If I were to ask you what you are looking for in a church, would you know? If I were to ask you what you value, could you put words to it?
Many of us could probably come up with a few things like community, life, faithfulness to God’s Word, family, peace-making, brotherhood, and many other things. But those are all actually really vague. None of them differentiate one church from another.
If the early Anabaptists were alive today, I am quite certain the Mennonite church would run them out of their congregations.
I realize that’s a pretty strong statement, and not altogether fair. But I’m willing to stand by it, nonetheless.
You see, the early Anabaptist leaders, such as Grebel, Manz, Blaurock, Sattler, and others, began to question the status quo of the institutionalized church. Should the church really baptize infants? Should a believer take oaths or go to war? Even more, they questioned the ruling of a council as being more authoritative than the Spirit’s leading in people’s lives, as was commonly accepted in their day.
For too long the church in America has walked under the intoxication of militarism. We’ve been duped into believing that it is our responsibility to protect our lives on this earth, whether by providing churches with armed security guards or by preaching a gospel compatible with materialism and the building of wealth.
But this is not the way of Christ. Not as laid out in Scripture, at least.
Thanks again for all the feedback you’ve been giving after the first two posts!
But what about when your church requires extra-biblical standards of new believers? What about when you feel lonely and unable to connect with others?
Am I suggesting that no matter what church situation you are experiencing right now you should just focus on the Gospel and continue investing as much as you can?
Absolutely not!
Thanks so much for your feedback after my last post!
Many of my readers feel held back by their church. They want to be fruitful for Christ. They want more of God and His blessing, but because of traditions or structure, they feel restricted by their church. Not empowered.
In my last post, I shared how I used to think my church held me back from being a better Christian, but now I know it’s my focus. I said there are times we bump into irreconcilable differences and suggested we can’t ever avoid those. But what we can avoid is a wrong focus. In this post I’m going to share how to gain a voice with your pastor and become an agent of positive change in your church.
Do you face frustrations with church?
I used to think it was my church holding me back from being a better Christian. Now, I know what actually holds me back is not my church, but my focus.
A well-known Christian author and speaker recently spoke out in favor of gay marriage and homosexual relationships, saying two adults have a right to choose who they want to love, and if they choose to love someone of the same-sex, then the church should help provide marriage support and parenting help. She went on to say that she wants the very best for her gay friends: love, happiness, faithfulness, commitment, and community.
I support her desires for homosexuals. I also want gay people to experience love, happiness, faithfulness, commitment, and community. I agree that the church has not done well in relating with the LGBT community.
But is redefining marriage so they can find those things as they are really the solution? How have we gotten to the place where professing born-again believers value relationships with people above faithfulness in marriage?
Because of grace, there are no excuses for sinful living. Only, God is for us. Not against us. Too often we live the Christian life expecting ourselves to be more perfect then even God expects us to be. As if holiness is something we are to accomplish before we have peace with Him. But that matter was taken care of by Christ on the Cross. We have peace, period. We can now live in relationship with God, and it is from that relationship we find the ability to live as He designed, to obey Him from the heart instead of obligation as they did under the Old Testament Law.
We still live in a fallen world, though, bound by a fallen nature. Living as He designed goes contrary to our nature. We have been grafted in—we’re not a part of the trunk that gave us root. It feels more natural to live without Him.
It is within this context that Paul is writing in Roman’s twelve.
Until our relationships accurately represent Christ, our doctrines will always be held in suspect.
Not everyone is rebellious, wanting to do their own thing. Many know the Bible and the God of the Bible and how He relates in love and grace, and when that isn’t being lived out in a community that focuses so much on trying to be like Christ, we feel something is missing.
But what if we’re chasing relationships at the expense of faithfulness? What if in our desperation for Christ, we completely miss Him?
There’s nothing wrong in and of itself with doing things different from the world. The problem comes when we spiritualize what we decide to do instead.
We all long for a sense of meaning. Until you and I get a picture for how we individually fit into God’s plan of reconciliation, we will always settle for lesser pleasures that give just enough fulfillment for us to sense deep meaning.
Knowing a lot about God and what He created us to do doesn’t motivate us to actually do it anymore than knowing how to churn butter motivates us to churn it ourselves. Knowing our calling isn’t so much about learning facts as it is discovering God’s work in our lives.
Until we discover His work in our lives, the pleasures that following Him requires us to give up will always have a greater pull on our hearts then Jesus Christ Himself.
If God did create, then His plan for my life is the plan that is most fulfilling. Because I am born with a fallen nature, I constantly trying doing life outside of His plan. I need saved. When I am saved, I become a part of a family that far transcends my immediate friends and connections. Experiencing more of God requires my continual engagement with His people.
Creation and salvation are absolutely fundamental for understanding life as God designed. Church, the body of Christ, is a critical part of going deeper with Him. But understanding creation, experiencing salvation, and participating with church are not enough to live a life that truly matters.
True meaning comes from radical love.
Author Asher Witmer knows what it’s like to want freedom from sexual sin only to continually fail. We’re often told we need more personal discipline, that we need to think godly things instead of fleshly things.
What if I told you that discipline won’t solve your problem with lust?
Our male sexuality is given by God for advancing beauty and goodness. But somewhere along the line it becomes something that causes devastation and guilt. The good news is we don’t have to live with guilt. In Live Free, Asher Witmer shows us how we can find freedom from sexual sin, live with nothing to hide, and be able to fight for others.
