It Started At A Wedding (Not My Own, Obviously)
I don’t get invited to weddings often, and of late I’ve loathed being that much in crowds. Yet a dear friend of the family was getting married and invited my wife and I to his wedding. So we made an appearance at the ceremony and even ate the food generously laid out in the reception.
Whilst at the reception I had the honour of being a around a table with some people that I knew fairly well from around 10 years ago. They were all Christians and passionate about their faith in one way or another. It made for the ideal location to throw out some deliberately provocative statements to trigger good ol’ fashioned healthy, vibrant, heated conversation. After all, what else are tables at wedding reception there for?
As we engaged on certain hot topics I detected some viewpoints that were very familiar to me, but which over time I had rejected. These viewpoints looked at how non-church folk had to conform to certain cultural standards that the church had set up as measures of holiness and righteousness, especially if their visits to the church were to become regular. These pivotal issues obviously revolved around one’s hemline and the appearance of jewellery.
The Problem Highlights A Bigger Problem – We’re Stuck Up
Taking on board the viewpoints carefully, and reflecting on my own attitude both as it was on this subject and on others regarding non-churched folk, made me realise that sometimes Christians can get stuck on the wrong things. Not only that, but when we’re stuck on them our attitude can be … wrong. To the extent that I came up with this little stuck business that summed it up for me.
Some Christians are so stuck up that they don’t realise how stuck down they are in their sins that make them stick out like a sore thumb in the church rather than getting stuck in and helping people who are in a mess to realise they can get stuck onto the Messiah.
Being stuck up, I think, is one of the worst conditions a Christian can find themselves in. Not only is it among the worst, it’s among the easiest to get into and the easiest to be ‘justified’ remaining in that state. You can select a hot topic and rather than taking a considered gracious perspective on the matter, it is like a launch pad that literally allows you to be stuck up. That vaunted sense of being so right-on can be like an overwhelming and pungent stink in the room.
What it also reveals, however, is how stuck down we are in that gross sin of pride. Who are we to get so high and mighty about people not living up to our standards of righteousness? Yet we can remain so oblivious to the state. Now I talk from experience, as one coming to recognise pride as the deadliest and biggest sin I have to overcome not on a daily, but moment-by-moment basis. So I know what I talk about when I say it is engrained in the fibre of expression that it takes something significant for us to see it for the ugly trait of pride that it is.
As we remain in oblivious ignorance of this fact, what does happen is that as opposed to the church Christ died for, we stick out as something rather different. Not just different, but somewhat alien to what the compassion of Christ is all about. Sure, we have our holy huddle of brothers and sisters who hold to our opinion. We even carry on our godly ghetto warding off the evil of the outsiders coming in and spoiling everything. While that is going on, however, the rest of the Body portrays characteristics that quite drastically contrast with the stuck up attitude. Jesus would occasionally refer to those occasions when the stuck up amongst us would be found out in the final judgement, and that’s when we would really come unstuck – and not for the better either.
My personal story, however, says that there is hope for the stuck up. There is hope that Jesus can dramatically turn around the stuck up attitudes to help them remember where they are coming from, and how love covered a multitude of their sins. That repentant, contrite, meek and humble attitude is just the stuff that prepares to get stuck in the mess of a world we’re in. We don’t get stuck in to stay in, but we get stuck in because we know what it is to be a mess. We know what it is to be delivered.
We know what it is, not just because we’re over it, but because in some ways we’re still stuck there and working with Jesus to get out of the mess. That attitude gives a compassion that can no longer stay in the comfortable environs of church facilities with neat and tidy cleaned up people who mask the mess beneath. This attitude sees joy in seeing God do the amazing and miraculous through acts of love and expressions of His Kingdom values right in the place where the messy people live. This is where the delight comes from helping people get stuck onto the Messiah, rather than their own mess, and develop a similar passion and desire to see others come unstuck from their mess and also get stuck on Jesus.
Staying Stuck On Jesus: A Personal Prayer Not To Be Stuck-Up
I pray continually that God helps me get out of my stuck up ways. I pray continually that God will deliver me from myself and my vaunted sense of self-righteousness that does nothing to help people know the real Jesus, but actually puts people off wanting to know anything about Him. I pray continually that the same love that rescued me from the mess, will compel and propel me to be a living witness to those around me of the love of God.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
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