Leaving a Church: Flesh or Spirit?
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spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 8:51 amFather God, please help us to push past our biases in order to see things the way You see them—especially in the area of church. When a brother or sister leaves a church, help us to remember that we are all still part of the Kingdom—and that You may have called them to leave. Help us align ourselves with whatever You are doing, and love our brethren the way You do, In the majestic name of Jesus! AMEN🙏🏻❤️🕊
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 8:58 amIn the American religious tradition, church has been done a certain way for hundreds of years. Even if you change the “paint job” on the church body—for example, moving from high church with Scriptural chants to a modern, charismatic church where people run the aisles in praise—church has still been structured in largely the same way for a long time.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 8:58 amRight now, people are leaving that structure en masse, finding it no longer useful or relevant to their needs—and finding it lacking compared with God’s description of real church in the Word.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 8:59 amSo is leaving a church a good thing to do, or a bad one? Is “moving your letter” or “transferring your membership” or simply starting a home group and leaving organized church entirely a fleshly move? Or could it be dictated by the Spirit of God?
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:00 amIn order to understand things based on the Word of God, we must distinguish between these two categories of reasons for leaving a church.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:01 amLet’s take a look today at different reasons a person could have for leaving a church—reasons that are either flesh or spirit.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:01 amFirst, since these are easier to identify, let’s look at some fleshly reasons for leaving a church.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:02 amFor example, if a person says: “I don’t want to attend that church because they talk about money. It’s my money and I’m keeping it, and I don’t need that pastor telling me what to do with it.”
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:03 amThis is a fleshly reason for leaving a church, for it demonstrates an unwillingness to submit one’s finances to the Lord. Any lack of Lordship is a demonstration that we are walking in the flesh, not the Spirit.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:04 amTo clarify: A pastor’s job is to help you grow in all areas of godliness.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:05 amSince the Bible has a huge amount to say about how we should handle money, a pastor should be teaching about biblical stewardship—including the discipline of giving! And, if we are truly submitted to the Lord, we as individual believers will be eager to learn the teachings of Scripture about money.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:05 amWe will also be eager to grow in the God-like exercise of giving. Remember that God so loved the world that He gave.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:06 amLeaving a church because one does not want to hear biblical truth is a fleshly reason to leave, every time.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:07 amHowever, if a person says: “I’m leaving that church because there’s no place for me to use my spiritual gifts. The pastors do all the ministry and the saints do none.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:08 amThere’s no discipleship, mentoring, or practical equipping. There’s no path for me to learn, grow in, or practice what I’m called to do.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:09 amAll they want me to do is greet visitors at the door and pay my tithe, but I want to practice using my gifts!”
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:09 amIn that case, that’s a Spirit-led reason because it aligns with Scripture. The Bible says:
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:12 amAnd He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love Ephesians 4:11-16
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:13 amSo in this example, the man or woman of God has noticed that the five-fold ministers at that church (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher) are simply doing the ministry themselves, but not teaching anyone else how to do ministry. In that case, this is a dysfunctional church that is not doing its job.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:15 amAnd despite church culture that tells us things like: We should love the pastor enough to stay in a dysfunctional church; We should submit to authority and stay if the pastor says we should; We may not be ready to minister on our own, so we should just sit in rows and continue watching the pastor, hoping that someday we will be “released” to minister
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:15 amThe fact is that God’s Word reigns supreme over all those cultural norms, biases, and stereotypes.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:16 amAnd submitting to something that is not in alignment or agreement with God’s Word reminds us of what Peter and John said to the Pharisees in the book of Acts:
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:17 amBut Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge” Acts 4:19
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:19 amSo in this second illustration, the person decided to leave the church because they elected to listen to God, rather than to man. And yet, many times they suffer as a result.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40942Requests: 2422
July 29, 2023 at 9:20 amI personally hear from readers all over the country on an almost daily basis about these things, and it is very sad.
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