Scripture text: Matthew 21:23-32
As I’m sure many of you are aware, there is a great crisis in the Church. More and more young people, what is referred to as the Millennial Generation, are having less and less to do with the life of the Church. So everyone’s panicking, recognizing that if we don’t do something about this, there won’t be a church in a generation (or more specifically, there won’t be “my church” in a generation.)
I read one of many many articles on this topic this week, although this one was a bit different. This one was actually written by a young person, by a Millennial. Wow, you’d think that’d be the first thing these church scholars would do, talk to actual people, but then panic and logic don’t often go hand-in-hand.
One of the things that I came away with from this article is that one of the biggest problems in the Church today is that we are not honest, with ourselves and with the world around us. We say we are about God. We say we are about Jesus. We say we are about the things that truly matter. But we’re not. We’re not.
God has given us an immense gift in the form of his story, his Scriptures. The tale of his relationship with this world as revealed to the ancient Hebrews and through Christ himself. We call it the Bible and most every Christian claims that they believe the Bible. Except when we don’t. Except when the Bible tells us something we don’t want to hear. When the Bible tells us something that contradicts our long held opinions about life, people, politics, economics, or pretty much anything. And then we quietly discard the teachings of our faith and go on and do whatever the heck we were going to do anyway. We quietly ignore what Jesus said and go on believing whatever we want instead.
This is not a new thing. Our Gospel lesson from Matthew deals with the very same sort of dynamic. God comes to the people in the form of Jesus and tells them all about the truth of who God is and the Pharisees keep on doing the same things they’ve always done while the tax collectors and prostitutes listen. If we read this story and don’t realize it’s about us and we’re the Pharisees of today, then we’re not reading it right. Like them, we make the faith to be about what WE WANT, not what GOD WANTS.
And what is it that we want? Well, the modern American church generally manifests one of two ways. The first way is that we spend all of our energy on heaven. It’s all about getting to heaven. Everything and I do mean everything the church does is focused on making sure that every single person has that Golden Ticket to get past the pearly gates. So much so that they try to convert everybody all the time.
Side note: Please don't ever do this to your restaurant servers.
When I was a teenager, I dabbled in this sort of Christianity. I got real tired of hearing at every worship service how I needed to be saved. I went up for the altar call three weeks ago and you’re still telling me I need to accept Jesus into my heart. Did it not take last time? Was my baptism not good enough and it needs to be done again?
I already am a Christian. When are you going to stop telling me I need to become one? When are you going to do something to nurture me in that faith instead of demanding that I convert just one more time.
This sort of church doesn’t take God at his word. Jesus came. Jesus died. Jesus rose again. It’s done. He said from the cross “It is finished!” and it's like no one believed him. He took care of it all, our sins forgiven, our lives redeemed, our salvation secured, and no one seems to realize it. We got to do it all over again and again and again. Substituting our fear instead of faith in God’s promise.
That’s one kind of church. There’s another and it’s the exact opposite on the spectrum. Instead of worrying about the hereafter, they worry about the here and now. Trust in God and he will shower you with blessings. Just believe hard enough and you’ll be happy and rich and beautiful and popular.
This sort of church turns God into a means to an end. It’s about not him, it’s about what I can get him to give me. I want a Ferrari. If I’m a good little Christian and go to church every Sunday and tithe my 10% and obey all the rules, God’ll give me one. God as cosmic Santa Claus, doling out gifts to all the good little Christian boys and girls.
These two versions of Christianity, which are both exceedingly popular in these days, do have one thing in common. It’s all about us. It’s all about me. It’s all about you. It’s what WE WANT instead of what GOD WANTS.
That hypocrisy does not go unnoticed by the people who are outside the four walls of our churches. We wonder why they run for the hills? They know we lie. We lie to them and we lie to ourselves. We say we believe the Bible and we don’t.
We waste our time on things that God really doesn’t care about. Homosexuality, marriage, abortion, procreation, abstinence. Dear God, why is so much of it about sex? The Scriptures don’t even talk that much about sex. A verse here and there, scattered amidst stories and teachings that are often far more important.
Or in some cases not. Try this on for size. There are seven verses that talk about the gays, scattered across three books of the Bible. The rules on how to build the Ark of the Covenant took 12 verses, over 50% more, and I don’t see hundreds of Christian organizations and thousands of churches worried about ark building. We make it all about us and we want to be important. Not what God does. Our opinions, our desires, trump his and that should not be.
Do you want to know what God thinks is important? Page after page. Verse after verse. He tells his people “Go and take care of others.” Jesus himself, in his first sermon, declared his mission to be thus.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Over the whole of the Bible there are over 2,000 such verses. Take care of others. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Give voice to the voiceless. Visit the imprisoned. Care for the sick. Give shelter to the homeless. Protect the weak. Over two thousand times God tells us this is what he wants.
The prostitutes and the tax collectors realized that and the Pharisees didn’t. When are we?
Do we want to see the church grow again? Do we want to see Christianity thrive in these times? The solution is easy. Excise the phrase “Not my problem” from our vocabulary. People homeless in our streets. Not my problem. The Bible says it is. The elderly go without medicine because they can’t afford it. Not my problem. The Bible says it is. People being abused and discriminated against? People without enough food to eat? People being wrongfully imprisoned? Not my problem? Oh, yes it is. We are called to do something about it.
In Genesis, in the story of Cain and Abel, Cain murders his brother in a fit of jealousy and rage. God comes calling, says to Cain “Where is your brother?” Cain responds with a question. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God doesn’t answer his question in that story. Instead, he spends the rest of the Bible, page after page, verse after verse, telling us the answer is a resounding “Yes.” We ARE our brothers’ keepers.
And we are free to be that because of Jesus. As I said, he came. He died. He rose again. It is finished. He took care of the whole sin thing. He took care of the whole salvation thing. That’s covered. It’s done. You’ve got your Golden TIcket into heaven and if you don’t have it on you, it’s waiting at the gate for you. We don’t need to worry about that. We’re free. Jesus took care of us.
And he took care of us so that we can turn around and start taking care of others. It’s what the Church is supposed to be. It’s what we’ve forgotten or refused to learn. If we want others to join us in these pews, young, old, or whatever, then we need to stop lying, start believing, and start serving. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment