Recently I sold my truck to a young couple in their early twenties. We spent a few hours together at the young man's credit union finalizing the sale. We talked about his job with Publix, my job as a pastor, and the many poor choices we had made throughout our lives. At one point, the young man turned the conversation towards religion or to be more specific why he doesn't attend church. Quite simply, he doesn't go to church because the Christians he's known have been a bunch of hypocrites. From his life experience, the church might as well be named Hypocrites Incorporated.
I reflected on the young man's comments for a few days and the thought occurred to me that value judgements always have a referent upon which they are based. And the question came to me, "What does it mean when a 'non-believer' makes a value judgement about the church?"
I believe there is a standard and a morality that exists within the heart of humanity which is based upon the longing of an ideal once known but long forgotten. An echo reverberates through each of us that is more than morality or moral behavior. As Ravi Zacharias notes, morality is a sign or manifestation of humanity's true purpose - to love God and to love one another. Non-believers in Christ and atheists alike affirm humanity's inherent purpose when they make value judgements criticizing or critiquing Christians as a bunch of hypocrites. To say something is lacking or malformed is implicitly a value judgment based upon a referent, standard, or ideal. Truth be told, an ideal has been buried deep within our existence that we spend our lives trying, hoping, wishing to see expressed or lived out if only for a moment. On those rare occasions we glimpse its existence something beyond words within our souls says yes (or in Greek Amen)!
The church is full of hypocrites, but there are moments when stale tradition, misguided morality, and exclusive doctrine disappear and the people who follow Jesus reflect a love that won't be labeled, coerced, or withheld. On those rare occasions, a longing that lives within the heart of each of us finds itself saying Amen!
Oh, if but for a moment we could be such a people.
3 comments:
I agree completely. I believe also that atheists and non-believers have a portrait of the church that is unrealistic to what humanity is. I think we are help to an impossible standards in which they themselves cannot uphold. The question I have is what is the best way to convey the message of Christ to people who are on the outside looking in?
It was once said in a talk I heard that if hypocrites keep you out of church, than the hypocrites are one step closer to God than you are. I come from a mixed religion family which meant that religion was pushed down my throat, but not lived. That was hypocritical to me. The best way to get me to church is through love and kindness and the example of the way you live. The examples make the difference! They bless you, and they bless the one who sees the example.
Allen, I've been thinking about the story of Balaam in Numbers lately. As far as I can remember, he wasn't a Hebrew but he was a prophet. I wonder to what extent we, as followers of Jesus, want to defend our hypocrisy or brush it off when statements like these are made? Further, I wonder what might change if we allowed ourselves to see these folks as prophets through him God speaks in order to help us reflect on what it means for the church to be the reflection of Christ in the world? The standard, BTW, that Scripture holds up for us. Peace bro.
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