I want this to be a community based blogg so many times I will post my next topic based on what is happening within the context of Church, my own life (which could be scary) and comments that are posted on the blogg. Lauren C and David brought up some interesting points in the last blogg and I would like to expound upon those thoughts, add some more and see what you all think. By the way, everyone is making good comments.
I have always struggled with the churches place within a society. I get tired of both preachers and politicians who use their proverbial pulpits to say their thoughts. I have found that we all keep saying the same things and there is never change that occurs. If these sermons that are preached are so deep rooted in human existence, should there not be some form of response. What tends to happen is extremisms. On the religious side everyone and everything becomes the devil incarnate. The church begins to picture all things as an attack on God almighty and makes proclamation of divine grandeur. These proclamations only deepen the wound instead of skillfully adding stitches. Let it be stated loud and clear that the God that designed the vast wonders of the universe does not need the church to defend His honor. The churches job is to serve the master builder and provide the truth that will lead others to follow the builder’s plans. Unfortunately the church tends to push the world out and bandage its own. Do not read too far into this, there are plenty of churches that have profound impacts on culture. These very same churches are the ones that are attacked the most by a society that wants them to be active in practice and silent in spirit.
The other side of this coin is the place of the government within this cosmic battle of good and evil. The government is not, “Babylon the great.” (That is a shout out to my Sunday School class) The problem is the compartmentalizing of life by the government. There has been a lack of people to serve the people, I.E the church, to the extreme that the government has been forced or sometimes has forced itself into places of authority. These places have become diving boards for a lost world to plunge into deeper distress. How can someone who doesn’t believe in God almighty ever know what is true justice? They cannot. The person can grasp at straws to fix momentary problems but can never go to the root of the issue. Government cannot dig into the core of humanity and change the lives of people, only God can. This is why things such as murder, rape and theft will continue until the world is changed from its core. We must also remember that God has given the government all of its authority. Disagree? Here are some verses…….
I Peter 2:13”Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,”
Romans 13
Be Subject to Government
1Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
2Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
3For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;
4for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
5Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
6For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.
7Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
8Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
So here is the question, what is the churches job? It is true that the church is called to love people; the problem is that our love cannot just be seen in handouts and hugs. The love that, “compels us,” is a love that desperately wants people to come to the saving knowledge of Christ. This means that the church must relocate itself from sanctuaries to sanitariums, from its pristine walls to broken homes. The church must intentionally go deep into the recesses of world and bring life to them. Is it not sad, the church has spent so much time powdering its nose that we assume the blush on everyone’s face is real.
I do not know where government and church meet. I know that the church has an eternal call to follow the plan of our great builder. This should compel us to work with all people on all levels, praying for those few who will receive and come to know the grace, which abounds inside of us.
