Emphasis — Christ
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone" (Matt. 23:23)
Jesus was not minimizing lawful tithing. He was talking about emphasis. And today, whatever item of Bible truth we may deal with, we need to remember that the center of all Bible teaching is Jesus Christ. There is always the temptation to shift the emphasis. That is only human nature.
We do have a problem. Our language has become so church-centered today that we can hardly speak on any Bible subject without almost immediately bring the word "church" into the discussion. And the real problem is that we sometimes seem to have forgotten quite what "church" means in Scripture. When the New Testament speaks of the church, it is speaking of people. "Church" in the New Testament is always a corporate term for people usually God's people (sometimes assembled, sometimes not) — not an abstract, saving institution "out there" which men serve as a sort of stand-in for Christ. Christ died for the church (Acts 20:28), but He died for people.
We are not here to sell ourselves, nor are we to organize mutual admiration societies. One is reminded when he hears so much today about "the image of the church" of an observation made by one brother that when men erect an image they generally end up worshipping it. His observation is valid.
A Matter Of Emphasis
Notice the emphasis in the New Testament. When a persecution arose, Jerusalem saints went everywhere "preaching the word, — not "establishing churches" or "introducing the church" (Acts 8:1,4). Those Christians knew that they were the church! If their emphasis had been "introducing the church" they would have emphasized themselves. Rather they told men about Jesus Christ, and the church was built up by Him as men responded to the gospel.
Philip went to Samaria preaching the sovereignty (kingdom) of God and the authority (name) of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:12). Stephen died talking about Jesus, and, so far as we are told, he used the word "church" but once in his final sermon and that of the Old Testament assembly (Acts 7:38). Now there was a distinctive sermon!
Men should be taught today that the church is the people of God. This community of grace was planned before creation (Eph. 3:10,11), first seen after Pentecost (Acts 2) and found its life (Col. 3: 1 ff), work (Eph. 2:10) and unity (John 17) in Jesus Christ. The church is the saved. It is not the savior.
In reading the New Testament one might also find it interesting that Christians there did not urge men to "become members of the church." They told them about Christ. When men obeyed Him, they automatically became "members" (living parts) of His "body." I am certainly aware that the church is called the body and vice-versa. The church is also called God's building (I Cor. 3:9). But to speak of the Church's "members" is not exact from a Biblical standpoint, in the very same way that it is not exact to speak of "members" of the building or "stones" of the body. A building has stones, a body has members and each phrase has a special emphasis.
The power that turned the world right-side-up (upside-down for the World's viewpoint!) in the first century was the good news of God's Son and His resurrection (Rom. 1:16). And today if we sincerely intend to follow the example of those Christians, our emphasis will be primarily neither a first-century church nor a twentieth-century one, but rather the timeless Christ.
It is sad that such a suggestion often brings the response of fear for the "church." Men are often afraid that by emphasizing Christ they might somehow "de-emphasize the church." When we put the emphasis where the Bible puts it - on Jesus Christ and Him crucified — we do not need to fear for the church. For as men come to the Christ, as the Bible records they did then, His church will take care of itself. The church is God's creation (Eph. 2:10). And even here we need to remember to worship and serve the Creator and not the creature (Romans 1:25). It is simply a matter of emphasis.
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