Will They Know We Are Christians?
*I wrote and delivered this for a speech class awhile back and it is probably the most concise statement I can think of about what is wrong and how to fix it.
4-22-05
Hey Church, do you know how many people hate us right now? They call us hypocrites. They call us judgmental. You know why? We call them fags and we call them whores. This is utter hypocrisy. Have you read your Bibles lately? Who did Jesus spend so much of His time with? The outcasts of society. Who did Jesus judge harshly? The Pharisees. Guess which group we fall into.
The Christian community has spent a lot of time recently trying to protect the sanctity of the family and being the moral watchdog of the nation. But I think there is something you should know. That watchdog has heartworms. George Barna released a study saying that Christian marriages were more likely to end in divorce than any other faith group, including atheists and agnostics. He said, “While it may be alarming to discover that born again Christians are more likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in place for quite some time.” Barna said that he “rarely find[s] substantial differences” between the moral behavior of Christians and non-Christians. The “protectors of the family” are letting their own fall apart. The bastions of moral character aren’t any different than those they condemn.
Such findings can lead to two conclusions. Either the Bible is not a dependable source for our values and morals, or the church does not really believe what the Bible says. But you know what the sad truth is? I think the answer lies in a third conclusion: the Christian has heard what the Bible says, and the Christian claims to believe it, and then the Christian goes out and does the exact opposite. Even Nietzsche, the same man who said that “God is dead”, did not waste much time criticizing the teachings of Jesus, instead seeing a much easier target: so-called Christians. In fact he even says that the last Christian died on the cross.
So why do people hate us? Why are we so hateful? Why are we unable to love? We are hypocrites. We spend so much time removing the speck of dust from our neighbor’s eye, that we don’t see the 4 by 4 sticking out of our own eye. Why do we spend our time condemning our neighbor? How have we become so distracted from living according to Godly, Biblical morals? I believe that the American Christian is too busy searching for success and comfort to do the will of God.
After the attacks on September 11th, why were there so many people in church the next week? I think they were looking for comfort. People wanted to hear that we were safe because America is strong, because our military is strong, because our financial institutions are strong. We wanted to be comforted that America is the strongest country in the world, and God will always bless America. Church, you should know that comfort is fickle. God never promised us that bad things would not happen to us here on Earth. I don’t understand it, but I accept it, because I’m not God and I don’t get to make those decisions. Comfort is fickle, but hope is enduring. What God does promise the Christian in the book of Romans is that although “for [His] sake we are being put to death all day long”, we have enduring hope that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God.”
Therefore, we need to change our mindset beyond the success and trappings of this world, and change that mindset to doing the will of God. We often read the Old Testament and find it hard to believe the foolishness of the Israelites. God delivered them from Egypt and handed them the Promised Land and look how they betrayed Him. They cast gold idols and prayed to the gods of other lands. We Americans are bewildered by their faithlessness. But we are just as guilty. Yes, we make the obvious comparisons, correctly identifying our house, cars and other possessions as our modern day idols. The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. But I believe that our idols can be more insidious than this. I think the idols that plague the American Christian the most are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For many Christians, these American values have been driven into your skull right alongside the Ten Commandments. Patriotism and Christianity are idealized as going hand in hand. Lately many have been trying to separate Christianity from Patriotism. But Church, I think in our own lives, we should separate our Patriotism from our Christianity. I don’t care how hard you look; the U.S. Constitution will not be found in the appendix of your Bible.
Jesus never said we would be rich. Jesus never said that life would be easy. Contrary to what the televangelists told you, Jesus never drove a Rolls Royce, and He never said you were going to either! His disciples were faithful in spreading the gospel all over the earth. But guess what, every one of them died a violent death for the glory of God. I think songwriter Derek Webb says it well. “I’ve found that often success looks more like failure, riches more like poverty, and have found that real life often feels more like death, as the Christian life is very literally the process by which we are killed.” Jesus didn’t promise us an easy life. He promised us a life more abundant. Jesus never said Christians would find wealth or comfort here on Earth. Instead, He has purchased us eternal rewards, eternal comfort and eternal life in Paradise. How refreshing that my self worth exists entirely outside of my accomplishments. My self worth is held firmly in Jesus Christ.
Church, this quest for success is driving a wedge between our families. It is blinding us to our own sin. But deep in the back of our soul, we know its there, and what do we do when we feel guilty? We blame others. We turn against our neighbors, the very people we are supposed to love, and instead we hate them. We become like the Pharisees, and you know what Jesus said about the Pharisees? “Woe to you, … you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness”
So what can we do? We must ask God to turn our eyes from the wealth of this world to the riches of His grace. We must ask God to turn our eyes inward and show us where we are bringing disgrace to His name. We must ask God to redeem our eyes, that we may see our neighbors as we are meant to see them: with love. And they will know that we are Christians by our love.
4-22-05
Hey Church, do you know how many people hate us right now? They call us hypocrites. They call us judgmental. You know why? We call them fags and we call them whores. This is utter hypocrisy. Have you read your Bibles lately? Who did Jesus spend so much of His time with? The outcasts of society. Who did Jesus judge harshly? The Pharisees. Guess which group we fall into.
The Christian community has spent a lot of time recently trying to protect the sanctity of the family and being the moral watchdog of the nation. But I think there is something you should know. That watchdog has heartworms. George Barna released a study saying that Christian marriages were more likely to end in divorce than any other faith group, including atheists and agnostics. He said, “While it may be alarming to discover that born again Christians are more likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in place for quite some time.” Barna said that he “rarely find[s] substantial differences” between the moral behavior of Christians and non-Christians. The “protectors of the family” are letting their own fall apart. The bastions of moral character aren’t any different than those they condemn.
Such findings can lead to two conclusions. Either the Bible is not a dependable source for our values and morals, or the church does not really believe what the Bible says. But you know what the sad truth is? I think the answer lies in a third conclusion: the Christian has heard what the Bible says, and the Christian claims to believe it, and then the Christian goes out and does the exact opposite. Even Nietzsche, the same man who said that “God is dead”, did not waste much time criticizing the teachings of Jesus, instead seeing a much easier target: so-called Christians. In fact he even says that the last Christian died on the cross.
So why do people hate us? Why are we so hateful? Why are we unable to love? We are hypocrites. We spend so much time removing the speck of dust from our neighbor’s eye, that we don’t see the 4 by 4 sticking out of our own eye. Why do we spend our time condemning our neighbor? How have we become so distracted from living according to Godly, Biblical morals? I believe that the American Christian is too busy searching for success and comfort to do the will of God.
After the attacks on September 11th, why were there so many people in church the next week? I think they were looking for comfort. People wanted to hear that we were safe because America is strong, because our military is strong, because our financial institutions are strong. We wanted to be comforted that America is the strongest country in the world, and God will always bless America. Church, you should know that comfort is fickle. God never promised us that bad things would not happen to us here on Earth. I don’t understand it, but I accept it, because I’m not God and I don’t get to make those decisions. Comfort is fickle, but hope is enduring. What God does promise the Christian in the book of Romans is that although “for [His] sake we are being put to death all day long”, we have enduring hope that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God.”
Therefore, we need to change our mindset beyond the success and trappings of this world, and change that mindset to doing the will of God. We often read the Old Testament and find it hard to believe the foolishness of the Israelites. God delivered them from Egypt and handed them the Promised Land and look how they betrayed Him. They cast gold idols and prayed to the gods of other lands. We Americans are bewildered by their faithlessness. But we are just as guilty. Yes, we make the obvious comparisons, correctly identifying our house, cars and other possessions as our modern day idols. The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. But I believe that our idols can be more insidious than this. I think the idols that plague the American Christian the most are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For many Christians, these American values have been driven into your skull right alongside the Ten Commandments. Patriotism and Christianity are idealized as going hand in hand. Lately many have been trying to separate Christianity from Patriotism. But Church, I think in our own lives, we should separate our Patriotism from our Christianity. I don’t care how hard you look; the U.S. Constitution will not be found in the appendix of your Bible.
Jesus never said we would be rich. Jesus never said that life would be easy. Contrary to what the televangelists told you, Jesus never drove a Rolls Royce, and He never said you were going to either! His disciples were faithful in spreading the gospel all over the earth. But guess what, every one of them died a violent death for the glory of God. I think songwriter Derek Webb says it well. “I’ve found that often success looks more like failure, riches more like poverty, and have found that real life often feels more like death, as the Christian life is very literally the process by which we are killed.” Jesus didn’t promise us an easy life. He promised us a life more abundant. Jesus never said Christians would find wealth or comfort here on Earth. Instead, He has purchased us eternal rewards, eternal comfort and eternal life in Paradise. How refreshing that my self worth exists entirely outside of my accomplishments. My self worth is held firmly in Jesus Christ.
Church, this quest for success is driving a wedge between our families. It is blinding us to our own sin. But deep in the back of our soul, we know its there, and what do we do when we feel guilty? We blame others. We turn against our neighbors, the very people we are supposed to love, and instead we hate them. We become like the Pharisees, and you know what Jesus said about the Pharisees? “Woe to you, … you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness”
So what can we do? We must ask God to turn our eyes from the wealth of this world to the riches of His grace. We must ask God to turn our eyes inward and show us where we are bringing disgrace to His name. We must ask God to redeem our eyes, that we may see our neighbors as we are meant to see them: with love. And they will know that we are Christians by our love.
posted by hoose at 12:42 AM
3 Comments:
awesome post. did you really deliver that in front of your class? awesome. i liked the bit about the heart worms a lot. very clever way of putting it.
how can we love others when we are so concerned about appearances and being right all the time. what would the church look like if we figured out how to stop caring about who's right or wrong and started to love? what if love for God and man is more important than doctrine?
thanks cabe, i agree with you in that we should be completely willing to tarnish our reputations for the sake of loving any and everybody. I believe that love should flow not to those who have the best doctrine but to those who need love (and who doesn't?). Still I should add (not that you would disagree) that doctrine is a vital tool for our sanctification (but not a criteria to decide who is worthy of love). Btw, i did read that in class and it made for a couple interesting discussions. My professor from that class and i would come to the opposite viewpoint on nearly every issue, and she is still my favorite teacher.
Well put brother. I love church best when the people there are transparent and are able to put down there guards and look just as we all are-broken. We are all just broken mortals mended by Jesus. You are entirely correct that more people are turned away from the church because of the actions of Christians than any other factor (at least I think so). The pride of man, and our sinful nature might be overcome if only there were more Christians willing to love a person as he is. To offer him help when he needs it. I like the Derek Webb verse "I am a whore I do confess, I put you on just like a wedding dress, and I run down the isle." I identify so much with that verse and that song that it brings tears to my eyes most of the time because I know that I am guilty of the same idolatry that the Hebrews were guilty of (as you correctly implied). Keep up the good work brother.
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