Lies From the Church

We preach it.

“Come to Jesus and trust in Him. He will forgive you, give you salvation from sins, clothe you in His righteousness.”

And they come to Christ.

“Now that you are a Christian, there are some things you need to know. Stop drinking and smoking. Be a good wife. Etc. Etc. Etc. If you are really a Christian then you will do these things.”

“Oh, you don’t want to stop?? If you are really a Christian then you will want to stop. You will want to stop being short with you wife. you will want to stop drinking whiskey every night until you feel a little buzzed.”

“Huh. . . maybe you are not really in Christian. Did you really repent?? Are you really trusting in the Lord??”

And so it goes.

We have all believed these lies to some degree or another. We witness to ungodly people, bring them to Church, tell them to come to Jesus as they are, and they finally put their trust in Christ. Sometimes we give them a little time, but then we slowly introduce them to ‘the list.’ You know the list I am talking about.

Some of the things on our list, depending on our Church affiliation are from scripture, and some of them are not.

And we try to be gentle at first.

“You know how you like to pick up women at a bar and bring them back to your place? Now that you are a Christian, you probably shouldn’t do that anymore.”

“Oh, you are struggling with that? That’s weird, I don’t struggle with that.”

We have ceased to continue to share the gospel with those in the Church. We don’t bear one another’s burdens. We don’t love one another deeply. We don’t share our sins with each other. We have unrealistic expectations of others good works. And even our lack of grace is a sin struggle.

And people don’t feel worthy. And our own self righteousness looks down on others because they still struggle with sins that we don’t think that we do.

We don’t continue to preach the gospel. We see it as the beginning of the story, not that which encompasses our whole story.

So what is the answer?

Christ.

We need to stop acting self righteous. We need to stop acting like we believe in works righteousness. We need to stop lying about Christ.

The reality is that with each of us, even our good works are as filthy rags. We are each no different than Hosea’s wife, an unfaithful prostitute that Hosea continued to love, even though there was no good in her.

Any real good in you comes from Christ. Any good works are the outpouring of Christ in your life. We all struggle with sins. I know each of you are thinking of something specific right now. And yet the only difference between you and the girl in Church who is now pregnant from someone she wasn’t married to, is that her sin has become public. Stop looking down your nose at her.

You know, just maybe if we would stop relying on ourselves, and trust only in Christ’s finished work on the cross, as our only hope for salvation, and remind each other of this truth, the American Evangelical Church would not be in such crisis. Just maybe if we would stop being so completely self righteous, thinking we have figured out on our own power to not sin so much.

Full disclosure here. I am mad today. I don’t get angry often, but when it comes to matters of the Church, I really get angry. I am watching a friend go through this right now. Yes, my friend is a wicked sinner. But somewhere along the way he was lied to, and he believed it. He thinks that God has punished Him for not repenting enough. For not being good enough. For not trusting Christ enough. Instead of being reminded of the gospel in his discouragement, he was reminded of how he has fallen short once again of God’s law. And while this fact should drive him to the cross, it has driven him away from it. And while he desires peace with God, he fears he will never have peace with God. While he desires salvation from sin and believes Christ is the only hope for that salvation, he fears it won’t be granted to him, because he continues to struggle with sin. All because we in the Church lie.

Ultimately this is a reminder to each of you that know Christians who struggle with this same thing. Even as they continue to struggle. Even as they do things that are horrid, wicked, sinful. Bring them back to the cross. Preach the gospel to them. Over and over and over.

Lies From the Church

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				We preach it. “Come to Jesus and trust in Him. He will forgive you, give you salvation from sins, clothe you in His righteousness.” And they come to Christ. “Now that you are a Christian, there are some things you need to know. Stop drinking and smoking. Be a good wife. Etc. Etc. Etc. If you are really a Christian then you will do these things.” “Oh, you don’t want to stop?? If you are really a Christian then you will want to stop. You will want to stop being short with you wife. you will want to stop drinking whiskey every night until you feel a little buzzed.” “Huh. . . maybe you are not really in Christian. Did you really repent?? Are you really trusting in the Lord??” And so it goes. We have all believed these lies to some degree or another. We witness to ungodly people, bring them to Church, tell them to come to Jesus as they are, and they finally put their trust in Christ. Sometimes we give them a little time, but then we slowly introduce them to ‘the list.’ You know the list I am talking about. Some of the things on our list, depending on our Church affiliation are from scripture, and some of them are not. And we try to be gentle at first. “You know how you like to pick up women at a bar and bring them back to your place? Now that you are a Christian, you probably shouldn’t do that anymore.” “Oh, you are struggling with that? That’s weird, I don’t struggle with that.” We have ceased to continue to share the gospel with those in the Church. We don’t bear one another’s burdens. We don’t love one another deeply. We don’t share our sins with each other. We have unrealistic expectations of others good works. And even our lack of grace is a sin struggle. And people don’t feel worthy. And our own self righteousness looks down on others because they still struggle with sins that we don’t think that we do. We don’t continue to preach the gospel. We see it as the beginning of the story, not that which encompasses our whole story. So what is the answer? Christ. We need to stop acting self righteous. We need to stop acting like we believe in works righteousness. We need to stop lying about Christ. The reality is that with each of us, even our good works are as filthy rags. We are each no different than Hosea’s wife, an unfaithful prostitute that Hosea continued to love, even though there was no good in her. Any real good in you comes from Christ. Any good works are the outpouring of Christ in your life. We all struggle with sins. I know each of you are thinking of something specific right now. And yet the only difference between you and the girl in Church who is now pregnant from someone she wasn’t married to, is that her sin has become public. Stop looking down your nose at her. You know, just maybe if we would stop relying on ourselves, and trust only in Christ’s finished work on the cross, as our only hope for salvation, and remind each other of this truth, the American Evangelical Church would not be in such crisis. Just maybe if we would stop being so completely self righteous, thinking we have figured out on our own power to not sin so much. Full disclosure here. I am mad today. I don’t get angry often, but when it comes to matters of the Church, I really get angry. I am watching a friend go through this right now. Yes, my friend is a wicked sinner. But somewhere along the way he was lied to, and he believed it. He thinks that God has punished Him for not repenting enough. For not being good enough. For not trusting Christ enough. Instead of being reminded of the gospel in his discouragement, he was reminded of how he has fallen short once again of God’s law. And while this fact should drive him to the cross, it has driven him away from it. And while he desires peace with God, he fears he will never have peace with God. While he desires salvation from sin and believes Christ is the only hope for that salvation, he fears it won’t be granted to him, because he continues to struggle with sin. All because we in the Church lie. Ultimately this is a reminder to each of you that know Christians who struggle with this same thing. Even as they continue to struggle. Even as they do things that are horrid, wicked, sinful. Bring them back to the cross. Preach the gospel to them. Over and over and over.

Not exactly the Christmas I had Expected

I write this not having had very much sleep this week.

I had Christmas planned. Pretty much every moment from Wednesday morning had something that needed to be done. And everything went as great. The food was made, the gifts bought and wrapped, etc.

And then Christmas Eve my Grandparents and Parents came for our Swedish Smorgasbord and traditional Christmas Eve opening of the gifts. It was great. The food turned out well, the kids were enjoying their gifts. I was excited about my new cookware, and Brent about his new fire pit.

On a cold night in Colorado we set up the fire pit. We had some trouble getting the fire started. We had our wine, and Brent had started his cigar. We were looking forward to putting the kids to bed and enjoying an evening in front of the fire. It couldn’t have been a better evening.

The phone rang.

An old neighbor of ours was stuck at the airport with her three young kids. I can’t get into all of the sad details, but her own family told her that she couldn’t stay with them. She has very little money. I have helped this gal before when she has been in difficult situations. She called me to see if I could help.

We opened our home to this mother and her three children.

This was not something I was looking forward to. In fact I was dreading it.

And I learned how selfish and self centered that I am. When they were here, I was hording my children’s new toys. I didn’t want these wild children to break them. I was being nice, but on the surface only. Inside I was a bit annoyed.

I asked the mother if the children would be getting any presents the next morning. She told me that they could not afford any.

My heart softened.

I went to work. Thankfully I have a gift box full of prizes for my kids. Fun CD’s, pencils, books. I put together a gift bag for each of these children. When they awoke in the morning, the joy they expressed for these little toys was far more than my own children expressed for the expensive ones.

I spent a lot of time thinking about Christ and His love for us. He loved the ones that were not so easy to love. He didn’t care how attractive they were, how wealthy they were. He loved us.

I am sure I don’t have to explain to you the lessons learned. I hope it is obvious.

I saw one of the kids playing with my son’s new toy. I quickly asked if Jonathan had given him permission to play with it. I found out that this child asked Jonathan if he could play with the toy, and Jonathan willingly told him to have fun playing with it.

The little girl told me how beautiful my necklace was. She asked if she could wear one of my necklaces around for Christmas. I found one that I gave to her. Her face lit up for the rest of they day.

We talk about Christmas, and how it should be about Christ. We stress about buying our presents, getting the cards out,the decorations up, the parties etc. etc. All of that is fine and wonderful. I enjoy it as much as the next person.

I f Christmas is about Christ, then it is not about sacrifice.

I just hope that through this year that we can learn what it means to really love one another.