by Michael Clark

 

Have you ever thought that the Church is training Christians to be silent?I remember when I was a teen.My dad was a heavy smoker and eventually it killed him.He would be taking a hit off a cigarette and as he exhaled the smoke would say, "Son, I don't want you to smoke!"Well, as many of us have figured from raising our own children, the example speaks louder than words.I was smoking and on my way to a full blown habit before I graduated from high school. I thank God I was able to quit with the help of my loving wife before I got out of the Navy four years later.

My father also forced us to go to Catholic mass and not only remain silent. I couldn't even move in my seat.If I even dared to shift my weight his big hand would come down on my knee and pinch the nerve running along side that joint and send an electric shock through my body. I learned that you were not to be animated in church. The holy thing to do was to sit there like a cigar store Indian and not make a ripple.

So what is my point?My experience in Protestant circles has not been much different. A man is born again, usually in his late teens or early twenties, and what happens?He is placed in a Sunday school class where he passively listens to the teacher for an hour each week.He then goes into the "sanctuary" where he listens to the REAL professional Christian deliver an oration as he sits there in silence for another hour or two. If he wants to really become spiritual and get on the fast track, during the week he listens to Christian radio and watches Christian TV, or goes to a Church conference and listens to the professionals speak some more.By the time this man turns seventy, he has listened to anywhere from five to ten thousand sermons and teachings and still is as interactive with his Christianity as someone sitting there watching the evening news in his favorite recliner. So the scripture is fulfilled, “..ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (Greek –epigonosko—participation with the truth).” (II Timothy 3:7).

If you look at the body of Christ today to see how it is really constructed, you would have to conclude that it has one mouth for every 1000 ears whose only job is to LISTEN.The lambs have been silenced by the example of their teachers."Be silent in Church and let the professionals do the talking.You are nothing but a support system to keep their mouths working."

Now contrast this with the typical gathering in the early Church.They had fellowship.They were family and not a family where the children were to be seen and not heard, either. Consider what Paul taught them regarding their coming together as the body of Christ.

4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.

6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,

9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,

10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free–and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.

(1 Corinthians 12:4-14, NKJV).

12 Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.

(1 Corinthians 14:12, NKJV).

26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.

(1 Corinthians 14:26, NKJV).

4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,

5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;

7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;

8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;

11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

(Romans 12:4-11, NKJV).

29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.

30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent.

31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

(1 Corinthians 14:29-31, NKJV).

This trained passivity that rules the Church in most of today's religious gatherings was not the order of the day when it all began. Look at the effect of the Spirit upon the assembly when He was allowed to move in the Church's earliest gatherings:

31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

(Acts 4:31, NKJV).

Note the words ALL and EACH shows up over and over in the above passages regarding the coming together of Christ's body.Everyone was a viable participant.THIS is how "having Church" was done in the first century.

It was not until almost the sixth century that professional oratory by a paid professional became the rule for Christian gatherings. By then the Catholic Church was well on its controlling way, replacing that beautiful expression of the living organism that was once called the ecclesia of God. The bodily expression of Christ on earth that was once well on its way to "turning the world upside down" now sat there in dumb silence.How the mighty have fallen.

Maybe part of the problem is in the way the words preach, preached, and preaching were used while translatingthe New Testament into English.If you do a word study on the Greek works from which these three English words were translated you come up with a whole spectrum of communication. The most common Greek word translated "preach (-ed, -ing)"is euaggelizo.It simply means to proclaim the good news.But it is interesting that once the lost were converted and became saints, they were no longer euaggelizo'ed. Jesus had already been eulogized among them and once they were converted they were treated like family and included in their discussions about the kingdom.

Consider this passage as an example of what I mean.

7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached (dialegamai ) unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech(speaking with them) until midnight.

9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching (dialegamai), he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

(Acts 20:7,9, KJV).

1256 dialegomai dialegomai {dee-al-eg'-om-ahee}

middle voice from 1223 and 3004; TDNT - 2:93,155; v

1) to think different things with one's self, mingle thought with thought

1a) to ponder, revolve in mind

2) to converse, discourse with one, argue, discuss

Thisis the Greek word from which we get the English word dialogue. When he was with the saints of God, Paul mingled thought with thought, conversed with, held a discourse with and discussed the kingdom of God with them. The saints were not preached at, folks!The sinners were.

In Conclusion

So where do we go from here?My wife and I, like so many others, no longer support what we consider this silencing of the lambs known as “going to Church" in today's culture.We seek to encourage the citizens of God's kingdom to speak out as they come together and to listen to the Holy Spirit and cultivate a familiarity with HIS voice.When they do this, He will give them, like He did with the early Church,the words to speak either in the assembly of believers or in the public forum. I have been so blessed by Darrell Scott as he has found his voice since the murder of his daughter at Columbine High School near Denver. It is too bad that it took this tragedy before we ever heard from this brother. 

With the advent of the Internet, web sites, and talk lists, and the resurgence of interest in free flowing home gatherings, many of us have finally found our voice as well. No longer does that pastoral death grip on the all holy pulpit and microphone stop us from sharing what God has placed on our hearts. We have chosen to speak the words we hear our Father speaking and not be silenced any longer.

May you all find that same freedom that once made the ecclesia of Christ bloom and grow as it edified itself in His love. May you all find your voice once again. Remember Paul's admonition to the Church in Galatia,

1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

(Galatians 5:1, NIV).

Your servants in His love,

Michael and Dorothy Clark

You can email them at - johnone23@icehouse.net

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 10th, 2006 at 6:24 pm and is filed under Biblical Leadership, Church Structure, Evangelism / Discipleship, House to house community, Living Christianity, Reformation/ Revival. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.