Chapter 3

The Select Society

In order to persuade people to come into a particular group, a certain amount of salesmanship is usually involved. That’s true in every area of life, including church life. Often we enthusiastically share the strengths of our group simply because we enjoy what we have together and we think others will too—in the same way we tell about a good restaurant experience we had or a good movie we just watched.

In a church context, some groups are more attractive for all the right reasons. Maybe they do a good job of meeting the needs of their members, or they have a real heart for sharing the Gospel with the lost around them and do it more effectively than other groups. Sometimes they are exceptional in fostering a good worship experience. Or maybe they are good at Bible exposition or some other area through which people grow and mature in their life of faith.

Some groups have the ability to release ministry into the hands of their members, encouraging them to develop and use their gifts for the good of the wider body. Others may be known for their sacrificial financial giving to help others. Some are good at equipping believers to minister in a cross-cultural setting, making them leaders in the area of sending out short-term and full-time missionaries.

These are all good reasons for being attracted to a Christian group.  If we find that one group is a better fit for our Christian calling to the body, then we shouldn’t feel it is wrong to join ourselves to them. If, on the other hand, someone from a Christian group begins to try to convince us of their superiority and seeks to tear down the group we are currently involved in, we should beware. They could be seeking to draw us into their numbers for all the wrong reasons from a biblical perspective.

Here, we want to explore an attitude that emerges over time that tends to lead people into unhealthy isolation and separation from all other Christian groups. The “select society” mentality causes a group to believe it’s superior in all ways to every other Christian group or denomination, and spends a lot of its time trying to convince other Christians to join their ranks so that, as Paul wrote to the Galatian church, they can “glory in your flesh” (Galatians 6:14).

The issue in Galatia was circumcision. Those who still felt loyal to Jewish law felt every Christian should be circumcised and keep the law, even though the requirements of salvation had been clearly proclaimed: simple faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross for us. As Paul wrote, “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation” (v. 15). It was okay to be circumcised and it was okay not to be. It was not a major doctrine on which to split people. Yet, certain teachers in Galatia were doing just that, and it really upset Paul. He knew what really mattered was letting the Spirit of God transform us from the inside out, conforming us to the image of Jesus and making us a new creation. “As many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God” Paul concludes in verse 16. Christians are the Israel of God because of new birth and a transformed life, not because they adhere to certain ordinances and promote certain minor doctrines.

Here’s where the imbalance comes in for unhealthy and sectarian groups. Certain teachers begin to teach that their particular distinctive related to some minor doctrine they found in Scripture is enough to set them apart from all other Christian groups. As a result, the members of that group start to believe they are the only ones holding out for all scriptural truth—everyone else has compromised in some way—and as such they are God’s best representatives in the world.

It’s the same attitude that Elijah adopted in 1 Kings 19 when he said he was the only prophet left in Israel who truly followed the Lord. In his case, he was consumed with self-pity because he felt all alone in his mission. In unhealthy Christian groups, members are more likely to become prideful about their own importance. Believing they are truly God’s “select society,” they are consumed with passion to evangelize all other Christians into their camp. That’s when they become divisive and destructive to the body of Christ.

 

Majoring on the Minors

 Minor doctrine in the hands of these zealous “missionaries” becomes the key by which this idea of a select society is spread. Since most churches share similar beliefs about the person of Christ and other foundational truths of Scripture (the essentials of Christian faith), unhealthy groups grasp on to some distinctive that sets them apart from—makes them better than—other groups, and usually that is found only in some minor doctrinal idea they take out of Scripture.

If they are dedicated to convincing Christians from other church groups to join their “superior” group, they must do so by emphasizing what they hold as true that others do not. It doesn’t always have to be doctrinal, the thing that sets them apart. It can also be what they see as a spiritual lifestyle, method of worship, style of baptism, etc. But more times than not, they believe what sets them apart is a superior understanding of some truth from Scripture.

Many holiness groups, for example, took the Scripture in 1 Peter 3:3-4 to the extreme, encouraging their female members to abandon every hint of trendy clothing, hair styles, adornments (like jewelry), or makeup. Their taboos concerning jewelry even included the wearing of their wedding rings! Another group that we knew made a big deal out of doing everything in Jesus’ name, since the Apostles throughout the book of Acts performed their miracles in His name. They went so far as to deem Christian baptism in the name of “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost” (see Matthew 28:19) as insufficient—anyone who had been baptized this way needed to be rebaptized in Jesus’ name. That’s pretty amazing when you consider they saw their understanding about the practice as more enlightened than Jesus’ view. After all, He is the one speaking in Matthew 28:19!

Unfortunately, examples abound in this area of sectarian division around minor doctrinal issues. Some groups see their view of God’s sovereignty as more enlightened than other views, even though this subject is perhaps the most obscure and hardest to nail down doctrinally in the entire Bible. If all the scriptures that mention man’s free will and God’s sovereignty were examined as carefully as those that agree with their view, such groups would see the absurdity of taking a dogmatic stance.

In many cases, the Bible seems to contradict itself as to which is the truth—God’s absolute sovereignty and control over all human events or man’s free will to make decisions and thereby influence outcomes in history. Because of the seemingly conflicting statements, we need to acknowledge that this subject is probably too big for our limited understanding to grasp at this present time. I’m sure it will all become quite clear in eternity, once we see things from God’s perspective. In the meantime, how wrongheaded we are to divide up  the body of Christ into conflicting camps about this. As in all other minor doctrine, it’s okay to have an opinion. When it becomes wrong is when we feel we must convince everyone else to adopt our view. 

In any unhealthy group, members openly discuss how their group is superior to other Christian groups in terms of scriptural interpretation (doctrine), response to the Scripture (obedience), and/or separation from the world (holiness). Sometimes they capitalize on all three; other times one or two are emphasized as important to spiritual success. Accompanying a “modest” extolling of their virtues is a detailed explanation of the spiritual weaknesses of other groups.

The idea conveyed is that someone in another group is deprived of something wonderful that God wants to impart to them through their select society. If Christians don’t leave the group they are in and join themselves to their superior group, they’re doomed to second-class status in the kingdom of God.

This is a good example of the wrong reason to switch from one group to another. As Paul made clear, there are no second-class citizens in God’s Kingdom. As members of Christ’s body, we are one with Him, no matter what group we may belong to. Paul said we should display the opposite attitude with regard to other Christians:

“With all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. [Why? … Because] There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:2-6).

No one can be a serious student of the Bible and condone the carving up of Christ’s body into factions and camps that compete with and oppose one another. We’re in this together! When we begin to put loyalties to our “select society” ahead of our loyalty to the person of Christ, we have become unbalanced and unhealthy. We need to return Jesus to the center of everything we are about and everything we do in His name.

In unbalanced Christian groups, Paul’s exhortation to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3) is made secondary to getting more numbers in our camp and being able to glory in how we’ve convinced them of our superior lifestyle or view about Scripture. Whole denominations form around some minor doctrinal idea and leaders become even more entrenched in their positions as more and more people come over to their side.

All of this leads to the development of another characteristic destructive to the body of Christ: spiritual possessiveness. People become commodities to be battled over and won to one side or another. Lost is the sense of each Christian being the Lord’s disciple. His membership or allegiance to the unbalanced group is what is most important.

Loyalty to Christ above all

There’s nothing wrong with denominations or associations forming around common belief—as long as they don’t begin to see themselves as better than all other Christian groups or denominations. Pastors, leaders, and teachers are responsible before God to develop loyalty within their people to the larger body of Christ, not just to their particular brand of church structure or individual congregation.

Each Christian’s first loyalty must be to Jesus Christ himself, not to the church or group where they are currently serving. We should be able to move from one place to another and find fellowship with other Christians around the person of Christ. Our fellowship shouldn’t depend upon us holding every idea about the Christian life in common.

Unfortunately, members of a Select Society spend the bulk of their “witnessing” time trying to convert other Christians to their superior group and ignore the lost who need to be introduced to Jesus Christ. A conversation with a Christian from another background quickly narrows in on the scriptural emphasis they’ve been taught, and they delight in showing him how ignorant he is on the subject. Converting the converted—as ridiculous as it may sound—becomes a very real pursuit in an unhealthy group. And the reason is clear: they feel they must win everyone to their particular group in order for them to be a “real Christian.”

The sectarian group that I was associated with claimed to be non-denominational. The leaders were very insistent about not putting any label upon us as a congregation other than “The church at (our city).” The idea was that we would be led only by New Testament principles and attached only to the Lord Jesus himself. It sounds great in theory, but it didn’t work out that way in practice.

When I began to notice, I saw that our church congregation was exactly like others in other cities. So while there was no formal association with a denomination, our church adhered to standards of practice and doctrine that were shared by other churches like us. We were a kind of denomination without a recognizable label. Our church organization was identical to other groups, and they were the only congregations with whom we had fellowship. We also shared identical views of scripture, which indicated that we had been taught and influenced by common teachers and leaders (another trait of a denomination).

If they were truly non-sectarian, they would have found fellowship with Christians from a variety of denominational backgrounds. If they were truly gathered only to the Lord himself, they would have embraced and welcomed all who claimed a relationship with Him through new birth. But our group was actually very suspicious of anyone who didn’t come out of a similar church background and didn’t know the same buzz words from Scripture that identified them as “one of ours.”

After my husband and I moved on to work with Christians from various denominational experiences, we discovered how small our Christian world had been in the unbalanced group. It was as if we were on a very narrow island that did not receive anything from the outside, and we were not allowed to leave the safety of the island. As we moved about on it, it wasn’t obvious at first how restricted our experience was, but once we got off the island it was quite evident.

We found that we could learn from and enjoy other brothers and sisters in Christ who weren’t cookie-cutter imitations of ourselves. In fact, many of them reflected far more Christian virtue and fruit than the members of our sectarian group had, even though they felt they were the most serious and obedient disciples around! It took us years to overcome the prejudices and misconceptions we had been taught about other Christians when we were in the unhealthy group.

The distinguishing mark of the select society mentality is the attitude adopted towards those outside of the group. If they are viewed as less enlightened spiritually, less obedient to the commands of Scripture, and less holy in behavior, our glory is not in the Lord at all, but in how wonderful we are. Our loyalty is more towards the group than towards the Lord’s body.

This tendency towards self-congratulation and condemnation of others has always been around. It comes out of our old sinful nature. Paul wrote to one congregation, “Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Romans 12:3, NIV).

In another letter Paul tries to point out the absurdity of dividing up the Lord’s body into conflicting camps through the exaltation of a man or particular group, when they are all just instruments through whom God builds His kingdom. “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (1 Corinthians 3:5-7, NIV).

Since unbalanced groups see themselves as the epitome of Christian life, few within them ever consider leaving. After all, who wants to leave something superior for something that fails to measure up, even if the “select society” is making them feel uncomfortable? Members figure it’s something wrong in them that’s causing the discomfort, not the group itself.

If someone does speak up to question something at work in the group, he finds out pretty quickly that it’s unwelcome. If the dissident member chooses to leave the group because of the difference in opinion, leaders often use 1 John 2:19 to explain the situation to the other members: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

Isn’t this a clever way to control people? If anyone is brave enough to leave an unhealthy group, he is labeled a spiritual outcast, not worth pursuing to find out why he went out. In fact, it is concluded that the real reason for the departure is that the person never really belonged—he wasn’t “one of them.” The implications are clear to those who stay behind: If you leave, you’ll be censored and judged by everyone else. There’s never the sense that there might be a good reason for the departure that needs to be addressed. The group as a whole is always right, and the individual parts are expendable.

If, instead of leaving right away, the dissident member decides to stay and try to address the issue that has come up, the group has to handle him another way. We’ll discuss this in the following chapter.

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