Copyright © 2007 Ron Schwartz
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A Better Way

December 10, 2002

From Ron Schwartz

The Second Law of Thermodynamics

Any scholar of the Creation Theory is probably familiar with the Second Law of Thermodynamics.  This law states that open systems tend toward entropy, or a state of maximum disorder.  In other words, things don’t get better, they tend to get worse, they wear out or wear down, they disperse and run out of energy.   This is contrary to evolution, which is built on the premise that nature tends to evolve into ever-greater levels of complexity and order.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics applies to everything in our natural universe, because everything tends toward disorder.  There is one exception to this rule: life.  Jesus described this when He said:

Matthew 13:31-32 KJV

31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:

32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

Life begins as a single cell and grows into a complex organism of systems and organs that work together in harmony and balance.  Life tends toward harmony and order.   Our spiritual lives are to follow this example.  We should grow from a spiritual babe to a mature adult in the Lord, and so should churches.   Why, then, do churches tend toward disorder?  Why, then, do many people begin with fiery devotion and service to God, only to move toward spiritual immaturity?  Why do many churches begin with a fiery passion, with people on fire with the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts, telling the Good News to everyone around them, just to regress into immaturity - becoming nothing more than an audience listening to a speaker?   When we survey Christianity in the West, we find people and churches tending toward disorder and immaturity.  It is an indication that Western Christianity is following the order of this universe rather than the Spirit.

The good news is that there is a better way than the traditionally accepted practices normally associated with the New Testament churches.  These traditional practices are not New Testament at all but how we have instituted it.

The New Testament and the Institution of the New Testament

First of all, what is the New Testament?  The New Testament is the gospel of Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 KJV

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

The New Testament is realized in our lives as we partake in the gospel:

 - Through repentance, we partake of His death.

 - In baptism, we partake of His burial.

 - In the Holy Spirit, we partake of His resurrection.

 - Then through His Spirit, we live a life of power (Acts 1:8).

Everything else that we attach to the New Testament is institution.

Peter summarized the New Testament this way:

Acts 2:38 KJV

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Consider the Old Covenant.  God gave it to Moses in the form of a moral code, a tabernacle, feasts and sacrifices, and a priesthood.   He recorded it all in a few books. But Moses didn’t record God’s rationale for these laws.  Consequently, the purpose for this law became a mystery.

Eventually Moses died, another generation came and went, and then another and another.  Over time, questions arose concerning the law, and religious leaders were left to their own imaginations regarding the meaning of the laws.  Take a single commandment from the original ten: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8).”  What did God mean by this?  Over the course of time, volumes were written and new laws were created to better define it.  This continued until the day the Son of God was born.  By then, so many volumes had been written about this one law that now over a thousand new laws existing to define it.  Over the course of time, the distinction between the laws created by these leaders and those originally given by God began to blur.  Eventually, the laws created by men carried the same weight (or more) as the original law given by God. When Jesus arrived, He faced a religious institution created by men that had all but replaced the original Covenant. Jesus’ refusal to recognize that institution eventually led to His being labeled a heretic.

Today, we face many of the same challenges.  We have New Covenant scripture, but the authors of it have long since died.   And like the Jewish leaders during the time of Christ, we have two thousand years worth of Christian teaching and commentary to address every aspect of these scriptures.  It has grown into an institution that has, in many respects, replaced the New Testament that it was written to support.

Separating Fact From Fiction

Remember, New Testament life is to experience conversion and a life empowered by the Holy Spirit.  Read the red - the words of Jesus – and you will find it conspicuously missing the teaching of doctrine and traditions like head coverings, tithing, church membership, ordination of leaders, masses, liturgy, and other forms of the institution we have created.   His teaching revolved around discipleship, character, and lifestyle.  His teaching assumes that a convert would tend toward spiritual maturity, which is typically not what we find today.  His teaching was all about experiencing and living the New Testament as opposed to practicing or imitating it.  And as for a law, you will find only this:

Matthew 22:37-40 KJV

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

To understand the extent to which institution has replaced experience, one need look no further than the preparation of students by Bible colleges and seminaries.  Their focus is on student academics and preparing them to be experts in the knowledge of languages and translations rather than focusing on God and their relationship with Him.  Knowledge is based on assumptions, and it can never replace experience.

We find an example of this in Peter’s first sermon.  He had been taught all about the Holy Spirit, but he did not preach on it until he experienced it.  He said (essentially), “Now I understand.  …This [the outpouring of the Holy Spirit they were experiencing] is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit (Acts 2:16-17).”  It was not the three years of Jesus’ teaching that qualified Peter for ministry (like we find in most Bible schools) or gave him understanding of the scripture but experiencing the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.  Consequently, without experiencing what the New Testament authors experienced, we can never truly understand what they meant in their writings.

Many Christian leaders are missing the element of experience.   They have far too much knowledge and education, knowledge that is based on error (assumption), that is based on error, and that is based on error.   We must follow the example of Jesus.  He did not try to build on the work of a thousand years of Jewish writing.  When He taught, He simply went back to the beginning and started there.

Matthew 19:4-8 KJV

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

Here Jesus completely dismisses a thousand years of teaching and doctrine and simply goes back to the beginning.  Jesus never tried to build on their institution.  We must follow His example.  If we are to understand the New Testament, we must be willing to set aside two thousand years of Christian institution, teaching, and doctrine to go back and experience what they experienced.  Only after we experience what they experienced will we be able to speak with authority as did Peter, “this is that…”

Today, like the religious establishment that Jesus faced, most Christian leaders have misconstrued the institution of the New Testament for the New Testament.  Consider the following examples:

Christian Leaders

Most Christians have experienced free flowing Bible studies.   Many Christians have been part of a Bible study (gathering) that continued to grow in size until it became a church.   The freedom and growth that people experience in the beginning is magnetic.  It draws people from everywhere.  The growth in attendance is sometimes explosive.   All this happens (usually) before the institution sets in.

Eventually, people (as well as the informal leaders) begin to ask, “Shouldn’t there be elders?  Shouldn’t there be deacons?  Shouldn’t we have a pastor?”  This is where people begin to misconstrue the institution of the New Testament for the New Testament.   In reality, the institution of leaders has very little to do with the New Testament.   We create them simply because we read in the scripture that they did.  And we think that we are supposed to imitate them.   This is not the case at all.

When we “go back to the beginning” and understand the natural evolution of the New Testament through the book of Acts, we find that the establishment of leadership was not something that anyone was in a hurry to set in place.   The original seven deacons (Acts 6:1-6) were put in place only to address the issues that food and supplies were not being distributed equally, not because it was part of New Testament living.  These original deacons were part of an institution to aid the church.  This was not a mark of spiritual maturity.  This form of institution should be put in place only to address a need and not to imitate New Testament practices. 

Also, consider the epistle of Titus.  Titus was sent back to the churches in Crete that were already established and operating (without elders and deacons).  Titus was instructed to ordain elders.  Paul having evangelized Crete over the course of (perhaps) years was only then (upon his leaving) sending Titus to ordain elders.  It was NOT at the top of his list.  It was the last thing on his list.

Instead of understanding why elders were appointed, most churches blindly imitate it.  They ordain elders and deacons simply because they believe that imitating first century Christianity will provide us the same experience.   But experience must come first.  These churches in Crete faced many challenges that we do not face today.   Most of these churches had little access to scripture and about the only scripture that existed was the Old Testament.  Few people in these churches had educational backgrounds as they came from an agrarian culture.  These churches may have had to operate on their own for years before Paul could come back through or send someone to them.  They had virtually no communication with larger and more mature churches to ask questions or receive advice.  They were isolated, alone, and vulnerable.  In many ways, the ordaining of elders and deacons was to shore up for the lack of New Testament scripture.  These elders represented institution, not maturity.

Too often, institution is seen as a mark of maturity, but it’s just the opposite.  Many Christians consider a large church with an established hierarchy of power to be a mature church.  In reality, it is a very immature church.  In spiritually mature churches, everyone tends to enter leadership roles.  Why do you need elders when everyone is an elder?  Why do you need the institution of pastors when everyone is pastoring, or teachers when everyone can teach?  The “need” for formal leaders diminishes as spiritual maturity increases.  Therefore, as churches tend toward maturity, institution should likewise diminish.   We must be careful that we do not become imitators of New Testament institution simply because we think that is what we are supposed to do.

Let’s go back to the topic of a Bible study.  Unstructured Bible studies can be places of great synergy.  Christians with different ideas and backgrounds often come together and challenge one another.  As a result, they can promote tremendous spiritual growth and development even though most of the people are already members of some area church.   So how is it possible that spiritual maturity can come about from something that has virtually no New Testament institution?   Because true growth occurs from the Spirit of God, not from institution.  Institution is a necessary evil only to shore up for spiritual immaturity.  It is not maturity.  It is a mark of immaturity.

In many respects, the early time spent as a Bible study (before leaders are ordained) is the most spiritually mature and productive time that a church will ever know.   This is because as institution grows in that church, the congregation becomes more and more subdued and immature until eventually it is nothing more than an audience.   The only real spiritual development that occurs then is with the leaders.  Why do Christian leaders grow spiritually?  Because they are free from the institution that they place over their congregations.  If congregations are to grow in maturity, they must have the same freedom from institution that the leaders enjoy.

Let’s be clear about this: nowhere in the teachings of Jesus did He ever suggest that His followers would demonstrate obedience to any institution or person other than Him.   Jesus always referenced His disciples as followers of Him.  Jesus explained why when He said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other (Matthew 6:24).”   When you create institution, you put people in a position to “serve two masters.”  While that may be necessary when they are babes in the Lord, it cannot remain that way if they are to mature.   Leaders who exercise “rule” are the mark of the most immature condition of a church.  It speaks of carnal people who have experienced little or no life in the Spirit.

Think of it this way:  do school teachers have a purpose?  Yes, of course.  Then why aren’t we all still under them?  The answer is simple: we have matured and grown.  They are no longer necessary.  The institution they represent is no longer necessary.  Why, then, should we assume that New Testament institutions like elders and deacons are permanent?  Shouldn’t we grow out from under them?

That is what Paul meant when he wrote:

Galatians 4:1-2 KJV

1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

1 Corinthians 13:11 KJV

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

There is a time to be a child, and there is a time to grow up.   It has been two thousand years.  Let’s grow up and put away childish things.

Sacred Cows

What about head coverings, Christ“masses,” Sabbath observance, tithing, membership, etc.?

What about head coverings?  Are they not a form of institution?   Does anyone really believe that placing a cloth upon a woman’s head promotes spiritual maturity?   If not, then why do it?  Once again, we must not imitate it just because we find some obscure passage regarding it.  We have no idea what Paul was dealing with at the time of this writing. Perhaps he was trying to get a congregation of believers who were raised in a pagan culture to understand family values or to develop a respect for authority.  We do not know the issues he faced or his reason for this instruction to this particular congregation.  Therefore, unless and until something is understood, it should not be imitated.

What about tithing?  Every Bible student knows that tithing was a national tax imposed upon the Hebrews to finance the work of the priesthood.  Christian leaders claim to be the New Testament priesthood and insist that their members lawfully obey tithing to support them.  But nowhere in the New Testament does the scripture ever suggest that Christians owe God only ten percent.  We are God’s slaves, and as such, we owe Him everything.  The example Jesus gave of the Good Samaritan demonstrates that God expects us to give whatever is necessary to help those in need.   Christian leaders have replaced this teaching with their own law, a law of tithing, to insure that money is directed toward them to finance their ministries instead of the needy where it belongs.

Membership is another institution that was invented by Christian leaders to contractually obligate people to pay membership dues (tithing) and to support and comply with their ministry.  It was invented to insure that people would direct their finances to them instead of the poor as Jesus taught and demonstrated.  An example of how institutions like this have come to replace New Testament teaching can be found in a sixteen-year-old boy I know who was recently asked to leave a church because he refused to become a member or to give just 10%.  Ministers like this are so consumed in self-interest and self-benefit that they have forgotten that ministry is about serving others, as the parable of the “Lost Sheep” demonstrates.  Consider how far Christian leaders have fallen when the souls of those for whom our Savior died take a backseat to their ministries?   Ministries like this are those whom Jesus was talking about when He said that they “devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation (Mark 12:40).”  I call them “ministries,” but are they?  Ministries are supposed to serve others, not themselves.   Look into the six signs of a cult.  You will find very little difference (if any) between churches like this and cults.

Describing one of these ministries, one dear sister wrote the following:

“…The most extreme case was with a pastor who refused to minister to my atheistic father who was dying of cancer; he told his wife to tell me that 'my dad's blood was on my hands'.  Hum, interesting way to put the responsibility of brotherly love.  Another time, this pastor got hot-headed and physically threatening when after my father died, he found out the very day after we buried him, that our inheritance was small.  He then insisted I sue my mother...and again when he found out that I immediately packed my bags to move out of town (to get away from this man), he quickly made his move to keep his reputation, told the church I was moving without his blessings and therefore, he 'marked' me with the instructions that if anyone spoke one word to me and he found out, they would also be brought in front the church and marked also.  Need I say after 4 yrs. of making many friends, only 2 people 'disobeyed' and spoke to me! ... I had to be a member of the church for at least one year …To have a minister hold a funeral for my baby, I had to have my tithing on record as proof.  Because my husband didn't want to pay tithe to any church, I gave very little; therefore a missionary was assigned to say the funeral who we didn't know nor know his beliefs(and I might add he said some shocking things!)” 

These things are the marks of cults, not Christian churches.  Can anyone really see Jesus endorsing this kind of behavior, passing out membership cards, or requiring people to pay tithe in order to receive healing?  Christian leader, I beseech you to consider from where you have fallen.

There are many other sacred cows in various sects of Christianity.  Most of these practices and traditions have become more sacred than a believer’s own conversion experience.  Sacred cows are only important to the Christian leader and are nothing more than institution.  How is it that Christian leaders have come to believe that tithing and membership are more important than a person’s relationship with God?  They aren’t.  They are important only to Christian leaders for their own purposes, not God’s.  God cares about a person’s heart, whereas too many Christian leaders are concerned about their finances and ministries.  As we saw with the sixteen-year-old boy I mentioned earlier, they will sacrifice anyone who gets in their way.  Remember, anything outside of a person’s relationship with God is just a sacred cow.

Conclusion

Everything other than our conversion and life in the Spirit of God is institution.   I am not saying that other things are unnecessary, but I am saying that there is a limit to how much and for how long institution can help.  We are suppose to grow up and out from under “tutors and governors.”  We are not meant to be under them forever.  So grow!

The Second Law of Thermodynamics illustrates to us that no creation of man tends toward maturity, harmony, and order (unity).  It tends toward entropy (a breaking down, disorganization, failure).  Therefore, we cannot assume that today’s Christian institution is growing us toward spiritual perfection.   We know that it is not.  Christian churches in the West are the most spiritually immature and apostate of any church ever.

Rather than imitate the New Testament authors, we must experience what they experienced.  Only then will we free ourselves from cheap imitations and come to understand their words.  Jesus drew a picture of spiritual maturity (free of institution) in the following:

John 3:5-8 KJV

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

And,

John 4:21-24 KJV

21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

This is the purity of the New Testament we must find – completely free from the influences of men’s institution, driven only by the Holy Spirit.  Here we find that maturity is NOT growing into a ministry such as an apostle or a prophet.  It is in experiencing life in the Holy Spirit, not simply copying what we read.   Let’s shed the mantle of pretense in New Testament institutions like the manufacturing of a New Testament leadership and see it for what it really is: a product of our assumptions and imitations.  Spiritual life is free of traditions, layers of leadership, and other forms of institution.   Do not create leadership and sacred cows just because you find it described in the scripture.   If you have not experienced it, then do not try to create it.

Are you part of a group of believers?  Do not seek to create institution simply because you want to copy something which was done two thousand years ago.   Instead, encourage people to experience life in the Holy Spirit.

Have you been churched your entire life and seen its end?  Have you experienced first hand the abuse of pastoral authority?  Have you witnessed questions turn into assumptions, turn into doctrine, turn into law, and eventually become the institution that every one serves?  I have good news for you.   There is a better way!  It is to experience the life of the New Testament instead of practicing or imitating it.   It is to be real instead of a fake Christian.  Shed from yourself the institution and go back to the beginning.  Experience what the New Testament believers experienced for yourself.  Stop reading about it!   Stop buying books that dissect it!  Start living it!  This is a better way.