Hello

First, a brief history lesson.

The persecution of Christians by the Roman authorities ended officially with the death of the Roman Emperor Galerius in 311 CE.  Following his death, fighting broke out between the various Roman leaders who wanted to be the new Emperor.  On the night before a crucial battle one of the contenders, Constantine, had a vision or a dream (accounts differ) which led him to order his soldiers to put a Christian symbol on their shields and banners.  Constantine won the battle and became Emperor.

Constantine did not immediately become a Christian (he was not baptized as a Christian until he was on his deathbed).  Also, Constantine did not make Christianity the official religion of the empire, and he did not put an end to the worship of Roman gods.  Indeed, as Emperor, he himself took a leading role in the ceremonies worshiping those Roman gods until the end of his reign.  But Constantine actively promoted Christianity.  He promoted, and often paid for, new church buildings many of which were built on a grand scale.  Christianity became popular.  (If the Emperor promoted Christianity then it did you no harm to become a Christian).  Constantine also exempted church properties from tax and made it legal to bequeath property to the church.  This meant that churches, and the bishops who controlled the churches, started to get rich.

These changes happened very suddenly, and this caused major problems for the church.  During the period of persecution of Christians by the Roman authorities, it had been normal for people who became Christians to go through a lengthy process of instruction and examination to make certain that they understood their new faith and lived their lives in obedience to the teachings of Jesus.  When Constantine began to favor the church, the large numbers of people wanting to join meant the period of education and training was greatly shortened and many people joined church communities who had little understanding of what being a Christian really meant.

Also, during Constantine’s reign, a number of changes were made to the Christian forms of worship which, until then, had been simple.  The following practices were adopted which were features of rituals associated with worship of Roman gods.  (However, it should be noted that some of these had also featured in traditional Jewish rituals.)

• Use of incense.
• Adopting the title ‘priest’.
• Priests wearing special robes.
• Renaming the communion table ‘the altar’.
• Beginning services with a procession of priests entering the church.

Christian leaders didn’t just start to become wealthy,  they started to become influential.  Bishops became advisers to Constantine and other Roman rulers.  They eventually became major players in the political, as well as spiritual, affairs of the state.

 

What was the reaction of followers of Jesus to all this?

Broadly speaking, there were two responses:

• Some Christian leaders, such as the influential Bishop Eusebius, believed that Constantine was chosen by God to bring the church and the empire together.  This was the beginning of formalizing a strong relationship between the Christian church and state authorities which lasted well into the 20^th century in many countries and can still be seen in some countries today.
• Others were horrified by what was happening.  We know there were some strong sermons preached against the direction the church was taking.  But the change, at that time, seemed irreversible.  Unable to stop it, many devout Christians withdrew to remote areas to lead a life of meditation and self-denial.  Quite quickly they began to form groups, and this was the beginning of the monastic movement.

 

What did God do?

Our loving, heavenly Father never gives up on his church, nor does he give up on any part of it.  Throughout history, he has raised up servants to show the way his children should be living.  Like the prophets of the Old Testament, or Jesus himself, these servants were often not welcomed by the leaders of the institutionalized church.  Some of these servants suffered terribly.  God continues to raise up such servants today.  We must listen for their voices.

Many, perhaps most, of the things we do in our churches are established traditions and have nothing to do with Jesus’ teachings.  Probably the best example is that we hold church services in church buildings.  Did Jesus tell us to build church buildings and hold services in them?  No.  He didn’t.  He told us to get out there, make disciples and teach them to obey his commands (Matthew 28:19-20).  But most church communities spend most of their resources (human and financial) on church buildings and church services.  We don’t need church buildings, or church services, to be followers of Jesus.  In fact, spending our resources on church buildings and church services will hold us back from doing the things Jesus told us to do.  Importantly, these resources have been entrusted to us by our loving heavenly Father, and he expects us to use them wisely.  (Check out Jesus’ teaching at Matthew 25:13-30.  Scary stuff.)

Things have to change.  Things are changing.  Let’s pray that our loving Father will move mightily to bring change in our communities.

May our loving heavenly Father bless us, strengthen us and guide us as we serve him.

Jesus is Lord.

Peter O

 

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