Church

Apparently I have more to say then I realized :). I don't believe in coincidences. Just the other day I was talking to my friend Julie, and for some reason or other we were talking about churches. I talked about my frustration with churches getting so stuck on doing things a certain way, being small minded and confined to a box, and also my frustration with churches getting torn apart over arguments that don't matter in the long run. Please keep reading before you make any comments on those statements. My non-coincidence is that last night I felt like I should re-read 1 Corinthians. So, I read chapter 1, and guess what it talks about? Divisions in the church. I think churches as a whole need to rethink how they are doing things and WHY they are doing things. Sometimes a church gets so stuck on it's denomination and following the rules of the denomination I think they miss the point. When we start making all these extra rules and making those rules more important than the gospel and sharing that gospel with a lost and dying world I think we're being a lot like the Pharisees. They were so wrapped up in following their rules, and being righteous in their own eyes that when God was right before their eyes they didn't even recognize Him. Sad, sad day for them. 1 Corinthians 1:10 says, "Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment." This summer I decided to get a "grown up" Bible (meaning I got a Macarthur Study Bible, that has notes), because the Bible I had was a $10 Bible my dad had gotten me to take to class. Nothing wrong with that Bible, it was still God's word, but I had underlined and made so many notes in it that I was always drawn to what I'd underlined and written and was just skimming that rather than really taking in the word. I also decided to switch from NIV to NASB just for something different. Anyway, the notes on that verse say, "Doctrinal unity, clearly and completely based on Scripture must be the foundation of all church life. Both weak commitment to doctrine and commitment to disunity of doctrine will severly weaken a church and destroy true unity." It also says that Paul is talking about unity among the local assembly of believers, and not the universal church. Last night I looked at the beliefs of some various denominations. Most of them believed that a relationship with Jesus is the only way to heaven. Many of them have similar foundational beliefs about the trinity, heaven, and what's to come. The place where they really differ is what sorts of things are emphasized after salvation (for example: baptism or speaking in tongues). If at the core of it all the churches in a community believe that Jesus is the only hope for our lost and dying world, then why can't they put aside the other differences and work together to spread that hope? The speaker at the Disciple Now weekend I was just at at my parents church down in Lawton said that most people don't have a problem with Jesus, they have a problem with Christians (something along those lines). It's so frustrating to me to see a church reject something because that's "not how things have always been". Let me say it again, "If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten." Different isn't necessarily bad. And if you aren't pleased with the results you are getting then maybe different is what you need. It's also frustrating to see churches get wrapped up in an argument, and maybe even split, because if as Christians our focus is on fighting one another then we are being removed from the real fight that is going on, the one we can't see. One that gets me the most is predestination. Does it necessarily matter if we are predestined or not? I believe the great commission says to go to "all the world", not "all the world that I chose ahead of time." Now, let me clarify something, I believe that you need to know what you believe and why. I'm not saying we need to go out there willy-nilly and just accept everything that is given to us by any church leader. To grow as a Christian we must be constantly looking at God's word, taking it to heart, and using it as the standard to measure anything that anyone tells us. If you can't find where it lines up with what God has to say, then it's probably not something you should take to heart. I don't know if my point is being made clearly here. I just feel like if churches in different communities were united in the cause of reaching our LOST and DYING world with CHRIST'S LOVE we would see something amazing happen. In the end, accepting Him as savior is what's going to get you into heaven...not baptism, speaking in tongues, the Lord's supper, going to church, dancing or not dancing, the music your church plays, whether or not their are instruments, or whatever. We shouldn't be about growing the Baptist church or the Pentecostal church or the Methodist church or the Lutheran church or what have you, but on offering salvation to as many people as possible. I will end with another non-coincidence. I was looking through "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis looking for a quote of his that I really like. I never did find it, but I ran across something else I underlined that deals with this subject. (You may notice that I quote a lot of books, music, movies, etc..if someone else has already said it well, then why should I try to say it any different?).

"In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose. It says in the Bible that the whole universe was made for Christ and that everything is to be gathered together in Him."