Cool guys. So I was at Chipotle the other day and I picked up a Westword mag while waiting in line for my delicious burrito.

What I found in that magazine that night changed my life forever.

 

Just kidding.

But it did create quite the discussion on my Facebook wall: 30 comments by, well, more people than I had colors to censor pictures for, for confidentiality purposes.

Here is the conversation:

 

I could probably write a whole book about this conversation. But I’ll refrain 🙂 and attempt to summarize my thoughts in this post. Because I have a day job, and you probably do, too. Alas. I’m going to go with the things that stood out to me, and then put in my response.

Gray guy was intrigued and interested. White girl (fourth down; color does not necessarily indicate shade of melatonin), like gray guy, is not a professing Christian, which is kind of what I prescribed in my question. Awesome. Both of these people seemed like they would be excited to go to the event. I’m guess the event offered to feed their interest in spiritual discussion, appreciation for alcohol, and/or desire for social good.

Orange guy also seemed intrigued. One thing he mentioned was the idea of “lukewarm Christians.” This term comes from the last book of the Bible (which I’m guessing he is familiar with), in which Jesus rebukes (challenges with fervor) a group of Christians for not being fully committed to Him in their hearts. The book is written by the Apostle John during his exile to an island. He has a vision of Jesus speaking to some of the very first Christian churches ever to help them stay on track. Jesus says to John:

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

I posted the entire section written to the church of Laodicea so as not to take the verse out of context. Jesus is not condemning this church completely — otherwise, he would have just smitten them instead of telling them how they could proceed in a more excellent way (which, I would say, is a very loving thing to do).

Jesus’ main concern with this church is that it’s sitting on the fence. Which, if you’ve kept up with my blog, you know makes your butt quite numb.

Jesus wants people to be fully committed to him, with purity, rather than just having him as a mere part of their lives.

Imagine if you had dated this awesome guy. You had committed yourself to this guy, and loved him for who he was. He also told you that he had committed himself to you. Then one day, you find out he’s dating some other girl you’ve never met. What? If it were me, I would feel betrayed. I would still want the best for him, and would learn to forgive him, but I would feel absolutely cheated. It would have been better if he had just told me, instead of committing and reneging on that commitment. Still would have hurt, a lot, but still.

There is a special kind of exclusivity to intimate relationships. And Jesus will settle for nothing less than the most intimate place in our lives. He wants either all of you, or none of you.

Even total rejection is better than a half-assed commitment, which literally makes Him want to vomit.

That’s how Jesus feels when we live a life of “Jesus and,” as CS Lewis likes to call it. A life where Jesus has just as much authority and influence in our lives (if not less) than any other old thing or person.

So what’ll it be? Are you in or out?

It’s a question you answer daily in the way you live, whether you realize it or not.

So guys… what turned Orange Guy off from the church, and made this event so intriguing? He said, it was lukewarm Christians. He’d rather see Christians convinced of their faith, than those who are hypocrites. Who hold others to a certain standard, but then don’t hold that standard for themselves.

There are people out there who don’t give a rat’s ass about what God thinks about their lives. Then there are Christians, who claim to be striving to be like a man who was perfect. To be honest, I don’t think Christians have any right to hold non-Christians to a Christian standard. If God is real, then yes, they should learn about him, be told (accurately!!) what he’s about, and yes, maybe even fall in love with him, and care what He thinks of them. But until then, until that heart change, behavior modification is no deeper than behavior modification.

Christians: Don’t we claim not to be under the law anymore? Isn’t our goal to love until the world loves Love Himself back? Our labor must follow, not precede, passion. Let us be motivated by love alone, not self-justification.

Non-Christians: the Christians who live in fear and judgment likely do not understand what the gospel means for who they are. They don’t feel accepted in their sin, and only feel accepted if they are good (or at least look that way). Please bear with them and don’t hate them, and don’t take it personally. God has taken His completely justified wrath for our wrongdoings, and transferred it onto his son, so we no longer deserve punishment. He now accepts all of us! We must learn this together, whether we’re religious or not. Although, if God isn’t real, you can do whatever you want and keep judging/stereotyping us Christians without spiritual penalty.

Orange guy: I appreciate your kindness, really really, honestly, and I’m not just saying that. You actually listen to and understand people. That is rare. And I hear what you are saying. We have allowed Jesus’ church to once again become lukewarm.

We have an obligation to fight for purity, don’t we? Let’s be different.

Let’s stand out — not in blissful, stand-offish ignorance of culture, but rather in welcoming understanding, wisdom, love, and purity.

Let’s encourage those of our friends who are disillusioned with the church to instead become the church they wish to see in the world.

Yet this obligation is motivated only by love for Jesus — not to please human beings.

 

Yellow guy: I appreciate your skepticism. “The parts [of church] that suck” is very, very vague.

There are parts of any relationship that suck, but enduring them is often crucial in order to enjoy the enjoyable parts the most. And I right? The part of church that sucks is the sin part.

Mix together a bunch of fallible, naturally self-interested people, who are all very very different, in one place, try to get them in on one vision and goal and work together… and it’s bound to experience conflict. But conflict, if endured, leads to maturity, or else, I suppose, what Jesus would call “pruning.” I’d hope that the most virtuous people would stick with it, and the others would get frustrated in leave, until perhaps they become disillusioned or more determined and came back. But apparently that is not always the case: sometimes it’s the branches that leave and the thorns that stay.

Who among us will persevere in God’s plan for the church, in all its purity?

Some will judge the system of the church by its abuse. Others will be it by clinging to the ideals it strives for.

Which will remain?

 

Blue guy: Thank you. You were the first one to actually investigate the website and find out what this actually is about. Even I had not examined that. In 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, the apostle Paul tells us to “test all things, and hold onto the good.” In context, he is speaking of prophesies. Prophesy includes not only predicting the future, but proclaiming the word of God. God gave us minds to investigate things and see if they match with reality and with Scripture. (Of course, the reality we experience with our feelings is a microscopic view, which the reality we experience through the Bible is more of a bird’s-eye view. Both are valid, but one is distorted in terms of what is important, and distorted measurements often lead to false conclusions.)

From the sound of it, though, this is not a Bible-believing group. Why does that matter?

Non-Christians: the Bible is the most well-preserved historical collection of manuscripts in human history. Not exaggerating. Investigate it 😉 and you will find that the Bible is not only reliable historically (no council, mystical individual, or greedy religion-inventor made it up! Though many have tried!), but also the inspired Word of God — God’s most direct, sure form of communication with humanity if, in fact, He has ever communicated with us.

Christians: When you start doubting the reliability of the Bible, things start to go downhill.

Actually, no. That’s not true.

Don’t just accept the Bible at face value. Don’t accept anythign at face value. Including my previous statement. It’s totally false.

Don’t accept the Bible at face value. But read up on its history (I suggest More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell, which gives many evidences for Jesus’ divinity besides just the Bible, but is also incredibly concise and readable), humbly seeking God’s face and not satisfaction of your own prideful ways, and you will find that everything in it is not only historically accurate, but also true, not only in history, but also in your life, in terms of principles and applications. In investigating the history of the Bible, my faith was strengthened, and therefore, my doubt actually matured and solidified my faith — so now I have solid ground to stand on (from my concrete knowledge) in situations where ambiguity comes up (where I really need faith, but now in what I already know is true).

I’m not very reliable. But I will suggest this from my limited experience: Once you start doubting such a concrete, bird’s-eye piece of evidence — written over the course of 4,000 years in history, that just happens to speak of the same principles — and exchanging it for your limited experiences, over the course of 10-40 years in history, and what similar other sources have written into your life… that’s building your house on a tightrope.

But you didn’t hear it from me.

 

Red guy: Thank you for your comment. You’re right: Just like Jesus, we are commanded to meet people where they’re at with our love. Many of those people are at a place where they like drinking beer and helping the homeless.

Yet… What are we meeting them there with?

If we meet them with total similarity, we bring nothing new. If we meet them with unapproachability (I haven’t decided whether or not that’s a word yet), we also bring nothing new.

So how can we conduct ministry… like Jesus?

• First off, Jesus was totally 100% loving. In fact, He is Love Itself. Like none other. I can’t imagine housing that much love in a single human vessel and  not just like exploding in anger and tears and sweating blood and whatnot. He took the long journey from a perfect society to a broken one where people’s pits smell and there’s no toilets and women throw pungent perfume on you and it’s kind of awkward.
• At the same time (and I believe this is PART of his love for us), He was 100% pure. He never compromised his beliefs OR his actions. He never sinned once. He was THE only PERFECT man. Perfect.

Someone pointed out to me a while ago that Jesus never went to weddings or parties or dinners or anything without his disciples. I think we can draw from this in not letting “bad company corrupt good character,” as Paul quotes. Even Jesus, a perfect man who resisted temptation perfectly, didn’t go into a worldly people–dominated situation alone. Romans 12:21.

So it’s not a balance between approachability and purity, but rather striving for the perfect, complete marriage of the two that is our ideal in our ministry.

How loving is it, really, if we don’t bring hope and purity (and not hypocrisy and lukewarmness) to people who don’t know Truth Himself? (John 14:6)

There’s a peace — a shallow, shallow peace — to giving someone a sandwich and letting them continue to believe they’re not accepted by God.

There’s a shallow shallow peace to giving someone a drink of wine without giving them a drink of the living water. And by a drink, I don’t mean just an ambiguous sip of tainted spirituality, but a proper, quenching swig of well-purified, tested, tasty tonic. I’m not convinced that chucking little pieces of the gospel at unsuspecting people is enough.

Jesus loves peace. I’m sure it was peaceful up in Heaven. And yet, for Jesus, sticking around in Heaven just wasn’t an option.

My conclusion: Be in the world. Know your convictions, and don’t compromise them — God will honor that. I strongly believe God can use your witness in any situation into which He leads you. But he’ll still give you opportunities to love people even if you’re not okay with going to a bar.

If in doubt, don’t make a formula for yourself, much less everyone else, about what kind of venue God can work in. Ask Him where He wants you, of all people, and seek His answer through the Word, the counsel of other believers, and prayer — and follow that.

 

Pink guy: I loved your comment: “Are their sins any worse than ours?” Too many of us Christians like to think we’re better than everyone just because someone told us the right answer to the biggest question. Doesn’t mean we know everything. If anything, confessing our need for Jesus should tee us off to this idea that, wow, I am so sinful that I’m actually utterly helpless to do anything good at all unless this Guy is constantly holding my hand!

The movie Easy A comes to mind. I both love and hate this movie: First, because it’s so true, and second, because it’s so true. The Christian group was so elitist! They were the blindest, most arrogant people in the movie. Nobody in that movie was pure. Such is life — there are no protagonists here. We have all betrayed God! We have all spit in the face of the very person who died for us. I do it daily. I would hate myself for it if I relied on my own righteousness for security in who I am.

Emma Stone’s character was one step further in Christ-likeness than the “Christians” because she was humble. She sinned, but at least she acknowledged it. And she was motivated by love! She actually loved people.

Because she did not stick with good wisdom and such, she ended up ruining some lives (which is why sticking to the Word is just as much a part of love as meeting people where they’re at). But she wasn’t in it to justify herself. Only Jesus can do that.

We are those “Christians.”

I am that “Christian.” And I am so, so sorry.

Lord help me. I can’t overcome my sin of self-justifying works on my own. It’s even worse than a blatant sin. It’s deeper and more elusive.

If anything, my sin is worse than “theirs,” whoever “they” are.

We must discern between Christian goody-good culture, doing good for the sake of fitting in and being “acceptable” or whatever… and true Christian religion (James 1:27): Getting messy for the sake of love. Accepting the unnacceptable — including ourselves! Being honest about our sin, so our very own faces, and to the faces of people we hurt (instead of behind their backs!!!). Being absolutely desperate for God to bring even a dallop of usefulness out of our wretched, selfish souls. Being completely convinced that the power of Jesus is strong in the wretched, broken heart and redeem it from its cuts and cutting words to tell it “Some day you will be loved.”

 

Well, like I said, I’d love to give proper recognition, honor, ear, and response to all of these comments. I love them all. Some are more developed than others, but let’s keep striving for excellence for the sake of love for God, ourselves, and others.

But… it’s going on 1 a.m., and we all have day jobs. Alas.

My conclusion of the matter (note: not speaking for all or even some people involved here. Just me.): It all comes back to love.If God is real, He deserves our highest honor, simply because He allowed us to exist. We couldn’t do that ourselves. If Jesus is real, we owe him far more than our lives. You can choose not to believe in Him, but regardless, He deserves your love and loyalty. You owe it to him.

But since God didn’t create us out of obligation, and Jesus didn’t die for us out of obligation, let us love Him back — not because He deserves it, but because we can love him freely. It’s your choice, and no one can make you choose it. Thank God you have that freedom!

And yet, although this love is not solely obligatory, it’s the most important love in the universe. It affects not only your life, but the lives of those around you, the way your church is, and your community. You are a role model, whether you realize it or not. Please answer the questions in your head, and avoid the lie you like to believe in, if not for your own sake, for the sake of those who look up to you secretly.

Love the Lord your God with all you’ve got. If we all did this, the church would not be stereotyped as it is. People would be loved, no matter their walk of life, because we’d seek them out and invite them in. We would accept them as they are, but challenge them to live up to something far more fulfilling. Some would still reject God, and would be displeased by our actions and convictions, and perhaps even intimidated by our purity. But we love anyway, with all purity in both motive and action, wherever that may happen. Because this pleases God.

Cling to love and purity, my friends. This is my conclusion.  Neither of these things are innate or “natural.” One sign that you’re loving like Jesus, then, is that it won’t come naturally. These things can only come from the heart of God Himself.

Our friction-filled, conflict-ridden, long-suffering love for one another as we persevere in a messy church family… it might just generate enough static to light up the world.

And being the tiny electron that I am, I’m so thankful I’m not alone in being that light.

Thanks for reading.

Open for your comments and loving criticism.