2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20
"Things
do not happen. Things are made to
happen." JFK
The late President Kennedy was speaking
in general terms of the environmental and social responsibility of American
citizenship, the collective responsibility we share in this republic not
strictly for our time but also for the future of our grandchildren's
grandchildren. In this observation, then,
the president was simply pointing out the obvious: if we do not "do"
according to what needs to be done, it will simply not get done. If a church's Trustee committee has no
willing participation from the church's "citizens", the buildings
will simply rot until there is nothing left.
So if the Church as the Body of Christ ignores
its God-given duty and Christ-ordained responsibility - the last Commandment our
Lord spoke before He ascended into Heaven - then those who "hunger and
thirst for righteousness" will not be filled. Those who do not know of mercy and the raw
strength of a community with a shared sense of purpose will never come to know
of mercy and the raw strength of a community with a shared sense of purpose; at
least, not in this lifetime.
Ideological purity has become the
Church's mantra to the exclusion of the "Great Commission"; and it
has become so very nearly to the exclusion and isolation of all who might come
inside to learn more about the community of faith and to hear more about our
Lord but are kept at a safe distance because they do not dress appropriately or
believe properly. We are inclined to treat
"strangers" as the "strangers" they are, and then ironically
threaten them with hell fire and eternal condemnation if they don't believe in
Jesus the way we think they should.
We believe we are doing the right and
honorable thing because we remember St. Paul's words: "A little leaven will leaven
the entire loaf" (Galatians
5:9), but we think of this in a more negative way - as in a duty to keep
out those who do not belong (according to our own self-imposed standards) lest
the congregation be poisoned with their strange or non-existent beliefs and even
stranger attire or lifestyle.
It is the purity of our religion which seems
to require that we keep at a safe distance those who would mislead our children
with their false doctrines. Yet in our
quest to be as faithful to The Lord as we can possibly be, we might do better
to remember Jesus' take on "leaven": "Take heed and beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6).
Jesus and Paul were both speaking in
terms of something growing out of control.
St. Paul was talking about the "Judiazers" (likely Pharisees
or of that "school of thought") who were insisting on circumcision
for new believers according to the Law's requirement. And Jesus is warning His disciples of the
danger of putting too fine a point on rigid rules that do more to suppress and
inhibit rather than to liberate the soul.
I am a believer in rules and
well-defined boundaries, so I am probably more aligned with a pharisaic
understanding of righteousness. The Law
exists to distinguish the people of YHWH, so it is disingenuous to suggest the Sinai
Covenant has no more use for the Church.
Without rules, without discipline, without some sense of distinction, direction,
and purpose, and without adequate and reasonable
enforcement there is nothing but chaos.
And if no one is in charge, everyone thinks they are in charge. Anarchy is the result, nothing useful can be accomplished,
and the weakest among us are the ones who will pay the price. They will be the ones who get hurt. Almost without exception.
A pastor acquaintance (Morgan Guyton)
I've come to know via the Internet wrote this thought recently: "People are liberated from their sin in
environments where they feel safe being wrong." This may sound a little foul on the
surface, but a closer look suggests those who feel free to express themselves, share
(but not attempt to impose) their thoughts and ideas, ask honest questions, and
even make a full confession are much more open to receiving a more mature
Christian perspective - but only if they feel safe.
This applies to probably each of us much
in the same way there are some neighborhoods we would not feel safe in, so we
would not even go there - for safety's sake alone! So we think about this in terms of the
Church, the community of saints and
sinners who have found a place where they feel safe; where they
(hopefully) feel free to express what more traditional Christians might
consider to be completely off-the-wall - and feel safe to do so. If they are afraid, they won't. Neither would you nor would I.
So it becomes a battle between orthodoxy
(right belief) and orthopraxy (right practice).
To be sure, Jesus did tell His Church to "teach all nations to obey everything I have commanded
you". Teaching is very much a part of the mission of the Church (perhaps
primary) but if Jesus was suggesting a "list" of things for the
Church to do and that list is ordered according to what is most important, or
at least what must come first, then the very first thing on our "list of
things to do" is to "make disciples".
Arkansas' own Bishop Mueller has raised
the bar even on this in challenging the people of the Arkansas United Methodist
Church to "make disciples who make
disciples". That is,
introducing our neighbors into a relationship with The Lord through His Church and
then leading them from their moment of justification into the spirit and life
of sanctification - "going on to perfection".
The Church was never intended as a place
to "get comfortable" anymore than the Promised Land was a place for
Israel to "get comfortable"; yet both are intended as places where
comfort may be found for those who feel safe nowhere else. As the Lord spoke to Israel through the
prophet Isaiah in reminding them of YHWH's intent in calling Israel out of
Egypt, so Jesus speaks to the Church through what is commonly referred to as
the "Great Commission" and calls us out of "self-service"
mode.
There is a lot of chatter about the
future of the United Methodist Church, and each "side" of the
perpetual debate claims to have the right answer. Sad to say, there has been a lot of posturing
and positioning by those who claim to have a corner on what the Lord intends
for the Church today. Yet for all the
ideas we think we have and how right those ideas may seem, we have yet to
concede this foundational understanding: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor
are your ways My way ... My ways [are] higher than your ways, and My thoughts
are higher than your thoughts" (Isaiah
55:8-9).
We are going to be much more inclined to
think more highly of the Lord and His word as soon as we stop thinking so
highly of our own words and ideas. And I
believe it was C.S. Lewis who once said: "If
you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present
world were those who thought most of the next [world]. It is since Christians have largely ceased to
think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one."
Becoming complacent in faith and faith
development has become the busy highway of secular life within the Church
because it is the one most often trod upon.
It is the one that demands most of our attention, but this demand has
been met and agreed upon by us. It is
the life the Church has become entirely too comfortable with because it is the
road most familiar to us.
"The Road Less Traveled" is
the one with no human compass, no mortal map, and no paved and safe
shoulders. Yet all that has been given
for us to go and has compelled us to go is the assurance of our Lord that "I
am with you always". It is
Trust in this assurance, our collective sense of purpose as the Body of Christ,
and the knowledge that nothing to this end will not get done until the people
of The Lord do so that compels and commands us to stretch our legs and step out
on the ledge.
We have come to mistakenly believe a
profession of faith is only a one-and-done
prayer; but there can be no more profound profession of faith in our Lord than
our willingness to trust Him - and Him alone - with the future of His Church
and to travel the road only He can know, the road He trod Himself. Amen.
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