Blinded by a Shadow

Take off those glasses. Okay, at least realize you are wearing them. We all tend to see everything through our experiences, and none of us escapes having a bias. The trick is to remember you have at least one bias, and do your best to understand where that bias can skew things. As fallen creatures, we Christians have one foot in grace and one in sin, until the Father sends His Son to complete redemption of all Creation. If you can't take off the glasses, try to understand what they do to your perceptions.

Trying to sound wise, many opine the early church suffered from either a failed bid at communism, or simply believed falsely Jesus was returning any day (Acts 4:32-37). On the latter count, such an assertion is simply immaterial. Notice the central statement: "And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all" (verse 33). This is not a people deceived about the Lord's calling on their lives. Jesus had conquered death. A natural result of embracing that is realizing this world and it's stuff didn't matter; the worst that could happen to you also didn't matter. Unlike us, in their culture it was a grand blessing to be free from the cares of this world.

Thus, calling it proto-communism is just inserting modern idiocy into that ancient culture. Communism is an economic policy, usually enforced by a human government. The only force here was that of God's Spirit. These people didn't simply decide some inherent law of nature about property demanded they surrender the control of material assets to the apostles. They rejected the state of nature, rejected the principles of a fallen world. They embraced grace and found it more valuable than their material possessions. Some of these people had quite a bit, too. Communism depends on a committee; this was divine feudalism. It was a recognition all their blood ties were replaced by spiritual ties, and they were family in Christ's blood. To translate the word koinos as "common" misses the point. That's the root word in koinonia, a term to describe the administration of a private estate. The root word assumes nothing of our social constructs and failed notions, but the historical proposition everything is owned by somebody, and in Christ we know that means Jehovah. Their property was not so much owned in common, but by God Almighty -- He directed the sharing.

We have let this slip in Western Christianity. Because fallen humans did feudalism wrong (the American Revolution), we have decided to reject it wholly, never mind the Kingdom of God being thoroughly feudal. We allow human wisdom to shape our faith, instead of the reverse. It has infected the very thought process behind how we do church. Let God have some of your time and take a look at Bob DeWaay's Faulty Premises of the Church Growth Movement:

Warren's claim that anybody can be won to Christ if we figure out some key is false. There is no Biblical warrant whatsoever to this claim; and there are many passages that refute it. The passage in Matthew 7 about the narrow gate refutes it. The concept of the saved remnant found in Romans 9 and elsewhere refutes it. The fact that even Jesus, who as God knows the heart, lost Judas the "son of perdition" disproves it. The Biblical doctrine of election taught in dozens of passages (such as Romans 8:28-33) disproves it....

The bad theology that underlies Church Growth thinking is man-centered. It does not take serious the depravity of the fallen human race. It apparently assumes that people have the power and inclination to become Christian without a prior supernatural work of grace. This being the case, its practices try to entice people with programs to meet needs, cajole them with human wisdom, or attract them with supernatural signs and wonders. What is offered must appeal to the natural man. But Paul rejects this type of reasoning all together ... (1 Corinthians 2:12-14)....

[O]ne simple answer that is readily apparent is that we have allowed the Church Growth technocrats to define both our mission, and the terms of success and failure. Having erroneously granted these, now we find ourselves having to buy their services in order to avoid failure. They have ingeniously created a "felt need" in evangelical pastors and now the growth experts are experiencing record sales of their products that promise to meet this felt need....

The lack of popularity of Christianity does not prove the need for some new reformation. It proves that Jesus was absolutely right when He said that His way was narrow and that few walked on it. The Church Growth Movement has shown a willingness to lay aside the clear teachings of Scripture in order to find success in this world. The "reformations" of this movement are all "deformations" and should be fully rejected.

If there was ever a dangerous heresy, the Church Growth Movement is one. It substitutes growing a religion for real faith, and calls it "following Christ." We have so moved from the First Century Church's understanding of Scripture, we are unable to see what the Word tells us. Do you honestly believe God cares about "success" as defined by mere marketing? The whole world can be wrong, and usually is. A tiny work of God in a small room of people can move spiritual mountains, can see the hand of God and know the full range of His power. The big, glitzy program at Monster Church has to manufacture a dim shadow of that.

So where is your treasure?