I remember a friend in college sighing and expressing this sentiment in referring to her experiences in Christian Community: "It's been the source of my greatest highs and lowest lows".
So many of us can relate to suffering within the body of Christ...probably all of us to some degree or other. We ask ourselves why. Why is this such a common and even normal experience for believers to have? If each one of us were to chart our own unique experiences we would most likely each see one another's graph as a series of ups, downs, plateaus, and more ups, downs and plateaus. The one unlikely graph is the one that just gently, consistently treads upward with nary a bump or dip in the graph's line.
Answering the why begins with the bad news. I always knew the Gospel began with bad news but honestly, I never realized how bad the news actually was. It's the darkest, worst news a person can receive. It's worse than cancer. It's worse than loss. It IS death.
The news is we are all children of Adam. Is there a soul among us that believes he or she would have beaten the serpent in the garden and spared humanity the fall? We are Adam. In the sense that he represents what each one of us would have done in his place. We too, would have chosen our own way instead of our Father's way. With Adam, all our nature is now tainted by sin. As scripture describes it, we are "...dead in sins" and "...children of wrath by *nature*". We do not have to be taught how to be selfish. We naturally gravitate to selfishness.
Even those without faith quote the truth of: "No one is perfect, after all, we are only human". Exactly. Our flesh has the default mode of choosing our way rather than our Father's way. Sin incapacitates us to do any differently. We are children of Adam by nature. We need not pretend the outcome in the garden would have been any different if it had been you or I in the place of Adam or Eve.
To fully appreciate the depth, scope and grasp that sin has on us, is the first step in understanding why people have 'people problems'. This is why our lives are filled with issues, chaos and challenges. Why our families have conflict. Why our churches all too often, tear each other apart.
But wait. Our families and churches are believers. We have the Spirit. We've been saved. So why do we still struggle with sin that snares and entangles us?
We know the truth. Jesus saves. He gives us a new heart. He seals us with the Spirit. His power works in us personally...transforming us into the people he wants us to be...redeemed and sanctified...holy. So why do we still struggle?
It's the struggle even Paul laments in scripture. The war of the Spirit over the sarx (fallen flesh). Even though the Spirit is at work within us, until we are one day glorified, we still have this fallen flesh as our tent to deal with. Sin is a battle. A daily battle. One each of us engages in. Of course it affects everyone around us. Especially those we are closest to...especially the ones we love the most.
I've had to face a very uncomfortable truth: Over the years, I've inflicted pain as well as received pain. What are we to do with this? None of us want this kind of interpersonal conflict so what can we do?
Facing our own sin.
When we realize to the depths of our soul our own sins, inadequacies, weaknesses, and outright depravity...when we confess it, face it, and own it...it is far easier to be longsuffering, patient, kind and loving to those in the same situation of depravity as we are. Our own sin levels the ground before the Cross. It silences harsh judgment. It humbles us before the Father and in turn...humbles us one toward another.
Securely anchored hope.
Placing all hope...all confidence....all boasting...all security in Christ alone. Identity in Him alone. If our hope and unity are in anything else...say, our doctrine, our practices, our history, our big name preachers, our heritage, our people, our individual selves and ability to 'do it the right way'....in any measure...it is misplaced and opens the door for pride, arrogance and sin one toward another leading to the 'biting and devouring of one another' scripture speaks of. This happens because we begin to position ourselves above others and in so doing forgetting who we are before the Lord and why it is we can even come into his presence at all.
Letting Grace and Mercy Reign
No matter what healthy times churches may experience (as I am personally blessed with at this time), challenging times are ahead...because we are people. When those challenging times come what are we to do? There is this conflict in our hearts. We feel we must stand for truth, and we often define that as 'cut off anything that disagrees with truth as I understand it, to preserve purity'...then we grow fearful. As fear enters our hearts, we begin to erect boundaries, walls, rules, new fences to guard out the 'bad' we perceive...it's spiritual self-preservation. We begin to isolate ourselves from the very people who need us the most...so afraid that whatever is 'wrong' with them might also infect us. Often our own fall from 'friendly fire' instead of 'enemy fire'. Attacking the 'bad' is the easy path in preserving ourselves and 'truth'. Jesus calls us to the more difficult path: engaging in actions of grace and mercy.
Facing the challenge head-on within the community relationship...loving discipline/accountability...walking beside the injured...ministering to the wounds rather than reacting in fear with a knee jerk self-preservation response is really what Christian Community is all about. We cannot, must not, fear the 'messy'. Christian Community is supposed to be messy. Often in the 'truth-self-preservation mindset' we miss the biggest truth: We are supposed to be serving one another and loving one another as Christ served and loved us. "Freely you've been given, freely give"...Is anyone more of a sinner than ourselves? The self-preservation mindset ironically entraps us in the sin of self-focus, and spiritual isolation thus robbing us the opportunity to serve as Christ served. It is a tool of the enemy.
I've seen this mindset lead to extreme forms of spiritual isolation. I knew people, who years ago, decided to worship by themselves outside a Christian community because they could not agree enough with any local church body. When asked one time what it was like to only have themselves and a few friends worship together, the response was "Well, there's not many problems anymore", followed by laughter.
Indeed. We get rid of the problems, yet we also get rid of people. The people Christ died for. The sinners Christ died for. The ones just like you and me.
Yes, sometimes Church hurts. I'm pretty sure, it's supposed to.
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