Note: The other day got into an argument of sorts with a friend of mine. It was about why Christians with deeper faith walks stay at spiritually dead churchs. The argument kind of faded out, but was never resolved. So, I wrote him a letter not only to apologize, but to explain what I really felt. When I was done I had written a three page thesis on my heart for the church. I would have reworked it into a better format for a blog, but I think it would have lost part of its poigancy. So, I left it as it was in hopes that it might speak to someone else in the same way it has my friend (I have changed his name for his privacy).
Jonathan,
It is a quarter past 12 on Tuesday night as I write this. I just got your text message about our conversation on the drive back from Fort Valley and felt it was too late to call and I have too much to say to send in a text message. I feel the Lord is laying this on my heart, so I choose to write it down and send it in a letter because I don’t know when I’ll see you next and I don’t want to forget this.
First of all I want to tell you how special I think you are. Not just to me, but to the Lord. You are someone who exemplifies what it means to be Christlike. Yes, you are a little rough around the edges, and God made you that way on purpose, but your heart and love for the Lord is undeniable. I see you as one who has rejected the world’s false notions of what it means to be a man, and has discovered and personified what it means to be a man of God. Your integrity inspires me and your character challenge’s me to be Christlike also. What I sometimes see as stubbornness is really a testimony of how determined you are to follow God no matter what the cost. And while you are solidly rooted in Christ, your childlike faith reveals how God is sanctifying you, making you holy and completing the great good work that He started in you. The Bible says we (as brothers in Christ) should spur each other towards whatever is good and Godly. You challenge me to go deeper in my walk with the Lord. Proverbs says it best, “as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” So I thank God for our friendship and I love you with the love of the Lord. God has used you to minister to me in more ways than you know (and I know you know some particular instances).
Now that I’ve covered all the sappy (but true) stuff, I want to talk about tonight. I apologize for placing you in a position that made you feel like we were arguing. That was never my intention. I have a bad habit of doing that, making people think I’m arguing with them. Which, even though I don’t feel like I am, is exactly what I’m probably doing. Please forgive me.
So let me try and clear that up…
Here is what I felt like you were really asking: Why do people who know of the deeper things of the Lord go to church where they are not fed. Why do they settle for and be content with shallow doctrine. If this is not what you were asking I guess I jumped the gun and missed your whole point in the first place (which isn’t that unlikely knowing me). If so, I guess you can just disregard all this.
I think this is a very important question (kind of like the ‘once saved always saved’ debate) that has many answers. First, I think many of these people started their faith walks in churches that don’t teach the deeper things of the Lord in the first place. They, like you, probably became dissatisfied with the level of teaching they were receiving. Sadly, when this happens many give up on church altogether. Others, like you and I, find places that better meet our needs. We go to places like First Love or another church where we are fed the deeper things of the Lord.
So then, why not spend our time in fellowship with other believers discovering these more complex parts of our faith? Shouldn’t we desire to go deeper than the simple Sunday school lessons of our youth? Of course. BUT, I believe we have an obligation, a calling, to show our more simple-minded brothers and sisters the depth and height and glory of the God they claim to worship.
Think of it this way: one of the goals of evangelism to the lost is to show them that they are sinners and need God’s redeeming grace. So, we go to where they are at, “the highways and the byways,” as you would say. We go to their turf and share with them the gospel of Christ. I know we’ve had a conversation before about effective evangelism techniques and how so many times our church programs fail to reach the lost because we force them into our churchy environment and force them to play by our churchy rules. We leave them feeling like outsiders and like we condemn them because they are different. We push them away and they don’t want to come back. Instead, we should go to where they are, be that a pool hall or a night club or a party. Or even just their homes. We go to them on their turf and share with them the love of God by our actions in their environment. That way they can see something different about us and be drawn to Christ in us. Remember this conversation?
Anyway, I feel like the same idea applies to the dead church (lets be honest, that’s what it really is). I believe these people have relationships with God and I know they believe in Him and His glorious work on the cross. I have too. I would die of a broken heart if they didn’t. But I also recognize that their understanding of Him is very limited and sometimes down right wrong. This is the place that I come from, Jonathan. I grew up in this environment of powerless faith. By the grace of God I’ve been blessed to have found that a relationship with God can be more than worship services that drone on for hours and programs that have no lasting affect on my life. And I am humbled by it. I am unworthy of this. Nothing I did made me deserving to have this amazing thing we call a relationship with God. I was just as pious and self-righteous and clueless as those we look at now with all too judgmental eyes. These people have been given the gift of Christ just like we have. And they have accepted this gift just as we have too. They are a part of the bride of Christ. A line to one of my favorite songs says, “you cannot care for me (Jesus) with no regard for her (the Church), if you love me you will love the church.”
I feel that we, as Christians, have an obligation not only to the lost, but to our fellow believers as well. It was these kinds of Christians that led me to Christ in the first place. I cannot abandon them now. I cannot leave them behind when I’ve tasted what they could have in the Lord. I have to help show them the way! After all, iron sharpens iron, right? And what’s more is God wants them to know Him on this more intimate level that we have tasted. It is God’s will that not one should perish, yes. But how much more would it grieve our Father if those who took His gift ran off with it and never bothered to get to know Him deeper. Think about the group of lepers who went off dancing after Jesus healed them… only one came back to thank Him. Doesn’t that make you want to cry? How will they ever know God deeper if no one is there to tell them?
I think I’ve told you before that I feel my calling is to awake the apostate church (the dead church) to a life of power in the Lord. Tears are in my eyes now just thinking about all this. There is a passion in my soul to reach out to our family and show them just how great this Jesus guy really is. Maybe that is why I came across as argumentative tonight. My love for God’s church, His bride, is so strong I feel the need to defend her and fight for her no matter what. All to well I see her faults. But I long for her wedding day when Jesus sees her in all her beauty, when she has been purified and made clean. Made whole. I feel God plans to use me to do just that.
And they are listening, Jonathan. They do want more. The spirit of the Lord is in them if they have received Christ and He will draw them to Him. Their desire for Him may be covered up by years of hurt and bitterness or may be dampened by sin in their lives or a demon of religion, but it is there. I know it. I’ve seen it.
I use to be so critical of the modern church, the dead church. It frustrated me to no end, much in the same way I’m sure it does you. But the Lord has convicted me of being so critical towards His beloved. And when I allowed Him to take out my condemning eyes and see things the way He sees them, He gave me discernment into the hearts of His people. I see past the many veils they wear into their hearts where they do truly long to know their savior. It takes patients, often more than I have, but the Lord is disciplining me, showing me how to love. And that’s where it all starts, love. Just like in reaching the lost, we must show them God’s love.
That’s why I, personally, still attend what could be considered such a church. Because I do see life there, I do see Jesus awakening his bride. I really cannot speak for others, but that is my explanation. Please know that I in no way think that you condemn these people, or have given up on them. I know you love them, it’s obvious. I think maybe this is just a matter of different callings, your’s is to the lost; mine is to the not so lost… to the confused. And really, they are not that different of callings. They just lead us to slightly different places is ministry. Neither is more important to the other. If nothing else I hope to have shared my heart with you, what I feel the Lord has called me to. This is not ‘my side of the argument’. There really wasn’t an argument in the first place because we really don’t have conflicting opinions here. At least I don’t see any. This is just my response to your question. I guess I took your question in the wrong way at first. I see now that you weren’t condemning those who still attend certain churches, that you were really just curious as to why. You are a seeker just like me. Thank you for sharpening my iron. I only hope I’ve done the same for you.
Jonathan,
It is a quarter past 12 on Tuesday night as I write this. I just got your text message about our conversation on the drive back from Fort Valley and felt it was too late to call and I have too much to say to send in a text message. I feel the Lord is laying this on my heart, so I choose to write it down and send it in a letter because I don’t know when I’ll see you next and I don’t want to forget this.
First of all I want to tell you how special I think you are. Not just to me, but to the Lord. You are someone who exemplifies what it means to be Christlike. Yes, you are a little rough around the edges, and God made you that way on purpose, but your heart and love for the Lord is undeniable. I see you as one who has rejected the world’s false notions of what it means to be a man, and has discovered and personified what it means to be a man of God. Your integrity inspires me and your character challenge’s me to be Christlike also. What I sometimes see as stubbornness is really a testimony of how determined you are to follow God no matter what the cost. And while you are solidly rooted in Christ, your childlike faith reveals how God is sanctifying you, making you holy and completing the great good work that He started in you. The Bible says we (as brothers in Christ) should spur each other towards whatever is good and Godly. You challenge me to go deeper in my walk with the Lord. Proverbs says it best, “as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” So I thank God for our friendship and I love you with the love of the Lord. God has used you to minister to me in more ways than you know (and I know you know some particular instances).
Now that I’ve covered all the sappy (but true) stuff, I want to talk about tonight. I apologize for placing you in a position that made you feel like we were arguing. That was never my intention. I have a bad habit of doing that, making people think I’m arguing with them. Which, even though I don’t feel like I am, is exactly what I’m probably doing. Please forgive me.
So let me try and clear that up…
Here is what I felt like you were really asking: Why do people who know of the deeper things of the Lord go to church where they are not fed. Why do they settle for and be content with shallow doctrine. If this is not what you were asking I guess I jumped the gun and missed your whole point in the first place (which isn’t that unlikely knowing me). If so, I guess you can just disregard all this.
I think this is a very important question (kind of like the ‘once saved always saved’ debate) that has many answers. First, I think many of these people started their faith walks in churches that don’t teach the deeper things of the Lord in the first place. They, like you, probably became dissatisfied with the level of teaching they were receiving. Sadly, when this happens many give up on church altogether. Others, like you and I, find places that better meet our needs. We go to places like First Love or another church where we are fed the deeper things of the Lord.
So then, why not spend our time in fellowship with other believers discovering these more complex parts of our faith? Shouldn’t we desire to go deeper than the simple Sunday school lessons of our youth? Of course. BUT, I believe we have an obligation, a calling, to show our more simple-minded brothers and sisters the depth and height and glory of the God they claim to worship.
Think of it this way: one of the goals of evangelism to the lost is to show them that they are sinners and need God’s redeeming grace. So, we go to where they are at, “the highways and the byways,” as you would say. We go to their turf and share with them the gospel of Christ. I know we’ve had a conversation before about effective evangelism techniques and how so many times our church programs fail to reach the lost because we force them into our churchy environment and force them to play by our churchy rules. We leave them feeling like outsiders and like we condemn them because they are different. We push them away and they don’t want to come back. Instead, we should go to where they are, be that a pool hall or a night club or a party. Or even just their homes. We go to them on their turf and share with them the love of God by our actions in their environment. That way they can see something different about us and be drawn to Christ in us. Remember this conversation?
Anyway, I feel like the same idea applies to the dead church (lets be honest, that’s what it really is). I believe these people have relationships with God and I know they believe in Him and His glorious work on the cross. I have too. I would die of a broken heart if they didn’t. But I also recognize that their understanding of Him is very limited and sometimes down right wrong. This is the place that I come from, Jonathan. I grew up in this environment of powerless faith. By the grace of God I’ve been blessed to have found that a relationship with God can be more than worship services that drone on for hours and programs that have no lasting affect on my life. And I am humbled by it. I am unworthy of this. Nothing I did made me deserving to have this amazing thing we call a relationship with God. I was just as pious and self-righteous and clueless as those we look at now with all too judgmental eyes. These people have been given the gift of Christ just like we have. And they have accepted this gift just as we have too. They are a part of the bride of Christ. A line to one of my favorite songs says, “you cannot care for me (Jesus) with no regard for her (the Church), if you love me you will love the church.”I feel that we, as Christians, have an obligation not only to the lost, but to our fellow believers as well. It was these kinds of Christians that led me to Christ in the first place. I cannot abandon them now. I cannot leave them behind when I’ve tasted what they could have in the Lord. I have to help show them the way! After all, iron sharpens iron, right? And what’s more is God wants them to know Him on this more intimate level that we have tasted. It is God’s will that not one should perish, yes. But how much more would it grieve our Father if those who took His gift ran off with it and never bothered to get to know Him deeper. Think about the group of lepers who went off dancing after Jesus healed them… only one came back to thank Him. Doesn’t that make you want to cry? How will they ever know God deeper if no one is there to tell them?
I think I’ve told you before that I feel my calling is to awake the apostate church (the dead church) to a life of power in the Lord. Tears are in my eyes now just thinking about all this. There is a passion in my soul to reach out to our family and show them just how great this Jesus guy really is. Maybe that is why I came across as argumentative tonight. My love for God’s church, His bride, is so strong I feel the need to defend her and fight for her no matter what. All to well I see her faults. But I long for her wedding day when Jesus sees her in all her beauty, when she has been purified and made clean. Made whole. I feel God plans to use me to do just that.
And they are listening, Jonathan. They do want more. The spirit of the Lord is in them if they have received Christ and He will draw them to Him. Their desire for Him may be covered up by years of hurt and bitterness or may be dampened by sin in their lives or a demon of religion, but it is there. I know it. I’ve seen it.
I use to be so critical of the modern church, the dead church. It frustrated me to no end, much in the same way I’m sure it does you. But the Lord has convicted me of being so critical towards His beloved. And when I allowed Him to take out my condemning eyes and see things the way He sees them, He gave me discernment into the hearts of His people. I see past the many veils they wear into their hearts where they do truly long to know their savior. It takes patients, often more than I have, but the Lord is disciplining me, showing me how to love. And that’s where it all starts, love. Just like in reaching the lost, we must show them God’s love.
That’s why I, personally, still attend what could be considered such a church. Because I do see life there, I do see Jesus awakening his bride. I really cannot speak for others, but that is my explanation. Please know that I in no way think that you condemn these people, or have given up on them. I know you love them, it’s obvious. I think maybe this is just a matter of different callings, your’s is to the lost; mine is to the not so lost… to the confused. And really, they are not that different of callings. They just lead us to slightly different places is ministry. Neither is more important to the other. If nothing else I hope to have shared my heart with you, what I feel the Lord has called me to. This is not ‘my side of the argument’. There really wasn’t an argument in the first place because we really don’t have conflicting opinions here. At least I don’t see any. This is just my response to your question. I guess I took your question in the wrong way at first. I see now that you weren’t condemning those who still attend certain churches, that you were really just curious as to why. You are a seeker just like me. Thank you for sharpening my iron. I only hope I’ve done the same for you.
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