INTRODUCTION
1
Corinthians 12:12-14 “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of
the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into
one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all
made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.”
Who
is this mysterious “Body”? What is She speaking as an entity in this hour? As I
look around and see what the Christian majority say and do, I often feel like
the Body of Christ has a severe identity crisis. She says one thing and does
another. She condemns and calls out yet continually fails to love as She’s been
loved-unconditionally. She critiques and judges but when the tables are turned She
declares “How dare you!?!?” I believe that the entire world is watching and
wondering what Christianity is today. What brand of Christianity is the real one? What denomination has it all
right? Why do Christians have so much division, within themselves and with others outside of the Church?
What moves Us, motivates Us and drives Us to speak and act as We do? Do We
really think that We have all the answers and need to demand all others follow
or else they’re damned? Is Our primary motivation releasing God’s Kingdom upon
this earth or is it tradition and personal preference? Arrogance, pride and
elitism seem to drive Us as a people and I believe that it grieves the heart of
God.
I often get frustrated and ultimately saddened as I
talk with people about the American brand of Christianity. It’s extraordinarily popular (not at all a narrow way that few are
finding) and is primarily rooted in advancing a “Christianized” kingdom of men.
It demands following a set of guidelines that almost always contradicts the
teachings of Jesus. It calls you to elevate yourself (and your nation) to be a
strong-willed overcomer that leads all others and never backs down from a
confrontation. Most Believers hate to discuss this and over the years I’ve
learned that offense is an absolute surety. I’ve received more verbal condemnation
and experienced more juvenile name-calling from other Believers over questioning
their personal beliefs than I’ve ever
received from non-Believers when discussing Christianity. Some friends and
family have clearly chosen to distance themselves from my wife and me for what
we believe. It’s this lack of willingness to admit any possible error or to even
discuss how biblical Christianity may differ from popular Christianity that I
believe is leading the Body of Christ down a deeper and deeper pit of false
representation of Jesus Christ. I will never be the absolute source for all
that is Christianity. I’m flawed and only by God’s grace will I ever be
empowered to share His truth accurately.
Where We all go from here is the challenge. It’s a challenge
because it’s an individual decision
to embrace the all-others-before-myself life that Christ modeled for us. It
cannot be adopted as a church requirement or membership guideline. It’s not
something that just happens either. One must deliberately choose to die to
their own selfish desires and willingly abandon all that this temporal world
has to offer our carnal pleasures for control, power and status. It’s appalling
that the patterns of this world have simply been adopted by Christianity.
Bigger, better, stronger is the Christian motto of the times. Be your best you! Win! Lead! Be the superior
one in all you do! When I study the teachings of Christ, I just can’t buy
into it. The world, this nation, our cities, our neighbors see Us as
egotistical and judgmental and We’re somehow entirely OK with that. When do We embrace
humility and become servants of all?
So I wonder, where are the ones willing to lay down
their lives for others? Where are the ones who eagerly take the lower position
in order for another to be lifted? Where are the Believers that would even consider setting aside their personal
preferences for a moment in order to study and see if it is in alignment
whatsoever with the Word of God? Where are the ones who are willing to openly
assess whether or not their personal belief system and the actions that come
out of it line up with what Jesus commands and instructs the Believer? More and more I’m arriving at this
destination: I cannot and will never be able to do anything about majority
Christianity’s actions. Although compelled to address them since they say with
their mouths that we share one Body, I’m beginning to call it what it is and
tend to my own pursuit of dying to self and pursuing Christ-likeness. So with
that in mind, I compiled a list of what I would like to say to others outside of the Church, moreso with my
life than with my mouth. But I will start here and venture out to redefine who
people have been led to believe the Body of Christ to be.
If the Body of Christ continues down this same path,
unwilling to honestly and openly assess who We are and how the world sees Us,
generations to come will grow more and more disinterested in the God that we
profess to know and the Jesus that we claim to represent. Friends, we must fall
to our knees and implore God to strip away all pretenses that hold us back from
properly embodying His agenda in our generation. We cannot continue in our
arrogance and pride as this age approaches its culmination.
The following posts in this series will address, categorically, how I’ve personally
witnessed the Body of Christ respond to several issues and specifically, people
groups for nearly forty years now (myself included, for many years). That’s followed by what my personal, deliberate
response to these issues will be going forward. I implore you to take the time
to read the Scriptures listed. If you skip over them, you miss the entire motive behind every topic
addressed. If we Who profess to live as Christ do not adhere to His teachings
above all other laws, teachings and traditions, we’ll be destined to continue
failing to effectively show Christ to others as we have in the past.
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