There are so many churches. So many religions. So many claims.
Which one is right?
The question is not: Which group is biggest?
But rather: What is God actually saying?
A wise man called Martin Chemnitz once observed:
“There are also many who, when they think about the church, seek out
- where the majority is
- or to what the more influential ones are inclined,
- or what the more learned ones decide,
and then they also join that group and consider it to be the church of Christ.”
That is exactly the pressure everyone thinking about “truth” feels today.
Our church practices close communion, meaning that in obedience to scripture (e.g. 1 Corinthians 1:10) we only share in communion with those who share a common confession of everything the Bible commands and promises.
Our church, and others we are in fellowship with around the world, is therefore small. And so, many old friends have said to me this proves that what we believe must be wrong. That argument is not new. Martin Luther summarised exactly this line of thinking he kept hearing from the Catholic church at the reformation, and gave a stark analysis of it:
“There are many of us, and we have believed this for a long time. Therefore it must be right.” Christ bluntly declares the opposite.
A Christian does not belong in this world. And therefore it is hard being a Christian passing through it. We are small in number. Out of place. And unpopular. So how does one keep going? Only in this way, as Luther describes:
“I see my neighbor and the whole city, yes, the whole world, living differently. All those who are great or noble or rich, the princes and the lords, are allied with it.
Nevertheless I have an ally who is greater than all of them, namely, Christ and His Word. When I am all alone, therefore, I am still not alone. Because I have the Word of God, I have Christ with me, together with all the dear angels and all the saints since the beginning of the world.
Actually there is a bigger crowd and a more glorious procession surrounding me than there could be in the whole world now. Only I cannot see it with my eyes, and I have to watch and bear the offense of having so many people forsake me or live and act in opposition to me.”
You must hold on to this if you want to endure.
But, Luther goes on, people around you—particularly religious people—will keep challenging you with the temptation to think that might is right: whether that might is numbers, prestige or learning:
Otherwise this offense will overwhelm you when you see how other people live and believe. This is the strongest argument that the Turks employ:
“Do you suppose that God is so terrible that He would condemn a whole wide world?”
The papists argue the same way:
“Do you suppose that only what you drag out of your corner is right and that the whole world is damned? Were so many popes, bishops, holy fathers, kings, and princes completely mistaken?”
They stress this so insistently that no one can tear them loose from it. They draw the certain conclusion that our doctrine is not correct, and yet the only basis they have is this:
“There are many of us and few of them. We are pious and learned and wise; we are the people of God; and we sit in the apostles’ seat. Therefore we cannot err. Christ has not forsaken His church, nor God His people. It is impossible for God to damn so many outstanding people for the sake of a few. After all, He did not create heaven for nothing!”
But are the Muslims and Catholics that Luther refers to there right? Isn’t Luther just projecting his own situation onto the Bible? — An objection I’ve heard many times since becoming a Lutheran.
Well: No! Because this is exactly what Jesus explains when he turns to application at the end of the Sermon on the Mount:
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
And the end of this sermon, spanning 3 chapters in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus turns to give us four pictures warning us not to entrust ourselves to any other Word, to any other teaching and doctrine, than his own*:
- The gate and the way (7:13-14): popularity is irrelevant: listen to Jesus’ Word.
- The wolves in sheep’s clothing with the tree and its fruit (7:15-20): sincerity is irrelevant: listen to Jesus’ Word.
- The prophets and the Father’s will (7:21-23): success (even religious success, even miracles!) is irrelevant—listen to Jesus’ Word.
- The house and its foundation (7:24-27): stability comes only from Jesus’ Word alone.
So:
Ignore the crowd.
Ignore the prestige.
Ignore the power.
Ignore the success.
Listen to Jesus.
No matter how unpopular or unimpressive what he says may appear to be in this world.
To hear more about the power of Jesus’ Word in the midst of weakness, listen to this sermon: Shouldn’t I Be Ashamed of How Tiny My Church Is?
Or join us:
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* Want to understand those pictures? Matthew himself explains them:
- The “way” is the way of the Lord prophesied by Isaiah (40:3), quoted twice (3:3; 11:10).
- The “fruit” is the fruit of the heart on the lips—what teachers say and preach (12:33-37).
- The “Father’s will” is listening to Jesus’ Word and following him through it (12:46-50).
- The “foundation” of the house is doing Jesus’ Word (7:24).
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