Practicing What We Believe

I visited a church yesterday and the pastor gave me lots of food for thought. I love when that happens. It's so "Christianese" to say something like, "I was drawn to that church", or "the Lord had a divine appointment with me there", so I won't say that. I will simply say that I'm glad I was there.

I went to the church because their newly appointed pastor was being installed. I appreciate taking in the different churches around town, and I thought the installation service would be a great opportunity to get to know the newest member of the religious community.

The new church leader had invited his childhood pastor to teach before his official installation. The wise older man talked about passing the torch. He said, "If the church does not PRACTICE what it believes, it will be succeeded by a generation that does not believe." Wow! That’ll preach!

I've talked to a myriad of people who grew up in the church, but who quit attending years ago. Many of them gave up on God altogether. The number one reason given is always the same—“I hate the hypocrisy”.

The church is full of hypocrites, and it has been this way since the beginning of time. Jesus often talked of the hypocrisy. He called it like it was and He never sugar coated the truth. I have no problem believing that if Jesus were the guest preacher in our church, He’d still bring our hypocrisy into the light—where it belongs. We are hypocrites. We love to evangelize and take the gospel to the “ends of the earth”, but we ignore the plank in our own eye.

You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Matthew 7:5 (NIV)

We teach our kids to refrain from lying, stealing, gossiping, etc, but WE lie to our boss about being sick, steal paperclips and pens from the supply closet at work, and gossip about the husband who was seen having lunch with the female co-worker who was not his wife. Our kids have watched us have affairs, get divorced, gossip around the dinner table, and pass judgment on the parents of the school bully.

We are hypocrites. Everyone, say it together—we are hypocrites! Now, let’s apologize to our kids for setting bad examples of what being a Christ-follower really looks like.

I desire for God to shine a light into the hidden crevices of my heart and reveal my weaknesses. I want to deal with my own stuff. I want to really see the plank in my eye!

Get off the pew of hypocrisy and into the light of God’s word. We’ve got to practice what we say we believe so that the generation coming up behind us sees something worth believing in. Get off the pew!

There's a speck and a plank!

Marissa and Suzanne had known one another for most of their lives. They met in church when Marissa was still in elementary school. The girls were both a part of the youth choir that included talented kids of all ages. Suzanne was already in high school, so they weren't part of the same social groups, but Marissa loved being around "the big kids".

Life took Marissa and Suzanne in completely different directions. Suzanne got married and spent several years traveling the world with a Christian Music touring group, and Marissa went off to college. After Suzanne's marriage ended in divorce, she returned home and the two girls reconnected. They were both part of the church choir, had the same circle of friends, and discovered just how much they had in common. When finances became tight, it was only natural that the best friends would get an apartment together. They settled into a fairly typical single girl life - work, church, friends, weekends, dating, etc... Then....

Maybe it was the pain of Suzanne's divorce, I don't know, but she really wasn't into the dating scene at all. Marissa, on the other hand, had always dreamed of one day meeting "that guy" and getting married. She thought "Rick" might be that guy, but after about a year the relationship ended and Marissa was heart-broken. Suzanne's friendship carried her through. Finally, Suzanne made a confession - she was in love with Marissa. Marissa didn't know what to do with this information. They were both active in the church and Marissa knew that homosexuality was considered sin. The last thing she wanted to do was to tarnish Suzanne's reputation, so she kept this revelation to herself. Marissa moved out of the apartment the girls shared and she went about trying to move on with her life. It wasn't easy for a 30-something year-old girl to meet guys, but the Internet offered some interesting dating sites, so Marissa put herself out there. She met a guy.

I can't pretend to know what was in Suzanne's heart or mind, but I do know what she did. When she found out that Marissa was dating, she went to the church choir director and told him that Suzanne had met a guy online and she was involved in an inappropriate relationship. The choir director moved quickly. He called Suzanne and kicked her out of the choir and off the worship team for "not living a life above reproach". Marissa swears she hasn't "sinned" with the new boyfriend, but she's not believed. She's forced to leave the choir she'd been a part of for 20 years, and the church she'd been a member of for her whole life. She loses her circle of friends. One of these so-called "friends" sent her a card. When Marissa opened the card she was so touched, as on the outside of the card it said, "Thinking of You". On the inside, however, it had a hand written note that said, "When you decide to start making the right choices, we will welcome you back."

It's been several years and Marissa has never really recovered. She doesn't attend church, and she protects herself from relationships as she still has trust issues. What was Suzanne's motivation for taking gossip and lies to the music pastor? What was the pastor's motivation for removing Marissa without ever taking steps to discover the whole truth? Only they know what they were thinking. I do know that if Suzanne suspected Marissa was in an "inappropriate relationship" she should have followed the Matthew 18 principle for confrontation and reconciliation. I also know that Matthew 7:5 tells us that we are hypocrites when we are more worried about the speck in another person's eye, then the removal of the plank in our own eye.

We need to get off the pew and reach out to friends and family who are “living in sin”, or making “inappropriate choices”. God loves them, and we ought to love them too! If you know someone who’s been kicked out of church or a ministry because of their own bad choices (or suspected bad choices), get off the pew and love on them. Loneliness is a sad place to live, even though it has a crazy large population. In addition, there may be a "Suzanne" sitting in the pew next to you - someone who is hiding a secret. Get off the pew! Reach out!