A Hospice for Sinners

I was talking to a friend about what a church is supposed to be and he threw out the line that many of us in the church have heard, “The church isn’t a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners.”

I understand that statement and mostly agree, but that is not what this post is about. This post is about something that came rolling out of my mouth that I did not expect. It was sad that Too many churches have gone from being a hospital for sinners to a hospice that gives pain medication but doesn’t treat the sin in their lives.

The comment so struck me that I wrote it down. 

My friend commented, “That will be tweeted out later today.” 

It wasn’t I thought about it for a few days before I tweeted and made a few adjustments until I tweeted out: 

“Too many churches have gone from being a hospital for sinners to a hospice that only medicates a sinner's guilt.” 

There are a lot of people out there who will criticize ministers who seem only to preach the good news and positive messages but these messages are important for us as believers. The problem arises when the culture of a church goes from helping people find Christ and begin living a transformed life to a church where sin is downplayed and transformation is actually discouraged. 

There are churches that celebrate people staying in the same state as they have always been in. There is no call for a deeper walk or for becoming more like Christ. Most people will immediately think of the churches that no longer believe in sin and accept anyone as a Christian no matter their lifestyle. However, there are churches that preach against sin, or perhaps I should say certain sins, and ignore the ones going on in their midst. The inner-city church decries the wealth and indulgence of the suburb, yet ignores the sins that are trapping people in poverty. The church in the country cries out against lazy people on welfare but tolerates gossip and selfish power plays.

These churches claim they are helping the sinners, but in truth, they are giving the people in the church the wrong medication. Their lack of looking inward causes them to feel healthy when they are actually dying. 

So what do you do?

As a pastor, my job is to allow the Spirit of God to reveal the needs of my congregation and preach to those concerns. No, not every message is or should be a chance to knock the people in line, but they should be relevant to where they live. The messages should not be directed at Washington, other churches, or the political parties. They need to be true to the people where they live.

If you're in church leadership, talk to your pastor or preaching staff and ask them. Why do they preach the way they do.

If you're just a member then pray. Don’t wait for the preacher to point out what you need to be dealing with in your life, ask God he knows exactly what is wrong in your life. You can also pray for your leadership. 

Finally, this post may seem to be pointing out at other people, and in some way it is but it is also a reminder to me and to my church to help those who are in need where we are, don’t medicate the conscious of a sinner. Bring them to the place where God can transform them.  

Space and Being in the Vine?

Keep reading vines and space will make sense.

John 15:1-4 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."

When we look into John 15 it is easy to get caught up in the glories of remaining in Christ and what happens if we do. I don't want to diminish these promises they are great and we need to focus on them and learning what it means to live in Christ. 

However, this is my blog and I write what grabs my attention. Today, while looking over this promise again I was reminded that the first verses aren't the whole of the story. It says further on in verses 5-6, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned."

Ouch, I truly hope those who believe once in grace always in grace are right, but this doesn't sound like once you're in Christ you are always in Christ. It sounds like a warning. This isn't Christ being mean, as some might want to see it, this is Christ giving us a warning. If you want to live come with me, as it were. It is like telling someone, don't take off your helmet while in space the vacuum will kill you. It isn't said with a villainous laugh, "I'll get you my pretty..." It is Christ laying out the truth.

What I do notice is the warning isn't the end it's in the middle. This means it isn't the most important part of the message and it isn't. It's just a warning. Keep your helmet on now and enjoy this, once-in-a-lifetime experience, the view of earth from orbit (coming soon I hope).

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

God said, "Don't go to church!"

Sometimes God doesn't sound reasonable.

My grandmother, Martha Drake, told me an amazing story. She said God told her not to go to church. I am a pastor and I have heard lots of stories of why people didn’t go to church. Though some have merit most are just smoke and mirrors and I don’t know if they are trying to fool me or themselves. Personally, I don’t think I am as dumb as they think I am considering some of the stories. I have never had anyone tell me that God told them not to go to church and I believed them until grandma told me her story. 

Grandma had accepted Christ and was serving him in spite of the fact that her husband, Ralph my grandfather, was not very happy about it. Grandpa was what some might call an alcoholic but considering how he behaved I would have called him a drunk and a mean drunk at that. Grandma lost 12 children to miscarriage all of them probably due to beatings. I was glad that by the time I came along Grandpa was a different person. 

One night grandma was walking to church and felt God tell her, “Don’t go to church, Martha.” She didn’t think it was right to miss church on Sunday night when she could go so keep walking. God did not let up and a couple houses before the church she turned into her Aunt  Millie’s house and visited with her rather than go to church. Afterward, she went home feeling a little bad for not going to church. 

“Martha,” her friend Treasa told grandma later, “I am glad you weren’t in church Sunday night. Part of the way into the service, Ralph shoved open the back doors of the church. He stood there holding open the doors, cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and just stared around looking for you. You could see he was drunk and mad. When he didn’t see you he stomped out letting the doors slam behind him. I think if you had been there he would have dragged you out and beat you.”

 Grandma later wondered if perhaps God did not save her that night, not just from a beating but from losing her life. It is strange to think perhaps I might never have been born if Grandma had gone to church. 

I can do All (okay maybe not)

Strenght to WIN! (?)

 For many people their favorite if not one of their favorite verses in the Bible is Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. The only problem is we see people who seem not to be doing it. they aren't healthy, rich, or successful. They don't reach their goals or become the best. 

So what is going on? 

the answer for some is that the people claiming this verse just don't have enough faith. I will give the people who make this claim that sometimes this is the case, however not always. There are other reasons people don't do all things.

First, we need to realize that the apostle who wrote this wasn't speaking of human success and wealth or "making it" as we would call it. Paul isn't talking about doing all I/you want to do.  

Second, when we talk about through Christ we need to realize we need to be in Christ and doing what He wants us to do. God isn't normally going to give you the strength to do your own thing when he has something else in mind for you to be doing. 

Finally, and most importantly, Paul was referring to the power to endure hardship and persecution. This verse has nearly everything to do with enduring than making it to the top in this life. Look at the verse previous and you will see Paul says "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Paul here is speaking of enduring not getting what we want. He's talking about learning to hold on to God when things are good and when things are bad. 

I have lived long enough to say that it is those who know how to endure the good and the bad in life that we can admire.

So, God give me the strength to endure All things.

Faith for Exiles - recommended

Negative perceptions. Church dropouts. Prodigals and nomads. It's easy to get discouraged by all that's going wrong when it comes to Christianity and the emerging generation. Yet what's going right? In fact, signs of hope are springing up all around. In Faith For Exiles David Kinnaman, author of unChristian and You Lost Me teams up with Mark Matlock, former executive director of Youth Specialties to unveil major new Barna research that uncovers what's working—five practices that contribute to resilience. Enter the world of resilient young adult Christians and learn how they are sustaining faith. Finally, you can find hope in all that God is doing among young disciples today. ( from https://faithforexiles.com/)

I don't think I have ever recommended a book on this blog before, but here goes. Faith for Exiles is a good book with great information. I'm still trying to figure out how we can do some of the things they recommend in the middle of a pandemic where people are afraid (and sometimes rightly so) about getting sick or getting others sick, but that doesn't change the study. I have just finished this book today and plan to go back through it to see how we might implement some of the ideas in our future ministry. Some of the ideas have had but not been able to put it into words or proper action but I hope to change that. 

Anyway, it's worth a read. 

Keeping strong in easy times.

Consider the promises.

 I'm taking a break from forgiveness this week and look instead at the promises of God. You know the ones: Destruction is coming, people will hate you, you will be lied about, the enemies will be those of your own home...

I bet those weren't the promise you were hoping I would look at. I don't like them either. I want the ones which promise me rainbows and cupcakes (healthy ones but still have all the taste of sugar). There are both types of promises in the Bible, but for the follower of Christ no so much. The New Testament rarely gives us promises of an easy earthly life. 

This doesn't mean we won't get an easy life on occasion, but if our spiritual life is built on easy living then we aren't where God wants us. If we are going to be all God wants us to be we have to be willing to follow Him even if things aren't easy. 

The good news is that God does promise a reward far greater than our suffering so it will be worth it. 

For some of us, we may need to spend more time doing things that aren't pleasant: working in a soup kitchen, volunteering with those who need help, etc. 

Why might you ask? 

Because in doing these things we are reminded of the blessings we do have, and it keeps us spiritually strong when tough times come. 

Think about it.

Pride and Forgiveness

 Last week I posed the question about the possibility that could pride keeping me from forgiving. So what do you think? Can pride keep you or me from forgiving others?

I believe it can. 

When we are filled with sinful pride (this is not self-confidence or feeling good about doing well) and think our ideas, person, or group are more important than God, it can interfere with forgiveness. The reason is we consider our "rights" of greater importance than God. We have in a way put ourselves into the position of god in our life. The "right" to hold on to anger and bitterness (unforgiveness) is more important to us than God and His commands.  

This of course is self-destructive as a host of research has shown, but it doesn't matter if our pride has moved us into the god position in our life. 

This is why I believe pride can keep us from forgiving. 

Are there people filled with pride who do forgive? 

Yes, I'm sure there are (I haven't meet any). They are forgiving not because it is right before God but because they have found letting go is better for them. 

Personally, I think trying to keep pride out of our lives makes everything better and when it comes to  forgiveness, it makes it easier.