Loving Jesus means loving His Church

Loving Jesus means loving His Church!

He (God) is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 1:22-23 (MSG, parenthesis mine)

God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 3:10-11 (NLT2)…

Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. Ephesians 5:25-26 (NLT2)

“I love Jesus, but I don’t care much about organized religion,” sounds pious, but is a bunch of hogwash. It is like saying, “I love Jesus, but I have no use for the Bible.” God/Jesus is organized, all of creation is organized, but the church, which Jesus founded, died for, loves, and is still building is somehow unorganized? It defies both logic and scripture.

“I love Jesus, and my church is out there in nature.” Your church might be out there on some beautiful mountain top but Jesus’ church, the one He laid down his life for and is constantly interceding for is not there, because Jesus church is made up of people, saved sinners, who congregate, want to grow in their knowledge and application of the word of God, and who minister together.

“I love Jesus, but that doesn’t mean I have to go to church.” Yes, it does (Hebrews 10:24-25), because the Holy Spirit has made you part of Christ’s body, Christ’s church, from the moment you believed in Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:13). A Christian “goes to church” because s/he is part of and belongs to the church, in order to contribute to the life of the church all that God has shaped and the Holy Spirit has gifted him/her for. To merely think of church in terms of “going to church” is being ignorant of the nature, purpose, and importance of the church.

I love Jesus, but I had all the church I’ll ever need as a kid. My parents drug me there every time the doors opened.” Three things: 1. Good for your parents. 2. You are no longer a kid, time to grow up and take responsibility for your spiritual life, and your obedience to Christ. 3. You can’t tank up on church like you fill a gas tank, we need church like one body part needs all the others in order to thrive and live (1 Corinthians 12).

Hopefully, if you have children, you will raise them to love Jesus and all that He loves, including His church.“I love Jesus, but I have been hurt by the church.” That one hurts, because far too often this has been a true statement and because I have experienced it myself. You can get hurt in church, and sooner or later you will get hurt in church. That never excuses any dysfunction and sinfulness in the church, but it is the reality of people of all kinds of backgrounds, various levels of spiritual maturity, … sharing life together and daring to become like Jesus.

I have been in ministry for over 40 years, 36 of them as a pastor, and during that time I have witnessed plenty of ugliness in the church, enough to the check out on the church many times over. I can only imagine how grieved Jesus, who sees and knows the sum-total of all Christian sinfulness, wickedness, carelessness, and ugliness, must be. And yet, He has not chucked the church but instead continues to love and refine her.

So, how can I turn my back on what Jesus loves so much and refuses to give up on? Jesus and his church are to be central in the Christian life, they are not meant to be mere add-ons. The testimony of the New Testament is that followers of Jesus reorganized their entire lives around Christ, His church, His word, His purposes, and all He loves, and they did it together.So, have you excused yourself from being part of the church, checked out on the church, defined the church differently than scripture defines it, minimized the importance of the church, been an accuser of instead of a participator in the church, someone who added a little church instead living a life as devoted to the church as Jesus?It is time to love Jesus and His church! It is time to become a full and life-long participator in the church! Do it!
To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans 

Getting It Right

It is so easy to be wrong. Sometimes being wrong is not a big deal, like not listening to your wife and cooking a batch of chocolate chip cookies at 450 instead of 350 degrees. Sometimes being wrong has huge implications, like Chamberlain trusting Hitler and declaring, “Peace for our time,” or persistently denying or ignoring the existence of God, only to find yourself standing before the judgment seat of God.

Can you imagine being in our president’s or our governor’s shoes at this time? I am fairly certain that you wouldn’t want to get your handling of the COVID-19 crisis wrong. So much on the line for millions of people, for your political party, for your own political career. You would need input and advice from wise counsel in regard to public health issues, economic concerns, budget implications, public sentiment, political considerations, and so much more. Then you would have to weigh all this information and make timely decisions that the power of your office allows you to make. All the while, you would have no shortage of critics screaming that you are getting it all wrong.

I have not been entrusted with an ounce of authority regarding civil government and the public decisions that have to be made. But, I have been entrusted with authority to lead an assembly of believers known as the Lake Don Pedro Baptist Church according to the will of Christ (the head of the church) and the leading of the Holy Spirit according to the Scriptures (the Bible). How do we as Christians not get it wrong? How long do we suspend the assembling/being-together-life integral to our faith and being a church? How much submission to the authority of the state is appropriate for a church? At what point are we justified in rejecting governmental authority and take a stance of civil disobedience?

The opinions, voices, and criticisms within the church are as divided as they are in the general public. “The state has no authority regarding the church!” “No, we have to apply Romans 13:1-10 and 1 Peter 2:13-17!” “God will protect us and heal us!” “Our highest priority is to love our neighbor!” Allow me to tackle a few of these and the process give you some insight into what has been guiding me.

• Our highest, supreme, royal laws are to love God and to love our neighbor (Mark 12:28-34). Knowing this we are forced to live in continual dependence on the Holy Spirit and his Word (the Bible) to help us figure out how to practice both of these commandments and the tensions they can create. Loving my neighbor does not mean I stay silent about his/her racism etc., but it also means I will not endanger his or her health. At this point, we do know that close contact large group gatherings are particularly problematic in spreading COVID. In that sense it matters little what Walmart or Lowe’s is permitted to do by the state, it matters what scripture’s core laws compel us to.

• The Head of the Church is Christ (Colossians 1:13-20) not the state and any of its representatives (In fact, even the state is under the authority of Christ). This, however, does not mean the church can or should ignore all state authority, for instance, we should adhere to building codes, fire codes. However, regardless of any actions and orders of the state, the church is the custodian of the both the Gospel and the Faith (A Christian worldview) that permeates all aspects of life, and the church’s allegiance to and practice of these is uniquely subject to Christ alone. I have led our church to comply with the official orders not out of a recognition of the state’s authority over us but out of the freedom we have in Christ to do so.

• The church has from its beginning lived in tension and often open conflict with public and state authority (You do not have to look any further than Jesus). Christians throughout history have lived in and had to sort through that tension and conflict in order to have clear conscience with both God and man, often at a very high price. In this navigation we do well to remember to make every effort to be at peace with all men (Romans 12:18).

• Does God protect and heal? The answer is unequivocally, “YES!” Is God obligated to protect and heal even when we practice foolishness, ignore sound knowledge, and trample on established wisdom because we claim faith? The answer is unequivocally, “NO!” Faith never excuses foolishness, in fact, foolish faith is a stumbling block to reach the lost.

Since I am way past of this being a short pastor’s note, let me add a few things that irritate me.

• Christians navigating, opinionizing, speaking out based on their political persuasion and overdosing on news outlets and pundits rather than reading the Bible extensively, daily, with a willingness to apply it, even if it completely contradicts our politics and opinions.

• Christian pontificating that is devoid of actions, not reaching out, not sharing the Gospel, not helping in some shape or form.

• Christians without Kingdom of God vision, acting like this is all there is, afraid of all the things unbelievers are fearful of, content as long as they are okay and have it their way.

• Little, if any, acknowledgment of the value and work of the church by our governmental leaders, acting as if they have to invent what the church has done since it’s inception, loving, helping, taking care of people.

Finally, since this is no way of ending this pastor’s note:

• I thank God for all those in our government who are working incredibly hard to get it right, may God give them favor, insight, foresight, and some rest.

• I thank God for the encouragement of brothers and sisters who have reached out to Susie and me, who are daily looking to be used by God, who are searching the Scriptures in order to direct their own minds and lives, and who are praying with me for the church to get this right.

 To God be all glory. Love and miss you, Pastor Hans  

Mabel Tubbs, racism, and church

October 23 2011Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. … so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:8-11 (NASB)She had lived a good long time before I showed up in her life, 65 years. She cast one of the votes that made me the interim pastor of the Lake Don Pedro Baptist Church, five years after she helped start it. She was a widow, independent, and very good with people. When my Mama first met her she promptly declared her my American Mom, a challenge and responsibility she gladly accepted. She was one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life, she was a gift, someone who made me richer. She opened up her checkbook of life to me and my family and deposited an incorruptible wealth into our lives, enough to last us. In that she was Christlike. She was our Mabel TubbsI am surprised she didn’t quit our church. She had plenty of opportunity and reason to do so. Mabel was the first, and for a long time the only African American/ black member of our church. When it comes to racism Southern Baptists do not have a glorious history waiting until 1995 to officially denounce racist attitudes and practices of the past. When I arrived in 1984 our church wasn’t overtly racist, our founding Pastor, Lowell Barnes, would not have put up with it. But plenty of covert racism and insensitivity remained.Once, when a deacon proposed to have a “slave for a day” auction as a youth fund raiser, Mabel stood and with patience, humility, and love educated us. When she overheard another deacon talking about his “Nigger-stick” (base ball bat) in his truck she was deeply hurt, and I was livid. But she said, ”Now Pastor, before you go out and make a bigger mess …,” and she got me hooked into a long conversation, followed by a longer time of prayer that dripped with grace, forgiveness, and compassion. She didn’t leave, she didn’t throw in the towel, she made us richer as a church. She helped put us on the right footing. We might never know how much personal pain, frustration, and disappointment she put up with in order for us to be a church that loves people without giving any thought to the color of their skin or ethnicity. Mabel Tubbs wasn’t just a charter member of this our church, she is one of the stones of its foundation.There are many of you who did not have the opportunity to know her personally since God placed you into our church family, but I want you to remember what Mabel Tubbs did for us,she made us better, she left us richer. I pray we dare to follow in her footsteps, to understand the importance of belonging to a church, to be determined to make a difference, to live out of the security of Christ, to not easily be offended, to be quick to forgive, to serve with humility and faithfulness, and to above all love people – all people.We give glory to God, for the life and work of Mabel Tubbs among us.Love you, Pastor Hans