Copyright © 2007 Ron Schwartz
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What Is A New Testament Church?

Part 4. “Within And Without" 

September 19, 2007

Ron Schwartz

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Try asking a group of people: “What does ‘New Testament’ mean?”   Some will tell you that it is the twenty-seven books of the Bible known as the New Testament.  Others will tell you that it is the dispensation of grace in which we live.  Still others will tell you that it was the time in which Jesus’ original apostles lived.  There will be some who will maintain that it is a church that operates in spiritual gifts, while others will define it as the manifestation of the five-fold ministry among God’s people, or the format of house churches.   The list is almost endless.  There remains a great deal of confusion over this issue.   People tend to define the New Testament in a way that supports their own goals and agendas.  Is there a way to cut through the doctrinal antiquities to discover what God has in mind?

Within And Without

Exodus 25:10-11 KJV

10 And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.

11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.

We know that the tabernacle and its furniture served as “example[s] and shadow[s] of heavenly things (Hebrews 8:5),” “and not the very image of the things (Hebrews 10:1)” that were to come.  So the Ark of the Covenant described here is a “shadow” of the Body of Christ, and the Mercy Seat is a “shadow” of its head, which is Christ.

The Ark was to be overlaid with gold “within and without.”  It was to be the same on the inside as it was on the outside.  By doing this, God was showing us exactly what would differentiate the New Testament from the Old.  God’s plan for His New Testament church is that they be the same on the inside as they are on the outside.

Old Testament law dealt exclusively with the outward appearance and actions taken.  This is why Jesus’ teaching seemed so radical and profound: He taught that the inside was as important as the outside.

Consider His first sermon:

Matthew 5:21-22 KJV

21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill [outward actions]; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry [inside] with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.

Matthew 5:27-28 KJV

27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery [outward actions]:

28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust [inside] after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Paul echoed this when he described the goal of Christian living:

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 KJV

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels [outside], and have not charity [inside], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy [outside], and understand all mysteries [outside], and all knowledge [outside]; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains [outside], and have not charity [inside], I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor [outside], and though I give my body to be burned [outside], and have not charity [inside], it profiteth me nothing.

Both Jesus and Paul explained that in the New Testament, the inside is as important as the outside.  Therefore, whereas the Old Testament dealt with our outward appearance, the New Testament deals with the heart.

Relationship, Not Religion

A supernatural event transpired the moment that Jesus died on the cross.  What was it?  It was NOT the creation of the twenty-seven books of what is today called the New Testament.  It was NOT the outpouring of spiritual gifts.  It was NOT the establishment of the five-fold ministry. 

It was something personal and intimate to God.  The natural man may have witnessed the painful death of an agonized soul in final relief from torment, but to God, the true achievement was much closer to His heart.

Matthew 27:50-51 KJV

50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.

God did not need to rip the veil in two.  Christ’s death on the cross was enough to make a way for mankind to enter into the presence of God.  But in tearing the veil apart, God made an eternal statement to mankind – a statement that could not be ignored.

Now hear what God says about the New Testament:

Hebrews 7:19 KJV

For the law [Old Testament] made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope [New Testament] did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

The purpose of the New Testament was to allow us to approach God and thereby provide us a way to develop a relationship with God.

Hebrews 10:16-20 KJV

16 This is the [New] covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus

20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.

Through the Old Testament, mankind could approach God through carnal rituals.  By renting the veil, God demonstrated that these rituals were no longer necessary.   People can now come to God as they are.  They can know a true relationship with God without the need for religion.  Thus, the New Testament is all about our ability to approach God and have an individual relationship with Him.  It’s about the heart.  It’s not about church, religion, truth, doctrine, spiritual gifts, or the five-fold ministries.  It’s about your personal relationship with God.

Most Christians will never be closer to experiencing the New Testament than when they are first saved.  When a person experiences true salvation, they understand with perfect clarity what the New Testament is all about: their relationship with God.  Nothing is more important to them.  This intimacy with God fans the flames of passion and zeal that drives them into evangelism.

God’s primary aspiration for each of His children is not that they manifest spiritual gifts, understand how to function in the five-ministry, or become knowledgeable in the scripture.  The primary objective God has for each of His children is that they grow close in their relationship with Him.

The apostle Paul echoed this when he wrote:

Philippians 3:7-10 KJV

7 What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection…

The manifestation of spiritual gifts and ministry are not the goals of true New Testament churches and believers.  They are the result.  If you, individually or corporately (i.e., your church), pursue gifts or ministry, you will find religion instead.

New believers don’t need to read books on faith or go to special classes to understand who they are in Christ because it is already apparent to them.  The intimacy of their relationship with God fills their lives.

If you need to read books to “understand” concepts like faith or attend classes in order to feel you are growing spiritually, then you are growing in religion instead.  Maturity in the Spirit cannot be boiled down to a formula that can be taught or a recipe that can be manufactured, because maturing in the spirit is unique to each individual.

Far too many Christian leaders focus on the issues that surround the believer’s relationship with God.  They focus on issues regarding ministry, spiritual development, church, spiritual gifts, and personal development like those regarding faith, love, social and work ethics. These issues are, at best, ancillary to maintaining and developing a relationship with God.  The practice of teaching on topical Christian living often boils down New Testament Christianity into a religion.

Religion is a human attempt to create a relationship with God.  Christian leaders who dissect this relationship and then create a formula for it usually achieve little more than an introduction of their followers to more religion.

You could say that religion evolves when men try to “reverse-engineer” their relationship with God.  When embraced, religion WILL eventually replace a personal relationship with God.

What is religion?

Christians who pursue things like “dying to self,” keeping the law, or other “godly” virtues as a means of spiritual growth will tend toward religion.  In the New Testament, Christians do not grow from the outside in.  They grow from the inside out.

Jesus often taught about a seed planted in the ground and that the ground represented our hearts.  All true spiritual growth comes from the heart, not through religious processes, classes, books, or other intellectual learning and discipline.

Religion divides

Religion is what Christians have when they lose their personal relationship with God.  Religion is what Christians have who enjoy a religious experience but don’t enjoy a relationship with God.

Christians who have embraced religion often love the pursuit of knowledge, and consequently, they love to debate and argue with other Christians.  This is because, first of all, religion breeds division.  You can witness this hate in the major conflicts that plague this world, which are usually about religion (i.e., the Muslim’s hatred toward Jews and Christians).  You can see it in the way churches cannot unite in a common goal to win the world.  What separates God’s people is religion.  The degree of division that exists among Christians is a testimony to the degree of religion and coldness that infects contemporary churches.

1 Kings 3:16-27 KJV

16 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.

17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.

18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.

19 And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it.

20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.

22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.

23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.

24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.

25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.

26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.

27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.

Institutional pastors are not the “real mother.”  They are fakes who are trying to steal what does not belong to them.  Because of them, the Body of Christ has been divided and split up among them.  It lies on the ground bleeding to death because, like the false mother in this passage, institutional churches/ministries are more concerned with getting their own part of the Body of Christ than in seeing that it remains healthy and alive.   These men are not practicing or teaching the New Testament.  They are peddling religion.

Religion is preoccupied with education and learning.  It seeks to develop the intellect instead of the relationship.  If you are knowledgeable in the scriptures and are able to advise and console others but no longer burn in passion in your relationship with God or for the lost, then you have become swallowed up in religion.

Religion pursues “self” fulfillment

Religion is an addiction to “self” fulfillment.  It creates an appetite for “self” that cannot be satisfied.  Religion can never give life because it pursues intellectual knowledge instead of repentance and a broken spirit.   Religion is an unquenchable thirst.  Instead of being wells of life-giving water, religion pursues those wells.

Churches that peddle religion are completely focused on the “religious experience” of those who attend.  They emphasize the worship and teaching experience.  They attempt to keep your attention with a fast-paced service of great music, an entertaining sermon, and a comfortable environment.  When people leave, they are intellectually stimulated but not spiritually changed.  That’s why their religious encounter doesn’t even last them to the end of the day before they are in need of more.  These believers have sacrificed their relationships with God for a religious experience.

A relationship with God creates within Christians a passion for evangelism.  Those who have a relationship with God are already “self” fulfilled and are therefore driven, compelled, to share their fulfillment with others.  Religion, on the other hand, creates a need for “self” fulfillment, and consequently, a loss of focus and unconcern for the lost.  Few churches in the West have any passion for evangelism.  They are consumed with providing “fulfillment” to Christians.

True spiritual fulfillment can only come from a relationship with God.  The fulfillment that institutional churches/ministries provide is only religion.  Christians were meant to come together ALREADY FULFILLED to form a bonfire of passion.  Instead, contemporary Christians come together to try to get their charred embers to, at best, smolder a bit.

Religion creates consumers

Most food distributors learned long ago that placing salt, fat, and sugar in food creates people who are overweight, which in turn creates a craving in these people for more of their food.  Since the number of consumers is a fixed number, they know that in order to get greater consumption of their goods, food distributors must create consumers who consume more.

This is essentially what religion does.  It transforms Christians from givers into consumers.  And since the number of practicing Christians seems to be relatively fixed (in the West, anyway), churches seek to draw consumer Christians to them by giving them more and more to consume.  Rather than being servants, they look for a place where they can be served. Christians in institutional churches choose churches based on where they can get the most to consume.  When service becomes their motivation, then the place that provides the best service will win.  All institutional churches are little more than service providers for consumer Christians.  They have little or no concern for the lost.  Their focus is on creating Christian consumers and getting as many as they can for themselves.

Religion is institution

Religion is synonymous with institution.  Religion and institution are man’s attempt to create a recipe for service to God.  Religion is mechanical and therefore replete with duty and obligation.  Religion has to do with what we give and receive, whereas a relationship with God has to do with what we are.  Tithing is an example of this.  Churches that teach tithing as an obligation to God and those Christians who practice it are in religion.  True Christians, those who have a relationship with God, give far more of themselves and their assets than the mere 3 - 5% that most churches require.  They don’t do it out of any sense of obligation but out of the overabundance of spiritual life in their hearts.

All through Christian history, men have dissected each “movement” and “revival” of God and sought to create a recipe for how and why it occurred.  Each time you create a formula or a series of steps for spiritual things, you have created institution.

Consider the New Testament portion of the scriptures.  Many people have deified it.  Yet during the greatest achievements of Christian history (the First Century), it did not exist.  The gospels and epistles were written over a period of forty to fifty years.  Many of the Christian groups of this era never saw a single letter.  Yet they grew, flourished, and overcame the world with unbridled ferocity.  But following this era, Christians collected these letters, institutionalized them, and eventually worshipped them.  The deification of the scripture is something God never intended.  He never intended the scripture (or any other writing) to become a replacement for a relationship with Him.

The same holds true for ministry, spiritual gifts, the church, and even music.  Each of these spiritual things has over time become institutionalized.  Today Christianity has reached a point where everything that has to do with our Christian life has become institutionalized, even our faith.  Everything has been boiled down to a system, a recipe, a right way and a wrong way.  Consider what it is that Christians fight and argue about.  Isn’t it simply institution?  Isn’t it about who is right and who is wrong about how things are done?

Religion requires conformity

It would be interesting to get Abraham, Moses, and David together and ask them, “How is God worshipped?” If these men were like the Christian leaders of today an argument would erupt.  Abraham would say, “By faith.”  Moses would argue, “But faith without works is dead.  Therefore you must obey Him.”  David would interject, “No.  You’re missing it.  It’s through passion and zeal.”

The truth is that God preserves a unique relationship with each of His children and each of them are at a different place in their journey with Him.  God demonstrates this in nature.  Variety is the law of creation (some studies suggest that there many be as many as 10,000 different species of cockroaches alone).  Nature is dressed with every color imaginable.  This variety does not breed confusion, but beauty. 

People who are wrapped up in religion do not understand the nature of God’s relationship with His children.  They have taken their relationship with God, boiled it down into a system (or religion), and conclude that their way is the way to worship God.  That is conformity, and conformity is religion.  

Religion requires conformity whereas a relationship with God accepts variety. 

Children often rebel and reject Christianity because all their parents ever demonstrated to them was religion by forced conformity, rather than offering them a relationship with God.  These children often grow up never able to see the distinction between religion and a true relationship with God.

We are often amazed at Christian leaders who try to block the advances of Christian music in their churches.  Do these Christian leaders plan to live forever?  The youth and their music that they try so hard to oppress will one day be the leaders of their church.  What do they think they are accomplishing by holding them back?

Conformity is the illusion of righteousness.  It is nothing more than Old Testament religion.

It is the enforcement of outward control, but it can never bring conformity and control of the spirit.  You can force your children and the members of your church to conform outwardly, but you cannot change their spirit.  What they are on the inside is what really matters, and no amount of control and conformity can affect it.  Consequently, all you have power over in the lives of others is their Old Testament religion.  When it comes to matters of the heart – the New Testament – well, that area belongs exclusively to God.

Conclusion

Change and transformation is not an art that can be boiled down to an intellectual design.  Even though it is taught that way.  Thousands of books, tapes, sermons, and classes are produced annually to try to teach people how to overcome their sin and weakness.  But this is NOT transformation.  It is self-discipline.  It’s the same as an alcoholic disciplining himself to stay away from alcohol.  Christians who pursue a method for change learn to become more disciplined in their lives.  But they are not transformed.  These methods focus on death, or dying to self.  But there is no stairway to heaven.  Self-discipline does NOT get you closer to God.

Far too many Christian leaders are preoccupied with death.  Most of their messages have to do with dying to self.  But the message of the New Testament is about life and living.  That is to say that no amount of self-discipline or dying to self can bring about transformation.  Spiritual transformation is the work of the Holy Spirit.  We die to self when we repent, but that is not transformation.  Transformation can only occur when “mortality [is] swallowed up of life (2 Corinthians 5:4).”  We are transformed, not through our own self-inflicted efforts at crucifixion but through our relationship with God.

Transformation ALWAYS comes through repentance.  When a Christian first experiences true salvation, it is through repentance.  Why would Christians believe it would be any different once saved?  Transformation remains the same.

Repentance is not simply an apology.  Repentance is a decision that we make with our hearts.  It’s when we say with determination, “From now on, it’s going to be different.  From now on, I’m no longer going to be the same.”  It is this decision, coupled with true remorse and asking for forgiveness and help from God, that releases His transformational power.   Repentance is a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit.

Are you interested in changing?  Are you interested in growing closer to God?  Then all you need is but to repent.  If you feel the need for change or a closer relationship with God, this means that there are obstacles between you and God.  Books, sermons, and special classes will do nothing to remove these obstacles.  You need to truly repent.  Only then will you sense the loving forgiveness and closeness you desire.  Only then will your spiritual life be revitalized and your prayers renewed.

The recipes and methods you hear preached on how to serve God usually tend to be religion.  This is because relationships are far too dynamic and spontaneous to be defined into a procedure.  Try to imagine what your relationships with your spouse and children would be like if it was little more than process and procedure.  You’d learn very quickly that process and procedure is the death of relationship because they replace relationship.  Consequently, Christians who have an intellectual approach to their Christian lives have a cloudy view of their spiritual priorities.  They don’t understand what the New Testament is, and they are usually wrapped up in religion.  Christians who think that the New Testament is the Bible, spiritual gifts, ministry, or the format of church are wrapped up in religion.  They have institutionalized their faith, and when they do that, their priorities tend to become skewed.

What makes up a New Testament church is New Testament Christians.  One reason we fail to see the type of church that the First Century Christians knew is because Christians since then have institutionalized their faith.  They are practicing intellectually what they believe to be a New Testament faith, when it is, in reality, little more than living an Old Testament life.

The Old Testament dealt with the outside.  Consequently, process and procedure were important (e.g., God told Moses, “See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount (Hebrews 8:5).”).  Christian leaders and churches that focus on process and procedure are NOT New Testament but Old.

In the Old Testament, people approached God through following the “process” of the Tabernacle and Temple.  But God is no longer there.  The process for growing closer to God no longer works.  All that these processes can achieve now is religion.

A true New Testament church does not focus on processes, but on each believer’s individual relationship with God.  A true New Testament church does not exemplify the five-fold ministry or spiritual gifts.  These come out of our relationship with God.  They must not define it.  Christian leaders who exemplify their ministry or their gifts are wrapped up in religion.  They will distract you from what is really important.  Therefore, in a true New Testament church, there is no distinction of “ministry” or “laity.”  It does not exist.  There are no lines separating Christian leaders from the congregation because spirituality is not weighed by so-called “gifts” and “ministry” but by a personal relationship with God.

Institutionalizing faith is religion.  It desires to boil everything down to a recipe, a guideline, a process.  If this describes you, then you need to repent and do the first works again.  If your priorities seem skewed, if understanding what the New Testament is seems cloudy, if you are burdened by all the spiritual/religious things that you are supposed to be doing, then you are living in the Old Testament.  You must learn again (like you did when you were first saved) what it means to have a personal relationship with God.

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