Preacher's kids get a bum rap, don't they? There has long been this notion that the wildest kids in the church are the ones who have no choice but to be there every time the doors are open. The movie To Save a Life illustrates this perfectly - the preacher's kid is the one who smokes the most dope, tells the most lies, and gets into the most trouble. Personally, I don't think that this stigma is fair at all. Preacher's kids aren't always the worst ones in church. In truth, there are plenty of others in church who can just as easily lead others astray.
Before I go any further, please don't read this and think that I am trying to cast dispersions again the church that Jesus died to redeem. Yet it cannot be ignored that just because the label "Christian" is branded to your forehead it doesn't mean that your life will radiate brilliant life for Christ. Before my wife knew the Lord she was a waitress trying to earn a little money while in her first semester of college. The wait staff would often try their hardest to get out of working on Sunday afternoons, and it was primarily because the church crowd that came in for lunch on those days was the rudest and poorest tipping group that walked into that establishment each week. As for me, my first exposure to things such as alcohol and tobacco came not from negative influences at public school but rather from my cohorts in Sunday school.
So what should we do? Isn't there great worth in fellowship in the greater body of Christ? Shouldn't we be striving to build community with fellow believers? We absolutely should, but what we must not do is get duped into believing that the only negativity we will ever encounter will be in the world around us. If you don't believe me, then try sitting in on a church meeting at Backwater Mud Swamp Baptist Church as they try to decide if they want to start singing praise choruses along with the old hymns.
If you take any time at all to study the life of Jesus in the gospels you will find that He didn't often choose to spend the majority of His time with religious churchy-type people. This was noticed by the religious establishment of the day and they weren't too happy with the company He was keeping. In Mark 2:15-17 we catch some of that criticism coming down the pipe. Jesus is eating with "tax collectors and sinners," those who don't fit the mold of religious people should be like. The Jewish leaders were watching Jesus like a bunch of vultures and, smelling what appeared to be a rotting carcass, they swooped in with their brutish accusations. "Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Doesn't He know how dirty they are?
Of course Jesus knew how dirty and sinful they were. That's exactly why He spent so much time with them. His answer to their grumblings was beautiful and blunt all at the same time: "Those who are well don't need a doctor, but the sick do need one. I didn't come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."
Jesus could have chosen to spend all of His time with religious people, trying to reform their wayward lifestyles and point them back to truth. But even when they were around - and they were always hanging around, eaves dropping on every word that He said - they still didn't believe the truth that flowed from His mouth. So Jesus spent His time with the sin sick of this world, seeking to save them from their sin by pointing them to the hope of the gospel.
Does this mean that Jesus refused to go to church? Well, that all depends on what you mean by church. Jesus did regularly attend and teach at the synagogues around Palestine, but the church as we know it was in the process of being established by His life and teachings and subsequent death. The spiritual landscape of Jesus' day was about as dry and dusty as one could imagine. So while Jesus did find merit being a part of the synagogues and participating in the religious customs of the day, He certainly didn't limit Himself to those things alone. If we were to try and imagine what He would do if He belonged to one of our churches today, we would more than likely find that He would not be satisfied with living His whole life within those four walls. Be a vital part of a local body of Christ? Yes. Live out His whole spiritual life amongst those who believed only as He did? Not a chance.
One last thought: Be careful with this. Many may assume that this gives them the green light to drop out of church and hit the bars and night life in order to find souls to save. As noble as this may sound, this is not wise nor is it biblical. The church, though far from perfect, is still the bride of Christ and we are clearly instructed to align ourselves with a local body of Christ and become a vital part of its goal of reaching the world with the gospel. As one who thought he could win his fraternity brothers to Christ by living their lifestyle with them, I can attest by the scars I still bear that my failure to heed my own words was profound.
So to the sin sick we must go. Get to know them, love them as yourselves, hang out with them, live in community with them. Jesus sought us out when we are far from Him. We must do the same with those who live in the world around us.
No comments:
Post a Comment