There’s something shallow about them

Eighteen year-old Year Twelve student Charlie was very curious to know what it was that I believed as a Christian.  He told me he had lots of mates around his own age who were born again Christians and they regularly took him to a large church that held charismatic meetings.  He said he saw something in them that suggested Christ was real and present today, but, “there’s something shallow about them as well.”  Charlie did not share that to be critical or to put a smokescreen around himself, he was simply sharing his experiences as an outsider looking in.

A young lady of similar age visited this same church and came away with a similar view.  The church she had regularly been attending was developing into a house of biblical compromise and the fruits of that quickly showed up in the behaviour of people who earlier had been a positive influence upon her.  So she and her friends went off to this place.  The first time they walked in they were greeted with, “Hi.  Good to see you.  What’s your name?”  They found the welcome rather refreshing given the problems back at their own church.  The invitation to join them after the service for coffee and activities all sounded rather appealing too.  

The welcome became less refreshing on their second visit the following week however, because when they walked in they were met by a couple of the same people.  Again they heard, “Hi.  Good to see you.  What’s your name?”  This experience, coupled with those back at their own church began to take on a negative effect in each of them.  What appeared to sit deep within leaders and peers turned out to be shallow at best.  A few months later a new church started in the area – one with a fresh and appealing vision.  The young lady went there with her parents.  Whatever vision God might have given the leadership, it did not come to pass – for the same reasons.   

A middle aged non-practicing Roman Catholic lady was not all that impressed with my claims to Christianity when I called at her door either.  She was most skeptical.  She had recently been invited to a charismatic church service and was, “horrified to see people falling down everywhere.”  Even more horrified was she at being sucked in by her friend’s nephew who wanted her to come to the church gathering and witness God miraculously remove tattoos from his body.  No such miracle took place, but what left a lasting impression upon her was the people at that meeting, including the leadership – “shallow and gullible,” she said.

My wife and I went to the country for a weekend break.  On the Sunday we attended a church service and the minister’s sermon was on the importance of developing relationships.  Of the few in attendance I saw two or three men and women nodding their heads in apparent agreement with what he was saying.  At some point, as Christians, God will put our beliefs to the test – especially when made publicly.  He did so that day and what quickly showed up was that none of them believed a word they were hearing.  As for the minister, he didn’t believe a word he was saying.

Before the service finished he invited everyone to stay for coffee and a chat afterwards.  So my wife and I did so.  As we waited we observed a lot of busyness going on.  One man went about collecting hymn books and another one stacked them very neatly on the shelf.  What might have normally taken a couple of minutes seemed to take forever.  At times, both were less than six feet away from us, but it was as though we were invisible.  A couple of ladies were ever so busy in the kitchen putting out cups and a plate of cakes and biscuits.  So busy were they in this activity, one would have thought they were setting up for two hundred people rather than less than twenty. 

Some people nodded as they went home, others stood in groups of two or three in the sanctuary and the minister himself was nowhere to be seen.  It appeared that these people were well rehearsed at going out of their way to do anything to avoid developing relationships.  There were no young people in that fellowship either, which is never a good sign in any gathering.  Even though that church failed God’s test, they would have been horrified if told so.  The coffee and biscuits looked nice but it got a little embarrassing as we waited around so we decided to leave.

So, in answer to Charlie’s question, what is it that I believe as a Christian?  My comprehensive answer can be studied in What I Believe above.  But here’s what else I believe.  People join churches for all sorts of reasons.  Not necessarily have they joined because they are searching for truth and a better way of living.  Many young people, just like many old people join to fulfill a need to belong, to become part of a communal group.  As members they enjoy their involvement in the blessings of participating in the singing and community service.  They also enjoy the pastor’s sermons and teaching.  But all too often, that’s where it stops.

In other words, it is not really the spiritual that’s the attraction, it is the social.  If in fact that is where it stops, then they become what the Bible calls hearers of the word of God, not doers.  But it is not hard to give the impression that one is a doer.  All one has to do is look the part, smile the part, speak the part and most people think you are the part.  This truth applies to leaders, bishops, elders, pastors, and deacons (although perhaps for slightly different reasons, IE position, power, control, the need to be needed), every bit as much as it applies to ordinary members of the group.

I also believe that Christians are not spiritual clones.  Authentic biblical Christianity is not a cult.  Which means, there are many sincere, diligent, enthusiastic doers of God’s word, again both young and old, but we are not all at the same place in our maturity and understanding.  That means any one of us can and will, at any point, speak and act in such ways which others could interpret as shallow.  But one of the reasons the gospel of Christ is called good news is; those of us who are living for and trusting in Him know we are no longer under God’s condemnation. 

That means we are no longer under God’s judgement, which now also means we are no longer under anybody else’s judgement.  The Bible is self-correcting.  As we yield to the Holy Spirit and embrace His teaching within its pages, we are continually growing in the grace of God, regardless of how it may appear to anybody else inside, or outside the church.  One of the snares God wants to liberate His people from is the fear of man Proverbs 29:25.  In other words, God wants to deliver us from our reactions to the thoughts and opinions that others have about us as they judge, analyse and categorise us.  But until God personally reveals this truth, one works very hard at seeking other’s approval.    

Once again, this truth applies to leaders.  I believe if more leaders would allow God to deliver them from the fear of man, they would then be free to teach it and their hearers would be free to embrace it.  Each one of us is a product of someone else’s influence whether we believe that or not.  But we can thank the Lord because He said He will build His church regardless of hell seeking to come against it and whether our critics like it or not, Jesus is conforming each one of us to His image.  But Jesus is not a cult leader either.  That is why I say we are all at different places in our maturity and understanding of what He has for us.

Church labels such as “charismatic” are not the issue.  People “falling down everywhere” is not the issue either.  Both are biblical and can be evidences of the Holy Spirit ministering in the midst.  But for someone to say God was going to remove tattoos, when in fact they did not get removed, is evidence that the Holy Spirit did not reveal that to the lady’s nephew.  Hearers and doers of God’s word live side by side in any church.  My prayer is that everyone of us, regardless of where we are in Christ, continue to move from hearing to doing.  That challenge will always with us until the Day of Christ.  “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”  James 1:22.  ”  As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him…….”  Colossians 2:6.