The ideal church to us may be far different from the ideal church to the Lord as His temple. Idealism can be the worst enemy of revelation. Revelation comes from God; idealism comes from men. The greatest ideals of men fall short of what God does and can even hinder His work. We must pursue His plans, not just something new or different we think might be better.
Jesus, the most perfect man ever, was rejected by the idealistic leaders of His time, while the common, “untrained,” or “unlearned” people embraced Him. The same has been true throughout history and will be until the end of the church age. Sometimes God’s work also appears inferior to man’s because men look at the externals, while God looks at the heart.
The “Christian Pharisees” of the church age have most resisted the Lord’s work and will continue to do so until He sends His messengers to remove the tares from among His wheat. Until then, they remain a challenge we must navigate, while rejecting the leaven of their teachings. The more resistance we receive from them, the more likely we are to be on the right path. However, we must judge our paths by more than this. Are we following the Lamb and not just some new strategy or church growth principle?
We are exhorted in Hebrews 13:12-13 that Jesus suffered outside the camp, therefore we must go to Him outside the camp. Jesus never became part of the religious establishment. Whenever a truth is institutionalized, it becomes corrupt and politicized. We, too, must resist joining the institutions of religion. This will incur their most vehement resistance but should only drive us to walk closer to the Lord, who suffered the same. When attacks come from “inside the camp,” this may be a sign we are on the right path. Those who walk the path of life will always be a threat to those who seek, by their own plans and devices, to build their own kingdoms (though they vehemently deny this).
We must guard against idealism no matter how “good” it seems. It comes from the good side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and is just as deadly as the evil side. The apostles pointed to one evidence for following Christ on the right path—growing in love.
If we are on any other path, or building on anything other than Christ, we will be more devoted to those things than to Him. These can be good things, like important biblical truths or the church, but when these start eclipsing our devotion to the Truth Himself, we are being led away from the path of life. Our main devotion must always be to the Lord of the house, not to the house of the Lord.
When we keep our first love, growing in Christ remains our top priority. He has designed His body, the church, to be the primary place spiritual maturity is developed, and since the church is His bride, we should be devoted to her growth and maturity as His worthy bride. However, “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” and the main thing is Christ .
Christianity is not about outward observances and rituals; it’s about an inward relationship with Him first and then His people. The rituals are just reminders of the truths that should be a part of our lives. We can partake of Communion every day, but it means little if we don’t live in communion with the Lord and His people. We must not allow rituals to eclipse Him or growing in Him as our main devotion.
The primary way to measure our maturity in Christ is by how much we grow in our love for Him and His people. I John 4:20 states, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” God may be much easier to love than His people, but if we truly love Him, we will also love His people. This may be the ultimate maturity test.
© 2023 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved
