Recently, I’ve read quite a few articles bagging on “mega”
churches. In the past few months, I’ve
sat in round-table discussions focusing on how denominational representation
was absolutely necessary to keep believers from stumbling off into the cult-ish
wilderness of quasi-doctrinal belief. I’ve
heard stances on submission, authority, worship, “religion” (yes, I’ll
interject here to say how I despise the misuse of that word. We’re all religious, we only differ in what
and how we serve. And yes, that includes
the pagans and atheists and naturalists and Christians and
every-blooming-person on the earth.), theology, soteriology, historicity, interpretation,
and all manner of topics.
And where I’ve landed, after looking at the Jesus
revealed in the gospels, hoped for in the Pentateuch, promised through the
prophets, ached for in the wisdom literature, proclaimed in the epistles, and
again in the Revelation, is that not a single one of us has gotten it
right. Granted, there were a literal
handful of folks in Jesus’ time who saw who he really was. But even that was through a direct revelation
on the Holy Spirit.
So, 2,000 years later, how can any one of us claim to
have cornered the market on Jesus?
Yes, we study the scriptures to discover as much as we
can about what he did, who he was, and how to emulate him. Yes, we beg the Holy Spirit to mold our decrepit
and rotten hearts to be more like his.
And yes, we must rely on God’s revealed character as a litmus test
against which we measure our findings.
And yes, all of this is best done within the protective boundaries of
doctrinally-sound communities.
Yet, I hurt when I come across Christian-bashing. By other believers. Those in the mega-churches saying the
liturgical are faithless robots. The
seeker-oriented gatherings bash mega-church attendees as godless zombies. Those in the liturgical traditions treat
their liberal fellows as if infected with anti-Christian-plague. We, brethren, are the body of the one, true
Christ. We are all outsiders, seeking
entrance, through grace, into the glorious kingdom of the Father.
And not a single, solitary person among us is worthy to
be let in.
But
for Christ…
Jesus loved the outsiders. Yet, he still found time to minister to the insiders. He touched Roman and Jew alike. He healed without care for class or ethnicity. He rebuked Pharisees and a Syrophoenician with
the same authority. He taught men and
women just the same.
Jesus gives each one of us His Truth. That He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life,
and that no one comes to the Father but through Him. Jesus allows each of us to decide whether we
accept or decline his sacrificial death on our behalf. And if we do, He expects obedience from
us. Be we Jew or Gentile, slave or free,
male or female. Our allegiance to His
Father requires our submission to His will.
We are to listen for His voice and be obedient to Him.
And in our obedience, we are to love one another. Whether the other happens to be our polar
opposite or not. We, as Christ’s
followers, are to be known by our love for one another. Jesus said so.
Thus, I have to ask: can we look at one another, in
love, and strive to live peacefully as far as it is up to us. And admit that none of us have it exactly
right
But for Jesus.
*I say this entirely tongue-in-cheek. I'll be the absolute first to admit that I, in fact, do not have it all right.
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