relevance

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15

relevant /adj/  bearing upon or connected with the matter in hand; pertinent

The power (dunamis – Romans 1:16) of the gospel is two-fold; it is dynamite and dynamo, destructive and constructive.  Through the gospel, God puts to death the old self and brings to life a new man created in the image of Christ.

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.  But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:17-24

The power of the gospel is made manifest in changed lives; lives that are changed not by being conformed to the pattern of this age, but by being transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2).  The pattern of this age is characterized by ego-centrism and hyper-independence.  To the shame of so many churches, their manner of assembly and even the gospel they preach bear testimony against them that they have been conformed to the pattern of this age.  All too often the gospel you find in American churches is partial at best and false at worst.  An ego-centric gospel is preached for the saving of the individual soul and the personal relationship with Jesus is stressed to the max, but little to nothing is said with regard to the kingdom of God.  According to Jesus, the gospel is “of the kingdom of God”.  Though it is true that in the context of the kingdom, through the work of our Lord Jesus, individual souls are saved, the fact that the gospel has been reduced by so many to just a message of individual salvation is strong evidence that those who preach such a gospel have not yet been transformed by the renewing of their minds as they have edited the Word of God to cater to the ego-centric, “what’s in it for me?” attitude of the world.

The manner of assembly found in virtually every established church institution in the United States is also a testimony against these churches, that they have conformed to the pattern of this age.  In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, “I will build my ekklesia.”  Within the book of the Acts and all of the epistles is painted a portrait of what the ekklesia looks like when Jesus is building it.  There in is the God-given pattern with regard to how we are to be assembled.  If you find yourself involved with a congregation that does not adhere to this pattern set forth in the scriptures, dear reader, you ought to consider whether or not your church has been built by Jesus according to divine wisdom, or if it has in fact been built by men according to carnal wisdom.  Just a few details of the manner of life and assembly of the people of God set forth in the Acts and the Epistles are thus:

- they practiced the symbolic act of water baptism (Acts 2:41)
- they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers (Acts 2:42)
- they had all things in common, that is, there was no division in material possession or spiritual possession (Acts 2:44-45)
- they continued  daily (not just Sun-daily) with one accord (Acts 2:46)
- they met in houses — the size of a house naturally limits the size of each fellowship, thus promoting intimacy amongst the members and also forces organic, outward growth (need more space?  get more houses) and promotes a body of people that are ever taking the gospel out into the world, even through the very pattern of their living (Acts 2:46)
- they judged sin in the body (Acts 5:1-11, 1 Corinthains 5:1-6:11)
- they practiced the Lord’s supper as a regular meal wherein the bread was broken and the cup was shared (Acts 2:46, Romans 14:1-4, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34)
- the men prayed and prophesied with their heads uncovered and the women with their heads covered (1 Corinthians 11:2-16)
- each one had something to contribute (it was not just a monologue from a man in a pulpit) and all was done in an orderly manner (1 Corinthians 14:26-33)
- when there was teaching, women were not permitted to speak (1 Corinthians 14:34-40, 1 Timothy 2:11-15)
- there was no tithe, but gifts were given by members as they were led to give to be given to other needy saints (Acts 2:45, 4:32-37, 11:27-30, 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8:1-7, 9:1-15)
- they practiced the symbolic act of feet washing (John 13:1-17, 1 Timothy 5:9-11)
- the gifts of administration were practiced (Ephesians 4:1-16)

Dear reader I ask you, if the above stated is a glimpse into the pattern of God set forth for His people, then what pattern are churches today following?  But you might say, “One, some, or most of those things aren’t relevant for us today.”  But I ask, what is it to be relevant?  As defined at the beginning, to be relevant is to “connected with the matter at hand.”  Jesus says, “…the kingdom is at hand.”  Therefore, relevance is defined in terms of how a thing is pertains to the kingdom of God.  Perhaps one of the most tragic travesties of our time is that the church, in trying to make itself relevant to the world for glory of God, has in fact succeeded in only making itself irrelevant to the kingdom of God.