If you have ever been so hurt by church-going people that it’s
made you conclude that following Jesus Christ is a sham, I HEAR YOU! Been
there. It’s why we do home church, in fact. It’s just that Jesus is NOT the
problem, so I don’t want anyone to miss out on him because of the misbehavior of
those who claim to follow him.
Church-going, religious people have been some of the most
hurtful people I have ever met.[1] Not
only do they act in harsh, unloving, judgmental ways, but they create churches
in which they are permitted to do so as freely as they wish. They might have
rules about how they treat the “core group” of their institution, but anyone
outside their group they are free to target in ways quite contrary to anything Jesus
taught about being imitators of God as his beloved children, and living a life
of love in the same way as Jesus loved us and gave himself for us.[2]
One of the difficult things for me has been accepting that Jesus’
teaching about rejoicing in persecution applies to the mean, rude, unloving
things done by church-going people. Here’s how he said it:
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you”.[3]
Jesus did not specify that it would only be non-religious
people who would revile us; he simply told us that, whenever anyone reviles us
for following him, we are to consider ourselves blessed. If persecution comes
from the world, or pretend-churches, we are to consider ourselves blessed for
standing out as the children of God.
These churches that allow their people to speak falsely
about us on account of our faith in Jesus Christ are doing what Jesus said
people would do against his brothers, and we are to consider it a blessing to
be so associated with Jesus the Christ that people would treat us the same way
as they treat him.[4]
In fact, Jesus told us to “rejoice and be glad” even when mean-hearted church-going religious
hypocrites utter evil and wicked things against us on account of our Savior.
Why? Because the momentary troubles of this life are nothing
compared to the glory soon to be revealed to the children of God.[5] It
is not the loss of reputation from lying church-goers that is our focus, but
the greatness of our reward in heaven. It isn’t the loss of employment caused
by malicious church-pillars that governs how we feel; it is the great reward in
heaven waiting for those who persevere until the end, considering it pure joy
when they go through the same things their Savior endured.[6]
So, if you were wondering how someone can bear with the
mean, unkind, unloving, evil things that church-going people do, and still have
any faith in Jesus who is building his own church in this world, it is actually
quite simple.
God’s blessing is on the poor in spirit who face their own
need of Jesus no matter how any religious hypocrites are acting; he blesses those
who mourn the condition of their own souls even while the religious elite in
our town act as if they are faultless; he blesses those who meekly acknowledge
they cannot fix what is wrong with them, even while self-made church groups act
as if they need nothing from God; he blesses those who hunger and thirst for
the righteousness they see in Jesus Christ, even when churches all around them
act as if there were no greater righteousness than what they have already
attained (unloving as it is).[7]
In other words, Jesus calls these churches to repent and
return to him with all their hearts and souls.[8]
Their unwillingness to do so is no slight against him for failing to present
the invitation. The invitations stand throughout the Book he has written, and
his Spirit is constantly working to speak these things to anyone who will
listen, few as they may be.[9]
However, no one is at the mercy of those people who reject
the convicting work of the Holy Spirit of the Living God. So, Jesus narrows his
invitation down to what any one person is able to do, no matter how many around
us are unwilling to follow. Jesus says,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me”.[10]
Do you see that? If “anyone”
hears Jesus’ voice, and hears him knocking at the door of his church, and opens
the door to him, welcoming him back into the churches he has left, Jesus promises
to come in to that person’s life and have the kind of fellowship with that
person that is like friends sharing a meal together.
While my experience of persecution, gossip, and slander, pales
in comparison to what my brothers in Christ endure in other countries, I can
still say that, no matter what mean-spirited church people have done, God has
constantly worked it together for good so that I have come to know God better
than I have ever known him before, and I have grown that little bit more like
my Savior, “being transformed into the
same image from one degree of glory to another”.[11]
In the end, I would rather be like Jesus than any of the
people who have lied, gossiped, or slandered me. I would rather be part of the
church Jesus is building than miss out on him and his love just because of what
the pillars of the manmade churches are doing. He would never allow me to be
like them just because of what they have done to me, or my loved ones. He knows
he is a much better example to follow, and so he calls us to follow him, even
if we feel very hurt, and very much alone.
One of Jesus’ disciples, someone who had caved under the
pressure of attacks and threats against his Savior by the religious elite of
his day, went on to experience such a transformed life that he would write
this: “But if when you do good and suffer
for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this
you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an
example, so that you might follow in his steps”.[12]
Since Jesus’ steps include him fulfilling his Father’s will,
and completing all the work his Father gave him to accomplish,[13]
even when sinful religious people were conspiring to crucify him, following in
his steps will likely include something similar for us. We may avoid the nails
through our hands and feet, but must expect the mean-hearted arrows piercing
our hearts.
I know that all God’s children are to endure such things.
Therefore, let us who experience what Jesus described, seek God to help and
encourage and comfort us into considering it pure joy when we and our loved
ones must endure such trials. The frowns and disdain of a million mean-hearted
church-goers are nothing in the light of Jesus’ looking upon us with the
unfailing love of God.
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace”[14]
© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1]
Jesus experienced this in his day as well!
[2]
Ephesians 5:1-2
[3]
Matthew 5:11-12
[4]
John 15:20
[5]
II Corinthians 4:16-18
[6]
Matthew 24:9-13; James 1:2-4
[7]
See the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-12
[8]
In Jesus’ letters to the seven churches in revelation 2-3, he called five of
the churches to repent because of things they were doing that he had to hold
against them. Jesus never approves of things in his church that are contrary to
his own holiness and righteousness. He is gracious and patient in transforming
us through the renewal of our minds, but he always calls us to confess our sins
to him so he can forgive us our sins and purify us from the unrighteousness
that remains (I John 1:9).
[9]
Jesus specifically used the word “many” to describe deceivers, those who would
fall away in the end times, etc, and used the word “few” to describe those who
would genuinely find the narrow way to heaven and endure until the end (see
Matthew 7:13-14; 24:3-14).
[10]
Revelation 3:20
[11]
II Corinthians 3:18. Romans 8:28-30 shows how God working everything together
for the good of his beloved children is aimed at restoring us to the image and
likeness of his Son.
[12]
I Peter 2:20-21
[13]
John 4:34
[14]
From the song, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”, © Public Domain, Helen H. Lemmel,
1922
