Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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Jesus' ministry was completely informal. If you will pay close attention as you read through the gospels, you will notice that in Jesus' presence, there was never a sense of formality. He was not a professional ecclesiastic, trained in stylish oratory and homiletics. He was a simple man who used simple words to communicate God's simple way of grace. Paul warned the saints not to be lured away from the simplicity that is in Christ (2Cor. 11:3). When any man waxes eloquent in his declaration of the gospel, it is unlikely that he has heard from God, for "the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power" (1Cor. 4:2). Eloquence is what religious teachers offer to men when they have not heard from God.
"Jesus never had a formal [worship] service." So said Preacher Clark in that country home prayer meeting long ago. Jesus taught in the fields, along the sea shore, and in houses. From the evidence in the gospels, people around him felt free to converse with him as he was teaching them. They felt welcome to interrupt, to ask questions, and to make comments. To be sure, there were times when the power of God was with him to preach so that no man could speak, but quite often those about him felt perfectly free to voice their feelings, and he wasn't troubled by that at all.
The people who followed Jesus regularly, as well as those who came to be healed or taught, never had a sense of being in a "religious service" when they were in his presence. He set sinners at ease with the love of God. Men and women, with their children, sat on the grass or on the floor of a house, or by the sea shore, listening and watching God's humble servant preach the gospel of hope. They never dressed in special clothes when they came, and neither did he. He came to be like us, not to be different. And he was the same ordinary-looking man (Isa. 53:1) at every place and at every time anyone saw him.
Beware the man who dresses differently from ordinary men so that he may appear to be a servant of God. There were men who did the same thing in ancient Israel (Zech. 13:4). If a man is truly a man sent from God, he is not concerned with appearing to be one. All who dress in special clothing in order to appear to be ministers of God are both deceived and deceivers. All of them! And God wants His children to stop doing such things in imitation of men who do not know Him.
Beware the buildings that are built differently from ordinary buildings so that they may appear to be houses of worship. For your own soul's sake, stay away from buildings with crosses high above them, the buildings with ornate, stained-glass windows and with signs in front inviting people to enter and worship God. The only houses of worship that are of God in this covenant are the bodies of sanctified men and women. All the buildings men build for worship are dead and empty. All of them! "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?"
Beware religious gatherings of people in which men behave differently from the way they behave at other times so that they may make it appear to be a gathering of God's people. If it was truly a meeting of the saints, the people would not come together for a "service" in which they are required to dress differently and change their behavior in order to show God reverence. Brother, you will show God greater reverence than they are doing if you simply refuse to sit among them. Flee from the congregation of the dead! To join one of these cursed congregations is to show great disrespect to Jesus. It is an affront to God. They are ungodly imitations of true meetings of righteous people, and wise men rejoice to have nothing to do with them. Solomon warned us that if we choose some other path than what is true in God, then we will "remain in the congregation of the dead" (Prov. 21:16). Choose life.
Through the prophet Jeremiah (17:13), the Son spoke to the Father, saying, "O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed", and then he added, "and they that forsake me shall be written in the earth." I have known precious children of God who, being "overtaken in a fault", have forsaken the right ways of Jesus and have added their names to the earthly roles of the blind. Oh, how the heart of God hurts for them! God is calling His children out of Christianity, the "Church", and out of the specially built buildings that appear to be, but are not temples of true worship, and away from professionally trained men who know how to appear to be, but are not sent from God. It is all wrong. All of it! Jesus is pleading for those who love him to come out of it all, to come out of Christianity and live in the Spirit of life!
May God give us all the grace to forsake the foolish and to live, to have the faith to forsake the appearances of righteousness and to embrace the substance of it, and to love life so much that we refuse to endure the alluring formalities of the ways of death.