The Contemporary Church is O – Oligarchical
- 17 December 2023
By this I mean to say that it is run by ‘oligarchs’: i.e., inordinately powerful small groups which operate as ‘celebrity pastors.’ In Matthew 11:26 Jesus commented on the crowds that came out to encounter His ministry. He was moved with compassion. Why? ‘Because they were (i) weary, (ii) scattered and (iii) like sheep without a shepherd. Real Christians today are weary because they have been beguiled by shallow ‘expositions’ of Scripture. They are drawn into Churches which have a semblance of Christianity – they use Biblical vocabulary; they seem to be slick/proficient at ‘doing Church’ and they can be both energetic and imaginative rehearsing their programs. But the vital spark is missing. In brief, they are guilty of Jeremiah’s indictment – “They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace” (6:14; 8:11). Scattered sheep can become scattered by various means. They may have sought escape from a particular threat; they may have carelessly lost sight of the flock by straying round a corner or over a hill. But whatever the cause, the result is estrangement and a loss of authentic identification with the corporate cause – i.e. the advancement of Christ’s kingdom upon Earth, the promotion of Christian culture and thereby the building of Christian civilisation to the glory of God. Without doubt, and yet ironically, it is my personal experience and observation that the single biggest obstacle that stands in the way of genuine ‘Christian reconstruction’ are the gatekeepers who hold sway in local assemblies. I mean those who feature prominently as leaders and teachers, etc. Jesus hit the nail on the head when He commented that true shepherds were absent from the flocks!
Jeremiah’s indictment of the national Church was that their diagnoses and remedies were superficial. They were under dark clouds of judgement which resulted in national humiliation leading to captivity by a foreign power for seventy years. All of this for the neglect of ecclesiastical authorities faithfully expounding and applying God’s law within the community. The city gate was riddled with injustice; corruption and lies prevailed everywhere. God’s genuine mouthpieces (Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, et al) were themselves persecuted or else ignored (see Jer 6:14; 8:11; Matt 23:37). Those familiar with the writings of Cornelius Van Til will recall his oft quoted remarks concerning the apologetical scene he addressed. Prevalent engagement with humanistic academia via ‘evidential’ scholarship which he persistently criticised, he said was like giving paracetamol to the sick when, in reality, radical heart surgery was warranted. What they needed was a more principled ‘presuppositional’ approach to ‘blast them from their holes.’ The situation (i.e. impotence and dereliction of duty) one encounters in our churches is much the same. We imagine a slight tweak here and there – a new, younger, more charismatic pastor able to ‘connect’ with the yuppies [or dinkys – dual incomes, no kids yet] in our congregations; or a tighter music group with a hip/humorous ‘worship-leader’; or an indefatigable focus on shared meals, hospitality, soup-kitchens, etc) are what we need to expand numerically.
Any casual reading of the gospel narratives cannot avoid this obvious conclusion: the principal incarnation of worldliness and anti-Christian hubris was manifest in the Scribes and Pharisees – i.e. those charged with religious leadership and ‘spiritual’ welfare. They were quintessentially the false shepherds. It’s tempting to imagine that their demise and disappearance from the pages of history was swift and sure. That their relics exist as we find them peppered throughout the gospel narratives have gone for good. Alas, the reality is that they are more alive and well than ever! Again, in Matthew 7 Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them” (verses 15-21).
Modern Pharisees – how to spot them!
Turn up Matthew 23. This passage is the centrepiece of Jesus’ condemnation of the false shepherds of His own day. You must dare to consider that the same traits that dominated back then are as ubiquitous today. Perhaps they are subtler. Perhaps they are more refined. You who read this and are in leadership yourselves need prayerfully to consider these texts: “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment” (Jam 3:1); Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm” (1Tim 1:5-7).
Briefly then, according to Matt 23 Phariseeism is marked by …
- Hypocrisy (v3,14b) They are noticeably hesitant to preach with conviction against political corruption or questionable cultural trends/fashions; yet they talk privately about such concerns. Are they cautious in the pulpit in case they offend? Or are they wrongly principled, imagining that religious truth is categorically different?!
- Vanity (vs 5-12) They love to be centre stage; their devotion to Jesus is mostly theatre. The apostle John warned about such a person – by name! – being preeminent (see 3Jn 1:9) in gatherings. I have come away from several meetings with the sad impression that Jesus necessarily must have shared His glory with the person up front!
- Popery (vs 7-10) They are excessively controlling and thereby inhibit competing narratives from being aired. Certain books, authors and movements are censored rather than refuted. Freedom of enquiry is subtly suppressed. I have been personally denounced for going online to look for theological answers!
- Wilful Ignorance (v13) They are unlearned or else selective in their understanding; they inhabit an echo-chamber which serves to bolster their own false worldview and insulate themselves from all attempts to persuade them to have a change of mind (repent!). They are ‘at ease in Zion’ with a comfortable existence among collaborative sycophants.
- Folly (vs 15-24) They are incapable of rightly dividing the Word of God (2Tim 2:15); they draw wrong conclusions from passages and erroneously stay fixated on one or just a few easy ideas; they are incapable of differentiating between and prioritising concepts all of which ends up projecting a distortion of God’s truth or else a perversion of it.
Let us hear Jesus’ later comments in conclusion, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matt 10:16).
