Changes in the Church?
A boat was next to a pier, but it was neither tied nor anchored. Many people were on the boat, but no one was really paying to attention as the boat began to drift, because they had appointed one person to watch. That one person was eager to see the sea. The wind and the gentle waves slowly carried it, and the people, out away from the pier. By the time the people realized they had drifted away from safety, it was too late. They were stranded with no means of returning to shore, and a storm was approaching. If only they had been tied to the pier...if only they had been anchored...if only the man on watch had said something...if only.
This is how a church drifts from the New Testament pattern into liberalism and denominationalism. A church may be well-built with many good people and leaders, but if it is not fastened to the Rock of Christ, if it is not firmly anchored in His Word, if the members are not carefully watching, they slowly begin to drift away from the safe harbor of unadulterated truth and into a world of unscriptural practices. The sad thing is that it only takes one person to turn the church away from its true course. Or as they say, "one rotten apple spoils the bunch." The Apostle Paul said that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" (1 Corinthians 5:6). Sin might just as easily be compared to cancer, which starts small as just a couple of cells, but grows until it cannot be stopped if it is not stopped early.
They say the only thing that never changes is the fact of change itself. It is inevitable that things change because man is not a static being. Every person has his own ideas and beliefs of how he should live his life and how those around him should behave and how the church should operate. This is both the blessing, and curse, of having free moral agency.
Churches change because churches are made up of men who change. If you take a look at the history of any denomination, you see changes. The Baptists of 100 years ago share little with modern Baptists; the Mormons of the 1840's are quite unlike the Mormons of today; past Catholics have transformed into a whole new creature and organization. Why the changes?
Has God changed? Has God's Word changed? Has God published an update for His Scriptures, or amended any of them? Or is it that MAN has changed, and that MAN has changed the churches? In Malachi 3:6, God says, "For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed." God does not change; God's Will does not change; God does not command one person or church to do this and another person or church to do something different.
There was once unity among brethren...there was no such thing as "liberals" and "conservatives." Brethren were united with the same goal: teaching the plain, unadulterated Gospel to the world. But as the churches grew in number, more men came along and brought changes. The changes were small and insignificant at first. But they were stepping stones in the wrong direction. They were small ripples that caused great waves, with far-reaching effects. They were the few men on watch as the church drifted away from the doctrines of Christ.
The funny thing about it is that the denominations have gone through the same problem, and still are. One hundred years ago you would be hard-pressed to find a Baptist church that used instrumental music. In fact, Spurgeon, Calvin, and Wesley all were against instrumental music! Charles Spurgeon said, "What a degradation to supplant the intelligent song of the whole congregation by the theatrical prettiness of a quartet, bellows, and pipes! We might as well pray by machinery as praise by it." And again, Spurgeon said, "One can make melody without strings and pipes...we do not need them. They would hinder rather than help our praise. Sing unto Him. This is the sweetest and best music. No instrument like the human voice." John Calvin said, "Musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting up of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law. The papists, therefore, have foolishly borrowed this, as well as many other things, from the Jews. Men who are fond of the outward pomp may delight in that noise; but the simplicity which God recommends to us by the apostles is far more pleasing to Him." John Wesley said of instrumental music, "I have no objection to instruments of music in our chapels, provided they are neither heard nor seen." But what are the Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists doing today? They are using instruments!
How did these changes come about? As I said, there were small stepping stones. There was a general lack of teaching on the work of the church, and there was an abundance of false teaching going around from the denominations. When people were converted out of those denominations into the Lord's Church, they brought some of those misconceptions with them.
Resist the change agents! Seek the old paths! There is safety and assurance in following the pattern of the New Testament...there is no safety in these modern methods. I admonish you with the words of Paul (2 Corinthians 13:5): "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test?"
Written by David F. Sims, doing my part to "turn the world upside down" (Acts 17:6)
All quotes taken from the New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise stated.
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