The 2024 presidential race is running at full steam — the U.S. is crumbling at its very foundations, with people blowing it up with dynamite and burning its institutions — there’s upheaval and violence all over the West. And how are many believers in the Lord Jesus responding? By saying that we need to restore the “Christian” foundations of our society and government institutions. And largely the way that evangelicals think this will be best accomplished is by supporting conservative political campaigns and organizations that are taking political and legal actions to oppose liberalism and progressivism. But are these issues the most important and pressing for the body of Jesus in North America? Is the great crisis for the household of God the impending destruction of conservative values and republican governments? Will the U.S. be saved by the people of God striving to build up Christian organizations, institutions, societies, and governments? I contend that the remedies that unbelieving North Americans and Westerners need for their deplorable depravity, blind ignorance, and foolish insanity are not going to be found in building conservative communities, nor in managing successful “Christian” businesses, nor most of all in producing governments that are aligned with Christian principles. Why? Because the greatest problems that the Lord’s assembly are facing aren’t found in the self-hating world, but among ourselves. If judgment must begin with the household of God, then so too must reformation and revival (see 1 Peter 4).

Now, I’m by no means denying that western civilization is burning to the ground as we message back and forth on the Web. And I’m not saying that believers shouldn’t encourage Christian conservative principles, lifestyles, organizations, and institutions. Nor am I implying that we shouldn’t be involved in politics in any way. No — I’m saying that the greatest hope for the souls of Americans and westerners lies not in conservatism, republicanism, or Americanism. Rather, the greatest hope for westerners is possessed by the only community that has true hope — the body of Christ. What did Jesus call His disciples? He called us “the salt of the earth,” “the light of the world,” and “a city on a hill” (Mt. 5). If we truly want to see sinners become at least outwardly saintly, then we need to be salty, light-giving, and strong. But most of our congregations are ignorantly, or even proudly, decaying, dim, and crumbling.

So, what are the problems I’m talking about? One major example is the huge emphasis American Christians place on being patriotic Americans, rather than brotherly saints. They implicitly manifest their inordinate devotion to being American as being on an equal level or greater than their devotion to their eternal and spiritual brothers and sisters. Some would rather choose to talk about the horrible qualities of the progressive candidate than the spiritual condition of a brother’s family life. Others are so zealous to support campaign fundraisers, or attend political rallies, when they could be inviting a brother or sister over for dinner, or going out with some brethren to preach the gospel of salvation. In short, North American Christians, and especially American Christians, are far too American and politically-minded, and far less Christian, saintly, and heavenly-minded than they ought to be. What did the Lord say about His kingdom? That it’s “not of this world,” but is heavenly (Jn. 18:36). We aren’t mainly citizens of nations, but of heaven, and ambassadors of the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12; Rev. 21). We are aliens and sojourners in this world, not at home here (1 Pe. 2). Sadly, a huge number of believers think that their comfortable American practices and lifestyles are at least as important as the heavenly and spiritual integrity of their and their churches’ Christian walks. And yet, each Sunday they gather with their church, they see the signs of besetting sins, glaring errors, and false beliefs all around them. Not to mention the fact that most of them don’t even know those with whom they gather.

So, I’ve said that there are more important problems with Christians than with our western nations. What are they? I’ll content myself with describing only a few of the major ones, which most western believers don’t recognize as problems. First, we have unbiblical attitudes toward the believers we regularly meet with. Second, we have unbiblical views of the Bibles that are in our church buildings. And third, we have unbiblical beliefs about the New Testament’s purposes for the weekly gathering of the saints.

That Person is Your Spiritual Sibling, Not Your Fellow Club Member

One of the most grievous errors that western Christians make in their whole worldview is that they have a depressingly low view of their brethren in Jesus. Evangelical Christianity has become so consumeristic, self-centered, business-oriented, and impersonal, that most evangelicals view their fellow church members as little more than participants in the same club. Oh, I know most of them would claim that they treat them as brothers and sisters, but this claim isn’t usually matched by actions that show it.

How can we, who all possess the very same life and love of God within us through the Spirit, interact with each other without much more than a short conversation about work, or a vague description of how the week went? And the sad part is, most evangelicals don’t even go this far in their conversations with fellow believers in their congregations. This is almost the exact opposite of how the apostles again and again describe the relationships between believers in the New Testament.

Just to list a few passages in this regard, Paul enjoins,

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love . . .” (Ro. 12:10a)

Peter — “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently . . .” (1 Pe. 1:22)

John — “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 Jn. 3:16)

And what is the basis again of this love we are to have for one another? I think Paul sums it up as well as any other passage in Ephesians 4:

“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called; with all humility and gentleness, with patience, tolerating one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.”

Note the fantastic realities that we have in common:

  1. We all possess the Holy Spirit living inside of us!
  2. We all are parts of the same body of Jesus!
  3. We’ve all been called to be holy children of God!
  4. We all have the same Lord!
  5. We all have the same essential faith!
  6. We’ve all been baptized (i.e. immersed) in the same way into Jesus!
  7. We all have the same Father, and therefore all have the same primary affection, desire, and delight — to please Him!

If we have all these things in common, how can we not treat one another as actual brethren in God’s family? Sadly, the answer is that most of our assemblies make ample provision for the selfishness, pride, and foolishness of our flesh regarding our relationships.

The first main hindrance to our brotherly love and care for one another is the popular view of the “church”. Most view it as an organization, rather than a community. We meet on various occasions to accomplish impersonal, and formal goals. And our churches exist to accomplish these goals. In contrast, the New Testament envisions the body of Jesus mostly as a family. Do we have goals? Yes. But these goals should be worked out, not in a formal, impersonal, setting of gathering to listen, sing, and put money in a container, but in the context of deep, affectionate, and intense relationships. A lot of evangelicals may call this “discipleship,” but this is simply New Testament Christianity (which actually is described as discipleship in Scripture).

So, how do you view your fellow church members? As mere fellow recipients of the benefits of your meetings, or as brothers and sisters that need your love, care, affection, encouragment, and correction? If the so-called “one another’s” of Scripture are any indication, most of us are severely lacking in the love that believers were expected to display in the early body of Jesus.

Your Bible Isn’t Just a Collection of Glorious Stories or Pieces of Advice, but a Description of How You Should Be Living

The second glaring error that most western believers make is to seriously undervalue, and mistreat their Bibles. All evangelicals claim that the Bible is a collection of God’s perfect, authoritative, and comprehensive messages and teachings. However, the great bulk, if not majority, of conservative believers fail to make every effort to understand what the entirety of Jesus’ and the apostles’ teaching demands of their lives.

This truth is demonstrated by the daily habits of most western believers. How many of them spend more than fifteen minutes actually studying and thinking about Scripture? Even moreso, how many of them think about how they should apply the Scripture they’ve studied in specific ways, and then pray about their response to its teaching? Judging from the worldly thinking, actions, and speech that I observe among believers in evangelical circles, I have to conclude that very few of them are diligent enough in studying, thinking about, and applying Scripture in their daily routines. Yet, the availability, need of their lives, and comprehensive scope of biblical teaching demands that western Christians give concentrated attention to these disciplines.

I will add that the amount of information and messages coming from worldly sources in our technological and media-flooded societies is usually far greater in the lives of believers than the teaching and application of Scripture. Most western believers are far more “conformed” to this world through its constant messages and influences than they are to the image of our Lord Jesus found in Scripture. Therefore, examine your daily habits, and your attitude toward Scripture to see if you are truly devoted to following its teachings as you ought to be!

The Weekly Assembling Isn’t for You to Sit and Listen, but for You to Serve and Love

The third major error that western Christians make is to simply follow along with the standard model and practice of the weekly assembly of saints. Sadly, this traditional structure of the “church service” is almost in direct opposition to the purposes and practices that the New Testament outlines for the body’s weekly gathering. In order to understand how this unbiblical state of things came to be, a brief background account is in order.

The first thing that went wrong soon after the body of Jesus was first established in the Mediterranean world was the foolish accumulation of power and influence by the direct apprentices of the apostles. These men are called “the apostolic fathers.” Because they feared that the teachings of the apostles would be contradicted or ignored shortly after their deaths, and due to the undue reverence that the average Christians came to have for the so-called “successors” of the apostles, these leaders accepted for themselves more responsibility and honor than they should have, and advocated having a succession of one main leader over each congregation. This man came to be known as “the overseer” or most commonly, “bishop.” However, the apostles themselves had directed their helpers to merely appoint several “elders” over each congregation, which would have the responsibility themselves of raising up the next generation of elders. Thus, a plurality of leaders from among the congregation was given up in favor of one leader who was gradually viewed as having some personal connection to the apostles. Regardless of this last aspect, the main error was making one man have the most responsibility and authority over each assembly.

The second phase of this series of increasingly harmful blunders was the unbiblical comparison of the leaders and followers with the Old Testament priests and “laymen,” or common Israelites. In other words, because “bishops” came to have an exalted status among the congregation, and also due in part to the meshing together of pagan and Christian worship rituals; an increasingly watered-down view of conversion; and the granting of political power to bishops under Constantine and his successors, the gap between so-called “clergy” and “laity” widened to an irreparable extent. To be specific, the Christian gathering came to be seen as simply a newer version of the Old Testament Israelite worship, with pagan undertones. The main activity, the Lord’s Supper, came to be viewed as a sacrificial feast, with the bishop “making” the sacrifice to God on behalf of the congregation. Also, because the congregants had come to have barely any substantial part in the conduction of the “service,” the bishop was seen as “the servant” and “priest” of God, who was specially consecrated to represent God to the congregation, and eventually to represent them before God. Hence, the body of Jesus as expressed in its weekly gatherings became nothing more than a Christianized version of the Old Testament sacrificial system, and the participants reflected this system.

As most students of history know, the end result of this Old Testament pattern in the assemblies came to all its blasphemous fruition in the Roman Catholic Church, which was the predominant form of western Christianity for centuries. However, then came the Protestant Reformation, which uncovered and spread the biblical gospel, and with it, a more biblical view of Christ’s body. Sadly, this wasn’t enough to remove many significant vestiges of the Old Testament view of the weekly gathering.

What are these elements that weren’t eliminated by the Reformation? Number one is the unbiblical concept of the church “service,” which is still viewed mostly as the service of a few for the benefit of the many. Even with more biblical variations of this model, the clergy-laity distinction still prevails, as it continued since the Reformation. The “pastor/minister/bishop” is still viewed as the specially called man of God, whose entire life is devoted to God’s service, in distinction from the laymen, who have to content themselves with serving the world through secular employment. In spite of many protestants’ claims of no fundamental distinction between “ordained” leaders and unordained laymen, there is no getting passed the fact that leaders are usually viewed as specially devoted. Added to this has been the unbiblical concept of the “pastorate” as a profession, which is to usually be supported largely by the congregations — this profession also being called the “ministry”.

This distinction plays out disastrously in the weekly gatherings of God’s people. For, in most congregations, most believers are expected to do little more than sit, listen, sing, and have a good conversation or two with a brother over coffee — and usually go to some Sunday school thing. However, this falls far short of the New Testament’s expectations and descriptions of a vibrant, growing, and fruitful congregation. All believers are expected to contribute something substantial to the gathering in the New Testament! Not just those who are specifically appointed for a designated task, or those who are “in” the “ministry”!

The picture of a flourishing congregation is given in many places in the New Testament, but one of the most comprehensive and concise is in the middle of Ephesians 4, following after the passage already quoted. I’ll start with verse 11:

“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” (Eph. 4:11-16)

Another good description is found in 1 Corinthians 14:26-33:

“What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must interpret; but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

Now, honestly answer this question — does your weekly assembly at all resemble these descriptions of the Lord’s body? I think you’ll agree that most of our “churches” fall far short of these expectations. And the results are disastrous, as believers are stunted in their growth, infantile, deceived, and beset with multitudes of deceptions, sins, and temptations. It’s time for a serious reformation and revival! What are you doing in your life to remedy these main errors that we western believers have been complacent toward for so long?

The Body of Christ is the Answer, Not the Political Body

To bring this back to my indictments in the beginning, what the westernized world needs for its salvation and improvement isn’t political or societal reform, but spiritual, biblical, and moral revival for God’s people. Thankfully, from my observation over the past few years (especially since 2020), this revival has begun in small pockets of the U.S. and Canada. However, we are far from the revival and reformation that is needed to thoroughly reform western Christianity toward a New Testament mindset and lifestyle. We are still far too conformed to this western, ignorant, indulgent, selfish, proud, and unthinking world around us.

Thus, I’m calling you, dear believer, to soberly and carefully assess the condition of your thinking, lifestyle, and church relationships. Further, I urge you to study the New Testament for yourself, without relying on the teaching of popular preachers, teachers, or even your own Bible teacher(s) that you listen to every Sunday. Do your own work, and test your lifestyle with the teaching of Jesus and the apostles to see if these things are so! Your and your Christian friends’ eternal rewards are at stake, and so is the honor, glory, and fame of our Lord and Savior Jesus!