Christianity Today is Nothing but Institutionalized Religion.

A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.  And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” - Isaiah 40:3-5 (NIV)

This is such a wonderful proclamation. The bible teaches us this was fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist in regards to his preaching about Jesus Christ to the people of Israel. (Luke 3:3-6) It’s a beautiful picture being painted for all mankind. 

When you raise a valley up and lower a mountain down you have a plain. Then after the plain is created it is cleared.  The removing of obstacles like a crooked road or terrain features like bolder and vegetation. What is left is a smooth flat surface. It is here all people will be able to see clearly who God is and how to have a relationship with Him in the person of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

In the world, at the time of John the Baptist and Jesus’ earthly ministry access to God was only available to the average everyday person through the institutionalized religion of the day. For the Jew it was through the Levitical priesthood and temple protocols. During Jesus time this process was corrupt. Though corruption to this institution was not unfamiliar. We see Jesus’ outburst against it when he cleared the temple area during a couple of Jewish festival periods. There were people that were considered above others and then there were people who were considered lower than others when it came to having a relationship or gaining access to God. The system became corrupt because of a lust for money and the cravings of people wanting to have power and status over others in order to satisfy their own personal agendas. 

(Luke 20:45-47) Jesus said, “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.” 

(Luke 11:52 (NIV) and again in Matthew, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. (Matthew 23:13 (NIV)

The religious leaders of the time lost sight of their primary purpose which was to prepare the people to recognize the coming of the Messiah and their need for him in more than a physical way. Jesus came to clean house and do away with the religious systems of mankind. (Heb 8:13) He also came to fulfill the requirement and prophecies of the Old Covenant. He came to create a level playing field. Were there would not be one person above another. That there would not be obstacles in the way of people knowing God, have a relationship with God and finding forgiveness and a new life. He came to do away with the corruption that had permeated the religion of the day. Like Isaiah said concerning Jesus, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me that your soul may live. (Isaiah 55:1-3)

However, creating a level playing field didn't last very long. Within a few hundred years after Pentecost these same obstacles, these same mountains, these same valleys and these same crooked paths were recreated. What we call the “church” today is nothing more than what has been handed down to us by those that were taught the same thing, institutionalized religion. There is nothing but hierarchies in local churches and denominations today. There is clergy and then there are the laity. We have a senior pastor and their assistant pastors, staff and directors, then everyone else. There is one rules them all mind set. We have popes, bishops, General Superintendents or whatever man-made title or positions you want. Then you have a multiple of level under them.

The disciples as they were following Jesus around before his crucifixion would have loved the way we do church today however Jesus taught them not to pursue or even set themselves up to be like this. In Matthew there is a great illustration that brings this point home.

“Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.  “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” “You don't know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered.  Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”  When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:20-28 (NIV)

This teaching was so important to the Lord that he made sure the Holy Spirit had in record again in Mark 10:35-45. John and James wanted to get the upper hand on the other disciples by trying to position themselves above the rest. They wanted to build their own little mountain and put the other guys on the sides of the mountain which would put other people eventually in a valley. And then the other disciple got mad at James and John probably because they got beat to the punch. However, Jesus didn't want them to recreate what he came to do away with. Jesus reemphasized this point again. We see this later on in Matthew were Jesus says, “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:8-12 (NIV)

I remember when I first became a Christian, I went to an after church reception. I approach the pastor whose name was Glen and asked him if I could call him Glen. He said No and told me to call him Pastor Glen. I remember feeling like a tire that had just been deflated by a knife. As a brand new Christian I thought we were all one in Christ. We were one body and no part was more important than another. That no one was above another and I remembered the passage in Matthew were Jesus told his disciples not too demand to be called by a title. Because when you start with wanting a title and the recognition that come with it, you open the door to creating a mountain to stand on which elevates you above others. This is what the world does and we are to not be like the world. James says, “don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?”

Today in local churches you have people signing covenant type contracts. First I don’t see one example of this in the New Testament. Second some of these covenants Jesus couldn't even be a member of the “church”. Within the covenant a member is prohibited from drinking wine. Third this creates different classes of believers. In other words hills and valleys.

Being a pastor within the body of Christ is a gift. It is when this gift turns into a position you begin to have an institutionalized religion. And when you have an institutionalized religion you depart from the path of authentic Christianity. Paul says in Ephesians, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.”…It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:7-13 (NIV) When these gifts become positions and titles you give the devil a foothold and the message of the cross just becomes another man-made religion instead to a supernatural life changing force that is meant to bring people closer to God and each other and not put obstacles in the way of people growing in their relationship with Jesus.

Someone might say what about the references in the New Testament about leaders, elders and deacons? Well what about them I’d say? Someone has to be in front of others when it comes to a personal relationship with God in Jesus. Someone in Christ for 20 year should be a leader to someone coming to Christ today. That has nothing to do with what authentic Christianity should look like. The leaders should reflect what Jesus taught us about how we are to view one another and live as a community of believers. Not with titles and institutionalized positions but as servants that do not elevate themselves over others. That a body of believers doesn't have just one person called a pastor that’s in charge of the direction of a particular group of believers. A pastor is but one part of many. There should be a collection of elders that serve a body of believer to make sure the message of the gospel is preached, that false doctrine is not taught, the saints are equip to live a life that imitates Christ within their particular spheres of influence and that the needs of others within the body are met. This is done by them utilizing the gifts of God collectively, with no one person more important than another. 1 Corinthians 12:25 (NIV) “so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.”

A great illustration of this is seen in 1 Corinthians 14:26 (NIV) where Paul says, “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.” There is not just one or two people taking center stage, so to speak, but all are given the opportunity to share what God is doing in their lives for the edification on the body.

How would this work? When we share what God is doing in our lives this is called TESTIFYING. If we take the first four letter of this word we can create an acronym that would help to facilitate this orderliness, TEST.

The first “T” would stand for timely. Meaning that what God is doing in your life should be recent. Within 2 weeks. Not 2 years ago. Past experience can be share but in a different place and time.

“E” stands for encouraging. Whatever you are bringing should be uplifting not depressing. If you need prayer or are having a difficult time with something in your life, this can take place at a different time and different place then this time of testifying.

“S” stands for short. This means no longer than five minutes. We must always be mindful of those around us that others also want to share and time is always of the essence.

The second “T” stand for truthful. We just can’t make things up because we want to sound spiritual. Or we think we need to say something in order to belong. After we are Christians and an essential part of being a follower of Jesus is honesty.

Then if time permits one or two people teach. Nothing more than 15 minutes a piece. Now all of this is but a guide not something that is hard and set because the Holy Spirit must move according to his purposes however we must also remember He did direct Paul to give us this instruction about orderly worship also.