Holier than Jesus

Legalism and
the Sins of the Church

Christians are often accused of being holier than thou, a self-righteous attitude of condemning and criticism. We are not often accused of being holier than Jesus, yet perhaps that is sometimes what we have attempted to be. In Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Jesus described the allowing of healthy wheat to grow together with annoying weeds. Weeds choke other plants and steal nutrients. That has been the ongoing history of the Christian Church. In every congregation and every denomination there are people who stifle and choke and steal life-giving nutrition from sincere Christians. When churches attempt to control sin with rigorous rules and regulations far above anything required by Jesus or his Apostles, stifling administrative hurdles and exclusive attitudes they are attempting to be holier than Jesus. His attitude was to let the wheat and weeds grow together until the harvest.

Family Feuds

Church Conflict

Every family has them. There’s the greedy one who wants to take the larger share, the wayward one who embarrasses the family or perhaps the rich one who brags and makes others feel small. Family feuds are caused by many things. In Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Jesus described the possible results of a family feud that his audience would have found familiar. An enemy had exacted vengeance on a farmer by sowing bad seed at night over the good seed in his field. Vandalism! In a time when planting was broadcasting by hand, that may have been easier than with modern farming equipment. In the Church we have "family" feuds. That’s one reason why we have different orders and denominations. Separation was not Jesus’ recommendation, but staying together until the end of the age. It’s an argument for church unity.

Dividing Churches

The Gay Agenda

Protestant Reformers were great men, but they failed in one major area. They were not satisfied with leaving the tares among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). Church reform is as much needed now as then. The modern Church has injustice in its traditions and accommodated sins as often as she has condemned them. Should we incessantly divide over every peccadillo in the Church? In Jesus’ commentary on the weeds he explained that heaven will make the final judgment. Christians have strong opinions and ought to feel free to express them without persecution. But, in the end we must agree to disagree without causing division. Heaven hates division. Do we trust that Jesus is the Head of the Church? Do we believe that any corporate sins that remain do so because he allows the weeds to remain in the field?

The Evil of Shunning

The Shunning
(The Heritage of
Lancaster County)

Some Christians shun those who wander off the straight and narrow. The question of what to do with the tares in the Church until the harvest is not fully addressed in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. Some see this as tolerance for sin. Yet, that is not what Jesus expounded in other places such as Matthew 18:12-18. Those whose wrongdoings are of great offence to the Christian community are to be dealt with, but shunning is not what Jesus taught. An unrepentant sinner is to be treated like a gentile. Christians do not shun their non-Christian neighbors. Those who refuse to provide for their families are worse than those they shun (1 Timothy 5:7-8). Shunning is the opposite of what Jesus taught. He taught us to leave the ninety nine and try to help the one that wanders off.

Being Fruitful

Paul taught what the fruit of the Spirit is (Galatians 5:22-23), but Jesus taught how it develops, in the right soil (Matthew 13:8, 23). What is our spiritual environment? How important are church attendance and preaching which immerses us in the nurturing soil of God's word? The word of God is a quote of something God said. It is also the Bible. It is also the Gospel. It is also inspired preaching about Christ. Do we find God’s word in the Bible, in the Gospel and in Christ-centered preaching? Jesus said that we need two things to grow, to “hear” the word of God and to understand it. We hear the word in a church that preaches the word. When we hear and understand the word of God, then we will see real spiritual fruit in our lives.

Indiscriminate Sower

I threw out most of my church growth and evangelism books because I found them to contradict the Bible as much as they quoted it. One example is Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 where Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven being like an indiscriminate sower. This contradicts many of the theories surrounding church growth like targeting statistically measurable demographics. Yet, there is no such target audience in this parable. The seed of the kingdom is sown with wild abandon. I like that. It’s like spreading of the Gospel with faith instead of using man-made formulas. A leader in the church growth movement once told me that he could build a church a mile wide but only an inch deep, only a pastor can build depth. I might differ slightly in that Jesus promised us that he would build his Church.

Hope for the Weak in Faith

Assistance for
the Weak in Faith

The parable of the sower and the seed in Matthew 13:1-7, 18-22 seems to offer little hope for those who may be weak. What will happen to those who briefly heard of the kingdom of heaven but before they could dig any deeper it was snatched out of their possession? What happens to those who fall away because they are not grounded in the faith and have no endurance? What about those who are deceived by their wealth and choked by cares of this world and in spiritual poverty? The parable does not answer the question, but we can find some hope outside of it. For instance, the disciples all fell away for a time after Jesus’ death. Most of them eventually found strength and endured. There is hope for the weak in faith who stumble but eventually return.

Results Driven Church

Results Driven
Manager

For the results driven church Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 puts things in perspective: some efforts will fail and some will succeed. What do we do when church programs fizzle? When they succeed does that mean that they will always succeed? Do we change or persist planting seeds where they once produced? Can soil conditions change? Is good soil always good or can it become depleted? Can former paths, thorns or rocks become good soil? What about those in the Church who once rejected the Gospel but eventually came around? Do we quit scattering seed where it previously failed or keep sowing in hope that it may eventually succeed? Are we so anxious about failure that we cautiously spread very little seed, or are we careless and extravagant in spreading the Gospel, knowing that some of our efforts will be fruitful?

Success through Failure

Why Success Always
Starts with Failure

An old axiom says that failure is the stepping stone to success. Perhaps the reason that most people do not succeed more than they could is that they are afraid of failure. Yet, even Jesus taught that the road to success was paved with failures (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23). Before the farmer had a successful crop he failed in three areas. We too fail God in all these same areas. We allow the devil to snatch the word of God away from us. We allow the deceitfulness of wealth to choke out the word of God. We are shallow in faith and quit too easily. The one sowing the message has not quit. Paths can be plowed up, thorns can be uprooted and rocks can be pulverized into good productive soil. All our failures can be stepping stones to success.

Where Church Growth Fails

Celebrating
Failure

The farmer in Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 had crop failure in three areas — on the pathway, on the rocks and among the thorns. These are likewise three areas of failure in church growth. The church sows the Gospel among those who are not ready for it. The most important message on the planet is given to those who are distracted by Satan, wealth and persecution. Results are similar to those in the parable. Does that mean that we should avoid preaching to people who are influenced by evil, the rich and those in persecuted countries? The first century church flourished midst horrible evils, surrounded by wealth and experienced about 300 years of severe persecution. Yet, in the midst of failure the church grew faster then than at any other time in history. Where church growth fails it also succeeds.