Wisdom from a dear friend: The Church is not a political party

As I was watching the Democratic National Convention, one of my dearest friends in the entire world sent me an e-mail and asked for feedback.  I had none to add.  This is exactly what I've been struggling for 2 years to articulate.  It only took him a couple of hours. Thank you, Lord for the beauty of your love, and the reminder to not lose our focus.

The Church is not a Political Party

Conservatives say the only way to prove you’re a Christian is to adhere to absolute standards of non-changing morality…after all, we are supposed to love God by following His commands. Liberals feel that you show love by helping those in need, despite the reason, and even if it means taking money from those that have worked for it…after all, we are supposed to love God by feeding the hungry and clothing the naked right? And in our shared pig-headedness, we often leave no room for compromise, you are either for us or you are dead wrong. After all, things are either good or bad absolutely, they cannot "just be."

And in that stubbornness, we find ourselves living in a deeply divided nation. A nation full of hurt and pain, with an increasingly greater sense of foreboding as we move forward. The Church finds itself at a crossroads. How do you share the life changing power that is the Love of Jesus Christ in a world that, often, offers little in the way of life-change and love. How can you stay relevant, impacting those in the greatest need, while not straying from the truths and commands of a loving savior that is to be our Lord?

I do not believe we face new problems, after all, there is nothing new under the sun. But I do feel that we face ancient problems altered by modern technology. As culture moves from a technical age to a social age, so too do our problems. Struggles with sexuality, with addiction, with hate and other vices are no longer secrets to be held tightly inside a family, but they are shared with twitter followers, YouTube viewers and Facebook friends of friends. Society doesn't hide behind veils of insecurity, but, too often, its sins are flaunted and the church finds itself faced with the humanization of sin. We are forced to face the truth, that when we say "all have fallen short of God's glorious standard for our lives" and "the wages of sin is death," those truths condemn many of our friends (however real or virtual) to an eternity of separation from anything that is good. And, while we should not dispute God's authority in judgment, we must understand the finality of our words when we share these painful truths. Sin now has a face, and too often, that face looks much like our own.

With this realization, we must understand that it is not the church's place to pass judgment, indeed, the Bible says that "all people are mine to judge," mine mean's God, it does not mean us. We do well to keep the finality of judgment in God's hands, lest we be judged by our own standards. In all things, we must first act with humility, understanding that we are as sinful and as in need of grace as the worst sinner among us. The consequences of our own sin is death, so let us first remove the log from our own eye, then, in love, share the truth with others, guiding them not just out of death, but also, into the life giving freedom that we share in Christ Jesus. Encourage change and service out of love, not out of fear.

And as we operate in this freedom, this gift of salvation from eternal separation, we must also face the truth that there is great suffering in the world. It is a suffering that the modern church has, in many cases, found it convenient to allow the government to solve, and complain when the government attempts to do it in a way that does not suit our way of life.

Some of today's churches are experts at building larger buildings, integrating the newest in sound, lighting and production equipment, going electronic, social and viral. We build monuments to our god's of technology and inclusion forgetting the simple, powerful truth that is Jesus. We have become experts in reaching thousands of people, tickling their ears and entertaining their minds and ignoring the basest call of Christ…to love God and love others as ourselves. Mega-churches offer seas of believers a modern, slick message of Jesus-lite and God.net, but fail to radically change the world by changing lives. Service can be accomplished for the low cost of just 10% of your income, and while tithing is great, our money is not what God asks for or needs. What God asks for, what He demands, is everything that we are, a complete surrender to His will and His use. We are called to name Him Lord of our Lives and cede all that we hold dear to the one that holds us dear above all things.

What if church were truly, not a building, not an organization...what if it wasn't even a noun, but a verb? What if, instead of a building fund, we focused on using the resources God has blessed us with individually to feed the hungry, heal the sick and cloth the naked? What if being the church meant living life together like it meant in the church of Acts. What if the next time we have a fellowship dinner or church meet and greet we, instead, we open our homes to the homeless and worship the Lord by serving others?

Church, it is time to return to God's glorious standard for our life, for our church's life. We find it easy to attempt to change the world through politics when we should be changing politics through loving the world with the love of Jesus Christ. It is time to move beyond centers of mere moral teaching, and to change lives through action. The example began with Christ, He did not merely preach truth, He lived truth. He fed the hungry, healed the sick and changed the world, not through morality but through love. He showed morality by living it and let his life serve as an example of how we should exist. Instead of arguing about politics, morality and religion, let's be the hands and feet of Christ in tangible ways. Instead of complaining when the "government takes from the rich and gives to the poor," invite the poor into our houses and make a difference. In humility consider others as better than ourselves and be different. Be tangible, be real and be Christ!