Message; Synagogues and Christian Churches:Synagogues;Ac 6:9 Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.This verse seems to show us that the synagogues were just as denominational as today's churches. They were just as much based upon fleshly preferences as our divisions of Church denominations are today. It should be pointed out that just because Jesus went to Synagogues it does not mean He sanctioned them. Jesus went there because it was a place religious people went. It does not mean that we are to change how we are told to come together.The Synagogues were the chief place of the Pharisees, and by and large Jesus was not, to make an understatement, very pleased with that group.Synagogues have no Scriptural basis for there existence. The beginning of the synagogue system is not given in either the Old Testament or the New Testament. The synagogue began, traditionally, during the period of the Babylonian exile when the Jewish people were deprived of the temple and assembled together for worship in a strange land. The synagogue continued as an institution, as a house of worship, study, and prayer after the exiles returned and rebuilt the temple.Synagogues by the first century A.D. existed wherever Jews lived. Synagogues were the special meeting places of the Jews and they made a point of building a synagogue wherever they went.When a synagogue was to be built the highest ground that could be found in the vicinity was selected for the site. If possible, the top was erected above the roofs of surrounding buildings. If not, a tall pole was placed on the summit in order to make the building conspicuous (Like today’s church steeple).When Titus destroyed the city of Jerusalem there were many synagogues, 304 according to one historian, 480 according to another.Synagogues gave the Pharisees the means to come into power. Synagogues were the favored teaching places of the Pharisees.The Pharisees of the New Testament began about the same time that the Jewish people began building synagogues, which is probably not a coincidence.Since the priests, the hereditary officials, of the temple had no official standing or privileges in the synagogues, it gave the Pharisees a place in which to teach and become the leaders of the Jewish people. The Jewish people were taken over by the Pharisees.John 12:42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. It seems that there are two groups mentioned here.By the time of the New Testament the Pharisees controlled the synagogues, the places of meeting.Pharisees, Greek "pharisaio," means to separate. Pharisee means "to separate," and refers to a class of men who separated themselves from, and elevated themselves above, the rest of the people of God.The New Testament Pharisees were a separate class in Judaism, a separate class of religious leaders.Jesus did not join the Pharisees, the religious teachers and leaders of that time. He did not join the Pharisees then and He would not be a member of the religious ruling class today.Mark 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.All though history there have been people that have wanted to be "spiritual" leaders, priests and shaman that were looked up to as being nearer to God. So called "Holy men" who have gained power over others through a, supposed, higher relationship to God.Christian Churches;Not much has changed, most Christians, like most of the Jews of the New Testament, like to come together according to their fleshly preferences and not according to the word of God, and they still, while paying lip service to Scripture alone, place their traditions above God's Word.Our Christian Churches today are based upon the Jewish Synagogues and Pharisee system and not upon the New Testament pattern, not upon the Word of God. Today's Pastor has the same position as the Jewish Rabbi.Church buildings, like the synagogues before them, have no scriptural basis for their existence. Judaism, not Christianity, teaches separate buildings, and sanctified places for worship.The first Apostles, who were Jews and had the Jewish background of building special places of worship, did not build church buildings, nor did they teach that they were ever to be built. They would have built, or at least told us that we were to have special building for worship, if Christianity had required that places be set apart for the specific purpose of worship.This was probably because the "building" of the New Testament, of Christianity, is not a material building, but consists of living persons, all believers in Jesus Christ. The "building" of Christianity, the "temple," is spiritual and in the heart, therefore the question of meeting places for believers, or places of worship is of little importance.Separate buildings for worship did not exist in the earliest days of Christianity. There was no property apart from the property of individual Christians. Individual Believers put their houses at the disposal of the community for assembling together.Three hundred years after Christ, the Roman Emperor Constantine officially recognized Christianity with his "edict of Milan" a pronouncement of freedom of worship for all. Constantine treated Christianity as the favored religion of the Roman Empire, but in some ways he continued to identify his previous religion, the worship of the Unconquered Sun, with the Christian God.The Emperor made the first day of the week a holiday. He called it "the venerable day of the sun, (Sunday)" which became the official day of Christian worship.Constantine retained the pagan high priest title of Pontifax Maximus. The Roman Emperor, as the head of the state religion, had always been responsible for maintaining good relations between the people and their gods. So he naturally saw himself in a similar role as Christian Emperor.Constantine had three churches built in Rome. His church of the John Lateran was built on a site without any special associations. His churches of St. Peter and St. Paul are said to be build on the traditional sites of the apostle’s martyrdom or burial.The basilica style was used by the Emperor for his first church, St. John Lateran, and in all the main centers of the Empire this style of church building was copied. The basilica pattern made it easier for the distinction between the clergy and the lay people to be made. The basilica pattern had the apse reserved for the clergy, and those not actively taking part in the service sat on a bench against the wall. There was also a throne set up in the center for the bishop, and this chief seat reflected his position as a loyal Roman imperial servant as much as a pastor of the flock. This same style has been incorporated in most all of the Protestant Church Denominations as well.Church buildings became the means of all Christian Churches by which the people of God could be divided into clergy and laity, professional and amateurs. Just as the Pharisees of the New Testament began about the same time that the Jewish people began building synagogues, the Christian clergy began with the building of separate church buildings.Like the Pharisees who separated themselves from the rest of the Jewish people, and became the teachers of the synagogues, the church buildings gave a place for those that would elevate themselves above the rest of the people of God. Just as the Pharisees taught interpretations of God's laws some teachers today teach their interpretation of what God wants man to do, and believe, in order to be saved. Their ideas form the basis for their belief system. A personal humble and trusting relationship with Jesus in a person's heart is not taught as the core to being a Christian.Are we really supposed to think that Jesus Christ come to set up just another established organized religion ran by men who can deceive themselves? I, personally, don't think so since he said that the time will come, after his death, when man will not say, let us go here, or there, to worship God, for man will worship God from within his heart. In other words, a personal worship of God whose spirit is living within the hearts of those who love him. (JOHN 4:21-24)Paul never taught that the church was a separate "entity" from the children of God. He taught that the church exists in the hearts of the children of God. Jesus said,John 17:20-2320 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;21 "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.22 "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:23 "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.(NKJ)We are “in Christ” and Christ is in us and we are all in the Father. Don’t let the physical church ran by men keep you from having this close relationship with God.Richard
