Church at the Center

It can be said, “As the Church goes, so goes society.” I think there is reason for alarm as we look at the Church today. The first bit of evidence is what we mean by “Church.” While the "Church" technically means the “body of believers’, it has come to mean a religious institution or denominational hierarchy. Thus, when we say the Church teaches, we now mean that the hierarchy teaches, rather than a teaching of the body of believers. This transposition takes emphasis away from the people (believers) and puts it into the church organization’s hierarchy. The Church needs a hierarchy but it doesn’t need to usurp what defines the “Church”. Consistent with the way the Bible refers to it, the Church needs to remain the body of believers while the hierarchy needs to be an appendage of the Church, not the Church itself. It’s an important point because the Church as an institution has taken on an identity it is not intended to have.
In having this identity, the denominational hierarchy has become the center and power of Christianity. As a result, many people who serve the Church are serving a revered institution, rather than merely serving the body of believers. The institutional Church was never meant to be the center of the faith. Only God is to be the center. This same transposition of Church identity was seen in the times of Jesus, when the Church was such an institution of itself that it didn’t even recognize Christ: The one it sought to usher in. Today, the Church is such an institution that I sometimes wonder if it too would recognize Christ. So many people have such strong reverence and affinity for the Church while their personal faith life wanes terribly. Their love for the institutional Church is impassioned while their devotion and obedience to the ways of God are warped or neglected. The love and feelings which should be reserved and nourished in a relationship with God are transposed onto the institutional Church. The Church becomes the center while God becomes an auxiliary member.
We see the results of this in practice every day. As an overly simplistic example, as we drove 1400 miles over the Thanksgiving weekend, we were often in quite heavy traffic. A cooperative and patient spirit is necessary in such times. Yet, over and over again rudeness and self-importance was seemingly the dominant spirit. I wonder how many of these drivers are devoted Church goers. It was especially embarrassing to see the drivers with church related stickers on their cars behave as they did. We see the paradox in everyday life too. We see it in the words we use, our actions, and our inactions. Once again, devoted Church people who would do anything for the Church, routinely act in ways contrary to the teachings of Christ. We should consider that if the amount of love and devotion we expend toward the Church is not superseded by the love and devotion we expend in prayer and living God’s word, then we have wrongly transposed our love for God onto the Church. Indeed we are repeating history: The history of the Jews at the time of Christ. Going to Church does not make one a Christian; only following and obeying Christ does.
Our relationship with the Church is supposed to be the natural by-product of our relationship with God. God is not the by-product of the Church. The Church is the by-product of God. Thus, our energies need to be first and foremost on God, not the Church. Too many in the Church hierarchy have this backwards. They promote the Church with the intent of promoting God along side, but keep the Church at the center of the people’s time, talent, and treasure. Loving God and loving the Church is not the same thing. Serving the Church is not necessarily serving God either. Our relationship with God is to take stark precedence over our relationship with the hierarchical church, or we end up with a Church-centered faith, rather than a truly Christ-centered faith.
We are just coming off another set of elections. Once again, the pulpits were devoid of preaching and proclamations regarding the views of candidates. Why are the pulpits silent when it comes to political positions and the faith? Well, the Church does not want to risk losing its tax exempt status. Despite knowing that we “cannot serve both God and mammon (money)”, the Church still chooses to serve its financial status rather than God and His people. The pulpits should boldly pronounce and denounce political positions which are consistent, inconsistent, in aberration with, or are an abomination to the Word of God. With the Church at the center, its interests (financial) are served first. With God at the center, His interests would be served first.
Speaking of elections, we’ve heard a lot about hope, change, and faith as it relates to our government. After all, where else is the widow, orphan, unemployed, or disadvantaged supposed to place their hope? At one time, it was in the church- - - the body of believers. However, the Church has defaulted on this primary and stated mission so as to have the government take it over. The government has now assumed the role of the church as the primary source for hope of the needy. This has then also taken away one of the church’s primary roles for charity. The needy are cared for by monies taxed from people, not monies given as tithes and offerings: Charity. The government takes money from people and redistributes to others without the charity or accountability intended for the church. Do you see where this is going? The Christian virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, for more and more people, sit with the government rather than with the church. While the Church is busy doing its own thing, the thing it’s charged with has been given to the government. So, what is the Church doing that is so important that it can’t take care of the mission it was charged with in the Bible? Well, it has wonderful programs of every sort which serves the Church very well, but not God’s charge and people so well. The government too has wonderful programs which serve the government very well, but not its constitutional role or people so well.
As we watch the continued transformation of a Church-centered faith, we can ask, “Are we in the last days of the Church?” Truly, God only knows. I read in the news yesterday that a Florida school has banned everything to do with Christmas, so as to not offend anyone. Meanwhile, the Church is preaching tolerance for everything from homosexuality to Islam to divorce. The Church is tolerating and making allowances to serve its own purposes, but which contradicts God’s Word. Indeed, the Church has become the center of the faith. However, we should be aware that “As the Church goes, so goes society.” Not only that, but now we are seeing that as society goes, so goes the Church.

Remember When?

It has been said, “The only thing constant in life is change.” We’ve seen many changes over the recent decades, both good and bad. Some of the bad changes are very insidious. Little by little the line between right and wrong/good and bad gets increasingly blurred. Society used to frown on what has become commonplace. Do you remember when divorce, living together, homosexuality, cursing, and heavy drinking were regarded with disdain? It’s not so scornful now, is it?
We are entering the season of Christmas. Do you remember when the Christmas season was very sacred and Christmas was very holy? Now, in large measure, the Christmas season is the “holiday season” while Christmas is largely a commercial enterprise, in which public displays of its religious roots are all too often shunned.
Sometimes change isn’t so good while the ways of old served mankind the best. I hope we all remember to celebrate this Christmas season the way it is meant to be. Maybe we can remember when, and rekindle that Spirit this year.

Self-Inflicted

Many have opined that most of our woes are self-inflicted. Raising children is very difficult but it is made much more difficult when parents act as if they are subjects of their children. I hear the stories of rude remarks, bad attitudes, and vindictive behaviors aimed at parents by children. Once the child gets his hands on the household’s reins, it’s a real battle to ever get either the reins back or the child’s behavior tamed. Then, through the years, the turmoil builds and heartache perpetuates. It’s always distressing to witness parents being on the wrong end of their relationship with their children. Parents need to parent, not the children. More and more chaos is being unwittingly self-inflicted into the household by parents who try to be something to their children other than parents first.

Update

I haven’t given a health update for a while so this post will serve to do that. My stomach is significantly better during much of the daytime since I’ve removed beef and pork from my diet. I don’t get weird and freaked out if that’s what is being served somewhere. However, otherwise, I avoid it. Although I really like beef and pork, its removal has made enough of an improvement that it is self-induced punishment to consume it. In fact, there are some days now that my stomach is fairly well behaved, until the evening dose of chemo. I still take all the stomach medicine too since my stomach is much improved, not well. However, I’m very thankful for the improvement.
As for my arm, this has been a summer of perseverance. My arm is much more sensitive than it has been in years. I gave it quite a bit of use this summer, but not as much abuse. Sometimes there's just no rhyme or reason to it. Now we enter the cooler time of the year when I have to make major arm adjustments. I’m not looking forward to the cold weather. I’m getting outside during the nice time of the day and limiting my time outside when it is cooler. However, I do have to get my cold resistance built up in preparation for winter. While the mornings have been a bit cold here, the afternoons have been beautiful.
Our family is doing well; we are blessed.

Thy will be Done

It can be said we can really tell what is at the center of our inward desires by closely watching our actions. I would take it a step farther. I would say that we can tell what is at the center of our inward desires by examining the motivations of our actions. For example, we can help a little old lady across the street. We can do it for the purpose of being helpful. Or, we can do it because it makes us feel good or appreciated. These are two different motivations; the first is to serve another while the second is to serve feelings for Self. Serving Self gets to be an ugly habit which often gives us the outward perception that we are doing good, but the inward motivation is quite self-serving. In other words, the good outward action is precipitated by self-serving motivations. I believe this is why the Bible teaches us that man believes himself to be good, but only God knows the heart. By merely looking at the actions we show to the world, we judge ourselves good. However, closer examination often reveals an undesirable underlying motivation.
We are quick to pray, “Lord, thy will be done.” All too often though, what we really want is the Lord’s will to be done when it happens to match our will!! Otherwise, we beg and plead for our own will to be done, not the Lord’s. This all begs the question: Do we live our life primarily seeking God’s will, or do we live our life according to our will - - - and hope it coincides with Gods’ will? As we look at the political correctness and tolerance for that which is ungodly in this nation, it ought to give us pause as to whose will we are pursuing. Only close self-examination clues us to what is really in our heart. Or, said another way, only close self-examination clues us to who’s Will we truly pursue.
When we stand face-to-face with God, I can imagine Him looking us up and down and simply saying, “Thy will be done.” At that instant, our eternal destiny would be decided by what is really at the heart of our will. In other words, did we live a life of “Thy will be done,” or a life of “My will be done”? For most of us, it should be a scary thought that God might determine our eternal life by saying, “Thy will be done”.

Changing the Past

I’m sure we’ve all heard people say that they wouldn’t change a thing in their past lives. The striking thing is that a lot of these people have endured horrendous pasts. Yet, because of the lessons they’ve learned or the maturity they’ve undergone, they not only wouldn’t change anything but they are thankful for their pasts. Although I understand where they are coming from, personally, I would definitely make some changes if given the opportunity. In fact, I still make decisions that I’d like to have “do-overs” with.
We often hear that we are to be thankful for all things. I think that is a misunderstanding. I believe we are to be thankful in all things, or amidst all things. Although there is grace to be found even in the midst of our mistakes, errors in judgment and behavior shouldn’t be celebrated or viewed as anything but wrong. Although we must move on from our mistakes, the real lessons are learned when we honestly and accurately differentiate right from wrong.
Before we blindly join the choruses of those who wouldn’t change anything in their pasts, we ought to be honest about the potential we’ve always had to be better people, and the potential we still hold to do so.