Beware of Churches....

It's Monday and I have tried to keep my promise and resolution of writing on each Monday. Somewhere along the way I'm sure I'll miss or perhaps won't have anything to say. Thus far, however, I've had something creep into my feeble little mind and I'll write it down (which is something I've not done in the past) and write about it each Monday. I'm now five for five.
My thought for the week involves being wary of certain kinds of churches. Through my lifetime I have seen large and small, conservative and liberal, college churches and community churches and whatever kinds of churches you want to see. I've seen lives destroyed and hearts broken by churches. All too frequently I have seen churches be almost less spiritual than the world around them. So hence comes this blog.

Beware of churches that have all the answers. In some ways it would be nice to be able to go to a little instruction book that gives specific instructions on each situation in life. Some may say we have that in the Bible. I agree to some extent, but God in His wisdom left things seemingly ambiguous. Oh, I know there are some "Thou shalts" and "Thou shalt nots." But when asked for the greatest command, Jesus said to love God with everything you have. How do you do that? I don't know. And churches that tell you how to do that really don't know either. I'm not calling for a situation ethics lifestyle. But I am saying, sometimes we just have to love God and do the best we can.

Beware of churches that don't know about grace. Perhaps I should say that don't practice grace. We use grace as a tool, as a leverage. Grace makes us uncomfortable...and it probably should. But I would rather sin on the side of grace than to destroy someone who may be trying, but I have no clue what their motive is. "But what about justice?," some may ask. Personally, I'll leave that one up to God who is far better at it than I am.

Beware of churches that don't know how to weep. Actually, my feeling is, we're pretty good at weeping. But there are a few out there who still have the old "don't let them see your tears" mentality. Jesus was called a Man of Sorrows. After all, didn't Jesus weep? I read where He cried over Jerusalem. Perhaps we should be a church that cries more over the lostness of the world.

Beware of churches that don't know how to laugh. I read an article the other day where a gentleman complained that people were laughing during someone's baptism. He complained that there was a solemnity that wasn't being observed. I'm sorry this brother doesn't understand the wonder of laughter. Doesn't Scripture say that even the angels rejoice when one is saved? Didn't Jesus have a sense of humor? How can you not laugh when He tells the story of the man with a 2 X 4 in his eye trying to remove the speck out of another's eye? Laughing is healthy. Smiles are a lot more inviting than frowns.

Beware of churches that don't know how to worship. We're getting better at this. And I have to admit, I need some work on this myself. For too long we have stood in our pews looking at the back of the head of the person in front of us. We haven't shared our worship together. It hasn't been a joyful time. It hasn't been a time of shared remembrance or celebration. We've gone through the motions for too long thinking that God is pleased. Worship is individual. Worship is corporate. When my daughter was little I would love to come home from work. When I walked in the door she would begin jumping up and down and shouting, "Daddy!! Daddy!! Daddy's home!!! Daddy's home!!!" She would run up and hug me and cling to me. Now was that wrong? No, just a child's heart wanting to be with her Father. Which brings me to the next one.

Beware of churches that don't love kids. You can tell what kind of church you have by seeing how the children are viewed. Are they treated with special care or are they are necessary nuisance? Do they have a prominent place in your worship or do we try to keep them silent? Jesus Himself told us that we should be like little children.

Beware of churches that don't love old folks. Once again, do we treasure these saints or do we brush them aside? How do we treat these precious ones who more than occasionally closer to their reward than the rest of us? Shouldn't we honor their white hair? Shouldn't we listen to their wisdom? Shouldn't we help them as they are absorbed into the universe of God's heaven?

Well, these are just a few things that came to my mind. I'm sure there are others. If you have some others, just comment. I would love to hear from you. Have a great day! JW