Reform  or re-build ?

Ask any experienced Architect, builder, or home refurbisher – which is easier ?
To refurbish an existing old dilapidated building or build a new structure on a clean vacant site ?? 
      And then stand back and listen to the many anecdotes that will usually flow from their store of long and often bitter experiences.   Refurbishing, remodeling, making additions and alterations to an old building is a mission in itself – there seems to be no end to the discoveries of still more old materials to be replaced, defective services, rotten timbers, sunken floors, sagging ceilings, and all manner of disparities.   Many a person, enamoured with the potential of restoring an ancient treasure, when completed, would rue the day they ever started out on such a demanding, wearisome, frustrating and “character forming” task.

      And so it is spiritually   -  to reformat the old,  or to re-build from scratch ?

      God knows the problem,  and Jesus expressed it    Luke 5 : 36 - 39

      No man puts a piece of a new garment upon an old, because both the new makes a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agrees not with the old   
      And no man puts new wine into old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles will perish, but new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved
      No man also having drunk old wine, then desires new, for he says the old is better

      But alas, so many sincere well meaning people, seeing the deficiencies of the Church system, end up trying to reform it  -  Martin Luther for example, spent a life trying to reform the Roman Catholic Church, and centuries later, today, that Church continues basically the same, having survived with hardly a dent what the historians now refer to as “the reformation”

      So, one man ministries are encouraged to become Team Ministries, but still within the old structures, and new methods and formulas are encouraged to try and reform the old.  .   Seminars, conferences, formulas are endlessly promoted, in efforts to bring new life to an old system    Tithes are now collected by Auto Payment, credit cards, or internet banking, when the whole system of tithing has been superseded by Grace giving.

      New wine must be poured into new wineskins / bottles ¼.. for the new agrees not with the old

      And this is what the reformers of history and down to the modern day, try and dodge – the basic disagreement of the two conflicting systems -  on the one hand - religion, on the other hand - simply trying to follow God in homes and small local groups

      The reformers mistakenly spend their efforts trying to patch up the old, thinking that that is less conflict than starting off all over again.

      Jeremiah knew the problem and the conflict of the two opposing systems of religion and that of simply serving God in his day and generation
      His God given message and mission in his era was to root out, pull down, to destroy, and to throw down, and then to re-build and to plant (from scratch !!)  Jeremiah 1 : 10

      Jesus had the same problem with the Pharisees who ran the temple religious system in his day, with many accounts of the severe disagreement between the two, (just read Matthew 23) and which eventually ended with his betrayal and death (but in Gods plan and purpose)

      Paul had the same basic disagreement with the High priest and the religious system as recorded in Acts, and later evidenced in Galatia, and described in his letter to that city.

      The new agrees not with the old  –  never can, never has, never will
      It’s a hopeless mission to try and attempt it
     
      So why then do so many try the reformation pathway and spend their time, energies, and endless funds on what must surely be the most frustrating mission ever attempted on this planet.

      Why would anyone ever want to preserve a rickety old derelict building beats me.
      But as Jesus said, they say the old wine is better
      And that’s the problem of tradition and sentimentality, and an inbuilt resistance to change, along with all the various facets of self exaltation and self promotion, I guess
      The old just “feels” safer, and familiarity brings a measure of security, in spite of the serious deficiencies.

      Just let me, and us, and untold millions of people all over the globe, enjoy the new wine of small groups and open homes, as we seek to preserve that which we have found as a new and better way
     
      But the basic disagreement will always be there, as long as this age lasts

      But there’s another view of all this as described in 1 Corinthians 3

      From this there are described 3 basic types of people

      Firstly,        the natural man – the Adamic, unregenerated man of the world

      Secondly    the born-again experience, Christians yes, but carnal,
                        who follow men, and denominations,  and charismatic leaders
                        and man made systems of religion

      Thirdly        spiritual Christians,  led by the Spirit of God alone,
                        following the voice of the Shepherd

      And the dire warning to our various works and efforts, concerning the day of trial and examination – and that by fire !
      When every work will be tested, to see if it will withstand the furnace.
      When works of self-effort, of self-exaltation and self-promotion, of wood and stubble, will be consumed.
      When works prompted and inspired and led by God’s Spirit, those works likened to gold and silver (those metals having been purified already, with the dross removed in a furnace) and  precious stones will be tested and displayed to bring honour to God alone

      Lord, keep us simple,  keep us true,  to you, your Spirit, and your voice – alone
      (but with full accountability to mature and spiritual brethren)

      My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me,                                 John 10 : 27
      for they heed not the voice of strangers - hirelings             John 10: 5
     
      Amen  and Amen