“But I have this against you: you have lost the love you had at first. Therefore, remember where you were before you fell, turn from this sin, and do what you used to do before. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your menorah from its place — if you don’t turn from your sin!”-Revelations 1:4-5
Let’s take a look at the first Messianic community Yeshua called out as being in danger of having their relationship with God permanently severed.
I’m talking about the congregation in Ephesus.
So what was the big gripe against this community?
To put it simply, they had lost their first love…
God was no longer a priority in their lives.
As a result, we’re told they fell into great sin and became derailed from their true mission to serve God.
Now if you ask me, this type of community is the most common one.
I call them them Saturday or Sunday social clubs…
Because schmoozing with others is the main objective.
Sure, during the “worship service” the attendees will say prayers and read Scripture.
But it’s all a bunch of superficial window dressing…
Nothing being done is Holy Spirit inspired…
Everyone’s just going through the motions until coffee time comes around…
Which is the real reason they’re there anyway.
So they can show off their kids…
Talk about how successful they’re doing in their corporate jobs…
And show everyone around them just how “socially approved” they are.
How can you tell if you’re attending a congregation like this?
FIRST, the sermons will be boring as all hell…
And more often than not, the sermons aren’t even based on Scripture at all.
Which makes sense, because a congregation like this doesn’t even hold to the fidelity of Scripture anymore.
The Bible is just held up as a decoration to superficially show the world “Hey, we’re a church who believes in God and the Bible”.
SECOND, the unspoken rule is to never say anything that might offend someone or be considered divisive.
Again, the reason is because social harmony must be maintained at all costs…
And we don’t wanna hurt anybody’s feelings…
Because they might not come back again…
And keep the tithing basket full.
Of course this goes against the clear command in the Scriptures to call out the wicked.
Take a look at some of these choice verses I handpicked for you.
“Better is open rebuke than hidden love.”
-Proverbs 27:5
“As for those who persist in sin,
rebuke them in the presence of all,
so that the rest may stand in fear.”
-1 Timothy 5:20
“For what have I to do
with judging outsiders?
Is it not those inside the church
whom you are to judge?”
-1 Corinthians 5:12
There’s a ton more Scripture I could post but I think you get the idea.
Let’s move on.
The THIRD and final characteristic of these social club type congregations is that inwardly they detest the outcasts and those who society considers losers.
The lonely single people who have no families…
The broke and poor…
Those with physical handicaps…
Like the deaf or lame…
Those with poor social skills…
Those who are from a minority group and speak with a thick accent…
And in a Messianic Congregation, those who are not ethnically Jewish…
In fact, I knew a guy who was only a quarter Jewish from his grandmother on his father’s side…
And he thought he was the bomb simply because of the quarter Jewish blood flowing through his veins…
I could just feel the condescending vibes seething out of his very being towards me because of my gentile background.
I thought it was quite comical to be honest with you.
I mean the guy was completely ignoring the 75% of gentile blood he was composed of.
Or I used to know another dude who’s a gentile…
But because he’s married to a Jewish lady and has children with her, he considers himself to be God’s gift to the Messianic world or something…
Like the Almighty Himself has elevated him above every other gentile on the planet…
Well, in this guy’s case, I sometimes think he thinks he’s been elevated above every other human being in our whole solar system and possibly other galaxies far away as well…
And no, it ain’t just me…
Because I know several other people who have felt the VERY SAME WAY about this guy.
Again, it’s comical as all hell because it’s so obvious he thinks he’s better than everybody else simply by virtue of the fact he’s married to an ethnically Jewish woman.
Anyways, the bottomline is although they’ll never in a million years admit it, members of the Saturday and Sunday social club congregations despise and look down on anyone who they deem as not being a part of their “cool club”.
Never mind the fact that Yeshua had no qualms about chillin’ with the prostitutes, the tax collectors, and those who had contracted TZARAT (“lepers” is a mistaken translation folks).
So let me just finish up by asking you…
Can you resonate with any of this?
Have you ever attended a congregation like this?
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Anyways, the next time we meet we’ll be taking a good look at the congregation in Smyrna.
Shalom.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“My brothers and sisters,
practice your faith in our glorious
Lord Messiah Yeshua by not favoring
one person over another.
For example, two men
come to your worship service.
One man is wearing gold rings
and fine clothes; the other man,
who is poor, is wearing shabby clothes.
Suppose you give special attention
to the man wearing fine clothes
and say to him, “Please have a seat.”
But you say to the poor man,
“Stand over there,” or
“Sit on the floor at my feet.”
Aren’t you discriminating
against people and using a corrupt
standard to make judgments?”
-James 2:1-4
“Truly I tell you,
the tax collectors and
the prostitutes are
entering the kingdom
of God ahead of you.”
-Matthew 21:31
Can we have a zoom meeting at some stage!! Completely agree with everything you say!!!Veronica England
Many years ago, I was in leadership training in a Pentecostal church. I believe the Lord let me rest there for 9 years to allow me to watch how the 5 pastors & their wifes were behind the scene’s. The one thing that has me horrified to this day is:
We collected good clothing for children. We had a lady in the congregation that was slow minded, not the best in personal hygiene. She had 2 adorable little girls. I was looking over the clothing with one of the Pastors wife. I mentioned this dress is idea for little (lady’s daughter). The Pastors wife went through all those clothes and made the comment to me that (that Lady’s) children will not dress better than her children !!!!!!! Now she had a husband who not only was a Pastor but had a glass/window business also. The poor lady had no husband, on welfare, food stamps but a loving thoughtful wonderful mother to her children. We had a lot of children in that congregation as we also had a preschool, christian academy, daycare etc. So we had stuff for kids all the time going on. SHe always brought her kids as things were free and it gave her children some fun and perhaps a meal, a prize, etc. I can never get her out of my head and what that Pastors wife said. And the hateful way she said it too. ANyway thought i’d share.
Definitely, I don’t attend churches anymore as I want to be true to myself and Yahveh. But sadly most churches (unless something is different these days) are that social club that have all the answers, none of the glory and God’s on a stop watch. And if your in sin they just pat you on the back like, “it’s ok He loves you”. No freedom in that, the truth sets us free and sadly the leaders see a miracle praying for a headache when they should bring looking for the healing and restoration of all unto His name/Standard/Torah/Light etc.but these leaders don’t truly have it themselves how can they give to others what they don’t have?