You Have to Ask Yourself One Question

I have read articles and blogs, watched vlogs, and listened to people in the foyers of churches. There seems to be a trend in complaining about all the things that the church has been doing wrong. One article I read talked about an expert in cultural relevance who came in to give a seminar to help the church change all the things its doing wrong. A Facebook post I read had to do with mistakes in the way “the church” recruits new people. One blogger gave a list of several things that he could see that needed changed in church culture.

I have to admit here that I have joined in this complaining and talking about all the things that should be different in the church. The things discussed were not heretical ideas or even doctrinal issues that people were having problems with. It seems that there is just a lot of people opinionated about the way churches should be run, witness, do worship or decorate. I know these may seem like petty things but to those having these discussions they are not petty. There is some merit to this huge surge of discussion, but you have to ask your self one question...

What am I doing about it?

I read one article about how unfriendly churches typically are to “outsiders.” I identified the behavior in others quickly—how quickly people will go straight to their group of friends as soon as they get into the church building. If there is a stranger they might greet them heartily with a firm handshake and even a few questions, but in reality they didn’t come to church to make friends they came to see the ones they already have. It’s nice to see your friends. It’s nice to share stories from the week. But when we put the focus on ourselves and what we want to get out of being at church then it is easy to brush over visitors, only give them a surface greeting, or avoid them altogether. Philippians 2:3 tells us “in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.” So here is the question you should ask the next time you complain about how your church treats visitors: “How am I treating visitors?”

Another complaint I have heard is that the church is too judgmental of each other. This is very true! In fact, this is probably one of the biggest turn-offs for outsiders. They see the squabbling and quarrelling going on in churches and think, “Why would I want to choose to be a part of that?”

The interesting thing about this complaint is that it is a very judgmental complaint. Then there is the other side too where the person being judged by others asks, “Well, who are you to judge me?”—yet another judgmental inquisition. Then the judgmental attitude continues to cyclically propel the church culture into a bickering clash of opinions.

We always go to the scripture that says judge not, that ye be not judged (yes you have to say it in King James Version to give it more power, Mat. 7:1). This part of the verse gets taken out of context all too often. Because it goes on to say that the way you judge others is the way that they will judge you. So it is not saying that we should not judge anyone but we need to be careful how we judge. 1 Corinthians 11:31 talks about examining one’s self (or judging ourselves) rightly. This makes me think about the plank in the eye situation. If we have a beam sticking out of our eye then how can we see to help someone remove their speck? This finishes off the context of Matthew 7’s “judge not” statement. It goes on to say remove the plank from your own eye and then you can see to help your friend remove the speck from their eye. It does not say “remove NOT the speck from thy brothers eye!” It encourages us to remove it, but first remove the log/beam/plank from our own eye first.

Jesus talks about judging rightly or justly in John 5:30. His standard for righteous judgment is by measuring it against what God tells him. He says that He can only do what His Father tells him to do and that makes His judgment just. When we align our heart with God’s then our judgment can also be just. But when we judge out of selfishness or personal opinion we become hypocrites with planks in our eye (Mat. 7:5). So here is the question you should ask when you start complaining about how judgmental churches are becoming: “What plank do I have in my eye?”

I hope you get the idea of what I am getting at here. These are only two examples of the issues that are being talked about so much these days, but I have to ask myself, “What am I doing about it?”

James 4:17 tells us, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” There are many things that we are doing wrong, but if all we do is talk about it then we are like the man who looks in the mirror and then walks away and complains about the way he looks all day long! We can obviously see the problems, so if we have discerned that they really are things that be changed then we ought to be the first to jump at it.

One pastor friend told me that he was tired of people coming to him and bringing up an issue or complaint and saying, “The church needs to do something about this!”

He replied, “You’re right, the church should do something! So what are you going to do? After all you are a part of this church as much as anyone else is.”

The church needs to focus on discipleship more; are you discipling anyone? The church needs to have a better presence in the community; are you representing Christ in your community? The church needs to be more forgiving; are you forgiving? The church needs to have better accountability; are you accountable to anyone? The church needs to change this or that, etc.; are you changing?

This is the reality—if we are not happy with the church we have to realize our own responsibility in the matter. We cannot stand around pointing fingers and expect things to change. Change is hard, but if it needs to happen then you are the perfect person to start it. If you expect anyone else to change then you are going to be unhappy all the time because you cannot change people. You can change yourself.

You are the church. I am the church. We need to look into our own lives and ask ourselves one question: What am I doing about it?