Cornerstone Café
This winter has been unseasonably snowy. Though it was late arriving, there has been at least some snow on the ground for more than two weeks now, a rarity in central or western Ohio. Today, more snow. Tomorrow, lots more snow.... Though I got a couple of disc golf games in this winter, I guess I won't get any more for a while.
I was happy to hear that our pastor finally did a sermon regarding homosexuality and the church. I have not heard this message yet but a lack of teaching on such matters has been frustrating. This is surely one of the “issues” facing the church today. Some churches are splitting over it. For others, it can be devisive or unifying. What’s key here is that the Bible speaks to this issue as it speaks to many other issues.
As I type, a young child, perhaps 5, just walked into the room making noises and looking at the artwork on the wall. He comes over to my table and looks at the artwork behind me. At one point, his head is behind my gray 466 PPC G3 clamshell and I can only see his eyes peering at the artwork. I duck my head so I can’t see him but I don’t think he notices. Then, I raise my head and he is looking at me and comes closer. Though my view is obstructed, I think he’s pushing the back of my screen down toward my hands with his nose. I try to save this document not knowing what might happen next.
“What is your name?” I ask. He looks at me yet does not respond.
“My name is Eric, what is your name little boy?”
“My name is Asher,” he says drawing out his name.
With a serious, adult voice that could be mistaken for Rich Nathan, I asked “Asher, where is your mother?” Two other twenty somethings working at another table watching this unfold start to giggle. Then, Asher’s mom comes into the room.
“Are you bothering these people Asher? . . . Look, see they’re working with their laptops and everything. . . . Let us not distract them,” she says as they leave the room.
Yes, the Bible speaks to many issues and one could say, it speaks to all issues.
A young man who goes to our church needed a place to stay and my roommate invited him to stay the night at our house. Last night, as we entertained him, it was then that I heard that Nathan had taught about homosexuality in the church that night. This man proceeded to tell me about an online forum that he had participated in, offering his opinions about how we should not judge and that we should simply love people and that Jesus will help them figure it out. The truth is that this man did not know what he was talking about and, ironically sought his information from those of an online forum, not the scriptures or at least the teaching of his pastor. My roommate and I discussed this issue at length, giving what we hope would be a fair take at what the scriptures say on the matter, the whole matter.
And though I may be tempted to expound upon these conclusions (about homosexual Christians) at some point, I am concerned about the fact that this man could not figure these things out for himself. He has not received a sufficient amount of teaching to help him understand such an issue for himself. He may think that he has but it was clear that he had not. Certainly this is not his fault and I would not wish to blame but rather to make observations.
Our church and in fact many churches do not teach the full, unadulterated gospel and scriptures because, perhaps, they are afraid to offend. Paul says the gospel is offensive and yet these churches pride themselves as being places where those who are interested in Christ or at least spirituality (or perhaps young, attractive Christian singles) can find a comfortable environment to find what they’re looking for. Their hope is to reel people in and make them feel like they are a part of the church, desire the church, and eventually find Jesus. In other words, we want them here and we hope they just sort of figure it out.
There is teaching, but it is at times focused to simply move people across the line, to help them fall in love with the idea. Things have gotten better recently but at times, the teaching can seem to have the consistency of whole milk, maybe a milk shake. I guess there's a concern that we may offend those who are test driving what it may be like to be a part of a Christian community. We can't acknowledge that it's hard and, at times, undesirable to be a Christian. Today, we can't acknowledge that being a Christian is more than just a way we act, talk, and look while we're at church. More than a rep we get by looking like we've got our act together, looking like God's really moving through us, looking like we're able to get our shit together essentially on our own.
Though the gospel may be taught, serious matters are only approached in talks and only written down on Statement’s of Faith. Though the Gospel and some truth is preached, other gospels are present including the gospel of self-righteousness, the gospel of equity, and the gospel of prosperity. Teachers need to refute these, teachers need to correct — especially in large churches that are amorphous and lack the kind of committed community of disciples needed to allow discipleship to happen and to preserve believers of the one, true Gospel. We must not be afraid to offend. The Gospel is what it is and though some will disagree with it, we are not to try to make it more, um, palatable. We must not cave in by trying to make the Church and Gospel look attractive, hiding doctrine and other issues that may turn people off. To cave in here is to be dishonest to those we share the Good News with, and more importantly shows a lack of fear of God and Truth! This is an offense!
No, we should not cave in. We believe the Truth and Truth is not negotiable! Certainly new people should be welcome and encouraged to pursue Jesus but this is not like selling a used car. We preach and proclaim the Gospel, some will accept it and some will turn away. God is not only in the midst of this but he is the one who gives the gift of faith to those around us, it is his work and we are to move as he leads and try not to get in the way.
Additionally, being up front with people, i.e. sharing what we believe and engaging them, is important. Getting lots of people to just hang around doesn't really seem like a good goal. In other words, attendance should not be the performance metric used to rate the effectiveness of the church. People come to church for lots of reasons and we should not placate any of these motivations with the exception of those who actually want to know Jesus. Should we teach anything less than the Gospel and Truth, we are sinning against them. We should not be afraid to be who we are, passionate believers who believe and teach a message that brings hope but results in persecution.
In our love, we should be hospitable, welcoming, graceful, charitable, and more but it is not love if we do not preach truth, love with truth, pray with truth. To do less is not to love. We think we are helping to reach the lost but if it is not done in love, we will be trying to reach people with not the Gospel but something less. Of course, we won’t figure this out if it isn’t taught and the chances of that happening are slim should we think that our teaching is supposed to be an evangelism tool rather than the time we take to allow a pastor to help teach us the word and correct false teaching. In my opinion, good teaching reaches all and most importantly, teaches and corrects the congregation toward a more accurate, more biblical view of Jesus and the Gospel. Believers can go evangelize on their own time, and stop expecting that this is solely the job of the pastor.
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