What I think is stupid.

So…I’m going to be honest, this is going to be a rant. I have been a little more sarcastic and dry the last couple of days, largely due to some information that I happened upon. I won’t go into detail about the information, although nearly every cell in my body would like to, I don’t want to be a proponent for dissension in the body of Christ. With that said, I am going to vomit all of my frustrations onto this blog, and hopefully be done with it. My frustration is this: the presence of politics in the Bride of Christ. I have had a glimpse into the horrors of ministry. What are the horrors you ask? Church politics. The stupid, ridiculous, un-biblical way that Churches can be run. The way that a man can gain control over any entire denomination is infuriating, not only does it feed the self-righteousness that is prevalent in Baptist Churches it breeds it as well. People by the thousands walk around with their noses in the air thinking that they are more spiritual than everybody else. Why? Because they dress up on Sundays, or because they don’t dress up, or because they have a traditional worship, or contemporary.

There is a serious risk of spiritual elitism in America. What is the risk you ask? It’s this: when we think that we are better than another denomination because of our model of worship we forget one crucial truth, that all the believers together make the Body of Christ. Not the Baptists, or the Lutherans, or the Presbyterians or the kids that don’t claim a denomination. All of us together, who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, we are the body. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t confront and correct doctrinal errors, we should, it is of the utmost importance that our Theology is sound. However, our Theology should never become a point of pride. If it does then it shows our Theology is a facade, our right words and Sunday school answers are covering a deeper truth, that we are far from God. Our correct Theology ought to aim at this “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith”. If the goal of our instruction isn’t this then we can find ourselves in a dark place, where all that we say and do serves us, our Churches and Bible studies all serve to make us look cool. Maybe we couldn’t be cool in other realms, but in Church we can really be somebody, we can tell people what to do and have control.

Now why do I say this? Why do I rant? Because I have seen this in myself, I have seen this in Christ’s beloved and I hate it. I believe that God is actively apposing the pride of His beloved, and I want to be a part of what my Lord is doing. Because in the end, all of our religious activity may have been a big sham. Maybe we have been just been religious for our own sake. That’s a scary place to be, I don’t want to hear “I never knew you” to which I reply, “but look at all the stuff I did for You!”. I’m not saying that I wrestle with whether or not I’m saved, well…there are dark nights of my soul when I do wrestle, but I know that’s satan and his lies, so I ignore it. But we should examine ourselves. We should press into Christ here, because if we are going through the motions we need to repent. We need to ask forgiveness and sit at the feet of Christ, all so that we may know Him better. When that happens we can rest in the beautiful assurance of our salvation, and we can serve our Lord with a sincere heart.

So my plea is this, “let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need”. Draw near, find the things that stir your affections for Christ and do them, don’t talk about doing them, actually do them. Ask for Christ to stir your affections for Him, to draw you near to Him. Oh that we would find life in Christ!!! How I wish we could love one another the way that Christ loves us, how beautiful life would be if that could happen. So lets strive for it. Let the pursuit of our lives be to love God and each other until we all go home and He makes everything perfect at the end of the age.

Brent

~ by Brent on February 6, 2008.