For church last Sunday, I attended the LCMS church service and Sunday
school class, as has become my custom, and also what I call the “Word
of Faith” church, which I have not visited in a while. Here are some
items:
A. Philippians 1:27 states: “Only let your conversation be as it
becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else
be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit,
with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (KJV). The
“Word of Faith” pastor said that Paul was exhorting the Philippian
Christians to act as citizens of the Kingdom of God. This was
appropriate for Christians in Philippi, which was a Roman province and
had a lot of Roman citizens. That reminded me of something that the LCMS
pastor said a few weeks ago in Bible study: “Octavian—-when he became
Caesar Augustus—-established the city as a colony/city ruled directly by
Rome and encouraged Roman citizens and veterans of the Praetorian Guard
to settle there.”
B. Among other things, I am currently reading Neil Baulch’s Stop Preaching God’s Love, for Heaven’s Sake!: The Root Problem in the Church Today. See here
to download the book for free. Baulch does not deny that God is loving,
but Baulch believes that there is a disproportionate emphasis on that
in the church today. Jesus preached repentance, warned of hell, and was
often not meek and mild in his interactions; he could be snarky, even
with his disciples. Jesus did not heal everyone but often healed or
helped those who sought him out and came to him. I was thinking about
this book in my church activities. The LCMS pastor shared that a friend
of his is getting his second divorce and, while the pastor initially
judged the friend, the pastor concluded that his friend must be in pain
and needed love, not condemnation. The LCMS teacher said that Jesus made
the first move in salvation: the person wronged went proactively to the
people who wronged him and arranged for their forgiveness. Someone in
the class said that being a disciple of Jesus means asking Jesus
questions in an attempt to understand; indeed, Jesus’s disciples asked
him questions, but there was a time when they were afraid to do so (Mark
9:32). The “Word of Faith” pastor said that Jesus received life from
the Father and poured it into people around him. All of these things,
both what Baulch observes and what people at church said, are part of
who Jesus is.
C. Church was tough today, since I was being instructed in sermons
and teachings to do things that I did not want to do: enthusiastically
share my faith, forgive liberally rather than dosing it out to those I
think deserve it, get to know my next-door neighbors and reach out to
them in love, be consistently loving, treat others as more important
than myself, and go against the flow of people around me in my walk with
Christ, receiving opposition and even hatred. Some things that were
said hit close to home. The Sunday school teacher said that we were
supposed to imitate Jesus: we are not to say, “Well, that’s what Jesus
would do, but I’ll do my own thing.” The “Word of Faith” pastor said
that a lot of people are happy when things go their way, but Jesus’s joy
is different; he also said that many people crave validation and are
upset when they are ignored or rejected, or their opinions are devalued;
they may even refuse to love the person back. Jesus, he said, struggled
on the cross with God forsaking him but came to give his spirit into
God’s hands. I would prefer to be by myself, or with people I am used
to, and read or listen to podcasts, without having to interact with too
many outsiders. Spirituality is still a part of my life, since it
interests me and provides me with personal edification. Service still
fits into my life somewhere, since I figure that I am serving people
when I blog or write reviews about books. People may not think these
things are enough, though. Yet, I still incorporate some of the things I
heard Sunday morning into my life. A therapist suggested that I say
hello to people and use their names even if they do not entirely
reciprocate, since it is better to give than to receive; I have found
that to be a helpful rule in my life.