On Wednesday nights we are studying how the beliefs of
denominations compare to the biblical teachings of the first century
church this morning we looked at the biblical characteristics of
Christian. Now we are going to look at the three most common
archetypes of churches found in the world today.
Imagine for a moment you are a weary traveler with a
wagon load of baggage, you are trekking through a desert, and you are
running low on food and water. Now imagine as you top a rise late at
night you see the sky lit up in a way that tells you there are three
cities in the distance. Then you come to a crossroads, from there roads
run out toward all the cities. The city to your right has a road which
appears rutted and worn in a state of mild disrepair. The city lights
up the sky and clearly has high walls, the gates stand shut and guards
roam the walls. Say for a moment you were to choose this city and brave
the troubles of the unmaintained road. The city seeing you coming fires
warning arrows to keep you away. Clearly you are not coming back to
this city.
Back to the crossroads, bear with me the metaphor has
three parts, the town that is ahead of you has a well-maintained road.
The city lights up the sky and clearly has walls this gate is open.
Should you choose this road, when you arrive in town you find no rest
for the animals that pull your wagon, and just the bear minimum of the
supplies you need to get to the next town. Would you come back?
One final time back to the crossroads, the town on
your left has a well-maintained road, this town not only lights up the
sky, but the countryside around it, there are no walls, there are
lanterns that light up the roads in all directions for some distance.
Should you decide to follow this road as you approach the city, men come
out to help you with your animals, you are given, not a room in an inn
but a home to use however long you are in town, and when you move on you
are provided with all that can be spared to aid you in your travels.
Would you come back? Would you leave?
You might have guessed our scripture is Matthew
5:14-16
“You are the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp
and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all
who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may
see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Now, back to the metaphor, as you might have guessed
the three cities represent churches and, on the surface, all three are
following scripture. I mean, all three of these cities are upon hills,
and all three are very visible from a great distance and all three
cities light up the heavens. And as I will show in a moment all three
cities have good reasons for the way they behave. As do the churches
that behave like these cities. Obviously, only one of the cities will
get returning travelers, and new citizens. While it is not so cut and
dry for churches. In my studies only one of the archetypes I am using
is following ALL the scriptures.
The first archetype is a city acting as if it is
under siege. Doing their all to shine light upward but shutting
themselves away from the world at all cost. I have attended a few of
these through the years. They are very insular, very set in their ways
and typically make visitors feel like outsiders. They are very fond of
scriptures such as:
John 15:19 –
If you were of the world, the world would love its own.
Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world,
therefore the world hates you.
John 17:14-16 –
I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them
because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do
not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should
keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am
not of the world.
And Romans 12:2 –
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God.
All of which are good scriptures but when taken out
of context or focused on to exclusivity of other scriptures in can lead
to a very insular, overprotective attitude in a Christian or a church.
Here are two of my least favorite scriptures used by
this kind of church:
1 Corinthians 5:11 –
But now I have written to you not to keep company with
anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an
idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat
with such a person.
And 1 Corinthians 15:33 –
Do not be deceived, “Evil company corrupts good morals.”
The problem is both are used SO out of context.
These verses and others like them are used to say that as Christians we
should cut ourselves off from sinners. The problem is that these verses
are not directed to our relationship with SINNERS, but with our
relationship to “brothers,” to other Christians who are engaged in
KNOWING sin.
The misuse of these verses and others lead these
churches to overlook important verses about the behavior of churches and
Christians. Primarily Mark 2:17, and Matthew 28:19.
Mark 2:17 says:
When Jesus
heard it, He said to them, “Those
who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did
not come to call the righteous, but sinners,
to
repentance.”
And Matthew 28:19 says:
Go
therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
These verses clearly tell us that walling ourselves
from the world is wrong. The Church cannot wall itself off from the
world and run from the hostile actions of the world. Because we are
called to minister to the sinners of this world.
The other thing that has driven this city and these
churches to such cut themselves off from the world so much is simply
fear. Church shootings, terrorism, persecution, Corona, and other
forces have caused many churches to stop their local outreach, lock
their doors, even to run background checks on their members. So many
churches and Christians forget
2 Timothy 1:7 –
For God has
not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound
mind.
Before we spend too much time on what was wrong with city
one lets move on to city two and when we get to city three the problems
with the other two will be more than apparent.
Now, the second archetype may seem remarkably like the
first, but the differences are dramatic, and in many ways, this
archetype is worse. The outside world can understand FEAR, that is
usually why they come to us after all. What they cannot understand is
hypocrisy. You see this city also lit up the sky, and while it brought
the traveler in, once inside made the traveler feel unwelcome, unwanted,
and sent the traveler on its way with a minimum of supplies.
Remember going through puberty back in high school, the
jokes about yodeling, lack of or excessive body hair, being to short or
tall, I do not know what girls are teased about, sorry, I was a boy. I
have also attended one or two of these churches, they make you feel like
that again. These churches are also very fond of verses like
Romans 12:2.
And do not
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.
They are also very fond of verses like:
Galatians 6:1 –
Brethren,
if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual
restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest
you also be tempted.
1 Timothy
5:20 –
Those who
are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.
And by
focusing on reproof and correction they misuse 2 Timothy 3:16 –
All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness,
Now I want
to point out that Bobby’s favorite verse is not a bad verse but when
used out of CONTEXT its meaning can be shifted and misused. As you can
see all these verses have one thing in common, they are about rebuking
one another. This archetype misuses these scriptures by applying them
not only to other Christians (which is what the scriptures actually say)
they also apply them to the all the sinners of the world.
This story
sounds a little off topic, but I promise it has a prime example of a
person who exemplifies this kind of Christian. There is an old song by
Ray Stevens, The Mississippi Squirrel Revival, if you know the song you
know that it is about the day a young boy takes a pet squirrel to church
and gets loose and hilarity ensues. That is not the point me bringing
it up. The point is there is a character in the song, Miss Bertha
Better-Than-You. Her the name tells you all you need to know about this
kind of Christian. They see sin all around them, and since they are so
sure they are going to heaven, so they are going to point out all the
reasons no one else is. The second archetype church is this way,
imagine a hundred, or more strangers who are all sure they are going to
heaven and you who are new, are not. These churches and Christians
forget that all scripture can be used for teaching and encouragement as
well as correction and criticism. If they looked at other verses, as
well, they would realize their mistakes. Here are a few examples of
verses that prove my point.
Romans 3:23
–
For all men
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans
14:10-13 –
But why do
you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother?
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of [a]Christ.
For it is written:
“As I
live, says the Lord,
every knee shall bow to Me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”
So, then each of us shall give
account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not judge one another
anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a
cause to fall in our brother’s way.
And let’s
not forget some of Christ’s words:
Matthew
7:1-5 –
“Judge
not, that you be not judged.
For with what
judgment you
judge, you will be judged; and
with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
And why do
you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the
plank in your own eye?
Or how can
you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and
look, a plank is in your own eye?
Hypocrite!
First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly
to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Before I
move on, to the third archetype I want to specify something, and it has
to do with these verses SPECIFICALLY. As Christians we are to do our
absolute best to live without sin. We are supposed to do our best to
exemplify Christ. ALL these scriptures that I have mentioned about
judgement and separating yourself from sinners ONLY applies from one
CHIRSTIAN to another. You see if they applied to the world, as a whole,
commands such as those in Mark 2:17, and Matthew 28:19 would directly
contradict the verses that command us to separate ourselves from
sinners.
Now, on to
the third and final archetype. This city not only lit the heavens with
its light but put lights out just in case a traveler might come by, when
one did it went out to them, guided them in, made them feel at home, and
when the traveler moved on gave them all the things they might need.
This is the church as it is described in the New Testament.
The world
and most churches get caught up in a us vs. them mentality. Walls go up
and battle lines get drawn. We do not see that in our savior. As a
matter of a fact Christ went out of his way to spend time with sinners.
Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman, the woman in Luke 7:36-50, Christ went
to the sinners, he gave us the reason in his own words,
Mark 2:17 –
When Jesus
heard it, He said to them, “Those
who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did
not come to call the righteous, but sinners,
to repentance.”
We are called to be a city on a hill yes, but, one with
no walls. A church that WELCOMES sinners. Now, before you come up here
and run me out of town for teaching acceptance or liberalism in
doctrine, let me specify something. We should welcome sinners to
attend, to see us worship, to see us live as Christ, so that we can
teach them. We do not baptize someone who lives in intentional sin. To
be a Christian there are 5 steps; hear, believe, repent, confess,
baptism, and grow. HEAR is the first and with out it none of the rest
can happen. If we are to obey
Matthew 28:19 and
go into all the world making disciples of all nations.
We must be welcoming, and not only that we are to go out
into the world to bring in sinners, so we can educate them,
2 Timothy 3:16 tells us:
All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness,
(See this
time it is used correctly in context.) In the end, the choice to become
a Christian is left up to the unbeliever. If someone chooses to turn
their back on God or to become a member of the church, it must be their
choice not one we force upon them. It happens that we can not see the
Christian under the sin, but the Lord can. We can not sit in judgement
of the world we do not have the authority,
Matthew
28:18
And Jesus
came and spoke to them, saying, “All
authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
This morning, I am going to challenge you to help make
this church a welcoming guiding light in a dark world by living your
life as a Christian should. There are many ways to accomplish this
task. You be a part of the welcoming party to guide sinners in, by
inviting friends, neighbors, or even family to join us for worship.
Others can make sure that when visitors come, we make them feel at
home. Hopefully then they will decide to stay and become a part of the
family of God. And when and if a Christian leaves this church to move
on to something new, let’s give them all we can to encourage and brace
them until they find a new church to add their light to.
If this morning, you have need of the prayers of the
church or today is the day you have decided to take that critical step
and be baptized for the remission of your sins, please come forward as
we stand and sing.
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