December 18, 2006
Purpose Driven Politics
The pastor of Kathy’s church in northern Colorado recently resigned. For two years he worked on transforming the conservative congregation into a contemporary church. Supported by the elders, the pastor made considerable changes even though some of the membership resisted a total make-over. In sharing her thoughts Kathy said, “Now that he’s gone we’re hearing that he left because the elders wouldn’t let him do what he wanted to do. I’m really surprised and I have to re-think what we’ve gone through. Maybe they [elders] really were holding him back and we just didn’t realize it.” It’s interesting to see how easily men weave politics into their Godly vision, mission and purpose for the church.
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Gail;
----Yes, it is interesting how men weave politics into their fellowship with God and the church. Of course, it is also interesting how the body can be attacked by its own immune system. When the immune system develops a particular hyperactivity, it will place markers on the body's own cells that cause other cells to destroy them. It is not that the immune system has failed to do its job of protecting the body, it has become over-active and has extended its responsibility into areas where it has no business.
----God gave the body its leaders to build it up and preserve it. The preservation part of that function was important enough for the Holy Spirit to directly express the need for obedience to the elders in Hebrews 13:17, and to intimate such obedience in several other Scriptures. But this authority was meant to operate within the pattern and the limits laid out in the whole Bible, not just Hebrews 13:17. It is like putting yeast in your bread to raise it, then putting salt in it to control the yeast. Just as the immune system can cause great damage when it swerves from the pattern laid out for it by unlimited hyperactivity, church leaders can also cause pitiful damage by becoming hyperactive beyond their limits. The final effect is much the same. Meaningful Christian symbols get tagged with marker terminology, then the leaders' followers begin the destruction process which Paul speaks against in Romans chapter 14. God bless the elders at Kathy's church for dowsing the flames of the hyperactivity there.
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