Is Jesus Religious? (cont.)

I have discovered through my own experiences in the church that people who talk a lot about accountability are often people who choose to apply said accountability to everyone except themselves. They are fine being in the place where they get to decide the rightness or wrongness of a person’s actions, but ask them to submit to the same thing when it comes to the rightness or wrongness of their own actions, the last thing they want is accountability. “Well preacher, your son's behavior tells me a good bit about your parenting skills, but let’s not talk about my son or daughter. That’s none of your business…... Well preacher, you just don’t seem to have proper theology here, but let’s not talk about the fact I've never really investigated any other theological options than the one I adhere to. Your theology is suspect (since it’s not mine), and though I have never really considered if mine is or is not valid or orthodox (presumably it is right just because I hold it), I’m not about to allow you to question it…… Well preacher, that man is an adulterer, and I just don’t think you should be spending time with him, eventhough I've never really dealt with the adultery I daily commit in my own heart. Well preacher, I don’t think that you were very nice to that person, so let me set you straight using a style that certainly is not to be questioned, since I’m not the preacher…… Well preacher, I realize my son or daughter has been divorced, but that’s different. There were reasons. But that does not mean I should embrace this divorced person for leadership……. Well preacher, I realize you spend lots and lots of time studying for your sermons, but I just don’t get anything out of it, so, you need to change your style. You are just not feeding me, and it’s my job as a congregant to tell you what you should be doing.” There are times I wonder if people understand the elevated view we have of ourselves when it comes to tolerating our own weaknesses, embracing the love of God for ourselves in spite of our shortcomings and sin, while at the same time refusing to offer the same love and compassion to those we have convinced ourselves are somehow less deserving of God’s love and forgiveness than we are. We say we don’t believe this, and maybe we refrain from such verbalization, but our actions often indicate otherwise.

Now, none of this is to say it does not matter how we live. It simply is meant to say that the standard for a Christian is different than that of a "religious person". We are measured in God’s Kingdom on the basis of how we love, better yet, how much we allow God to love through us. The Law and the Prophets, and the fulfillment of their words, are accomplished in Christ. We are no longer obligated to  meet the standard of a Law that was given to those who are slaves to their own nature. We are actually given a higher standard, a steeper one – the Law of Love. And just like the one given before, namely the Law delivered through Moses, we cannot attain this new standard also, left to our own devices. All that is left to do is surrender; surrender our lives by faith to the One who can love in and through us. And if we do this, the keeping of laws and standards will take care of itself. If I make love my guide in all things, then the place of holiness, Law, and accountability take on new meaning. They are no longer an end in and of themselves; but they become a tool, a tool used when needed, a tool applied with Love calls for them. Love will never use Law and Rule as standards to separate, evaluate, or congregate. How can a person ever convince themselves that the most loving thing to do is worship with people who are more like me, when the call of God is to take His love to those who are least like Him? Love would demand the opposite. My church needs me, so I’m here to serve through the good and the bad. These people need the love and forgiveness God has given me, therefore I am here to love. My gifts meet needs at my church, therefore I share them with those who need them just like Jesus did. Have you ever noticed that in the Scriptures Jesus spent most of his time with those who needed his love, and less and less time with those who failed to recognize this need? How can we His disciples do less? Whereas we are quite comfortable throwing money at a person whose lifestyle we despise in the name of compassion, it is quite another thing when it comes to worshipping with and rubbing shoulders with those we don’t approve of.

This tendency to emphasize our supposed calling to hold others accountable for their sin leads to two alarming realities in our churches. First, it creates separation and erects barriers between persons. If my job is to hold you accountable for your sin, assuming that this sin is of the type which is recognizable to me as sin, then I must of necessity begin to separate myself from you lest I have someone wanting to hold me accountable for the same thing. For instance, if it is my job to confront you for your beer drinking (after having convinced myself this is sin), it goes without saying that I cannot hang out with you while you are participating in this behavior, seeing that my judgment of you is only valid if I can show others I am not condoning or participating in your behavior. I must, of theological necessity, separate myself from “sinners”, so that it can be clearly seen to all that those things I hold you accountable for are not also a weakness in me. This is exactly what the religious people of Jesus’ day expected him to do, as to not be contaminated by the sins of the people. So, divorced persons, excuse me if I don’t nominate you for Leadership and invite you to serve with me on the Board. Excuse me, known drug addict, as I pause to tell you how you are supposed to live; but heaven forbid I actually invest in your life in one on one relationship, unless of course it’s a safe mentoring relationship where we both recognize that I have it together and you don’t. Our “Christian minds” have grown so distorted, as we build legalistic walls hewn from moral clay and self righteous brick.  We “righteously” choose to invest our time in those who will not ruin our reputation for being holy people, or who cause us to rub shoulders with sinners we pretend to have little in common with, even those we call "brother" or "sister". I love you "brother", now go away. I love you "sister", I just can't worship and serve along side you. Most of the walls which separate us in the church are held together with moral laws erected in the name of accountability, even though Jesus clearly came to tear such walls asunder, as he utters the proclamation to the self-righteous Jewish Leader, "not one stone will be left upon another when God brings your Holy Temple to the ground"! Though we recognize Jesus' tendency to disdain self-righteousness on the part of the Pharisee, we are quite adept at denying these tendencies in ourself.

Let me give you one example I have seen in my vocation. I had a couple who came to me for marriage. They were living together, so two ministers had already declined to do the wedding in the name of "moral accountability". It was now my choice to make. They actually expected me to say no, and had run into the type of attitudes that had left them both feeling as though they were somehow “unworthy” of a church wedding. Why did they feel this unworthiness? Was it what God wanted them to feel? Now let’s start by establishing what I believe about living together. I affirm that God created marriage to be between husband and wife for life, and that living together is ideally reserved for those who are united in the marriage bond. I affirm and adore marriage, and would never suggest that living together is God’s ideal for any couple. However, in this complicated world in which we live in, people certainly make this choice. I do not believe that such a choice takes people outside the realm of God’s love or God’s blessing. The God who blessed David and Bathsheba with a child by the name of Solomon most certainly can bless a marriage between two people who have lived together. I would think that a person who believed that marriage should be the natural consequence of choosing to live in the same house would be supportive of a couple who have made such a choice to “make it right”, so to speak. I am wondering if these same people would refuse to go to their daughter’s wedding if she had in fact lived with her boyfriend before marriage? The Pastor’s calling for such a couple is to love them , and do everything within his or her power to enhance the possibility that this marriage will succeed and that this couple might grow to honor God with their marriage. How is a pastor to have this kind of influence if they choose to cut this couple out of their life, which is the likely consequence of the choice not to do the wedding on moral grounds, in the name of “accountability”? My best chance for serving this couple, as Jesus often did, is to embrace them right where they are and to become a vibrant part of their life. Do we honestly believe Jesus would refuse to do such a wedding in the name of accountability and condemnation rather than displaying love and compassion as He invests Himself in their lives?