Saturday, September 15, 2012

Where have you gone church?

I haven't written for a while.  I wasn't sure I had anything to say...so I didn't.

A few weeks ago I had to step away from facebook.  I got so tired of all the political jabs going on by my Christian friends.  Some are liberal and decidedly Obama fans and others are radically right and fearful of how the US is going to hell, at least while there is a Democratic president in office.  Funny, my liberal friends say the same about what would happen if a Republican were elected.

I think we're missing something.  Something big.

My allegiance is to Jesus Christ.  Let me state that clearly.  I don't believe it is the role of the government to provide healthcare for all Americans.  I don't believe the government has been called to feed the poor, house the homeless and provide for everyone's every need.  I don't believe the government will ever have enough money to make up for the power of the Spirit to touch people's lives.  I believe we need less government.  I believe we need fewer taxes to be spent by people with a different agenda that the followers of Christ.  Sounds Republican, right?  Or maybe liberal Democrat.  No, that's the sound of a follower of Christ.

Why?  Because the church has been called to heal the wounded, provide for the orphan and widow and bring wholeness to the brokenhearted.  The church is not the government and the government is not the church.

I've observed how government works first hand in the last 15 months.  We have duplication.  We have rules and regulations to prevent corruption and yet it happens every day.  We have incredible waste of the hard earned dollars that are contributed by all levels of tax payers.  And there are some in sectors of the government who want to tax us more because they believe they know how to spend our money.

Don't get me wrong.  There are a lot of good things being done by our government but I believe we can do them better as the church.

The government is not directed by a moral compass in the same manner that we as followers of Christ are bound to a morality that is based on the absolute truth of the One True God.  There are people who spend the government's money like it came from an abandoned bank somewhere.  As followers of Christ we are held to a much higher standard of stewardship and a more liberal sense of giving from our heart out of love and not an obligation.

The government got involved in the business of the church because the church stopped being the church.  We have drifted so far from what the Scriptures tell us we are supposed to look like that we don't even see the difference when we look in the mirror.  That's because we have adapted to our version of the church and left the Biblical one behind.

Who told us we were supposed to get involved in the real estate business?  Didn't the early church meet in the marketplace or homes or right in the main stream of the culture?  Like Paul up on Mars Hill telling the great philosophers that he knew the One True God and he'd be glad to introduce them.  He didn't invite them to his church.  He went to them.  When was the last time you knew one of your Christian friends to make that statement to someone in the local Barnes and Noble store?

The real estate business...I'm sure if I did a Google search I could find out how much property is owned by all the religious groups around the world.  How many hunger people could you church feed if they sold all their buildings?  How many homeless could they house in property they bought for that purpose?  Or what about taking homeless into our homes?

When Jesus gathered the multitude to teach them what did he do when they all got hungry?  Call on the food bank subsidized by the government?  No, he took what he had, blessed it and fed 5,000 on one occasion and 4,000 on another.  What do we do when faced with hungry people? (They actually opened several schools in Chicago this week during the strike just so the kids could get their regular breakfast and lunch courtesy of the government.)

Can the government heal the brokenhearted?  Can the government raise up men to be leaders in their communities, faithful husbands to their wives and fathers to their children?  Can the government teach our children abstention from premarital sex?  Can they capture all the men and women who are sexually and otherwise, abusing children from positions of authority?  Can they solve any of the problems that are sapping the strength of our nation right before our eyes?

We have gotten away from our place in the culture, being salt and light, and withdrawn to our buildings with our safe friends and avoided confronting the needs of the world.  We run from the mentally ill and emotionally broken.  We overlook the families that are falling apart around us because ours aren't very strong either.  We have left all these issues up to the government and they've taken up our mission.  That's how we've gotten lost in the political battles and begun sniping at each other.

We think, as Christians, that the solution is in whether we elect a Democratic or Republican ticket in a few months.  Believe me that's not the critical issue and the monumental decision we face.  And blasting each other about the different candidates is not going to get the church back on track.

No, the critical decision is are we going to return to being the church, the Body of Christ, the disciples of the Son of God or are we going to continue to blend in to the culture?  Are we going to continue to look to the government to do the mission we have been called to do or are we going to take it back?  Are we going to rely on the Spirit of God and His resources to help us with the monumental task before us?  When are we going to embrace our spiritual mandate and begin to be the Church again?  May it be soon.