Not all 'churches' are true churches.
Jeremiah 7:1-8 (NIV)
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and there proclaim this message:
“ ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. 3 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!” 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 29: The Marks of the True Church
We believe that we ought to discern
diligently and very carefully,
by the Word of God,
what is the true church—
for all sects in the world today
claim for themselves the name of “the church.”
We are not speaking here of the company of hypocrites
who are mixed among the good in the church
and who nonetheless are not part of it,
even though they are physically there.
But we are speaking of distinguishing
the body and fellowship of the true church
from all sects that call themselves “the church.”
The true church can be recognized
if it has the following marks:
The church engages in the pure preaching
of the gospel;
it makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments
as Christ instituted them;
it practices church discipline
for correcting faults.
In short, it governs itself
according to the pure Word of God,
rejecting all things contrary to it
and holding Jesus Christ as the only Head.
By these marks one can be assured
of recognizing the true church—
and no one ought to be separated from it
Summary
Jeremiah had one of the toughest callings from God of anyone in the Bible. Time after time, he was commanded to speak out with a message from God in ways that ruffled the feathers of men who could make Jeremiah's life quite difficult. Here God sends him to the "gate of the LORD's house." But Jeremiah wasn't there as part of the welcoming committee, rather he was there to denounce the 'worshippers' who had come.
Jeremiah lived in a time when temple worship was at the center of his society. People continued going through the religious hoops that the Law demanded, but yet their lives were nowhere close to reflecting the godly actions that ought to define a person who truly fears the LORD.
In other words, these hypocrites thought they could live in whatever self centered and sinful manner they pleased, as long as they checked off the box that said they went to the temple of the LORD. Worse yet, the powers that be were telling the people exactly what they wanted to hear, showering them with "deceptive words" (the passage uses that phrase twice, in v4 & 8) designed to make them think that God was on their side and that He was accepting their worthless worship and didn't really care about their sinful abuses.
Dig Deeper
The message God had Jeremiah proclaim to those who showed up at the temple was simple. Just participating in empty rituals, no matter how sincere they may of looked, or how official they seemed, doesn't constitute true "temple worship," even if the rituals were being performed at the actual Temple in Jerusalem!
The message God gave Jeremiah thousands of years ago remains just as relevant today. Just because a group calls itself a 'church' doesn't make it part of the Holy Catholic Church that we looked at a couple of weeks ago. We live in communities with dozens, or maybe even hundreds of places that claim to be a church, but which ones really are?
When our Confession was written 5 centuries ago, the Holy Catholic Church was a hot mess. All sorts of groups had splintered away from the corrupted Roman Church and formed their own 'churches.' Some of these churches were good and legitimate, even if they differed on a doctrinal point or two. Others were completely out of bounds and tolerated all sorts of sin. A standard needed to be set in order to define what a true church actually is, which is exactly what Article 29 of our Confession does.
Sadly, so many of the 'churches' in our communities have turned away from Biblical truth and must be avoided. However, just because a church is different from yours doesn't mean it's not a true church. As we read through the Bible this week, we'll be reminded of the 'marks of a true church' according to the ultimate authority: the Word of God.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who calls us to reform our ways and actions according to His Word;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that the Lord will grant you wisdom so that you "do not trust in deceptive words;"
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 1 Timothy 6
