Ever been hurt in the church. No surprise there, right? If you've been in church any length of time, you've probably been hurt. The church only has one problem - it's full of people! Worse still, one of them is me.
I often explain to my clients how church is like any other organisation. People have faults, and hurt each other. Sometimes on purpose, but usually by mistake. Paul was talking with someone last week who had joined a medieval re-enactment club. He loved it because he felt accepted. Even though people were from all different walks of life, with different opinions, they all shared the loved of all things medieval, and that held them happily and co-operatively together. That what church should be like. All different, but getting along because of the common bond of Christ.
The irony is that the mere fact that we are Christian is because we realise we are not perfect. That's why we need a saviour in Jesus Christ, who is the only perfect one. Middle Eastern cultures also believe only God is perfect. When Persian rugs were made, they always had at least one deliberate mistake in the pattern, because only Alla is perfect.
For some strange reason, however, when we get into the church, we start pretending we are now perfect, set unrealistic standards for ourselves and others, and expect everyone else to be perfect too. Ofcourse, perfect to our own way of thinking. Everyone has a different idea of what perfect might look like, hence another reason for conflict.
To increase the pressure for perfection, somehow, we've managed to communicate to the community that we're perfect. They also have that expectation. You know how excited the media becomes when a preacher falls from grace, especially with financial or sexual sin. They gloat and mock at our lack of perfection.
One of the challenges we face in the church is exchanging the truth for a lie. The truth is we are way less than perfect. The bible repeatedly tells us so. We are sinners, we have fallen short, our hearts are desperately wicked, our righteousness is like filthy rags - need I go on! God knows we're not perfect, but still we try to impress Him and others with our version of perfect.
The lie is that we think we can achieve perfection in this life. We can't. But we never let the truth get in the way of a limiting belief, that essentially we can be like God -perfect. Now,where have we heard that before? That's right. That's how Lucifer fell and became Satan. We don't like to hear this, but when we think we can be perfect, or pretend to be perfect, we think we can be like God. That is a recipe for disaster.
We are constantly surprised when we are hurt in church, but we shouldn't be. We're in the company of fallen sinners. What did we expect! The church is not perfect, but it is a place where can learn to give and receive grace and forgiveness. As my friend shared at our "How People Grow" group, everyone is entitled to a silly five minutes. People have bad days and say and do unkind things. It's just life. But God is giving us the opportunity to grow, to learn to forgive and accept people, imperfections and all. It's not our job to give people what we think they deserve. Imagine if God gave us what we deserve!
The bible tells us others will know we are Christians by our love, not by our perfection. Love is where we know each others faults and mistakes, but love and accept them any way. That's where we should be different.
No comments:
Post a Comment