Musings And Observations Part 2 (Church Edition)

If you have not yet read part one of this series of blog posts, read it here.

In the recent past, I have had spontaneous "micro-debates" with random people about the Church, sound doctrine and the universality of religion. These discussions may not have been conclusive enough - to the point of deriving meaningful inferences - but I have (at least) come to understand a few things about how people interpret and understand religion and matters of Faith.
There is a certain conclusion though we all came to: that the Church is diverse in its approach to both evangelism and mode of worship; and although we are all this diverse, unity is not so much lacking as far as doctrine and sound Christian teaching is concerned.
Here below are some of my observations on the Church - of which I am part of;

We mutually wear a certain disguise called "pettiness"
A few weeks ago, we were presented with a controversial discussion on “the Church and Morality” - so to say - as was depicted in a certain poster outside a mega church in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

The poster is here below (courtesy of UlizaLinks);

"Blurred Lines" - A sermon series courtesy of Mavuno Church

Many claimed that the poster was very controversial (put "very" in CAPS) (and of course it was controversial) as far as Christian values are/were concerned, condemned it and blatantly claimed that that church’s leadership (Mavuno Church) was misguiding our young people (and of course talking of young people, I should be one of them), and that they should apologize for doing so.

The discussion emanated into 2 weeks of funny internet memes and GIFs, and I am very sure that you either retweeted, commented on, or laughed at all those twerkusifu jokes.

But this was not funny, my friend. It was not.
 
These were serious issues in our society - issues affecting ALL young people - being tackled by the church... Just in a different way altogether...
Okay, I gave my two pence on what I felt (and still feel) about the Mavuno Poster (as it came to be known) and moved on. Some people hated me (“caught feelings”), some supported me, and it went on the way it did... And if you were to tell me right then - and even right now - that Mavuno Church was/is not addressing current challenges amongst young people, (saved or unsaved), I would/ I will drag you to the ground with it...

See, today, I have had a few Christians (including myself) complain about things they see in other Christians - things they think are just wrong. You know it, right? It is a common thing. It mostly has been due to “not liking how the other person is serving God” by claiming that they are not capitalizing on the “basic, major and fundamental parts of the Christian Faith”, or on how bad they are as compared to us.

Note: Differentiate between pettiness and differences in doctrine as in cases when we attack, speak against and refute false teachers, heresies and teachings. In this case, I am talking about our petty reactions towards other normal Christians.

I have been a victim of such accusations. People claim that because I am a leader in many capacities, there are things I should not talk about, and that there are things I should be silent about. Some of these things include; love relationships, politics, humor, commenting on certain TV Shows, current news, affairs and on secular music (although I don’t listen to secular music or have any of it on any of my gadgets).

All these critics claim that I should base my christian influence on teaching Scripture and being the blunt and stoic Christian they are. But in retaliation, I have always asked, “Are we here to only reach out to the saints or also to the unsaved? Is my service to God (including this blog) only meant for the "cherched" or also to the "uncherched”? Why do we like to spiritualize everything? Huh?


If I have to reach out to anyone at all, the tools I may use need to make sense both to the believer (in line with Scripture) and to the unbeliever (for them to gain an understanding of what Christianity is all about.)

People have different needs as far as general life is concerned; some just need encouragement, some need Scripture full time, some need humor, others need music; some seek for news while others are attracted to weirdness. End point? Christ should be preached. Christ should revealed. To all people.
Anyway, am I sinning by doing this, by using all tools available to me to reach out to as many people as possible? No. Okay, does Jesus Christ, my Lord, feel offended when I do it? No. So what? Why do we have to make the Gospel so unreachable and so hard to pursue and love? I love being saved. I love it. I cannot imagine myself without salvation. I want other people to love it through seeing me as I enjoy it. That is all I want - for all people to know the Jesus I know, relate with Him and thereafter come to love Him.
The Mavuno poster unveiled our pettiness - how we choose to react to issues without basing our view on Scripture but on how we feel. When did the Gospel become subject to how we feel and what we think (our opinions)?

******************
Jesus, in His time, used examples the people around him could relate with so that He would drive his message home. He wanted them to understand Him - to understand the message of the Kingdom in the easiest way possible. The Pharisees called it crazy, but God called it awesome. They called unorthodox, but the Father called it obedience. Note the difference.

The Apostle Paul had “a fight” with the Apostle Peter on this same issue in Galatians Chapter 2 (please read the whole chapter to get what I am saying) when Peter claimed that the Gospel was only to be preached in a certain way and only to the Jews. Paul on the other hand felt that the Gospel was to be preached by all means possible to both Jews and Gentiles. End point? God intervenes in Acts 10 by showing Peter that the Gospel was not limited to the Jews alone but that it was for the Gentiles too, thus justifying what Paul had earlier preached in Romans 9:15 (and what Peter had been knowing all along because it was written in the very Torah he ardently followed - Exodus 33:19 (ESV) “And he said, 'I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.'”and in Hosea 2:23 (ESV) “...and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”)

The argument between Paul and Peter presents to us what the modern church has become: petty. We have become like the Corinthian church which Paul wrangled with asking them in 1 Corinthians 3:4 (ESV), “For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not being merely human /petty?” (the word 'petty' is my own addition).

My observation is that the greatest opposition the church is facing today is not from the world but from within. We are fighting amongst ourselves more than we are fighting against sin and the many atrocities in the world. Our pettiness - not based on the Holy Scripture - is our spiritual backlog.
We are acting like the fella below that Jesus once talked about

You got a speck in your eye!!

This is how I think we should act around a fellow Christian when they are not doing things the same way we do them (putting in mind that our way of doing things is not law as far as the Spirit of God is concerned.)
We should ask ourselves;

1. Are they sinning? If not, why criticize them?
2. Is what they are doing positively changing someone's life- both in the Church and in the world? If yes, why oppose them?
3. Are they being guided by God in what they are doing? Are they glorifying God? Is the Spirit of God and His Word being involved?  If yes, then why stand against ourselves?

If we were to read and understand the message in Romans Chapter 14, and read it over and over again with an open mind and allow God's Spirit to speak to us, our pettiness would become less and less by the day.

People make mistakes. People sin. You also sin and make mistakes. They need a break. We should give them some breathing space - because we expect the same of ourselves when we err.

Note: These two articles reveal and describe how good we are at being petty: “Why People Really Like Jesus More Than Christians” and “Why I Quit Church (and the Surprise That Brought Me Back)”

Baseless blame games
Then in some other contexts, I have met numerous people (both believers and unbelievers) complaining about Church leadership and how they are falling away from the Church because of leader so-and-so or pastor-so-and-so.
Wait. So people are refusing to be faithful to God on the account of others? Is one's life tagged within another's life? Is spirituality a matter of an individual of a society or of a group? Will I go to heaven because my pastor (or another person's pastor) or leader is going to heaven or on the account of my own life and commitment to God? Why do people blame pastors and/or church leaders for fallen saints or any other sins within a congregation or a given denomination? Are pastors or leaders supposed to be gods so that they may jump like saving angels at some sort of an alarm and save church members from willful sinning?
Okay. Would we blame Jesus Christ for Judas Iscariot’s eloping, greed and love for money? Or blame the apostle Paul for Giaus’s leaving or the apostle John for Deotrephes’s weird mannerisms? Were all these leaders “unspiritual”? that some few people around them fell back and went back into the world? Why then do we call our pastors and leaders "unspiritual" because of some other person's sinful life? Isn't obedience to God's Word an individual's responsibility?

Whenever we blame others and make them responsible for our failures (or other people's failures), we are just being self-righteous, mean, judgmental and self-ish. Leaders and pastors are part of the body of Christ just as we are. They are no better than us. They have just been given a higher office of responsibility as compared to us, but that does not make them immune to sin or to the devil's temptation(s). They experience burn-out and feel weak, exhausted, betrayed and run down just as we often do. We should stop blaming them for all the things we see happening in our congregation(s) and instead pray for/with them. There, we will be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.
I don't deny that some of them deliberately sin and that others advocate for evil and wicked deeds amongst their followers, but why not pray for them instead? Yeah, we should rebuke them and correct them, but why not pray for them after doing so?
The body of Christ should be able to heal itself through forgiveness, love and prayer; and not tear itself apart through ridicule, factions and slurring...
That's my opinion.


I close my case.

Wait for Part 3 in the near future.


Bonface Morris.

3 'Must Haves' to Successful Christian Living

The world we live in today is very ridiculous. It is always expecting too much from Christians - quite too much. It knows what our standards should be - what the Bible says about Christian behavior - and it is not only holding us accountable for what we do, but also judging us for the same.

The world does not act with kindness when dealing with Christians. It is harsh. Intolerable. Merciless. Judgmental. And rude. It is judging us with the highest standards of scrutiny, the same of which if it is subjected to, it may fall down under before it even thinks of rising up. The balances it uses in sieving through what we do and how we behave are meticulous, and that is the truth.

But that does not matter. (At least not to the Christian who will consider what I am sharing in this post.) We know who we are. Christians know who they are. We know it and are not running away from it. We will not try to be petty over it either. We will strive to live to the measure of what God's Word says. Right here in this generation. We will strive to do it in the midst of scoffers and perjurers and in the midst of a world that is always running away from God.

The truth is that Christians are the yard stick of the world. We are to be emulated. We are to be copied (literally, and again not so literally). We represent God, and God is worthy to be emulated. We are to bring hope, and show love, and make people experience God. That is our duty on this earth. And we are in for the task.

Although there is no straight-on formula to "making it" in Christian life except that provided in the Bible, below are three BASIC things that are necessary when one wants to become the Christian they should be (or that God expects them to be);

1. The Word of God
It has been stressed upon countless times that The Word of God is the Christian's mantle. I am going to reiterate it more. Psalm 119:105 (ESV) says "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.") There is no magic to successful Christian living. No, there is not. God is very clear that we need to know His Word in order to please Him (Read Joshua 1:8 (ESV) "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." and Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

I need to meditate upon it and delight in it (Psalm 1:2 (ESV) "...but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." I need to live it. It is not my Pastor's nor my leader's duty to know God's Word on my behalf, it is my duty. I should know it and seek to apply it in my life so that I may live the life I am supposed to live.

Here are reasons why every Christian should read, know, understand and live God's Word;

(a) God's Word are His instructions to the born again Christian on how He expects us to live in this fallen world. Only by heeding it do we understand His thoughts and plan(s) for us.

(b) God's Word contains revelation about God and ourselves. It reveals to us who and what God is to us, to the universe, and to mankind; and also reveals us to ourselves. We can only know who we truly are by reading the Word. We also are able to know who the devil (Satan) truly is and what all his plans against us are.

(c) The Word of God is the Christian's power in overcoming temptation and the devil. (Hebrews 4:12 (ESV) "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart", Ephesians 6:17 (ESV) "...and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God..." and Revelation 12:11 (ESV) "And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death."

2. The Holy Spirit

We all understand that the Holy Spirit is part of the God-head: the third person in the Holy Trinity. It is very basic for every Christian to understand that unless we have the Holy Spirit, we do not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9b (ESV) "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.). There are three things that the Holy Spirit does;

(a) He helps us (gives us strength) in our daily living and mentors us towards holiness. He helps us pray/intercede, fast, read God's Word, meditate, speak the truth, attend church, dress right, speak graciously, love people, persevere/tolerate people, be gentle, be kind, be merciful, be less judgmental, think right//purely, practice self control, be joyful regardless of circumstances, be good to people, be understanding, put others first (be selfless), be humble, become wise, be faithful (both to God and fellow men), be generous... the list is endless. In simple terms, He helps us live the life we are called to live, because we can never make it on our own. (Refer to Galatians 5:22 (ESV) "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness..." and James 3:17 (ESV) "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.")

(b) He is our inspiration, comfort and motivation. Matthew 10:19 (ESV) says "When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour" and Acts 9:31 (ESV) says "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied."

(c) He is our guide. John 16:13 (ESV) says "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come", Judges 11:29 (ESV) says "Then the Spirit of the LORD was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites" and Psalm 143:10 (ESV) says "​Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!"

3. The Congregation of Saints

Many of us take this for granted. We think that it is useless to meet other Christians and worship together. Some avoid meeting other Christians in the name of "protecting themselves from gossip, back-biting and intolerable Christians", and others because "the Church has become a market place - it is better if we live this life on our own." Some have even insisted that "I can watch/listen to sermons on TV/radio all day and still be more blessed and nearer to God than you guys who went/go to church..." 

Whenever we make these assumptions, we deceive ourselves and are driven away from the Church itself. 

There is an important point to note about the Early Church that is still relevant to the Church and Christians today: they used to fellowship with one another more than we do today, and that kept them stronger and focused on living a godly life. Find reference from the verses below;

- 1 John 1:3 (ESV) "...that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."

- Acts 2:42 (ESV) "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

- 1 Corinthians 16:19 (ESV) "The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord."

The apostle Paul also insists in Hebrews 10:24-25 that "...and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

Whoever tries to defend themselves against this matter is only but being prideful and conceited.

Attending fellowships and church helps us in the following ways;

(a) Encouraging one another, support, companionship, affection and socialization. Of course every congregation will have its own "bad sides", but it should serve the purpose of an extended Christian family. The church is a home to every soul that needs godly company.

(b) Accountability - when we lose out on attending church, we miss the opportunity to be accountable to a community of people that can positively shape our thinking, desires and daily personal behavior. We miss our on being trimmed to become better Christians in the society at large. The congregation of saints provides us with real mentors and consultants in real life experiences.

(c) The congregation of saints helps us in our positive personal growth, transformation and change. When we meet people with like minds, who are seeking to worship and serve God like we do, we are challenged to become better in serving fellow men and God. We stop being limited to our views and take on life.

The above points are very BASIC and are meant to help us kick-start living a life that is worthy the calling we have received in accordance with Matthew 3:8 (ESV) "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance" and Ephesians 4:1 (ESV) "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called"). Use them to impart something useful into the lives of the people around you.

God bless.

Bonface Morris.

There Is a Difference

I am sitting here again, and as usual, I'm trying to figure out life. (This chair somehow has a right to blame me, hate me or complain about so many things. I think if it had some Kenyan insticts implanted into it - blame my E. coli knowledge for this - it would give in to my weight just about now so that "it would teach me a lesson or two.")

Well, I never get to "getting it" (life), because as far as I know, this is how it rolls: "getting" life is like figuring out the universe while seated down here, right where I am - with my two big eyes and an over-curious mind. It never works. It never does. Why? The earth is out there rotating on its axis, oblivious of my existence (oh, I don't really know about that), carrying me with it, and unless I board a spaceship (some different kind of spaceship), to see it from an outer "world", "getting it" will still remain to be like some sort of video game that reprograms itself every after a few levels...

Something getting into my mind though is this: it is possible (if you frequently visit this blog) that you have read this blog post I did sometime back: "Christianity and Stoicism".
I'm on the offensive in that blog post, right? I won't defend myself. I think I did well on that one. I hit the nail on the hinge. And that's absolutely the purpose for which it was intended. I can't apologize for that.

I want to add a point to the one above though: the difference between this and that (I may not even be knowing what I am differentiating... but you'll get it along the way anyway.) :-P
You see, Christianity in the 21st Century is complicated. Okay, I bet you already know that, so let me pull it back. What if I say that Christianity today is just mud, muddy pools, flying, gardens, fields and rocks? That works, right?

Well, let's move on...

Christianity today is covered in shades of black and white: taints, pains and rains; then, reigns, gains and wins. We often taste life on both sides of the divide. Maybe that's what complicates everything. Perhaps, it's our own doing. Ask King Jesus. Ask Him. He will tell you that Christianity was never meant to be this adversarial. Never. He'll tell you that we are riding on high waters - a place where maintenance costs are froggy. We are literally running on exhumation fees, digging up and paying for what we should have left to be.

For instance, what really happens when you meet a person who is always judgmental and condemning every other person he/she meets? What of the other one who thinks that his/her denomination is "some piece of heaven"? Or yet the other one who grumbles about everything you (a saved lady/guy) do, the way you do it or the reason for which you do it? How do you deal with such a person? What do you normally think of them? An adamant reprobate? Yes?

*Flips page*

What of this other one who says that everything is right so long as it is done with thanksgiving and for the glory of God? (1 Timothy 4:4 [NKJV]: "For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving" and 1 Corinthians 10:31 [NKJV] "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.") Or his friend who thinks that he/she should not judge another's servant? (Romans 14:4 [NKJV] "Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand" and "Romans 14:10 [NKJV] "But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.") What do you think of this second one? A conventional freelance Christian? No?

There's a big difference between these two people, no matter what titles we may give them. Just consider the following;

• A Christian who understands that salvation is by grace and not works (Ephesians 3:8-9 [NKJV] "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast") does not judge or condemn the other one who seems to be overtaken (or overwhelmed) by their weaknesses. (And I'm not saying that we should not condemn sin, but that LOVE and WISDOM are key when addressing another person's shortcomings (Galatians 6:1 [NKJV] "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.").) We should all understand that we too were (or have been) in the same place these people are in, and we therefore should stop name-tagging them, but offer them acceptance just as we often need it from God.
• A discussion about holiness should never be centred upon what I am doing that you ain't doing, but what we should do (or should be doing) to achieve the kind of lifestyle that God wants us to live. The former leads to strife and self-righteousness, while the latter makes us work together as a body that seeks to please its Master.

There is a difference between judging a person on the basis of what you do that they don't, and what you both know is right but they don't do.
There is a difference between making the sinner find Christ in we church-going-saved-people, and making them think that the Church is made up of a bunch of confused perfectionists who always take a 'no' for an answer to the sinner seeking deliverance.

We should stop being petty. We should grow up. We should become like Jesus Himself. Christ accepted the sinner as he/she was (good examples are Zaccheus and the Samaritan woman.) We should listen to what the hymn writer says too:
1. Just as I am, without one plea,
But that thy blood was shed for me,
and that thou bidst me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
2. Just as I am, and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark blot,
to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come...

The question now is: what are we doing in order to make the difference? How are we dealing with those people in our church congregations that are struggling with sin? How are we correcting the sinner, and edifying the saint? How are we bringing the lost to Christ? Are we completely losing them to sin, or bringing them to the light of Jesus Christ?

Think about it.

The way we do this makes a big difference. So, yes, there is a difference!!


 Bonface Morris.