Minister's Blog

I’m a Christian, but I just cannot get into “organized religion.”

This is a strange way to begin a newsletter article, but over the past 26 years of walking with Christ and being an active church member, I have heard many excuses. Last week I was given someone’s number who claimed to know Christ. When I introduced myself, he politely told me he was a Christian but organized religion had never really worked for him. This attitude could be the result of experiencing an unhealthy church or suffering hurt in the church, but those factors are poor justification when compared to the clear witness of scripture. Below I have tried to give just a few scriptural reasons we need “organized” religion.
Creation and Israel
Creation would seem to be a strange place to start, but remember we have been born again, that we might bear the image of Christ as Adam and Eve were to bear the Image of God. When we look at creation, we see the Lord bringing order as part of the creation story. The earth is formless and void and the Lord gives it organization. He sets boundaries for the sea and the land, the sun and the celestial bodies, and the living species. Creation is given order and the first act of man is to name the animals. There is order even in human relationships as God created them. In marriage the husband is the head of the wife, and the wife is the helpmate to the man. Part of the consequence of sin (the fall) is prediction that this order would be resented and abused. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy show us the organization necessary for Isreal to approach God, and it is mind boggling. The instructions God gives for the organization of the tabernacle, the encampment of the Israelites, and the Levitical priesthood help us see that our God is holy and we cannot approach or serve him in just any way. We must come to Him and serve Him in the ways he has prescribed.
The New Testament
It is simple for us to simply point to Hebrews 10:24-25, and let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching, and drop the mic, but we can do much better than that. Organization of the church began even before the church was born. Jesus organized His disciples. There were many disciples of Christ, but, He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, to send them out to preach, and to have authority to drive out demons, Mark 3:14-16. He gave these men a commission prior to His ascension in Matthew 28:18-20 to make disciples of all nations. This monumental task would require passing down the teachings of Christ, preserving the purity of the Gospel message, and equipping and supporting successive generations of believers. In Acts chapter two we read of the church being born and immediately beginning to be organized according to set routines and authority first vested in the apostles. We could walk through Acts, read Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, or Ephesians 4 to see historical and spiritual organization of the local church. It is crystal clear that a failure to organize our religion leads to disfunction and disobedient to the scripture.
This objection, for one who would consider themselves to be a Christian, is a way to justify their rebellion. It elevates “self” as the ultimate authority, and preference as its shepherd. This is an attitude that springs from the humanistic secularism of our culture, not from the scripture. Pray for those that would give this argument. Pray they will submit to the Lord Jesus Christ. Then submission to a local church won’t seem so distasteful. Pray our members will keep bearing witness to the Gospel, no matter what objections come our way.