Monday, February 02, 2009

COMPARATIVE CHURCHES

Independence is a valued commodity. July 4th means a lot to Americans. This present era highly esteems independent thinking. Everywhere from Oprah to the Pope to Scientology to the Church to the coffee shop, independent thinking regarding the God-trail is discussed. I raise the question, Are common people concluding God based on His revelation or are we reaching spiritual formation via comparison and strong preferences?

The push-n-shove of religious opinions evidently will never die. Each group (including my own) is in danger of reaching shifting-sand based conclusions do to reactions to others rather than integretive research of the One. Does God have a chance among His own Creation? Or will we be tossed about by every wind of doctrine as we choose the hot-button religion of the moment's mood?

The word disciple (mathetes in the Greek) means a learner. William Barclay wrote, One of the greatest threats to real Christian life is what might be called static Christianity. Christianity is a process; not a system where one(s) establish their twelve best doctrines and spend the rest of their time on earth pushing and shoving others to buy into their preferences.

A disciple is a learner. It might do the church a lot of good if we preachers and teachers of long tenure would toss our yellowed and dog-eared notes in the trash and resolve to once again be learners. The truth is the church is, in some parts, possibly being held back because we do more demanding and defending than we do learning.

The riches of Christ are too awesome for any Christian to bail on the learning process. Guarding the flock has developed into Barney Fife-ing it. Anxious to blow the whistle at any scent of foul, those hungering for the Word find great struggle as church decrees are handed down as to what "we" are to believe.

I applaud all who are still learners. I do caution that truth is not necessarily what we like best or what seems most popular. Truth is based on the writings of God and only the learners will discover the freeing treasure hidden from all others.

2 comments:

Lee Wills said...

Your reference to 'yellowed and dog-eared' notes reminded me of an adjustment I made a while back in my own study of Scripture. Several years ago you mentioned in a talk that you did not keep your sermon outlines. Your reasoning was that you wanted your study of Scripture to always be 'fresh and new'...you wanted to be open to where the Spirit was leading and directing right then. Terry, that attitude toward studying and understanding Scripture has led me to depths of Bible study that I would have never obtained had I remained content with all of my old notes. Thank you...

Anonymous said...

Thank you for a great post Mr. Rush. Would you mind please providing your experience / perspective on something (and anyone else that has advice for that matter)?

Regarding [rather Pharisaical] detractors within one's congregation...those that are convinced of their rightness and your wrongness, and make it known, and somewhat antagonize you, proactively seeking to diminish you...what is an appropriate way to handle / respond?

On the one hand, it seems rude and impersonal to simply ignore such folks. Yet, engaging them is most often fruitless, and only leads to endless controversy. And "agreeing to disagree" is rather trite, and often does not achieve the intended purpose anyway.

Still, one feels the need to defend oneself at times, though must be guided by love and God's call in our own lives.

While I know that adhering to God's principles will prevail, in one-on-one interactions, an appropriate response to such folks is sometimes difficult to muster. Please, some thoughts?