One reader made a comment recently about being sure our activities were the will of God and in the past I have known many people who are actually afraid of certain activities because it may not be God's will in their lives. I believe these people like the "old" Mike are consumed with playing it safe. Oddly, those men of faith described in Hebrews 11 chose anything but playing it safe. Unlike many of us, they put everything at risk for God. Risking not only their lives, wealth and family, they faced persecution from their friends and neighbors stepping out in faith to do the will of God.
Growing up in the denomination of church of Christ, my concept of truth was formed around those associated with the churches of Christ and understanding the difference between the truth of God and the truth according to man became a problem in my life. As a young man, I did not grasp how my bible classes and later following my baptism the "church approved" now that your a Christian books led me to only learn the proper protocols necessary for being a successful member of my own denomination. Even as I use the word denomination, there are many who immediately want to scream out "we are not a denomination," and yet the word accurately describes who we are and when traveling to another location and choosing a place to visit on Sunday we look for the name Church of Christ because we have described in the name something we expect to recognize when we stop and enter the building. Often, it is described so well, we can count on meeting times to be at the "scriptural" time. All of this became the truth of the gospel and I learned the prescribed pattern of being acceptable and what it meant to be a Christian according to the official denominational doctrine of my fellowship, which just happened to be officially "authorized" and the only acceptable way described in the bible.
Taking this to another level, we have grown up knowing that if we train up a child in the way of the Lord he will not depart from it and yet without taking off our blindfolds, we question why our children leave our congregations and choose something different from what we have to offer. We often find it difficult to see how our instruction to "do things right" was overshadowed by God and the message of Christ actually got through to some of them who are now choosing to express their devotion to God in another setting. They aren't abandoning the truth of Christ though we do find them abandoning the artificial truth of our denominational instruction.
I am thankful that God gave me the ability to play my horn and placed opportunities before me to be invited to play for so many groups around Houston. I believe I came to recognize the difference between the truth of man and the truth of God because of the instruction I received from the Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics and others during the time they were paying for my playing abilities in the worship I was helping them provide their membership.
While some in my own fellowship referred to me as "friend" because they were not fully sure I was a brother (due to my "sinful" affiliation with those "wicked" denominations playing my horn), these people knew me as a brother in Christ. They knew and recognized my belief in Jesus as the savior and shared prayers, communion and love with me as a member of God's family the CHURCH!
When I look back at the early days and playing my horn in the various places, I remember spending every measure of rest in the pieces I was playing speaking to God in prayer and telling him how much I needed the money and it was nothing more than a job. I would ask him for forgiveness and request he not take my life from me while I was in worship with my horn. I did not want to be off the narrow path and wind up going to hell because of doing something I was taught was sinful. I know God was very patient with me and he used members of His church in all of these buildings to instruct me in the real message of truth (as I believe right now) as I witnessed people, not considered by some in my fellowship to be Christian, demonstrating the life of Christ in their lives.
They led me to believe, through their lives, that the will of God was wrapped up in making the transformation of our current lives (the sinful nature) into lives that reflected Christ (the righteousness/truth of God). I did not see in them a desire to replicate a "proper" process but rather a lifestyle of righteous living and putting others before personal selfish desires. During this process of change in my life, I began making music in my heart and allowing it to come out as an offering to God for the people I was with and while the money was still good, it ceased to be the focus of my day and I even began to tell churches to pay me according to their gift and not my request. Over time, I recognized how all of the groups similar to mine were facing the same struggles with tradition and a desire for more contemporary worship time. I was also able to begin recognizing so many people around me at home and away who live the message of Christ in their lives. Take a good look the next time you/we get together with other Christians and you will discover those who look like Christ in their lives.
I also hope you will find and discover those who find fault with so much going on; those who want to make sure none of these evil innovations will take place in our/your congregation and LOVE THEM! Like me, the message of transforming their lives to look like Christ and begin putting others before themselves may take more time than we like. Seeing Christ alive and burning in our lives will do so much more than turning the coin over and condemning them for being so "hard-headed."
My encouragement is still to stand against man's truth being presented as "gospel" but make sure you are in the loving shoes of Christ and reflect the manner in which He answered the Pharisees finding fault with Him and challenging His actions.
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It is so comforting to know that God's grace even sees through our professed "perfection" and indifference. You know the truth of the matter is denomination is just a description of how this or that group does assembly. I believe we could learn a lot and the world would benefit exponentially if all His children worked together for HIS cause and not their own petty ones! What an awesome thought!
ReplyDeleteRonna,
ReplyDeleteWe have trouble seeing family members when they live in different communities. All loving God should be working together to bring glory to Him. I have some thoughts beginning to work through my head about step #1 needing to take place in our lives so we can get to that point.
I know this is late to be posting to this, but since I just got your blog link this morning, I've been reading. This post of yours reminded me so much of my own struggles. I remember to this day (and still struggling with forgiveness), a time when I was totally abandoned by the "church of Christ" in San Diego, primarily due to my requests for someone to "listen" to a "woman" (Gary was out to sea). After I was pretty much "excommunicated"...do "Church of Christer's do this....YES, at least in spirit"; I was invited to attend services at an Assembly of God church. I found so much love and yes, food from God's word. A few weeks after, I received a phone call from an elder from my previous congregation who wanted to make an appointment to "talk" with me about my "sin" of not attending a "church of Christ". My response to him was that "no, I was not attending the "denomination Church of Christ", but that I was attending a church of and filled with "CHRIST" and Christians who practiced what Christ taught. Because of that decision, I lost some very close (I had thought they were close) friends and have never heard from them since. This was approximately 12 years ago.
ReplyDeleteWhen we moved to Tyler, I decided that I was going to really search for a congregation of Christians that I thought would be best for me. In doing so, I wrote out a list of questions and decided to interview ministers/elders, etc. of the congregations I visited. As my sister said, "well that's one way to find out if it's going to be a fit...if they will even talk to you" Of all the churches I visited and wrote on the guest card that I wanted to talk with a minister/elder, only one church responded. I got a phone call from Rob, the associate minister at Glenwood Church of Christ who told me that he was sorry that the minister was on vacation, but would he do instead. He talked to me over the phone and I told him that I had a written list of questions/concerns that I wanted to talk about before I chose a congregation to work with. He said I was welcome to come to the building to talk with him or he would come to me. I made an appointment that very afternoon and when I showed up with my list, he was kind of surprised and said "you weren't kidding, were you?" when he saw my list. I immediately asked him if it was a problem, but he said, absolutely no, come on in. He not only spent quite a bit of time with me, but answered thoughtfully and respectfully, even when he disagreed with a couple of items on my list. To finish this really long story, Glenwood is now my home, filled with brothers and sisters in Christ and I've never been happier. These brothers and sisters are truly part of my family in Christ. Oh yeah, a final post script...they even are accepting of my non-church-going son who has piercings and tatoos and whom I pray for daily to return to Christ.
Cathy,
ReplyDeleteYou have had an experience that some would say does not exist in our congregations any longer. I can only say there are still some who are anything but what Christ wants from his people. I am glad you found those who want their hearts close to God.