Chapter 26: The Limitations of Church Standards. Church or society standards normally work for the spiritual good of those who live by them. However, some Christians limit their obedience only to those things that are in the standards of their church or society. This may not sound so bad at first. However, the problem is that church standards inherently bear four important limitations. One, they rarely cover all of God's commandments. In fact, most rules of life don't purport to do so.
As a result, a person can live by all of the standards established by a church or society and yet be disobedient to Christ. For example, as beneficial and comprehensive as was the Methodist rule of life, it contains some glaring omissions. Nothing is said in it about going to war, taking oaths, or head coverings (Matthew 5:33-48; 1 Corinthians 11:1-16). Two, standards and rules of life primarily address external conduct.
By their very nature, church standards focus on obedience to the outward commandments of Scripture. However, when Jesus spoke of the weightier matters of the law, He named justice, mercy, and faith. And of course, love is even weightier than those three. Yet these are qualities and characteristics of the heart which are not easily defined or regulated by standards. Church standards can control our outward conduct, but only God can see what's in our hearts.
So we should never imagine that our standing with God is assured just because we comply with our church's standards. Three, standards tend to become lax over time. Religious movements tend to lose their initial fervor as time passes. As movements or churches lose their first love, members typically make their standards more permissive. Or else they ignore their standards altogether. The Methodist societies never watered down the original standards set forth by John Wesley. But over time, they simply ignored them.
Four, church standards are often related to the time period in which they were written. Rules of life and church standards understandably address issues that are relevant at the time they're written. For example, the apostolic tradition of Hippolytus denies baptism to charioteers and gladiators. Those were important issues in AD 200, but they're non-issues in the 21st century. The rule of life of the Methodist societies forbids buying or selling smuggled goods.
Although that rule would still be applicable today, it's rarely an issue for most of us. However, in 18th-century England and its colonies, buying smuggled goods was a huge issue. On the other hand, the Methodist rule of life addresses neither abortion nor divorce. That's because abortion was illegal in 18th-century England and divorce was extremely rare. Sometimes church standards can continue a life of their own long after their original intent has become obsolete.
A classic example is one of the original rules of the Quakers, Society of Friends, instituted by their founder, George Fox. Their standards required members to use the word "thee" when addressing other people, regardless of their class. At the time George Fox instituted this rule, people in his region of England used the pronoun "thee" when addressing equals or inferiors. They reserved use of the pronoun "you" for addressing their superiors.
Since there should be no class distinctions among Christians, Fox insisted that his followers use the word "thee" when addressing everyone, regardless of class. That standard made sense at the time it was instituted. However, less than a century after George Fox made this rule, the distinction between "thee" and "you" disappeared in English society. People began to use "you" when addressing everyone, regardless of class. "Thee" became an obsolete word.
Yet rather than acknowledging the fact that the pronoun "you" now applied to all classes, Quakers continued to use "thee" as if the word "you" was still used only for superiors. What the Quakers called "plain language" had actually become quaint or obsolete language. To this day, some Quakers still use "thee" when addressing fellow Quakers. So if a church or organization wants its standards to stay spiritually meaningful, it must be diligent to keep them updated.
By "updated," I do not mean that a church should modify its standards to fit the ever-changing dictates of the world. Rather, I mean that standards concerning issues that no longer exist should be deleted. Also, a church should add new standards to fit new challenges. Ichabod and Lucretia. Ichabod and Lucretia Yoder are members of a "plain" church, and they scrupulously follow all their church's standards.
Ichabod wears a black hat and the prescribed men's clothing, and Lucretia wears a cape dress and head covering. They avoid all the forms of worldly entertainment prohibited by their church. To most of the people in their church, they appear model Christians. However, their personal spiritual life is almost nonexistent. Although they regularly attend their church's prayer meetings, neither of them prays alone very often. Nor do they read the scriptures at home.
In fact, both Ichabod and Lucretia prefer secular books to Christian books. Although Lucretia wears a very conspicuous head covering, she is anything but submissive to her husband. She frequently bosses him around and scolds him. He, in turn, does not treat her very lovingly. Yet none of these things violate any specific standards of their church, so neither of them think much about it. Ichabod and Lucretia hold grudges against several families in the church, and they are the source of much of the church's gossip.
Although they wear plain clothes, their lifestyle is actually rather expensive. They drive a late model Mercedes-Benz, black, so it doesn't violate their church's standards. Although they already live in an expensive home, they are constantly remodeling and improving it with trendy upgrades and interior designs. Some people might assume they're living the kingdom life. The truth is that their hearts are far from the kingdom of God. However, no one suspects this, nor do they themselves realize it.
That's because they perfectly obey their church's standards. They have an obedient relationship with their church, but not an intimate relationship with Christ. It's not for me to say where the Yoders will stand on Judgment Day. However, I can say that they are not living the kingdom life. They are not where Christ wants them to be. Obedience to godly church standards is far better than no obedience, but Christ calls us to something even greater. How to Avoid Being Like the Yoders.
I want to make absolutely clear that my analysis of the Yoders is in no way a criticism of biblical church standards. I myself belong to a plain congregation with church standards. The problem isn't church standards. The problem is Christians who ignore scriptural commandments just because those commands aren't part of their church standards. For those of us who belong to congregations with church standards, how do we avoid ending up like the Yoders?
The starting point is to recognize that although the church exists as an essential and integral part of the Christian life, our primary relationship and loyalty is to Christ himself. We should have a healthy, supportive, and submissive relationship with our church, but we need an even stronger obedient faith-love relationship with Christ. No church can create our inner life for us. No church can keep watch on us around the clock. We have to develop our inner spiritual life personally, between us and God.
We also have to consciously live in his presence, for he is both watching us and guarding us every minute of the day. Those of us who belong to a church with standards must always keep in mind that no church's standards can cover every commandment given by God or every situation that arises in life. We should view our church's standards as the minimum level of Christian conduct.
So in addition to their church's standards, Christians who live the kingdom life should have their own personal rules of life based on all the teachings of Scripture. Church standards don't usually cover our prayer and devotional life, but our personal rule of life should. Our personal rule of life should particularly include those weightier but inner matters such as love, mercy, and kindness. When I say that each of us should have our own rule of life, I don't mean that we should become individualists.
Nor do I mean that we should have a "holier than thou" attitude among our brethren. I simply mean that our sights should be fixed on the commands of God. Just because our church hasn't formally addressed a particular New Testament teaching in its standards doesn't mean we are free to ignore it. When our compass is set on the Bible as our ultimate standard, then our conduct doesn't change just because our church decides to lower some of its standards.
Godly church standards are an enormous aid in the Christian walk, but they can never replace a close, obedient love-faith relationship with Jesus Christ. Still, we can be thankful to have such supportive church standards. Further Blessings from the Church. Up to this point, we've talked about how Christ gave us his church to assist us in living the Christian life. Some of the ways churches help us is through pastoral shepherding, mutual accountability, and church standards.
Another way the church helps us is through its weekly services. So now let's talk about how we can get the maximum benefit out of our church's services.