The Non-Denominational Trap

[NeitherFirstnorLast]

"Trap" - I know; that's a harsh word. I don't like to use it, because I worry that I may offend good Christians brothers and sisters here who certainly mean well... but I feel it's the word I must use. Please let me explain why:

Have you ever read CS Lewis' book "Mere Christianity"? It is a book transcribed from a series of radio messages he was asked to deliver to the people of Britain at the tail end of WWII. CS Lewis was asked to present his Christian faith, to evangelize the people and give them cause for hope. CS Lewis knew that we are to "always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for the reason of the hope that is in you", and so, Praise the Lord, he testified - and I encourage all to listen to what this brother shared: http://www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/documents/apologetics/mere- christianity/cs-lewis-mere-christianity-toc.php

From his chapter "Two Notes"
Christianity thinks of human individuals not as mere members of a group or items in a list, but as organs in a body-different from one another and each contributing what no other could. When you find yourself wanting to turn your children, or pupils, or even your neighbours, into people exactly like yourself, remember that God probably never meant them to be that. You and they are different organs, intended to do different things. On the other hand, when you are tempted not to bother about someone else's troubles because they are "no business of yours," remember that though he is different from you he is part of the same organism as you. If you forget that he belongs to the same organism as yourself you will become an Individualist. If you forget that he is a different organ from you, if you want to suppress differences and make people all alike, you will become a Totalitarian. But a Christian must not be either a Totalitarian or an Individualist.

I feel a strong desire to tell you-and I expect you feel a strong desire to tell me-which of these two errors is the worse. That is the devil getting at us. He always sends errors into the world in pairs-pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worse. You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them.

I believe CS Lewis saw something here that many of us miss - and that is this principle of how Satan operates against the Church.

We have grown to have a great dislike for 'religion' (which I think for clarities sake I should define here as: 'an organized set of rulesfor worship, with a hierarchy, a set of traditions, customs and ceremonies used to reach God in place of each man's personal relationship with God'). Religion, defined this way, I think we ought to dislike. But we are not the first people or generation to rally against religion. Did you know that?

I referred in an earlier post here to the Plymouth Brethren, a group from whom Watchman Nee borrowed much of his theology. Do you know who they were, and how they were established? Do you know by what principles they met and fellowshipped? Do you know what became of them?

For those who don't know, the Plymouth Brethren were Christians who, at least at first, felt they ought take no name. They stood against denominationalism, and met with ALL who called Christ Lord - no matter from which 'church' they came. They recognized that Christ doesn't require either membership or lack of membership in a 'local group' - He requires a personal relationship with Him, one that leads to a living relationship - a genuine sacrifice of the believer on behalf of his Lord. God used the Plymouth Brethren, and they exemplified beautifully the Church of Philadelphia; the Church of Brotherly Love.

...Soon though, far too soon, there arose from their spirit of non-denominationalism, a spirit of anti-denominationalism. Sound the same? It isn't. There's a difference. One implies 'no membership required', and the other 'no membership desired'. What was originally a group of free-fellows in Christ became a group that proudly called itself "the Exclusive Brethren". They said, "if you want to meet with us, you better get the heck out of that apostate denom your in and submit to our teachings and rulings, because only - ONLY we, have the high truths." Does that sound familiar to your ears? It should. And let me say that it is as true in our faith today as it was 2000 years ago: "All roads lead to Rome". That's right; what the Brethren wound up saying was the exact same thing the Catholics had been saying for more than a thousand years: that they alone were God's unique expression, the Only instrument of His move on the Earth today... that His authority was given uniquely to them. What a sad sad story saints, to see the same errors occur again and again and again and again, like a scratched record on an endless loop. True Believers, moved by the Spirit to give themselves to Christ attract followers. Followers start new movements in the name of such men, and while these movements might be born in genuine Christian faith, and may demonstrate selfless love for Christ and His Body, they soon turned back inward (often within a single generation or less) to yet another new system made to enslave men to an idea, an ideology, or an organization... and all for personal power and profit.

"Religion", as we've defined it here, is not unique to one branch or group of Christianity or another. It's not something that's taught either - it's something that is actually inherant in man; it's a part of our Adamic nature. That's why religion isn't just found in 'Christendom' - it's world-wide! That's why there's a Shintoism, a Buddhism, a whole lot of Paganism's... Islam, even Atheism - they're all mens' ways of dealing with an environment he can't control - explaining it away and rejecting the truth which is right before ALL OF US.

Do you agree with the definition of Religion I've given here? If so, then do you not see how religious LSM really is? Are there not set customs in place from which you would be branded aberrant if you did not follow them? How have you been taught to pray? Certainly not as Christ taught:

Matthew 6:6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."

How have you been taught to meet? Would you dare to sit in a row rather than a circle? Does it make a difference to Him?

When have you been taught to stand? Would you stand and tell an elder he was wrong, if you felt convicted that he was, or would you sit meekly by and quench the Spirit?

What have you been taught to share? Would you dare to share from a brother or sisters work if it disagree with LSM theology? Have you read - really read - the works of those saints that do disagree with LSM theology? I don't mean differ on the fundamentals of the Faith, I mean differ on the points of interpretations - the interpretations that always come to define any particular group.

What have you been told to read? You are told that Nee stood "on the shoulders of all the saints that came before him, and Lee stood on Nee" - but have you read the works of these others upon whom Lee claimed to stand? If you have, you will see that these others do not, in fact, agree completely with Lee's theology... and some differ radically. I believe Nee himself differed radically from Lee (although others disagree, I invite you to read "The Normal Christian Church Life" and hear Nee's side of that story yourself). Lee may have taken an idea here or an idea there, but he did not simply take everything saints who came before him said and 'boil it down' or 'crystallize' it; he took what he liked and left the rest... constructing his own theology in order to set up his own unique ministry, and gather to himself his own little flock.

How have you been told to sing? Do you know that the 'denominations' do not sing the songs of their 'founders' exclusively? They do not take treasured hymns penned by ancient saints and bend and twist them into the words of their own founder's ministry. No, they cherish what the Spirit spoke through these ones, and would never turn an "Amazing Grace" into a "Tree of Life". They still sing to His Glory, and not to the glory they believe has been promised to them.

With whom have you been told to gather? Are you told to drive umpteen miles to a meeting hall halfway across town because only there is the real expression of the church in your city? How religious! Unless you are living in Mecca, you had better believe that there are many genuine Saints all around you - at different stages of growth, yes, but genuine children of God undoubtedly. Do NOT forsake gathering together with them.

What have you been told to wear? What did Christ and His disciples wear? Were they not reviled as itinerants who wandered without a place to lay their heads and with little more than the clothes on their backs? Did Christ believe this effected their testimony? That they could not bear adequate witness for Him if they looked like "slobs"? If you find that in Scripture, let me know - I have not seen it.

Where have you been told to celebrate the Lord's Table, Supper, or communion? Would you dare to do it in your home with fellow believers, in order to fulfill that which Christ Himself commanded ("This do in rememberance of Me?" - Luke 22:19 Or do you believe that you first must be 'recognized' by Anaheim as an official locality before you can partake of that particular sacriment?

Brothers and Sisters, there is no field of wheat amidst whom tares have not also been sown. Oh, the harvest isn't yet, so you may have a lot of trouble telling where those tares are; and don't try to root them out or you may do damage to good wheat - but you'd better believe they're there. You should also know that in every flock of sheep there are a few wolves in costume. Christ said it was so, and I can testify it is what I've seen myself.

We have said, as other groups have, "We - Christians all - are the Body of Christ"; but do we believe that in our hearts, if we counsel every Christian we meet to drop his fellowship with those with whom the Lord has placed him in favour of fellowship with us, or only those like us?

1 Corinthians 12:17-20 "If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body."

Whatever you do, brothers and sisters, don't think that because you've purged a denomination from your fellowship that you've purged religion from you. In fact, by rejecting fellowship with others based on affiliation, and not based on genuine Christian faith, you've expressed religiousness. As Watchman Nee once said "When you say 'You are in a denomination, you are sectarian, we are not in a denomination, and therefore we cannot meet with you' You yourself have become sectarian."

Now; as for those tares: Use discernment - and you will find they are very evident. For one, they will display no fruit of the spirit... Galatians 5:22-26 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." Contending with such as these is fruitless. They offer strife and opinion but nothing else; and they clap their hands over their ears to keep from hearing more. Pray for them, by all means, for their hard-heartedness can only be softened by God's gentle mercy.

Titus 3:10-11 "Reject a fractious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned."

At the same, remember the balance that is required - that not all those who disagree with you are fractious; they may well be genuine saved Believers in Christ who have seen something we have not, or who have not yet seen something we already have. Can we be certain we are correctly identifying the speck in their eye if our own is not clear?

I was ever touched by Mark 9:38-40
"John said, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we forbad him, because he has not been following us.' Jesus replied, 'Do not forbid him, for no one doing a miracle in my name can quickly speak evil of me. He who is not against us is for us'"

To say that "I speak for the Lord because I follow this ministry, and you do not" is exactly what the Lord rebuked John for. You need to understand, just as John did, that He who is not against us is for us.

We are keen to avoid the error of organized, insitutionalized religion. Let's not now go and make that our new institution. And let's also not prejudge every Christian by his affiliation with any such institution. Let's discern the tree by it's fruit.

In Christ,

NeitherFirstnorLast