*I originally wrote this post in 2014, but for some reason unpublished it. I'll eventually go back and update it a little, but it's still what I desire for myself and my people.
Letters to Christians
If you’re familiar with the New Testament you know that it is separated into a number of different book groups. The largest one of those groups is called the Epistles. Epistle is just a fancy word for a letter that is intended to provide instruction. Books like 1st & 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, James (complete list HERE) are all actually letters that Apostles of the early Church (i.e. Paul, Peter, James, John, Jude) wrote to various Christian churches and new converts to the Christian faith. Here’s the thing I want to point out about these letters; they were all written to Christians, whether individually or as a congregation, to address issues that did not reflect the character of Jesus. Not one letter was addressed to unbelievers. That little piece of knowledge should turn your head. Think about the issues that these letters address: sexual sin, drunkenness, gossip, lying, coarse talk, and the list goes on. These were sins that the Apostles saw CHRISTIANS participating in and were written as an appeal to get them to stop.
These letters were not written to Christians as a means for them to use as ammunition to call out unbelievers’ sin. The contrary is actually true. These letters were written to instruct Christians how they’re to follow Jesus, so that we are able to live a life glorifying to God. The Epistles were written as a means for calling out the sin in the Christian’s life. Collectively these letters are God’s manifesto to the Christian Church; His public declaration for His intent for how we’re to live our life. This does not excuse us from not calling sin what it is, sin. That’s necessary and good, but we should take care of where we direct that message. The first place it should be directed is toward the Church. Sunday morning sermons that preach that adultery is a sin should be directed at believers so that those believers that might be engaged in that can be drawn by the Holy Spirit to repentance and restored to God. Telling someone who doesn’t believe in God that they are breaking the heart of God is an exercise in futility. It may work occasionally, but more often than not, it won’t.
This also doesn’t eliminate our ability to complete The Great Commission; in fact, it frees us to become more fully engaged in the work of it. In making disciples, we are creating followers that are willing to be subject to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and accountable to Christian brothers and sisters. Jesus said that the world’s sin is their unbelief in Him. When we preach Christ and Him crucified, telling the world who Jesus is and what He did for us, we’re placing the knowledge in the unbeliever, which is necessary for the Holy Spirit to come and convict them of their unbelief. Then and only then are their hearts open to God’s call to righteousness. Only when someone becomes a follower of Jesus are they subject to the writings and teachings of the Apostles.
Again, this doesn’t eliminate our ability to preach or witness. In Acts 2, when Peter gave the very first sermon of the new Church, his entire recorded message revolved around who Jesus was and how the Jews’ unbelief resulted in His death, but how it was all ultimately part of God’s redemptive plan. Then he wrapped up his sermon by saying, “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!” Then told the crowd to repent of their sin (that was their unbelief in Jesus as the Messiah) and do you know what happened? “Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.” Not those that stopped getting drunk. Not those that stopped being sexually immoral. Not those that stopped lying or being selfish, prideful. Those that believed were saved. They repented of their sin of unbelief and were saved. No doubt there was work that the Holy Spirit had to do in them, but they had become disciples, followers, of Jesus and were willing to (hopefully) live according to what He taught.
So here’s my letter to the church…
To the Saints of God, called to righteousness by His Holy Spirit and saved by our LORD, Jesus Christ, may His grace and mercy be on you.
Learn what it means to really love God. Spend time with Him in fellowship. Allow Him to draw you to His side and cultivate your relationship with Him. Become accountable to His written Word, who is Jesus, and let Him sink deep into your heart. Be committed to growing with Him.
Learn what it means to really love others. Spend time with them in fellowship. Draw close to the hurting and abandoned. Feed the hungry. Give water to those that thirst. Clothe the naked. Visit and comfort the impoverished and imprisoned. Don’t just say you love others; show others that you love them.
Learning what it means to really love God and really love others happens inside of a community of other faithful and loving believers. So love each other, this is how the world will know we belong to Jesus. Spend time in fellowship with each other. Serve each other. Draw close to each other. Be accountable to each other as you’re each accountable to The Word. Be committed to growing with each other.
Call sin what it is inside of your community; be hard on it and merciful with each other. Be forgiving. Stop trying to hold people who don’t know Jesus accountable to our credo. Instead, let the focus of our witness be who Jesus is and what He did for us so that the world would believe in their Savior. Then when they believe, invite them to learn with you.
I’ll end my letter with the words that Paul ended his letter to the church in Ephesus.
Peace be to the brothers [and sisters], and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
This one is a little more complicated. It took a long time for me to accept this idea as true. It’s difficult to not expect people to “get saved” when we’re doing church. The going in on this is that we’re going to present the Gospel message in a clear way and the Holy Spirit will compel people to surrender to Jesus. In general there is nothing wrong with this idea. We should have an expectation that God will move. He tells us He will, so we should expect it. But, when we attach expectation to our love, that’s when things get hairy. As far as Sunday morning church goes, what if instead of expecting people to “get saved” we expected the Holy Spirit to show up for our celebration (already in progress) and equip us for the work in the week ahead? What if we then went out into the week and into our communities, ready to love people without an expectation for anything except people getting to experience the love of Christ through His followers? What would church look like then?