Are there threats to the Church?

Recently, I was doing a little web browsing and having seen a few sites discussing various things they felt were threats to the Church. Later that night this thought came to me, are there threats to the Church? To me the word threat implies the possibility of actuation and therefore I would say, “No.” There are no threats to the Church only challenges.
Let us look at a few Scriptures to see if what I claim is true: Numbers 23:23 is a good example for the Old Testament, is part of Balaam’s remarkable prophecies, “Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!”

From this verse we see that no malediction can have bearing upon the Church. Now, we know from reading a little further in this portion of Scripture, that individual Israelites did die as a result of committing fornication, but the nation was not threatened. In the same way individual members of churches and even congregations can be destroyed through sin, but the Church itself remains and declares by doing so, “What hath God wrought!”

Next in Isaiah 54:15-17, we see that though God ordains trials He also ordains a triumph in them, “Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”

Lastly we see Christ’s own promise (Matt. 16:18), “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Christ here promises to build His Church upon Himself, the Rock, and further promises that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church.

So why would any church feel threatened? The key is that Christ promised to build His Church, He never promised to aid us in our propagation of our own peculiar views and traditions. I know of no Scripture where Christ promises aid to us in doing our own thing on any level.

When the early church preached God always confirmed the Word with signs following (Mark 16:20). When we speak the truths of His Word, we can also expect the fruit of it to follow. When we preach and call people to repentance and salvation, we should expect people to repent and be saved. When we preach on Divine healing we should expect to see healings in response to the Word. God confirms His Word.

However, God does NOT confirm our ideas and traditions. If our ministry seems to be a hard slog, and a constant struggle to convince people of things, we should ask ourselves if we are preaching His Word. Our own ideas will require our own strength to propagate, but God’s Word carries with it His strength to accomplish what is spoken. If an individual or church begins to do its own thing, God will raise up another witness that will be faithful. When we are faithful to speak His Word we have the privilege of being co-workers (synergists) with God. The question now as it was in Joshua’s day (Joshua 5:13-15) is not so much “is God on our side?” but rather “are we on God’s side?”

This also touches on the whole concept of authority. Somehow, many Christians I know, and even ones that I respect a great deal, seem to have a strange and somewhat one-sided idea of authority… That whatever the one in authority teaches has to be followed, because he is the one God has placed in authority. Yes, we are to submit to authorities (secular, church, and home), but no position of authority can transform a bad idea into a good one. This is a major problem in the Church today. Husbands expect their wives to submit to them, but the husband wants the wife to submit to his own thing, rather than having first submitted his will to Christ. The same goes for churches looking at the world and expecting the world to bow, when those churches tell the world what they should do. Often the churches are right in what they want the world to do, but they fail, because they demand a submission that they themselves are unwilling to give. That can never work.

Authority comes from union with the Author. If we declare things that have no authorship in God we are like a branch trying to bear fruit without the vine. An officer in the army has authority to command troops under him, but if he tries to use that authority to command things counter to what the commander in chief orders and even in a sense to supplant him, he has ceased to be an officer and has become a rebel. The apostles never expected people to accept what they taught based on their apostolic authority. Instead they rejoiced in those who searched the Scriptures and held up what they taught to that test (Acts 17:11). Even Christ, who had more authority than anyone could have, did not use His own authority to establish the doctrine of the resurrection, but pointed out what should have been deduced from Scripture by the Sadducees, showing our culpability when we do not see things to which Scripture alludes, but does not plainly teach (Matt.22:31-32).

Personally, I have determined not to teach any tradition or practice that I cannot prove from Scripture. I would hate to ever hear someone I ministered to tell me that they were convinced to do something because of me, rather than because the Word that was preached bore witness to their conscience. That is a condemnation of ministry, not a commendation of it. We must trust that God’s Word will do the work, and not really on human strength and regulations. It is human pride and utter folly to think that if someone will not be convicted by the plain preaching that they will somehow be encouraged by a rule we lay down. If they have a good sensitive heart, the preaching will open their understanding to the right course of action. If they do not have a good heart, all we can do is pray that God change the heart. For every rule we lay down, and every precept we give, we should show a strong scriptural warrant. God never placed man in authority to do his own thing, that is man’s misuse of authority and it has dire consequences.

There is a Church which listens to the voice of its Shepherd (whether it comes directly to the heart, through His Word, or by godly leadership), but will not hear another. This Church is joined to the Head and subject to Christ and thus is delivered from the instability of winds of doctrine, nor is it subject to the vagaries of men, but conformed to the will of God. Those in this Church, whatever their congregation will triumph in the triumph won by the Lamb who leads them.

If you are truly on God’s side, be encouraged, take a look at the back of the Book and you’ll see that we win! The church faces many challenges on earth, hence it is called the Church militant, but it is victorious and therefore the Church in heaven is known as the Church triumphant! God gives us a glorious opportunity to join in the struggle on His side that we too might have a part in the spoils of His victory. So are you on the Lord’s side?