God Calls us to Go Outside the Camp of Religion Bearing His Reproach
Did God ever intend for us to build permanent religious expressions that are not under the direction of the Holy Spirit but develop from the notions and traditions of men? Church buildings, sacred relics, a religious priesthood, worship liturgies, orders of service, the worship service, the Sunday Sermon, and many other practices were unheard of in the early days of the church. Is it possible that such permanent expressions distract us from the need to be led by the Holy Spirit into the “simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3)?
Consider this passage in the book of Hebrews:
Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come (Heb. 13:9–14).
The writer of Hebrews, as he concludes his letter, encourages his readers to go forth to Christ who is “outside the camp” where they would be called to bear His reproach as they identify with Him. He warns them that on earth God’s people do not have a “lasting city” (permanent city) but that we seek a spiritual city which is to come as alluded to by the writer of Hebrews in chapter 12:
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel ( Heb. 12:22–24).
So, even though we dwell on physical earth the body of Christ is a spiritual body that actually dwells now in the heavenly Jerusalem with the angels as “the general assembly and church of the firstborn.” We are joined spiritually with all the saints of all of earth’s history in fellowship with Christ our mediator. We are not to settle down and build permanent structures whether they be buildings, denominations, human programs or anything else not directed by the Holy Spirit.
In those days, the temptation was to avoid persecution and reproach by compromising with dead Judaism that had rejected their Messiah and had chosen to build a religious structure that is permanent and physical. They gloried in their temple, religious sacrifices, priesthood, legalism, traditions and ritual that accompanied the “lasting city” they had constructed and would bring reproach on anyone who rejected what they had built.
Today worldly Christianity is now part of that lasting city. History shows that we have moved beyond the simplicity of life in Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit to a manmade structure that glorifies its builders while leaving Christ outside its doors. This is not a condemnation of the Christian faith or of many who genuinely love the Lord and desire to follow Him but a declaration against the programmed church that has been constructed by men that is able to exist and prosper without Christ or the Holy Spirit.
We who follow Christ have an altar that is the cross on which Jesus died. He is the Lamb who was sacrificed for our sins so we do not have to return to human ways of salvation with its old religious sacrifices, priesthood and permanent manmade structures. I am not speaking of the physical, wooden cross on which Jesus died but the death He suffered as the Lamb of God for His sheep.
It is outside the camp because Christ left the camp of religion and was crucified there. Our problem is we want to stay inside the human city where we are comfortable and build things that suit our carnal desires. The Jewish and pagan religions had their temple, priests and sacrifices but the body of Christ is the spiritual temple of God, every believer is a priest and our sacrifices are offerings of praise and thanksgiving to God (Heb. 13:15).
The body of Christ built no church buildings until the fourth century after Christ. Eventually the church began to compromise with the world by absorbing practices of the pagans and Judaism. It established a professional priesthood, and began erecting sacred buildings along with other pagan practices like burning incense, and vestal virgins. Protestants later dropped some of these things but maintained the clergy class, the sacred buildings and much more. Since that time it has been considered normal and scriptural to have a sacred place to meet and build many human-powered programs not authorized by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).
Many aspects of a permanent city have been adopted and considered scriptural such as denominations, buildings for worship, the clergy class, and other programmed activities and organizations. The “simplicity and pure devotion to Christ” has become a thing of the past. Simply meeting in homes throughout the city and considering God’s word, fellowship, the Lord’s supper and prayer was replaced with copying the world with its big cathedrals, building programs, professional clergy, and costly salaries. Simplicity in Christ is forfeited for the convenience of “Sunday go to meeting” Christianity with its winds of doctrine driven “by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph. 4:14).
The words I write are written outside the camp of the Christian religion. The Lord led us there many years ago. Our source of truth is the Bible as inspired by the Holy Spirit. Most Christians today are swayed by a message originating inside the walls of the old city. This enables them to set aside such crucial biblical truths such as leadership in the church, unity in the body of Christ, the abuse of finances, the ministry of the Holy Spirit and so much more. According to the writer of Hebrews we who follow Christ “have no lasting city” (13:14) but seek the one to come. In the meantime, we maintain a life of simplicity serving the Lord without the trappings of tradition.
Denominations that had their beginning many years ago are part of the “lasting” or permanent city. Look at any of these movements such as Catholicism, Lutheranism, Methodism, Presbyterianism, Baptists etc. and you will see programs that are permanent structures often resistant to the leading of the Holy Spirit. They have stayed virtually the same for centuries and will continue to be permanent structures of men inflexible in the hands of the Holy Spirit.
Yes, there are faithful followers of Christ in these many permanent structures. I know and love many of them. They are seeking God inside the old city but their seeking is real. Many others are heeding the call of the Holy Spirit to “go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city” (13:14).
We may well be entering the time of “perilous days” that Paul wrote about in 2 Timothy 3:1. Now is the time to be where Christ is, to follow Him and abide in Him and His word. As we approach the end times I believe that you will find Him outside of the camp of religion waiting to embrace those who come out to Him bearing His reproach.
