Every once in a while Elder Tom finds himself confronted with this question: ”Why are there so many churches?” Elder Tom usually feels overwhelmed when he tries to respond. People usually want a one sentence answer, or at most, a short paragraph. It is very hard to condense two thousand years of church history into that number of words. Since Elder Tom is a bit of a history buff, he sometimes tries to give a detailed, if abbreviated, answer. Needless to say, he barely gets started before people turn glassy-eyed, start to yawn, look incredulous, or walk off with a snort. Elder Tom suspects that people who ask questions like this are not looking for an answer. He thinks they are looking for an excuse to avoid going to any church, and so to keep away from spiritual reality and how that reality may affect them.
Still, there are over 900 denominations in this country, along with hundreds, if not thousands, of independent congregations. All of these different churches are indeed a source of offense to people. Why is the church so divided? The true church, the communion of saints, the one holy Christian (or catholic) and apostolic church, the body of Christ, is not divided. We confess that truth in our services. But we say that we believe in this one church, we do not claim to be able to see it. What we see is our congregation, our church body, and many others. What other people see is professing Christians divided into a lot of different groups, and Elder Tom supposes that a person could, in all innocence, see this and be totally confused by it. Indeed, the divisions among the churches (as well as those within denominations and congregations) form one of the sharpest tools in the devil’s workshop, a tool used to keep people away from the gospel. These divisions are also a result of his tireless work among professing Christians, work aimed at keeping them from learning the full truth of the gospel, confessing that truth properly, and working together effectively to communicate that truth to the people of the world.
Why so many churches? Is it possible to give a short answer to this question? Elder Tom thinks so, though it also needs some explanation, explanation that takes a little time. That answer is found in our Lord’s words to some of His enemies: ”Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?” Our Lord Jesus asked this question of the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection. The Lord’s point was that they did not realize what the Scripture said, as well as that the Lord could and would do all that He said. Even at the burning bush God, the living God, had said that He was (and is) the God “of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” These men had been dead for many years. But He was (and is) still their God; they still were (and are) His people. That means that they still had (and have) life. God has the power to take their spirits and keep them with Him, and God has the power to call them from the grave to live in glory.
The same principle applies to any spiritual truth. If you want to know what the truth is, go to the source. Read the Bible. Read it as it was written. Don’t try to subject it to your own thoughts, prejudices, and desires. And don’t let anyone else give you a version that is filtered through their thoughts, prejudices, desires, ideologies, or traditions. Read the Bible as it is, the book of God’s truth, the book that glorifies Jesus Christ, the book that speaks to you, the book that can and does give you life. Learn what the Bible says. That is part of what it means to know the Scriptures. But it is also important to accept the Bible, to embrace it, to rely on it, to pay attention to it, to join our Lord’s mother in keeping all these things and pondering them in our hearts.
As you rely on the truth of the word, rely on the power of God. In fact, only by the power of God can we rely on the word. The God whose power has brought us to faith in our Lord Jesus and in the truth of His word can and will do all that He says in His Word. His word will keep on giving us life. His word will be a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. His word will delight us and give us the best advice. His word will free us from shame and give us salvation. His word will bless us abundantly and is worth more to us than all the money in the world. His word will gather all His people into His fellowship. God has kept all His promises, He is still keeping all His promises, and He most certainly will keep His promises for all eternity.
If all of us knew the Scriptures and the power of God in our hearts and in our minds, and if we all confessed the same with our mouths and our lives, there would be no divisions of the church. Sad to say, none of us does this as it should be done. But even to the extent that we do know the Scriptures and the power of God, we receive the blessings promised. Our efforts to confess that truth, however feeble and flawed they may be, still have the power of God the Holy Spirit pulsating through them and energizing them.
Each of us has the obligation to keep on growing in knowing the Scriptures and the power of God, as well as growing in confessing our Savior’s truth in everything we think, say, and do. Elder Tom’s job as an elder of the church is to help the members St. Paul’s do that, as well as to make sure that our church’s practices and proclamation are based on what the Scriptures say. As Elder Tom likes to say, we need to communicate the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible. Then, as our Savior said, we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. Then we will have the quality of life that our Savior wants us to have, and we will function together as the kind of church that our Savior wants us to be. Then we can fulfill our role in bringing the knowledge of our Savior to those who are as yet ignorant of Him. That knowledge is both bliss now and the guarantee of permanent bliss in the future.
