Have you noticed how the current culture loves to criticize even the very things they support. We love to pick apart our favorite teams. I’m sure you’ve heard: “Our coach is clueless and just doesn’t understand today’s game.” Or “Our quarterback is a has-been and needs to retire.” How about, “Our defense has more holes than Swiss cheese.” I’m guilty of that one for sure. But at the end of the day, we really want our team to win even if we are convinced that some improvements could be made. However, I’m certain that even if our team was the only team on the field, we would still hear both cheers and boos coming from the pews. Oops, I mean bleachers.
Today’s Christian culture has created its own form of schizophrenic fan. Over the last several years, Christian writers have made a living out of “nit picking” every flaw they could find with the Church (universal) or any local church for that matter. Videos, articles, sermons, it seems that no one has anything good to say about it. It’s no wonder that those outside the Church don’t really care to come in when those on the inside have nothing good to say about their own team!
Now let me come clean. I believe there are certainly areas where the local churches could improve. There are certainly changes that could be made and audibles that need to be called, but I don’t suggest that the whole team should be fired and the coach dismissed. The broad, generalizing strokes painted by some seem to suggest just that. I really doubt that Jesus should lose his position as head of the team even if one of his players fumbles the ball or misses a tackle.
Most of the time, those who criticize the church are products of the church. By that I mean that they blame their team for their own success. I compare it to eating those nasty veggies as a kid. They were gross at the time but after 20 years of the stuff they did have healthy benefits just like mom said. I’ve heard things like, “I grew up in a very conservative, fundamental church that didn’t know how to relate to younger people.” Yet twenty years later, that person is a follower of Christ and a product of that upbringing. It would be dishonest to say that the church that didn’t know how to relate to younger people had no impact on their life. I’ve also heard people say, “well that church is just a theater. All the lights and loud music are just a distraction from the real reason the church exists. It is just shallow.” Yet the same person was saved in that church and committed their life to Christ. Now they are a “mature” believer and don’t need all that childish stuff so they have a right to criticize.
The logic just doesn’t match up and reeks of arrogance. I believe the real problem lies within a norm of our culture that is filled with ipods, ipads, iphones, and everything else “i.” Today, our culture has tried to create the iChurch. Everything has to be personalized. If it works for me then it must be the real deal. We may not like everything that happens in the Church but that doesn’t mean we should abandon the whole idea and start from scratch.
The Bible makes it clear that the Church is not ours. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus called the church his. I really don’t want to argue with the Son of God about whose property the Church is. But in reality, that is the issue. Many well intending believers have tried to make the Church their own. Some have come to believe that if it doesn’t resonate with the 20-something crowd, then the church isn’t relevant. Others think if the pastor doesn’t wear a suit and tie but rather sports a tatoo, then that church is nothing but a gathering of immature, faith-compromising hipsters. Most of these assumptions come from our background or our current season of life. Our understanding should actually come from the Scripture.
This straw-man approach to ecclesial debate will not win the game. So do we just let things be? Absolutely not. Martin Luther couldn’t just let things be. He had to do something. But what he did was not simply lob complaints toward the parish or write a self-aggrandizing article for the Roman Catholic Times. He based his actions on Biblical principles that should guide and direct every church that calls itself Christian. If a church is outside the bounds of Biblical theology then it ceases to be THE church. Instead, it is just a gathering of like-minded people. The church is to be a gathering of Christ-minded people.
If you want to complain about the church as an institution, don’t use a capital “C.” Paul asked what right another man had to complain about a servant that wasn’t his own (Romans 14:4). I believe the same question is appropriate to ask about the Church. God instituted himself into man by creating him in His image and redeeming him through Christ. Thus, God created the Church. Later, redeemed mankind, the symbol of God’s love to creation, instituted a method of gathering the Church together in order to equip and propagate the gospel story. There may have been a few turnovers but the game has never been lost. So why don’t we lay off the Church (or church) a little.
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