God Help Us Be Like You

I talked with an employee of a local business about the church she attends this week. I was surprised to hear her say that one of her children is an atheist and so is her husband. She tries to live a Christian life, but when I quizzed her about why her family members were unbelievers she began to share with me their opinion of most Christian churches. I write these things based on our conversation of what her non-believers feel about the church and religion in general:

-We've become very good at marketing religion rather than righteousness.

Many church people have become consumers of religion rather than torch bearers.  The church caters to their musical preferences, entertains them, impresses them with clever talks, titillates them with interesting videos, and turns them into self-centered consumers of religion like it was pizza. To many unbelievers the church has become a product to be marketed more than a way of righteousness to be experienced. Church members are being taught to “get what you want or go elsewhere”, so we make sure they get what they want so they don’t go down the street. We know this is true because that’s how we got most of them—from down the street.

-We seek success over obedience and popularity over truth.

The church, in general, has become completely captivated by the success syndrome. She values success more than obedience. She honors the famous and successful more than the obedient and pious. She would rather go “from good to great” than sacrifice greatness for goodness. Many churches say, "if it works we do it". She's learned how to do things, but seldom realizes for whose glory she does them. She copies the paradigms of big business more than the values of the kingdom. She knows if you attract a big crowd and produce a big income you are recognized as a hero, but if you love God passionately and obey Him completely you won’t be noticed. Her gods have become success, big crowds, giant budgets, million dollar complexes, large staffs, professional offices, prestige and fame. When she has to choose between being successful and being good, she invariably choose success. The non-believer looks at the stuff we do in Jesus name, but fails to literally see the evidence of why we do it, more often than not.

-We put our church priorities above God's priorities.

Sometimes what’s good for your church can be bad for the kingdom, but given the choice we do what benefits our own kingdom even at the expense of the Lord’s Kingdom. We don’t even recognize the difference, since most of us consider our own kingdom the same thing as God’s kingdom. We pay attention to our own church’s statistics more than our community’s statistics. Most of us don’t even try to find out what’s happening to the churches in our county. We tout our own statistics and assume that’s the end of the story. If our own church is growing we pronounce God is moving, even if the total number of Christians in our community is declining steadily. We do the same as a denomination. As long as we can show gains as a denomination, we ignore the national statistics. We have constructed kingdoms of kings ruling over ever larger territories while the entire empire shrinks around us as generations of unbelievers go untouched by the gospel. 

-Our legalism and being judgmental has caused our testimony to go flat.

Pastors have launched into politics and specialized at shouting at unbelievers for acting like they are unbelievers, who in turn, remember us mostly for our negative preaching. Churches have used boycotts, political referendums, cross-talk interviews and shouting matches to make a difference, but mostly we have only made a scene. The world knows us as judgmental, nagging hypocrites who expect unbelievers to line up with our own convictions, all the while ignoring our own faults. We scold the world for abortion and homosexuality and then we dismiss our own sins of greed, materialism, idolatry, lust, divorce and marital infidelity. We condemn the sins of the unconverted, while giving ourselves a free pass. When asked what they think of a Christian, many unbelievers don’t even mention the church helping the poor, trying to cure AIDS or caring for others. They mention our judgmental attempts to make them line up with our own standards. Most people my age have rejected the judgmental legalism of our parents generation used against us as teenagers and then turned around and developed the same judgmental, legalistic attitude against those who aren’t even converted. We are to be a positive, powerful witness to the world, but it is mostly become a negative witness. The Church has misplaced her loyalty so much that the model she gives to the world of everything they don’t want to be. How many times have you heard lately, "Well, I know those people in that church. I live better than most of them who claim to be a Christian"?

As I left the store the words of her conversation brought conviction to my spirit. I don't want to live thinking I'm superior to others who need Jesus. God help us realize that except for the grace of God I could be walking in their shoes. I must admit that many of her statements rang true in my heart because I have had and witnessed this same attitude in the church about sinners and unbelievers because of their lifestyle and background. God help us to realize we need His compassion and heart more than ever before. Also, God help us to live what we preach. If we don't the results are disasterous.