Incompatibilities of theology and philosophy between Christians are difficult interpersonal situations to navigate.

I don’ t feel particularly comfortable or prepared to tackle this issue that the Lord has laid upon my hearth this month. Like many situations in life, this subject matter is too deep and broad to hope to fully cover in a simple blog post.

Some examples of incompatible theologies and philosophies in todays’ Christianity are: the doctrinal approval of homosexuality within church denominations, the theology that all believers must speak in tongues as a sign that they have the Holy Spirit, the lax attitude the leadership of churches has towards divorce, and many more.

I personally have many family members and friends who love the Lord but hold beliefs that are completely incompatible with scripture. There are many people who love Jesus but do not believe that the Bible is completely inerrant and coherent. A theology that seems to be growing in popularity among believers is that the words of Jesus are true, but other portions of scripture are relicts of an ancient, primitive, ignorant, sexist, racist, mean, and barbaric Hebrew culture. The Old Testament, epistles, letters to the churches and other portions of scripture are at best good guidelines to follow and at worst cultural remnants that do not apply today.

As I write this blog, I am specifically thinking and troubled with the growing acceptance and promotion of behaviors such as homosexuality among believers and church denominations in this country. The mindset of those in church denominations that are accepting this ideology must be that they wish to bend to culture in order to retain parishioners who have been overtaken by the current culture. Logically, this ideology will ultimately degrade all facets of Biblical Christianity in those circles.

Like most believers, I believe God is Love and that he loves people far more that we could imagine. The love of Jesus is a concept that all of Christianity will agree on. We all agree that Jesus loved us so much that He gave His life. The implications and truths about the nature of Jesus and the Bible will shape our Christian ideologies and philosophies. I fear that many in this modern day have adopted an understanding of Jesus that wants feel good acceptance and peace at any cost. Jesus upholding and fulfilling the Law is oddly neglected.

This unbalanced interpretation of scripture gives license to support any shifting morality or behavior such as homosexuality as the individual sees fit. Many reject Biblical reasoning because it has authority over subjective morality. The ideology that refuses the authority of scripture strips the Law of its purpose and reduces Jesus and His actions to an example of the actions of a really nice guy that raises the bar for social interactions.

I think the saddest thing about a belief system such as this is that is robs the person of a larger understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. It also robs people of the joy of knowing and following God’s Will.

The Law is the Will of the God that created, and holds, the universe together. Understanding the Law show us that we are wretched Law breakers and deserving of condemnation, death, and darkness for all eternity. That is who we are. Let that sink in. The Law shows us how wretchedly low we are and how majestically High God is.

Though we are in such a heinous state, Jesus, God incarnate, lowered himself to the form of man that we can comprehend. He lived among us to be an example of word and deed for us to follow. He loved us despite our darkness and died our much deserved death so that we may saved from our darkness. He then raised to life from the dead so that He may raise us up with Him in His glory. Jesus delivers us from the deepest depths to the highest heights with Him. He did everything for us even though we delight to wallow in sin.

This same Jesus left us with the power of the Holy Spirit and commissioned us to make disciples of all nations, baptize them, and to teach them to obey everything that He has commanded us. These commands came from Jesus’ mouth. The mouth of God.

It is impossible to exegetically study the life, words, and deeds of Jesus and conclude that He desires us to live in sin. In fact, He desires to deliver us from our sinful hearts and replace our desires with His desires. This is the Will and desire of Jesus for our lives.

Jesus does not want us to be overcome by our lusts of the flesh. Jesus came to fulfill the Law, not to abolish it (Matthew 5:17-18). A Christian or disciple of Christ, by definition, is being sanctified thought the Holy Spirit to become more like Christ. We are embarrassingly incapable of properly living as Christ did. Despite everything that Christ has done for us, we are still sinful, selfish beings that need continuous redemption.

Some may argue that since we are sinful, adulterous, thieving, conniving, coveting, self-worshippers, that we should accept sinful actions such as homosexuality because we are all sinners. I would agree that Jesus set the example of meeting people where they were at. Jesus does not show nasty hateful responses to sinners and He did not accept their sinfulness. He met sinners where they were and delivered them from their sins in beautifully simple and supernatural ways.

Among the many stories about Jesus interacting with sinners, it is difficult to forget about the story of the woman caught in adultery found in John chapter 8. A woman was caught in adultery and was brought before Jesus. She was guilty. There was no question. Jesus knew she was guilty and deserved the fate that the law required. But Jesus delivered her and kept his integrity with a single sentence. However, Jesus was not finished yet. He delivered her from the punishment of her sin and gave her the command to “Go and sin no more”. I wish we knew how she responded in the remained of her lifetime.

Jesus had this effect on people. Cheating tax collectors met Jesus, repented, and made recompense to those that they cheated. He met Peter’s very personal betrayal by reinstating him and making leader out of him. Jesus meets the lowly Samaritan woman at the well and she leaves her tasks and spreads the word about the Messiah Jesus.

Jesus did not compromise his message and accept unrepentant sin to “be more inclusive” or to conform to culture. His character, His love, His grace, and His power compelled sinners to repent and follow.

I think that focusing on what Jesus has done and what He stands for is far more constructive than squabbling with errant, incompatible Christian brothers and sisters. If we are able to point them to Jesus and have faith that the Holy Spirit will instruct His people, we can rest in the love and grace of Christ and with the knowledge that they are in the best hands. I believe the loving thing to do it to earn the right to be heard from errant brothers and sisters in Christ by being genuine and consistent with our faith and theology. All while showing love for them by pursuing growing relationships with them.

Blog #2: Housebroken

I was halfway through my fifth year of serving as the staffed youth minister of very small church. For the first time we began to see numerical growth in the Wednesday night youth group. This was an encouraging surprise since we had just put an end to our outreach ministry program called the “Hang-out” at the beginning of Summer.

It was heartbreaking to have to stop the “Hang-out” youth outreach program. God had blessed the ministry with more students that did not know Jesus than we could really handle. There were weeks when we would have two or three students at Wednesday youth group and roughly thirty students at the “Hang-out”. We had the wonderful problem of trying to find enough staff to responsibly be able to put on the ministry. I even had to call in favors from trusted and willing friends from other churches to help.

In one of the clearest acts of God I had ever witnessed, He brought students from the community through the doors of our church. There was really nothing to draw the students there other than God providing them. Sure, I would set up my guitars, basses, and let them use the drums and piano, we shared a meal with them, and we had board games that they never chose to play. These students were not coming because of anything we were doing. God created a community of young people out of nothing.

For a time, we were able to foster relationships with the students and the ministry program grew. Though I was only working as a youth minister part time, God was providing a window into the student’s lives.

After a couple years, I found a secular job to support me while I ministered part-time at the church. As much of a blessing finding the new job was for me, it meant trouble for this ministry program.

I was no longer able to be there for the doors to open. I had to set up the best I could the night before. I also had to line up additional leaders to cover for me until I got off work and was able to get there.

We struggled through the next year to be able to continue the program. We had to cancel at times because we could not get enough staff for the event. I truly believe that we also had problems because we did not have time before the program started to get together to pray and to focus on the purpose of the program like we did the first few years of the program. Though we had to end the program, God was faithful.

Per the design of the “Hang-out” program, we had fostered relationships with many of the students. As a result of these relationships, a number of students began attending the Wednesday night youth group program. I praise God for the opportunity He created for many of these students to hear the Word of God for the first time!

But, a frustration began to grow in the portion of the church that was involved with the youth ministry. These feelings started at the “Hang-out” before it ended. An Many of the students that came to Wednesday night youth group as a result of the “Hang-out” program were difficult to handle. If I am to be perfectly honest, as amazing as it was to watch God draw students in ways that I couldn’t explain, there were many times the limits of my patience were tested as well.

The truth is that many of the students that God provided us were not housebroken.

There were times when I feel that we were able to show love and grace to these difficult students. But there were also times when we did not represent Christ’s with loving patience. Praise God that He has grave for us when we fail.
We live in a post Christian culture. That means that there are little-to-no culturally Christian values in the young people that do not have families at all. The students did not come with any of the normal pre-programmed behaviors that one could expect the general population to understand. The students were completely and utterly worldly in every sense of the word.

The kids did not know basic respectful etiquette such as not talking loudly while the group they are a part of is praying, or that it is not ok to constantly interrupt the lesson to offer counterpoints and try to convert the group to their secular humanist philosophy (yes, that really happened). We had to be wary of certain activities that had the potential for students to be out of the leaders sign to avoid make-out sessions, drug sales, and bullying. They cussed like sailors and delighted in their sin.

As frustrating as working with students such as these was, I was thrilled with the opportunity it presented us. We had the opportunity to show God’s love to these students despite themselves as a community. We had the opportunity to present the Love of Christ to them in a way that they would not likely ever be shown again.

I think we get impatient with the pace that God likes to work in the lives of individuals. We are much more comfortable loving and spending time with the students that already love the Lord and know how to behave. God, at times, likes to move slowly.

We are called to witness and love people. We must put our faith in the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of unbelievers through the Word of God. I believe that God’s Word will not return void.

So my question is: How well is your church prepared to minister to people who are not housebroken to Christian values?

Is your church prepared to make disciples of people who do not behave like Christians already?

I would love to hear any stories of people ministering to people who made it difficult to love them. Especially if the story ends with the person putting their faith in what Christ has done for them.

I pray that God works mightily in the hearts of people that do not know Him. I pray that God gives his people patience, understanding, and direction to minister to those who are not easy to minister to. Never let us forget that we are all sinners in need of God’s Grace just as much as the people God has put into our lives.

God Bless.