Am I Religious?
September 8th, 2006 by Carl Thomas.Hear me out for a minute. I don€™t fit in. The problem is, I don€™t think I want to.
I did not grow up in church. I grew up heathen. I was lost in my sin and thought that God was ok with it. I knew that Jesus was the son of God who died for my sins on that cross. I knew that he rose from the dead. I knew that He was and is God. That seems to be enough these days, but it did not seem to be enough for God.
One day I encountered the living God. He absolutely invaded my life and knocked everything else off of the pedestal of my life. At that moment He became the pearl of great price Matthew 13:45-46 for which I traded everything else in my life for. That was it.
So I find myself today in a Christianity that seems to have had some other entryway than I went through and I wonder to myself if I missed something.
When I am around other Christians I would like to talk about Jesus. If I ever find myself in another men€™s meeting that looked no different than any other business networking event I will simply go home and play with my children. At least I would have done something with eternal value.
I believe that we should sin less tomorrow than we did today; and that should not happen by chance. That should be a primary focus. Love God hate the devil. One or the other is not enough.
I was recently accused of being weak and offendable because I said that a new believer should not be allowed to invite his lost friends to get onstage with him to lead Sunday morning worship. I could not believe that this was debatable. Is this the best the church has to offer? And if so, do I have to accept that?
Am I religious because when I go to a meeting of the called out ones I want people who have answered the call to be separate to lead the meeting? If someone is not close enough to Christ to realize that his lifestyle if filthy I don€™t think they should be in a place of ministry. Does that make me a Pharisee? I don€™t buy into the notion that all sins are the same. The thought that it doesn€™t make a difference if we simply thought about a sin or are currently in it without repentance is total nonsense to me. I think Jesus was making the point that we should strive to be more holy because none are perfect. Not that holiness is futile. Does that make me a works-centered humanist?
I ask these questions but I do not know that I care about the answers. I am on fire for Jesus. I know that my sin is a reproach to Him. I am going to continue to tell other believers that their sin is the same. I want to be around others who will tell the same to me.
I have no desire to be in a church that sets the bar so low that any unconverted person feels at home. Church meetings are supposed to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Not a place where convicted consciences are soothed with soft words of a false hope. From my perspective that€™s what lots of people are advocating. And I simply do not want to go along with it.
Maranatha!
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Carl, Keep preaching it!!!!!!!
One of the worst church fights I was ever a part of was when I refused to allow people I knew was living in willful sin to be on the platform. It jus goes to show you how low we will go to get a crowd or to get musicians who will play. And almost always you end up….well, you know!
whatever you do….KEEP THE FIRE BURNING!!!!!!!
Yes, I screamed!:))))
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Heh Carl,
Are you religious? You’ve probably seen my definition on my site: do you know all the right stuff to say and do, but the reality is lacking? I think you answered that in your third paragraph. No! You do not seem to be religious to me
I can only go on what you’ve said in your post, but I would agree with you that only those that are in relationship with Holy Spirit should be permitted to minister. I would applaud unsaved musicians getting together with saved musicians to play together, and I would expect opportunities to be discipled into the kingdom as a result. But I would draw the same line that you draw. How can someone who is not yet a worshipper help lead others in worship? What does being a musician have to do with it? It’s just potty isn’t it? Shall we invite an accomplished secular speaker to preach the gospel too?
I’ll echo David: keep the fire burning my friend.
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Carl,
For the first time in the world of blogs, I searched a blog directory for “christian” and a few links later I read your “Am I Religious?”. Now I realize I am not alone in my thoughts. Thank you for putting it out there. I have a simular background as you have stated. I no longer go to church because I have experienced so much of what you are speaking on. I love the Lord and I study His word and I don’t see the things it instructs us to do in building the Church. Too many personal agendas out there that confuse and hurt. We need a balance of grace/mercy and bare the thought…but DISIPLIINE! Though I am no longer an active member of a local church I still long to be amongst fellow believers. I find it very hard to become a card carrying member of an organization called “church”.
As a babe in Christ I was put into a position of leadership(worship). I was new, on fire, red hot and my enthusiasm was, I suppose, misguided to some(desperate hopefuls) and envied by others(pharisees). The problem was becoming a member of a dying church due to the things you spoke of -Sin- in the church. The members were falling away one by one until the governing body was in desperate need of willing bodies. Being so new in the faith and coming out of a co-dependant background, I thought it was my “duty” to do what was asked of me. In the process of the church’s continuation toward it’s final end, I had become haughty, the Word calls it “puffed up”. The Word does warn of such…you know. In the end I felt as if I had failed them, me, but most importantly, God.
Now, if this can happen as a result of one who is a believer, what will happen if the church allow non-believers into various positions?
God is seeking worshippers, who worship in spirit and truth. When He comes back will He find faith…will it be in “church”?
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Carl, I feel your pain. You are in my prayers.
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[...] I have still one problem with this whole “founding a new group” thing. These two Teenagers are very young. 15 and 18 to name it. But they seem to be very mature for their age. The 18 year old young man came to christ a couple of months ago and calls himself a former satan worshipper. God radically transformed his life and him. But they still are pretty young in age and as christians. To put them into a leading position now seems to be wrong in my eyes. But we have a yes in us, that that is okay with God. But we were told to lead this group together with them. So they will not be the only leaders. As I recently read Carls article “Am I religious?” I started thinking about these issues again. Maybe you readers can give us some good advice. [...]
Carl said “I have no desire to be in a church that sets the bar so low that any unconverted person feels at home. Church meetings are supposed to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Not a place where convicted consciences are soothed with soft words of a false hope.”
As I was praying this morning, I am asking the Lord to allow me to preach with a conviction I’ve never had before…not a conviction of “beliefs” Oh God led the conviction of the Holy Ghost b so strong people WILL be made so uncomfortable they will gladly repent!!!
NO MORE COMPROMISE!!!
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sorry to keep commenting….
Just for the record. as I pulled revivalblog up just now, the “Now Quote was this:
” The depth of a revival will be determined exactly by the depth of the spirit of repentance.”
Frank Bartleman
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Mark - I wonder this same thing about making people young in the Lord leaders. There is a place for them but it is not leading the congregation.
Karon - You make a good point as to why this is so.
Tom - The Kingdom of God is not like a multi-level marketing scheme (though plenty of them try to work their way in). Just because someone was first, it does not mean they are the head. John Winber joined the Vineyard once it already had a dozen churches or so. Yet it was clear to all that he was to lead. These young men might surely have a leadership position as far as evangelism is concerned but I doubt that God is going to give oversight responsibility to a teen who has no deep roots in the faith. Not saying it is impossible but the real test will be the fruit.
Karon - Go to church. Ruben’s model of church is more informal than Mark’s and probably a far cry from what David and I are used to but in there somewhere is a place for you. You will never find it in your living room, unless you open it to Ruben for a home church.
David - I am going to write on this a little more but Sunday is not for outreach. Outreach is for outreach. The Gospel must go forth!
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†The depth of a revival will be determined exactly by the depth of the spirit of repentance.â€
The bad thing is most churches don’t want either.
Lord send your fire and pruify!
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Karon - don\’t be deceived and let the devil fool you from going to chuch. We are told in [bible]Hebrews 10:25[/bible], \”Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day (of Jesus\’ Return) approaching.
That means go to church. If the church you were previously attending was \”dead and not very spiritual\” then ask the Lord to guide you to another church but don\’t stop going to church.
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I just read that Hebrews passage this morning, and I have to wonder how the Greek word for “encourage” actually translates or what other connotations it may have. Typically, members of a church want to encourage/uplift/make nice, but they tend to shy away from discipling and pointing out sin when they see it.
Paul also has a few things to say about mature believers taking positions of leadership, yet I can understand the leadership vacuum that some churches, especially small ones, can experience.
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The greek there is parakaleo. fwiw
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I got off my lazy rear and looked it up (parakleo)
beseech 43, comfort 23, exhort 21, desire 8, pray 6, intreat 3,
misc 4, vr besought 1; 109
1) to call to one’s side, call for, summon
2) to address, speak to, (call to, call upon), which may be done in
the way of exhortation, entreaty, comfort, instruction, etc.
2a) to admonish, exhort
2b) to beg, entreat, beseech
2b1) to strive to appease by entreaty
2c) to console, to encourage and strengthen by consolation, to
comfort
2c1) to receive consolation, be comforted
2d) to encourage, strengthen
2e) exhorting and comforting and encouraging
2f) to instruct, teach
[Sounds like there is more consolation/comfort to the word rather than discipling/teaching.]
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Marc,
Don’t let sound hermeneutics get in the way of an interpretation of Scripture.
Thanks for the follow up
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“to admonish, exhort, beg, entreat and beseech” sounds like good discipling and teaching to me?
ad‧mon‧ish
–verb (used with object)
1. to caution, advise, or counsel against something.
2. to reprove or scold, esp. in a mild and good-willed manner: The teacher admonished him about excessive noise.
3. to urge to a duty; remind: to admonish them about their obligations.
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