Life As a Church

As I indicated in a recent social media post, the church universal may be acting in desperation right now. Leading us to make hasty choices and push under-equipped believers onto the front line. As if we can overcome decades worth of shallow superficial faith in a measly two-day revival. Yet, as I also indicated, many people are reluctant to go beyond basic training in hopes of avoiding the responsibility of the mission for one reason or another. Yet our leaders seem to be at a loss on what to do about this. Some just keep repeating themselves in hopes of a different response. Some even go as far as to become accusatory. Yet what I’m ultimately getting at is, if you want to revive the church, you got to revive the people in it first.

“When I encountered God, I noticed that many Christians weren’t passionate about much, at least on the outside.” -Lacey Sturm, The Reason

Sure you can put a brand new roof on a leaky house. But, if the walls are termite-infested don’t be surprised if the house collapses in the process. You can replace all the rotten walls of a building, but if the foundation is crumbling you are only buying yourself a minuscule amount of time.

Life as a Church

It is not that much different with people. If the foundation of self is a mess (heart) all the whitewash in the world isn’t going to change that in a real and meaningful way. We all have a story, and most of them remain untold because we shame people for them, rather than support them through overcoming it. Leaving people to bear their burdens all alone. This is often where people ultimately falter. As we push on them to be what we need them to be, rather than direct them toward what they need to grow and heal.

All the different words used to describe the inner self are hard to define Biblically because there is just so much overlap. For example, both soul and spirit refer to the spark of life bestowed by God, however, the soul also has strong ties to the mind, much more than the spirit does. So not exactly the same. One thing is certain though, The heart is the center of it all. While pop culture may equate emotions as the predominant part of the heart, scripturally speaking it is actually the weakest. 

 'Can a world of posers tell you to do anything but pose? As Buechner Says, We are in constant danger of being not actors in the drama of our lives but reactors, "to go where the world takes us, to drift with whatever current happens to be running strongest." -John Eldredge, citing Frederick Buechner

Therein lies a big obstacle we must contend with. The secular world is quick to approve and validate posers, as long as you pose on their terms. Christian posers can’t even begin to compete with the united front of mainstream media on this one. So I guess we have no choice but to fall back, regroup, and take on the expensive labor-intensive task of foundation repair. If we did that, then maybe the Holy Spirit may start dwelling within us once again. Then the people will be moved to rebuild the walls and prepare the way for the roof we have needed for so long.

To make what I am saying more relatable, let me share this. Growing up I had to watch all the people seeking more than physical presence, and basic physical needs from my father get hurt repeatedly. So I learned that maintaining a safe emotional distance was best with him. While that is but the tip of the proverbial mountain that I must move, I can assure you it has trickled down into every aspect of my life. Something that has led to receiving constant criticism over the years, the irony of it all is, that my father was one of my biggest critics. Blissfully unaware that he was the one who initially taught me to not rely on anyone. Even today within the church there is this pressure for everyone to be a part of outreach, even if we have little to offer them once we get them in the door. Other than a mission they aren’t ready for yet.

Can you relate to feeling left out because you’re not a coveted foot in the body of Christ? Or are you content being just another observer. Leaving your heart and holiness incomplete.

The Visual PARABLEist  

 

Evangelical?

The word evangelical seems to have become a slur in the mainstream media these days. They only utter it in a spirit of disdain. This begs the question, do they know what it actually means, and how are they interpreting it? Then again, does the average churchgoer even know what it is supposed to mean? Or is this just another example of terminology getting twisted over time due to the lack of education? The term itself is derived from the Greek word euangelion, which literally translates as “Good News.” In the broadest literal sense, the English word refers to Spreading the Good News of the Gospel via outreach. Another form of the word evangelism. 

For the longest time, it was used synonymously with Protestants, since they believed they were the keepers of the true gospel. Later on, the idea often gets tied to specific religious organizations and historical movements like the Evangelical United Front, the Holiness Movement, and the Evangelical Alliance. They often had very specific theologies and doctrines tied to them. Putting emphasis on salvation, sanctification, atonement, and holiness. Many of these early groups were interdenominational, with the main goal of unifying the Protestant church rather than outreach. There was often an anti-Catholic sentiment behind some of them as well. However, the Roman Catholic Church did eventually adopt the word evangelism as originally intended. So it’s no longer exclusively a Protestant term anymore.

These days it seems to be applied to churches who maintain traditional doctrine and theology. Juxtaposing themselves against a trend of watering down Biblical principles to make it more palatable to the masses. All for the sake of numbers and maintaining institutions. At least there is an attempt at actual outreach there, albeit a misguided version of it. This seems to only fuel the trend of the so-called traditional Evangelical Church narrowing the gospel to defining righteousness, and telling people how to live in a cold systematic way. This begs the question, where is the “Good News” for the poor in spirit? Where is the image of a loving Messiah who wants to bind up the broken-hearted, so they can find freedom from being captivated by their own nature. Where is the Christ that wants to release us from the darkness of our own bad decisions? Where is the Jesus who comforts those in mourning for the temporal things of this world that we foolishly put our hope in? Let alone a church reaching out to the wounded person in need of God’s love. Those in need of a hand up from a true disciple, not just criticism from an armchair missionary.

This seems to be what is triggering the mainstream in their contempt of evangelicals. From their point of view, they are like, you claim to be about love. Yet your actions are impatient, unkind, rude, arrogant, angry, and critical. You are the ones who appear to be misguided and lost. So we will fight your fire with fire, and redefine love as we think it should be applied. So they aren’t even listening when we tell them their path is shallow and will lead only to being brokenhearted, spiritual captivity, emotional darkness, emptiness, and mourning.

But before I conclude, let me make this clear. The grace and love side of our creed is meant to make us whole again, so we can be enabled to become righteous. It is not a place to linger indefinitely. Yet if we skip over that and go right to righteousness, we only set people up for failure. It is like building your house on the sand, it just won’t hold up over time. This is the opposite extremism I spoke of earlier.

Again, if Evangelical and gospel both mean good news, why are we treating it like old news? This Old Covenant ideal of, this is the standard, live up to it, atone for it when you fail, or be destroyed. All this does is rub salt in the wounds of the broken. It kicks people while they are down. So ultimately, this is what the secular world thinks when they hear the word evangelical. So it’s no wonder they see nothing good in it, and we are losing ground in our mission.

The Visual PARABLEist 

Mockery is not a virtue

Last time, I mentioned the subject of mockery. With it being such a widespread problem that most are not even trying to correct, I thought I should say more about it. It is most prominent on social media these days, so much so that I think  Elon Musk should have renamed Twitter, Mockery, instead of X. That Facebook should be called throw it their face book. Name any issue and there are probably thousands of social media accounts dedicated to it. I dare say a majority of the posts we actually see revolve around mocking the opposition, rather than educating about the issue. The worst part is, that social media algorithms encourage this. Mockery drives more log-in time and clicks than just about anything else. Which means more ad revenue for big tech. They are literally getting rich off of creating resentment and making you fret. (Psalm 37:1-2 & 8-9) We as the church should not be encouraging this for the sake of clicks. Yes, we need to stand up for the truth, but the moment we resort to mockery that truth gets blurred behind a toxic wall of negativity. Plus we violate the very truth we profess in doing so.

Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.

The proud and arrogant person—“Mocker” is his name— behaves with insolent fury. -Proverbs 23:23-24 

But let me put this into perspective for you. So you will realize just how unrighteous it really is.  The average person is very much motivated by acceptance, approval, validation, and inclusion. A licensed counselor told me a majority of his patients are looking for just that. Manipulative people are well aware of this, so they know they can get you to do just about anything if they dangle acceptance for it before your nose like a dog treat. If somebody finds the resulting behavior ridiculous, the knee-jerk reaction of our sinful nature responds with mockery. In turn, this only pushes the manipulated back to the manipulator in search of another dose of validation. All because we chose to, and possibly enjoy being hurtful, rather than helpful. That’s not how you save souls, it’s how you lead people astray. (Matthew 18:6-7) This is exactly what we see playing out on social media. 

I said it before, but I can’t say it enough. Psychology confirms just how ineffective mockery is. They call it The Framing Effect. The idea is that information is often gauged more by how it is presented, instead of the actual validity of the facts. Just ask yourself, when someone treats you with contempt and disrespect, do you go out of the way to listen to their point of view? Or do you merely get all defensive? Yet the Bible told us all along, that truth is not a free pass to be a mocker. That mockery is not a virtue. A fact we often ignore or are just plain ignorant of. Ultimately every dimension of truth must be upheld, or it’s only a half-truth, and a half-truth can be just as destructive as a lie.

So again I ask you, to take a long hard look at yourself and your motivations. Ask yourself, do you mock to do what’s right, or just be right? Are you mocking to help, or just stick it to them? Who are we to correct the world, if our motivations are just as ugly as theirs?

The Visual PARABLEist

“How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?
Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings. -Proverbs 1:22-23

If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer -Proverbs 9:12