February 23, 2013
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MISSING THE POINT:
The State of Christianity Today
Early in my Christian walk I tried to express to my fellow Christians what it was like to deal with Christians when I self-identified as gay. I came up with a little parable to better explain my experiences.
Imagine a beautiful lake surrounded by gently rolling green hills and edged all about with forest. About 50 yards from shore there appears to be a man drowning. Fortunately there is a little rowboat manned by two men, just to the left and just out of reach of the drowning man. One is at the boat's oars and the other is truly an odd sight to behold. The second man is attempting to stand at the front of the little boat, but what's really odd is the manner of the man's dress. The man attempting to stand in the boat is dressed from head to foot in high church garb, and he's carrying a rather ornate, but impractical looking, shepherd's crook. This "bishopy" looking fellow is wearing the high cone hat with tails, the long bejeweled outer robes, and there is a wide bejeweled church sash looking thing hanging about his neck and running half way down the front of his high church vestments. He's wearing little white gloves and in one hand he has what appears to be a small anchor. The high church, "bishopy" looking man is speaking to the drowning man. He says, warmly and with feeling, "Dear brother! We want you to know that we, our church, desire to stand with you in complete solidarity." The "bishopy" looking chap is struggling to maintain emotional composure, and even takes a moment to wipe away a small tear from his eye. He clears his tight throat a little, and says with a husky voice, "So that you may always know we support you completely, we have made this sculpture of an anchor for you." The high churchy man says, ceremoniously, "We give you this anchor to remind you, always, to stay anchored in who you think you are, and that we are with you in this your choice to drown yourself." The bishopy man and his oarsman smile, then offer small applause. Finally, with a wave of the "bishopy" chap's gloved hand, the fellow at the oars begins to pull at those oars and away they glide toward shore.
Off to the right of our little scene is a pier which juts from the land out onto the lake. Still the drowning man is about 50 yards from this pier to his right. At the end of this pier is another rather odd sight to behold. At the end of the pier is a man wearing a navy blue suit, sporting a well oiled crew cut, and in one of his hands is a coffee table Bible. (I mean the Bible is the size of a coffee table...King James Version, of course!). The man starts shouting out to the drowning man, "HEY!!! HEY YOU, DROWNING MAN!!! STOP THAT DROWNING!!! DON'T YOU KNOW THAT IF YOU DROWN YOU'LL BURN IN HELL?!?!? Immediately after shouting at the drowning man, the Bible toating man then hurls a rock at the man in the water. After throwing the rock the man yells, even louder, at the drowning man, "HEY!!! WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER HERE AND LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT JESUS?!?!?" The second shout is followed by another stone sent rocketing toward the head of the drowning man. Then shouting a third time, "HEY, DUDE!!! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!!! "IF YOU WOULD JUST STOP DROWNING LONG ENOUGH JESUS CAN SET YOU FREE AND THEN YOU CAN BE LIKE ME!!! Our religious zealot throws a new volley of rocks at the head of our drowning man, but soon decides to leave, grumbling about how the drowning man treated him. "Jesus said people would hate and persecute me, because I am a Christian."
Further from the shore of the lake is a man sitting with his wife on the fence which runs around the lake. The man says to his wife, "Say, do you think that guy is swimming, or do you think he might be drowning?" His wife squints up her eyes, uses her hand as a visor to block the glare of the sun and says, "I don't know, he's too far away for me to really tell what he's doing." The husband hunches into a Rodin's "The Thinker" kind of pose and considers the matter. Finally he says "Maybe we should call 911 for the guy." The wife quickly responds, "Honey, you're a good man, but we're to far away to really know what is going on over there. I'm afraid we might embarrass the man if he isn't really drowning." Then the wife continued sagely, "Judge not, lest you be judged..." And finally the wife said, "We don't know enough to make a real decision, so let's just enjoy our day out, and let that person in the water enjoy their day out at the lake."
What do you suppose happened to the man drowning in the lake? He drowned, of course. The man was accepted and loved right where he was. The man was condemned for where he was, and the man was ignored where he was, because "Who are we to say the guy is drowning, maybe he's doing some new kind of water exercise; it's best not to judge."
What I needed from Christians was for one of them to dive into my situation. What I needed was someone to believe God rather than what their feelings, or the feelings of others told them. I was drowning and everyone judged my situation. No one judged my situation from a place of understanding or experience, everyone judged my situation from their own personal feelings about where and what I was. Granted there were lots of drowning people around me who kept telling everyone we were fine, we were just born to drown, as it were, and, "Leave us alone or you're judgmental and hateful!" God clearly sees the world drowning in sin, and he expects those who call themselves Christians/Christ followers to ask him for eyes to see the way he sees. God looks on the inside, and knows drowning when he sees it. It isn't a bad thing not to jump to judgment, but walk closer to the situation and judge from up close. It isn't a bad thing to hold to God's righteous standard, but move closer and learn that though the lost may have done a swan dive into the deep end, of their own free will, they now need saving. All the right knowledge in the world about lifesaving are pointless and useless, if no one dives into to actually save the drowning person. It is good to accept people where they are, but God has something much better for them. Don't offer a person help to keep drowning. God loves us where we are, but he saves us from drowning in our own sins.
Jesus came to a world which hated, reviled, and ultimately murdered him. Jesus didn't come to condemn or confirm sinners in their sins. Jesus came to find and save what was lost. What Jesus did is overcome the world, and anyone truly born again; born of God's own Spirit; given a new born spirit called the "divine seed" which literally means "sperm of God", will be conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to find and save, and that is the same thing Christ followers will do. It's isn't optional it is hardwired into our new spiritual DNA. Jesus dove into a drowning world, and started pulling drowning people to eternal life, freedom, and safety. That is the Christian's birthright and the Christian's call. You can't belong to Christ and love people til they drown. You can't belong to Christ and condemn them from drowning. And you can't belong to Christ sitting on a fence with no opinion on sin when God tells us exactly what he thinks of sin.
No one dove into the water to save the dying man. Everyone did what was right in his own mind, but Jesus dove in to rescue. We are warned again and again by Christ and the apostles he appointed and empowered to do and speak for him.
"To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32
Believing means doing. Belief in Jesus Christ is always a 3 part matter. 1) Do what Jesus says. 2) This makes us true disciples, and as we do more and more what Jesus teaches the more we become his true disciples. 3) As we practice Jesus' teaching, becoming more and more his disciples, then the truth sets us free. Being and doing go hand in hand.
"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Ephesians 2:10
Obeying God is simply what believers in Jesus Christ do, it is what we are new born to do. God has already gone before and prepared our way for us. We can dive in with absolute confidence that God is with us, and though we do not know what to do, God does. When we need the knowledge he gives us the knowledge we need. Think about Moses parting the Red Sea. We like to see things the way Cecil B. Demille saw Moses. We imagine Moses standing on a rock ledge jutting out over the sea, and Moses grandly gesturing for the sea to part. The truth is God commanded Moses to start walking toward the sea. Moses grand gesture was to walk straight into the sea. Many have said the sea probably parted about the time the water was licking at Moses' bottom lip.
That's it! That's what I'm talkin' bout!!
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
James 1:22
There is no way around it. We will either go with our own thinking about things, or we will obey God, and do what Jesus teaches. We will either find reasons not to dive into a drowning world, or we will be like Jesus Christ, and dive, without knowing anything more than he has called us to obedience. We may call ourselves by which ever religious sounding term we choose, but the Bible is utterly clear about what a Christian is to do. To merely listen to right teaching without right action is self-deception.
“If you love me, keep my commands."
John 14:15
No one says it better than Jesus! Stop doing what you think is right, and then stamping God's name on it. If the sinner drowns, but you've excused yourself and didn't dive in, then expect the righteous judgment of God condemning you for not being like Christ. You're going to have to be like Moses and get wet. 4 times Moses gave God good reasons why he, Moses, was the wrong guy to send to Pharaoh demanding the freedom of the Hebrew Slaves. God didn't become angry with Moses, but carefully explained to him that he would be there to get Moses out of trouble. The fifth time Moses came clean and asked God to send some other savior to Egypt. When Moses asked God to find someone else to send to Egypt, we are told, "God's anger burned against Moses." Seriously, honestly, do you, Christian/Christ follower believe God will withhold his anger if you make excuses, and then refuse to obey his commands? So, okay, be self-serving if you must. If you're not motivated by empathy and compassion for the drowning man, then dive in to save your own skin. Dive in to reach a drowning world because you fear God, and his condemnation for your disobedience.
The point has never been the sin of the world, the point has always been that Jesus overcomes the sin of the world. If you have the cure, then the point is to offer the cure. If the world rejects the cure then you're off the hook. But if you offer everything including acceptance of sin, condemnation, or nothing at all, that is NOT offering Jesus' overcoming the world. God has the answer simply give that answer. But you're going to have to dive in to give that answer up close and personal, just the way Jesus did. From God's point of view we shouldn't worried about our "rights" in this world, we should be focused on our responsibilities to serve God and his kingdom, just exactly the way Jesus did.
"Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."
John 5:19
GET THE POINT?? Now go ye, and do likewise!
Comments (20)
Didn't really have a chance to read through all of this (and I don't have time right now to finish it), but it reminded me of Charlie Peacock's "Drowning Man": http://www.myspace.com/charliepeacockmusic/music/songs/drowning-man-the-secret-of-time-album-version-34556422
@naphtali_deer - Well darn, guess I spent years coming up with something someone else already had... I never claimed to be original, and now we know the truth.
@Such_are_you -
Anything we speak or write had better NOT be original, or we'd be in BIG trouble, right?!
@naphtali_deer - That is a really good point. I never thought of looking at it that way! Thanks you're a genius.
@Such_are_you - Heh. Well, that's certainly not original with me. o.O I've heard it from my husband, as well as Martyn Lloyd-Jones, John Piper, and probably at least a few others whom I can't recall right now.
@naphtali_deer - You knew when to apply it, and that's important. As you already know I'm no fan of John Piper, but Martyn Lloyd-Jones is alright. There may be nothing original, but there may be original ways of presenting what is the standard.
Matthew 9:35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
I can't help but link that passage with the command Jesus gave not long afterwards:
"... freely ye have received, freely give."
Those who begin to KNOW the Treasure they've received can't help but dive in. (Not merely know ABOUT Him.)
We won't dive in like Jesus until we begin to appreciate the depths to which God dove in to pull US out, and until we have eyes to see the lostness of the sheep all around us and hearts of compassion that are broken over those souls, to see their state just like ours was. What difference is there from the Christian and the unbeliever? "... but I obtained mercy." That's all definitely part of our "new spiritual DNA," as you put it, but because our flesh is active and lusting against the Spirit, we will find every reason and make every excuse NOT to dive in. We have to cultivate that DNA by immersing ourselves in the Word of God and prayer, meeting with other believers who'll keep us accountable, engaging in spiritual disciplines, etc., etc., to strengthen us to mortify our fleshly desires, so we might walk in the Spirit, offering ourselves to the live to the will of God, and keep Jesus' commandments.
Re: Christians offering Jesus' overcoming the world -- the problem is that MOST Christians haven't experienced the power of Christ in them helping them to overcome sin; they get along relatively well managing their sin by fleshly means, rather than mortifying sin by the Spirit. I know this because, sad to say, that's the way I lived for years. I saw myself as justified by faith, but I didn't understand I'm also sanctified by faith - that it is the resurrection power of Christ in me which gives the desire and the ability to do of God's good pleasure. I was trying to live the Christian life by fleshly willpower alone, and eventually God brought me to the end of myself! O! Happy day when I began to "feel my need of Him!" Though initially it was gruesome and grievous, in the long term, I've come to bless God for letting my fail and fail badly, and end up in the pig sty, so to speak. (And He needs to do that every time I become too full of myself! Thank God that His mercies pursue us all the days of our lives!
@Such_are_you - Yeah, I know you're no fan of Piper.
"There may be nothing original, but there may be original ways of presenting what is the standard." - Yes, exactly!
@naphtali_deer - Yes, that is right, thus the need to reach lost people. Christians don't recognize that their own relationship to God is messed up. I could never understand how Christians who have the access to the greatest relationship there is, but they don't give it. When Christians offer relationship to the least lovable they will run right into God, and see their own relationship to him is messed up. That is the point. When Christians start simply obeying God they will find relationship with God restored, and they will find the love God has for the most unlovable.
I'm not out to beat or shame the Church, I'm out to see the Church obey, so relationship with God can be restored. That has always been God's goal. At least that is the goal God has showed me.
Wow cool. Sounds like you are just about ready for reparative therapy from SSA. go for it dude.
I think you know how uncomfortable this subject really is. Let me help you bother ( sister) gets you called a hater. Saying its ok bother all love is equal, when you know its not really love and its killing them. That has you being called loving. Avoiding the subject works out great and helps no one. You just cant push yourself on anyone or just maybe you are only doing it to bash the one needing help (wanting help). You need to be there within arms reach not afraid of being honest and deal with the fact that not everyone you let into your life is going to come out of it ok.
What about gay people who don't feel they are "drowning" and want to be left alone?
As you know, I followed God's voice about a year ago to help some of his drowning children, and it was absolutely the worst decision I've ever made. I doubt I will ever forgive myself for allowing my child to be tortured the way she was over that decision. So, I can't even imagine how long it will be before I'm willing to jump in to save another drowning douchebag. I'm not even sure how long it will be before I immediately assume anyone drowning is a drowning because he's a douchebag.
I'll probably go to Hell because I listened to God.
And there, my friend, is the ugliness in my soul.
@mortimerZilch - I'm 15 years past that part. Relationship was the best tool for repairing me.
@blonde_apocalypse - Firstly, I've never seen God tell anyone to put the innocent in harm's way, and that includes your own children. I cannot speak to what God said to you, but I do seek out the wise council of other trusted seasoned believers. When I say dive in I'm saying "dive into relationship. I would. NEVER advise anyone to do what you did in a blog.
@blonde_apocalypse - What I'm talking about is taking the first step. I am sorry for what you suffered. The question I'd be asking my self before God in prayer. I'm not telling you God did or didn't speak to you, but I'd be carefully analyzing the matter asking if there was something I was missing I needed to know. Ministry is life giving. Remember what Jesus said when his disciples found him talking to a Samaritan woman at Jacobs well. They told him "Soups on Lord." Jesus said, "I have food you don't know of. My food is to do my Father's work
@blonde_apocalypse - And God has the light for all the darkness in our souls. God hung his own Son on a cross for your freedom to come into the light. He paid a huge debt to free you, so he has the way where there seems to be no way.
@ShimmerBodyCream - Same thing with my friends the hookers. They loved sex and they love money. It isn't always what's said upfront. Get to know people and see what is beneath the surface. You'll find some of the loneliest people you've ever seen. After awhile I heard the hookers talking hate toward all men.
@ShimmerBodyCream - I need to add a bit to my comment, I was using my phone and I hate the Xanga app, because on my phone it doesn't scroll well.
I do not advocate trying to force people to try to change. I don't advocate shaming people. What I am talking about is diving into their lives through relationship, and not simply accepting what is said. I'm talking about watching what people do, and letting them show you who they really are. It takes time, and it takes building trust. When you get past the facade of what sexually broken people say, and they let you into see who they really are you're gonna see some serious hurt, loneliness, and massive dysfunction. And when you let people simply be hurt, lonely, and massively dysfunctional, without judging them then you may be able to bring them hope they can be understood. You may also help them find the voice that they've silence, because they believed no one would care, and no one would believe them. Drawing people to freedom isn't about attempting to manipulate or strong arm people to do what you want. Drawing people to freedom is all about offering real selfless love, real hope, and real relationship. If they don't want what comes with relationship then let them be whatever they are. If they don't want to admit they're drowning, then let them be.
@Such_are_you - The devil keeps us from getting into relationship with God through Christ in the first place, but then once we're there, he twists and contorts our understanding of God and our relationship to God through his lies, so we don't understand the privileges and pleasures and power that are available to us as children of God.
You wrote:
I'm not out to beat or shame the Church, I'm out to see the Church obey, so relationship with God can be restored. That has always been God's goal. At least that is the goal God has showed me.
Lonnie, I continue to thank God and rejoice that He has given you such a passion for Christ and His Church, and a love for Him and His Church (much like Paul's grief and anguish for his fellow Jews in Romans 9, or like Paul's godly jealousy for Christ' bride in II Cor. 11), that you would do or give anything to see her living as God intends! Though God's been leading us both in very different ways, I share that same aching desire for the Church to be renewed and revived again... "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live."
Remember that no matter what you may see, your labor in Christ is NEVER in vain. Psalm 126, Galatians 6:9.