I'm Starting A Church....But Not With Sin Of Jeroboam

Jeroboam was one of two rulers over a divided Israel. Upon Solomon's death, he took eleven tribes to the north while Rehoboam took one tribe, Judah, to stay with the holy places of worship, including Jerusalem. When the time of the year came for worship, Jeroboam realized he had a problem. If he let his people go to Jerusalem as was their custom, Rehoboam might turn their loyalties from him. So, Jeroboam devised a plan. He would designate places of worship in the north but allow for pagan worship. Why did he allow pagan worship? He did it because much of it as evidenced in baalism centered around sexual perversions. Men would attach themselves to temple prostitutes and women would do the same in this despicable act of false worship. Jeroboam reasoned that by introducing these vile deeds, he  knew he could draw the crowds to these alternative worship sites in the north; and, after all, once the people were there, they could worship Jehovah. So, why was this endeavor by Jeroboam so hated by God and called an abomination thereafter in the Bible? Simply, God abhorred it because it was using worldly methods to get people to come to worship Him.

Let's be honest.....really honest. Much of what is being done in modern churches is nothing more than the sin of Jeroboam all over again in a modern setting. We are now subjected to a strange philosophy of turning the church worship services into a mishmash of whatever is hottest in the world. God said we are to be peculiar people but we don't want the world to see us as peculiar,  so we disregard God's direct command that we are not to be friends with the world and then build our church services to show that we can actually be worldly friendly. We change the music to be more like the world. I will address that in a moment. We dress like the world, preach like the world and apologize to the world if we accidentally say something that offends. We allow members to live virtually the way they please just as long as they are present on Sunday and put a nickel in the offering. All of the just-mentioned things sound a lot like the sin of Jeroboam.

I'm seriously considering the starting of a church, but some of the things I will install as foundational principles will probably cause you to wince if you do not actually believe I've taken leave of my senses altogether. Here are some of them:

(1) ALL MUSIC, EXCEPT FOR ISOLATED CASES, WILL BE CONGREGATIONAL. We will have at most three congregational hymns in order for everyone to sing praises to God as a body. We will have instrumental accompaniment. This keeps the worship service from turning into a spectator experience.

(2) ALL SONGS OR HYMNS MUST BE DEEPLY DOCTRINAL. Even Christian songs that are light on things of the Word of God will be excluded. The style of music  (traditional, contemporary, etc) will not be the deciding consideration for whether a song is used.  Everything done at this church will be to take the individual deeper with our Lord. I do not believe a genuine worship service should turn into an emotion-satisfying concert. Concerts are wonderful, but I am convinced they are for another night in the week. On Sunday, we are gathered for worship centered around the meat of the Word of God in song and sermon.....not sugary, easily digestible substitutes in either the songs or the sermon.

(3) TIME FOR PRAYER WILL BE A MAJOR PART OF ALL SERVICES. Jesus said that his house would be called a house of prayer. Ask yourself. How many minutes does the church you attend spend in prayer at a service? This will be different. People who attend these services with written prayer needs will have them bathed in prayer in detail regardless of the time required.

(4) ALL SERMONS WILL BE PREACHED WITH A CENTRAL GOAL OF SAYING EXACTLY WHAT GOD WANTS SAID AND SAYING IT THE WAY HE WANTS IT SAID. The unspoken secret in the American church is how many preachers plagiarize the messages God has given others. Church members have a right to expect of me and anyone who preaches for me that the messages we deliver are warm bread from the oven of God, and if we share an experience from a book or another preacher, we give credit....that's transparency. 

(5)MEMBERS WILL BE EXPECTED TO BE PRESENT AT ALL SERVICES UNLESS PROVIDENTIALLY HINDERED. The modern church has many members whose addresses are unknown and no longer attend. Yet, because of this, the church reports larger memberships than are practically true. At this new church, each year members who have not attended a single service without an understandable reason during the previous twelve months will be removed from membership. 

(6) INDIVIDUALS WHO SEEK MEMBERSHIP WILL BE TOLD THREE THINGS:

     (A) No negative words can be said about another member. Every statement must be measured by three questions:

          Is it true?

          Is it kind?                                                 

          Is it necessary?

     (B) Each member is expected to tithe.

     (C) Each member is expected to share his personal testimony each week with either another Christian or a lost person.

     (D) Each member understands that living the presence of Christ in his behavior during the week is an expectation. 

You may think this is such a radical departure from your experiences with churches. I believe I can support each point biblically. Nonetheless, I have spent a huge amount of time praying for God's wisdom for what He wants in this church and I'm convinced these are His answers.

The great man of God, Dr Peter Lord, says we proclaim that Jesus is Lord of the church but do we ever bathe in prayer the things we do? On an occasion, he asked me why my church had a choir or praise groups. I responded that when the church was formed, the founding members started a choir because the churches they came from had choirs. He answered that, in other words, it's a lot like Israel wanting a king....everyone else has a king so we should, too. Then, Dr Lord said, "Did anyone ever ask God if He wanted a choir or praise group at your church?" My honest answer was no one had...not even me. We take youth trips, have conferences, do musicals, etc....but is the church ever called to prayer and fasting to see if that's what God wants? 

Let's be honest.....really honest....we need a spiritual awakening in America but I know of no church of any significant size spending any time at all in real fasting and prayer about what they do in any of their organizations or projects. They just assume God's in them. If I follow God's leadership, which I must do because of my pledge of loyalty to Him, the modern threefold measurements of church success (more budget, more buildings, more baptisms) will not be an issue at all. What will be the measuring rod will be that absolutely nothing, large or little, will be done without His prior consent, regardless of what other churches on the other side of town or the nation are doing. I will say with Paul, "To him (Jesus) be glory in the church forever!"

In summary, I refuse the sin of Jeroboam. If the truth cannot draw individuals by lifting up Jesus, we don't need those individuals anyway. Besides, the frank truth of it all is that it is recognizably obvious to worldly individuals when the church tries to out-world the world....and they want none of it when their lives start falling apart.