Released in 2001 by F. LaGard Smith, Radical Restoration is a 315-page book that asks the tough questions. The book is a call to throw off denominational thinking. Warning, below is an excerpt that is indeed pretty radical.
The irony is that if, in fact, we were all radically changed as individuals, then automatically we would be a radically-changed collective body of Christ, and a book of this nature likely would never be necessary. If the discussion within even these pages seems to focus on organization and ritual, let it not be forgotten that no radical restoration is more important than our own: one by one. Christian by Christian. If we, ourselves, were truly transformed in faith and life, most of the problems of “the church” would take care of themselves. Without doubt, the single, underlying, bedrock cause of most church problems is our hopelessly misconstrued concept of “church” itself.
Look how convoluted the system easily becomes. When even passionately penitent believers begin to think of themselves as an institutionalized church instead of simply being God’s sanctified people, they no longer produce other passionately penitent people who can perpetuate that spiritual body. Instead, they produce people who are wet but not warmed-people for whom mere attendance suffices for fervent participation, and pre-packaged ritual (whether traditional or contemporary) is assumed to be synonymous with things spiritual. Loyalty to God is measured by loyalty to the church.
When that happens, the time has come for a top-to-bottom spring cleaning. One can almost see our Lord striding through the temple courts with a determined glint in his eyes and a talis cord wrapped tightly in his right hand as he begins to knock over tables and animal pens-sending coins, merchants, and doves flying! It was not a time for just a little tidying up here and there. Jesus wasn’t merely concerned about the corruption of the moneylenders, or the irreverence of wide-open commercialism in the temple courts. From the priests to the rabbis to ordinary Jews, God’s people had lost all sight of true religion.
Over time, temple practices which were meant to encourage meaningful spiritual worship had evolved into a highly-structured political, social, and economic system that more often served to obscure faith rather than to promote it. Yet if you had asked virtually anyone in Israel, they would have insisted that their religious system was definitely of God. They could even (in today’s terms) quote book, chapter, and verse. Every point of doctrine was certified; every practice justified; every questionable assumption conveniently rationalized.
Through the lenses of Christian thought and comfortable hindsight, of course, we immediately recognize how deluded the Jews were in their ritualistic concept of worship. We even heap scorn on them for their Pharisaical exclusivism and legalism. But to possibly think that we could be equally deluded is unthinkable! Surely, Jesus would never walk into one of our congregations and create a scene….
Are we absolutely certain about that? Is it so unreasonable to think that if our Lord suddenly appeared among us he might begin knocking over lecterns, and smashing communion cups, and ripping down basketball nets in our family life centers? If what we are about as a fellowship of believers is not of God, then we dare not take comfort in the fact that the Lord is no longer on the earth to literally overturn our tables. Instead, we ourselves must manifest divine outrage and cleanse the temple of its impurity.
If this somehow seems a terribly radical thing to do, should it not give us pause to consider that the alternative could be more radical yet? John hints of it in his Revelation letters:
To Ephesus-“If you do not repent, I will remove your lampstand from its place.”
To Sardis “If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief….”
To Laodicea “I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”At the Resurrection of the living and the dead, will we not also be judged for our unfaithfulness? If Spirit-led, apostolic faith and practice is ever to be recaptured, it can’t wait for Forever. Surely, the time for being radical is now.
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