Sifting and Shaking

There are two churches that exist in a kind of parallel relationship in the world.  One is the institutional church and the other is the spiritual church.  One is of man and the other is of the Kingdom of God.  The institutional church is built and sustained by the externals which have been birthed by the pillars and the keepers of this church.  The spiritual church was called into existence by Christ and was birthed by the power of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. 

 

As we read the Scripture we hear Jesus saying to Simon Peter, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church..."  (Matthew 16:18)  Peter was the man bent toward the externals.  On the Mount of Transfiguration Peter, James, and John experienced heaven breaking in upon the earth.  As Moses and Elijah appeared there with Jesus, Simon Peter responded by saying, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  (Matthew 17:4)  Peter with his institutional bent was ready to do some building, ready to create shrines, and maybe, even provide places where people could in later days make pilgrimages. Who knows what might have happened had Jesus given a green light to Peter! 

The institutional church is always dependent on the external things like prestige and power, buildings and programs, gathering crowds and raising money.  When these things are no longer nurturing the church so dependent on them, it will inevitably suffer a kind of atrophy.  The institutional church cannot survive without a steady diet of this external nurture.   For those whose kingdoms are built around the institutional church these days must indeed be frightening.  It must seem urgent to get back to a place where going forward like it used to be is imperative.  There is no room to consider that these days may be a divine shaking and sifting of the contemporary church leaving it bearing little resemblance to what it has been in the past.