desires, what man finds tasteful and comfortable, acceptable, and included in this list is carnal subjectivity. It is not "Jesus Christ is Lord," but, "Church law is Lord," the eldership is Lord," the "Code is Lord;" indeed, anything will do. Choose your substitute for Christ, and away you go. And the church will support you.
But whatever you do, do not expect the church to live under Christ's Lordship as revealed in Scripture!
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