The Cure – (Part three behind ‘The Church—Love it or Leave It, and “What is the Cure for the Church?”)

Jesus was all about truth. He said of himself, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life…”1 and “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”2

So, the truth is that Christianity has an image problem. Huh, funny thing, I googled that line, ‘Christianity has an image problem’, and look what came up:

The top of the first article had this picture—from Time Magazine--

which harkens back to yesterday’s briefing, in which I said we should consider what kind of church Jesus would attend . . . And that Jesus might like to shout at us from a mountain top, ‘STOP! Take a look at what is being said and done in my name . . . Church, wake up! Rise up and be the people I have called you to be—salt and light in the world.’

Allow me to connect a few dots here—we need to see Christianity/the Church as it is in today’s world. We need to be informed . . . we need to be aware of a few things~

Be aware: this is a post-Christian generation. (more will grow up not knowing Christ than knowing him)

Be aware: Christianity/the Church not viewed favorably

Be aware: In spite of the Church, people still like Jesus

So here it is: the Cure for the Church today is Jesus. Brilliant! The cure for Christianity is for followers of Jesus to be more like him, and less like themselves. As Paul said, we are to do nothing from selfish ambition—Jesus did nothing out of selfish ambition. Jesus was the Man for Others.

Have you ever looked up the definition of ‘missionary’? Missionary – a person sent on a religious mission, one sent to promote Christianity. That is you…that is me. We are alive to promote Jesus; we have no purpose without him. The two previous briefings listed outsiders’ viewpoints of the Church, so how might Jesus look at those?

The biggest criticism of the Church today is that She is judgmental. Here’s an idea—let’s be FOR some things, instead of always AGAINST things. Let’s be FOR loving and supporting one another on the 99 things we can agree on, rather than AGAINST the one thing about which we disagree. Let’s use judgment in our lives to be judicious with our own words, thoughts and actions; or as my dear mother used to say, why not ‘take care of our own red wagon’? And for Pity sake, (who is Pity?), stop sniping at fellow believers if they do not blow their nose the same way you do. I like hankies, you like Kleenex, both suffice—right? Let’s stay focused on the essentials of Christianity, and let the rest go.

Now the other side of that coin is that the Church is said to be hypocritical—we say one thing and do another, all the while we are judging someone else. How about this—we will stop being judgmental if you recognize that sometimes we do not mean to be hypocritical…I mean sometimes we are trying to uphold the standard, but we fall short—so then should we be judged as hypocritical? Hmmm . . .

And now--allow me, please, to address the accusation that the church is homophobic. I am not sure it is to that extreme, but here’s the thing--Christian, you and I do not need to pronounce our judgment on homosexuality; the Bible takes care of that quite nicely. If you are asked, lovingly state what the Bible says; if you are not asked, keep your mouth shut. Believe me, the world knows how Christianity views gays without your two cents; why not throw them off guard, and be like Jesus? Love. Real love draws more people to Jesus than pronouncement of the sin in their lives, can’t we see that? Once folks know “love” from us, then our thoughts may mean something to them, our God might mean something, and his views—which are far more important than ours.

Finally, the Church is maligned because it is ‘Organized Religion’. Of course, church is organized—God is a God of order! It must be organized; it must be orderly in its function. Critics, say what you mean, rather than hiding behind that euphemism, ‘I am against ‘organized religion.’’ Do you mean that ‘you don’t like the church because you see it as a business’? Do you mean that ‘you mistrust church leaders because they have hidden behind titles and offices’? Speak plainly. Any church that really lives and loves like Jesus is going to grow from a few relationships to a thriving community; in order to keep that community thriving, it has to be organized. The bummer is when that ‘organization’ becomes ‘religion’—therein lies the problem.

The Cure for what ails the Church is Jesus Christ--knowing him, talking with him, and loving like him. Jesus loved the Church, Jesus loves the Church—you and I are the church, now let’s love like it.

Grace and Peace,

Christine
PastorWoman.com
1 John 14.6 2 John 8.32