November 21, 2006
Spinning
I recently met a lady who needed a listening ear. In a nut shell, her 18 year-old grandson has had a hard life and she’s trying to compensate for the lack of nurturing he’s received from other family members. The grandson lies, “But he knows that I know, so it’s not like he’s getting away with anything.” Deliberately leaving a window unlocked, he snuck back into the house and took money out of her cookie jar, “But it was only $12.00 so it’s not like it’s a really large amount of money.” Grandma was spinning the situation trying to make it understandable, excusable and in a strange way, acceptable. The church is not immune from spinning as Paul reminds us, “I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.” (Col 2:4 NIV)
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Gail;
----Coddle is never the answer. Our culture uses the Word like a stand-up comic uses one liners, "Spare the rod and spoil the child . Guffaw. Guffaw. Guffaw." Ha. The coddled child now has a vote and wants his welfare, Daddy. Or is that a gun, and your wallet? Oh well, you get the drift. Coddle always produces crude.
----Why should it be so different with churches? Why are we supposed to believe that church leaders are so soapy-faced, starchy-shirt clean in holines and spiritual plentitude, that there are to be no questions please, and no criticism, &#!%-it!
----In a meeting with some elders last summer regarding much Biblical criticism I publicly made of their leading (after six years of privately appraoching them produced no sincere discussion), the head elder protested, "Is it the church's responsibility to oversee the eldership, or is the eldership's responsibility to oversee the church?"
----I answered, "It's the Bible's responsibility."
----He continued, "But the elders have been given a responsibility to take care of it here."
----And so all of the good people are to sit quietly in their pews, Bibles closed, while imperfect people introduce imperfect practices into the church, just because there are elders? (And what human is not imperfect, therefore what elder?) The clergy/laity mentality is such a handle for Satan to hold!
----No! The Word of God stands whether man stands on it or falls under it. It remains true! And the man who orders his life according to the Word of God, in as much as he does it, has eyes to see from what God then builds into his experience. That man has a message for the church (more or less useful) whether the church is populated by elders or not, if indeed the Lord has built a message into his heart.
----The resulting attack upon me by the elders was so vociferous that they sent a letter to all of the church members portraying me to be a liar, a brewer of discension, and acting from an ambition to destroy the church. But they did not attempt to demonstrate the falsehood of a word that I said, nor the applicability of the Scriptures that I based my message upon, nor the reality of the events and circumstances to which those Scriptures were applied. They could not because the message was written with as scrupulous attention to the truth of the Word and the matters at hand as my imperfection could allow.
----I expected what I had to say to be received with humble self-examination, not with heated denial based on the rule of the elders. I now regret that I chose the delivery of the message that I did. But I do not regret the delivering of the message. The church needed to hear where it was being led out of step with the Word, and it still needs to hear.
----But don't they all. It has gotten into our heads that the church is some sort of banding together of Christian people to attack the World and save the lost. And that it is run by some authority structure that actually is given control by Christ. It is forgotten what "least of all" means. It is forgotten that the church is not an army with military ranks. The church is us. It is our gathering together for fellowship, support, comfort, encouragement, upbuilding of one another, worshipping of the Lord, and displaying forth to the World the Gospel in living action. And more. Why could it not use some careful and loving admonishment? Aren't we all still imperfect in action yet washed clean by grace? Aren't we all the church?
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