The Embattled Church

I can’t help but hurt today as I look around social media, my local news and our world in general. So many threads hanging bare.  Stories of war, murder, personal vices.  Stories of poverty, injustice, slavery. And there in the midst of it all, there is a warped view of Christ and His church. 

This idea that God is a demeaning, justice only deity who looks for the opportunity to oppress and enslave. It sickens me. I recently had the opportunity to hear Jo Saxton speak. She said,

“Free people free people.”  

I stood in my living room today wondering, 

“Do people really see the life of a Christ follower as bondage?”  

If any, this is the kind of bondage I am willing to be in - that of following Christ through the leading of the Holy Spirit into the very kingdom of Almighty God. 

 Free (adjective) people free (verb) people.  

One not under the control of the sin nature has the power and opportunity to release another from the captivity that is sin and sinful living.  It is for being out from under the demands and consequences of sin that Christ removed my shackles to sin.

Freedom!

When we take our freedoms and we remove our convictions, we put back on the shackles of sin. Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church was very plain, “You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.” (1 Corinthians 6:12 NLT)  People aren’t truly free unless they are living in Christ.  That means taking Him at His Word, not placing our thoughts, ideas or convictions into Scripture to make it our own.  It means leaving behind our preconceived notions, our holier than thou attitudes, our refusal to see past our present circumstances and looking toward The Holy Spirit to move in us, through us and among us. 

As Christ-followers we need accountability, community and mission.  We need to battle back to back not face to face. We are slaying the very Bride of Christ when we do battle with one another and who are we to think He will allow that?!  We need to remain vulnerable to one another for the sake of the Gospel. When we argue and bicker over convictions or gifts or freedom in Christ, we turn with open backs to the world and allow repeated influence and attack from the enemy.  When we battle back to back, we can encourage, draw strength from and be reconciled to one another.

Church, let’s be clear, The Bible is God’s Word.  It is living and active. It contains what we need to be reconciled to Christ and one another.  Its demands are freeing.  Its commands are clear.  

Our God is Love.

Grace flows freely.  That doesn’t mean be passive in dealing with sin.  It means deal with sin in such a way the person(s) seeing God as He truly is - compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. (Psalm 103:8 NLT)