I Believe You But....

I Believe You But….

3/22/14

This is a phrase that many of us have heard over the years of our life.  Surprisingly this phrase is a popular one that is used from those within the religious circles that are spread across our globe and direct these words to those who are actually true examples of what the gospel has done within those who have not grown up in church.  I am amazed at how we the Church can honestly believe this phrase even exists and furthermore use it against those who have benefited from the true transformation from worldly standards.  This attitude towards those who are actively obeying the command of Jesus but who have not sat in pews should not be condemned but exalted as examples of what the gospel does for lives.  Remember what Jesus did in the Temple courtyard?  Maybe we should take a closer look at this inner sanctum philosophy that we have embraced and change some of our thinking methods.

Over the past few years I have heard of increasing amounts of stories that deal with this phrase and how it is being subjected onto those that some believe are not deemed worthy enough to proclaim truths concerning the gospel of God’s Word.  It utterly disturbs me that we Christians that have sat in pews all of our lives have the gall to proclaim that someone who is telling the truth through the Bible cannot be trusted because of what they have been through at some point in their lives.  On the other hand, this ideology does not surprise me by any means since this type of behavior was directly addressed by Jesus in a very unique manner and really should be driven home to our hearts as a lesson in religion that God absolutely rejects.

The other day I was listening to one of the Christian radio stations and one of the DJs that works there was telling about some of her past and how she had encountered many people who have wrongly rejected her ministry on the airwaves because of what she had done in her past.  At that time I really did not think too much more about the subject but kept the thought in my head because I completely understood what she was saying and how hurt she was because other Christians would not believe her words due to this past fact.  Today (3/22/14) I was listening to the same radio personality and she once again addressed this concern but this time she used another person’s testimony, from that person’s blog, about how people did not so much disagree with the words that God had given her but because of what she had chosen to do in her past, condemned her from those people believing what she was pointing out to them.

Now, I do not know if her words were spoken at a Bible study, small group, youth group, Wednesday night service or any other type of church setting.  However, I do know that if a person has received God into their lives it does not matter what that person has done because God can use anyone at any given time to advance His Kingdom.  For a while my father was involved in the local prison ministry and he made a profound statement that some people did not enjoy listening to.  He stated that some of those men who were in jail and that had turned their lives over to Christ were actually more free than those who had the luxury of attending church services every Sunday.  WHY would he say something like this?  It is because those men understood what it meant to be captive to their pasts and then to have everything erased with one true choice of salvation, thus their spiritual freedom from what had lured them into the criminal mannerism that brought them to that specific point in their lives.  And if the truth be told while dad was talking to some of these men he found out that a fair amount of them actually had some kind of church background and were not total strangers from the message of God.

As we read in Scripture, it says many times that Jesus was out among the people.  He had no fear of being with the prostitutes, tax collectors, drunkards and many other social and civil settings.  We also read about and get the feeling that His disciples were somewhat annoyed with this fact and contemplated on why Jesus would actually “hang around” this type of crowd.  It fascinates me that while the disciples were arguing amongst themselves about who was the greatest and at the same time wondering why Jesus chose to share His message with these people, that these concepts totally blinded them to the fact that Jesus had chosen the same type of “scum, losers, lowlifes, thieves of life” that He was ministering to on a daily basis.  If we take a closer and deep look at this setting we will find that the entire Church is acting EXACTLY as the disciples did and have voluntarily blinded our spiritual site due to our fallacies.  When a person who has been lucky enough to sit in a church building for the majority of their lives says that one who has come from the street and now has a message from God, that they are not worthy, then pick a disciple out and rename yourself because you are committing the same atrocity by doubting what God can do through a human being.

Did you ever hear of Jesus yelling at those who He was sharing His message with, or limiting them with what, when and where they could share His message to others?  Even when He was dying on a tree His love still poured out on one of the thieves that were beside Him that day.  So, if Jesus was willing to take the time to share His message with a thief in his final moments of life on earth, what gives us the authority to tell someone who comes from the world that they are not “good enough” to share this eternal message to others?

I pose to you another situation and setting that I have witnessed many times throughout my life.  It is a common theme and one who has walked around on this earth will recognize its theme as soon as I begin these words.  I am going to look at preacher’s kids for a moment.  I cannot tell you how many times people have come up to me and asked me why did I stay with God all of these years after being forced to attend church and did I ever resent the fact that my parents were ministers?  There are so many angles to these two questions and there are just as many answers that I can give in return, but the answer that I will use in this article goes along with the area of this topic that even though I was raised in church that does not mean that I always followed the ways of God.  Big shock????  If you are honest, you will answer that question with a solid “no”.

For quite some time I did not want to have anything to do with God, nor anything that He had for my life.  Did I ruin your beliefs about me with that last statement?  If so, then ok.  I am ok with that because what I have to say to you, the Church, and to a dying world comes from my Heavenly Father and these words are directed specifically towards you since you have fallen within the same category that Jesus ranted and raged against while He was on this earth.  God has no condemnation for those who wish to have a relationship with Him and He will guide their hearts in such a holy manner that not only will be specific for that person but will also create and establish some sort of ministry within these people so that they can portray their spiritual change in someone else.  If you would have asked me a few years ago if I would be writing articles about God and His wishes for His people, I probably laughed in your face, because I hated to write.  Ask any one of my friends in junior high, high school and college; they would write me but I never wrote them back, because I did not like to write but today I write all the time.  God changes people who desire to be changed for the better, His way of being better.

Preacher’s kids are notorious for having bad reputations in the communities, towns, and cities that their parents pastor within.  Yet when a failed preacher’s kid, deacon’s kid, altar boy, or any other person who returns to the “fold” they are received with open arms and can basically do what they wish after the initial truth period wears off.  Their promiscuous acts are quickly forgiven and after a certain amount of “rehabilitation” they can go back to their Christian statuses like nothing ever happened.  And WHAT a testimony that they have to share with others; these types of testimonies have started fiery revivals yet those who have been snatched from the gates of hell and have never before been established within the church community are doubted.  How much more of a pious, biased double standard can one have?  No wonder Jesus used the word vipers when He was addressing some of the religious personalities of His day and age.

Stop and think about what you are saying to God when you chose not to fully believe a person who He has changed through the gospel of Christ.  By initiating this philosophy, a person is telling God that since I have been raised in church, my knowledge and trust in God is far greater than what the person who has not been sitting right next to me for these many years can have.  In truth and if that is a truth then one must have to throw out the majority of the New Testament since it was written by a person who was not a Christian for all of his life.  In fact that person actually was guilty of murdering the very same people that he eventually preached to in many cities.  Should we throw out the majority of what Paul wrote because of his pagan ways and hatred for the Christians?  If we truly believe this notion then we must seriously take a step back and look at what we are living because we are living a lie.

Ever wonder why Jesus went out to the public instead of taking His message to the so called church goers of His time?  Jesus understood that the religious spirits would jump all over His ministry and basically rise up against Him and what He was ordained to do; if you do not believe me then read for yourself and find out who brought the death charges against Jesus.  Jesus knew that His message was to a dying world and that if He went into this world and preached God’s Kingdom then it would be those people that one day might accomplish the mission that He began.  Jesus did not have a social club; He had a Kingdom club and had a divine message of truth for those that He knew would have open hearts and the will to listen.

I ask you again, why do we condemn or not believe those who have been in the world and are now a part of the Kingdom?  Who better than to teach those who have been sitting in the pews, and doing nothing, of how the world operates and to rid ourselves of these notions and practices?  Who better to draw out the attention of those worldly gestures that we have allowed into our church buildings?  Who better than to wake us up and to shake our hearts enough that we take our blinders off and see what is occurring around us?  We should not be condemning or ignoring these words for they are wise through the spirit of God.  For if they are true words from God then they shall line up with His Word and will not falter when tested.  I cannot state that every person who says they hear from God actually does but the fruits that they speak shall tell those who are listening, the truth. 

If we do not have the discernment to recognize when God is speaking to our hearts then we as the Church are sunk.  And at this point we need Jesus to come into our inner courtyards, our hearts, and to overturn our tables and to ask us in a holy anger why we have allowed His Church to become lovers of the world instead of loving her groom’s calling.  Have you ever wondered why Jesus went into the tabernacle and overturned those tables and not out in society?  Think about it, why would He do the opposite?  The tabernacle was always pretty and shiny to the eyes, yet some of the vilest and wickedest deeds were accomplished inside those walls, all the while God’s message was being delivered.  Why would Jesus spend His time with those clowns and goofs who did not really believe in what God stood for in the first place?  Yep….I just compared the Church to those hypocrites in the religious orders during Jesus’ time because it is the truth and we need to recognize this and change our ways so that we may once again become the Church and Bride that He is coming back for one day.

As all of you know, one day we will all draw our last breath.  Our physical fate is already sealed and there is nothing that we can change concerning this set time.  Human science has offered us, I included, many opportunities to prolong this last breath setting and I for one am extremely ecstatic about this, but we all must realize something about our lives that I know I forget about every day.  When God created us He did so in such a fashion that our lives would live forever.  We functioned at the perfect capacity and represented nothing but life.  When humans chose to go our own way we allowed a sin to enter into our existence that produced a finality called physical death.  Death is an abomination to God and since He cannot die He therefore cannot create anything that can die either, which means that our physical lives are an abomination to Him.

I am not saying that our life is an abomination but because we die, that truth of life that is being robbed which is the abomination to Him.  It is the death of one cell that annoys God the most for that cell goes totally against what God created for us.  We must remember that every human does through this cell dying process and therefore have an obligation to ensure that God’s message of love, salvation, restoration and eternal life reaches even the furthest person on this planet that there is a way out of this mess.  How much Kingdom advancement potential in those who have come to Christ from outside church walls have we allowed to wane away because of our denial of their true repentance, salvation and restoration due to their background?  It is horrific a thought to contemplate, knowing that we have rejected what God is telling us through those who the gospel has reached.  How much spiritual death could we have avoided if we would have listened to these people and what course of action are we heading in because of our lack of understanding about religion versus relationship with God?

God wants a relationship with you, not a religious belief.  God does not care about your denominational background nor does He care if you have been a crack cocaine dealer.  What He cares about is that you and He have a personal relationship with each other and it does not matter who tells them about this fact, He just want it told about.  But first the Church needs to get off their pews and follow the action verb that Jesus commanded us to do so that these people will know what true life means.  Stop denominationalizing God and stop rationalizing His ways for Him, just do what He wants us to do and allow God to minister into others lives.  Repent and allow God to restore us to that personal relationship once again and a true change shall come to your heart.  God will choose those that are listening to His voice to spread the gospel, no matter who that person may be and if you miss His words because of a technical hang up, then who really is at fault in this situation?

DLB