A Question From Jesus

Jesus asked the Pharisees one time "Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?" As you know, he went on to point out to them how they were doing this and then declared "Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition". I'll come back to that.

Before writing "UNchristian", David Kinnaman and his team questioned thousands of Mosaics (born between 1984 and 2002) and Busters (born between 1965 and 1983). His research was from all parts of the USA, and it went on for several years. Here is what he says about the title of the book: "In fact, the title of this book reflects outsiders' most common reaction to the faith.......they think Christians no longer represent what Jesus had in mind, that Christianity in our society is not what it was meant to be".

One aspect of his research jumped out at me. Among young outsiders that he interviewed, right at 85% said they personally knew a committed Christian. Yet, only 15 percent thought the lifestyles of those Christ followers were significantly different from the norm. In blunt terms, they see Christians as hypocritical. And it's not just the lifestyles. Kinnaman went on to explain: "It's not just our lifestyles that have gotten us in trouble, it's THE VERY WAY IN WHICH WE CONVEY THE PRIORITIES OF BEING A CHRISTIAN. THE MOST COMMON MESSAGE PEOPLE HEAR FROM US IS THAT CHRISTIANITY IS A RELIGION OF RULES AND REGULATIONS. They think of us as hypocritical because they are measuring us by OUR OWN STANDARDS". Pretty incredible, huh. Should we wonder why the Mosaics and Busters stay away from us like the plague? Sounds a lot like what Isaiah observed in his time: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me". The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:12 "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets". When the world sees Christians calling out individuals or other churches in PUBLIC without giving those individuals or groups of people an opportunity to defend themselves, they conclude we are hypocritical. That's not "doing unto others". And duh, they don't see us acting any different than the unbelieving world around them. Folks that call others out in public are a dime a dozen in our culture. Don't believe me? Turn on your tv. Pick up a newspaper. That's what THE WORLD does.

We are to be above that. Aren't we? I know we don't want to be seen as hypocritical, and we also don't want to lose our saltiness or the ability to shine our light in a dark place. If our light is not any brighter than those in the world around us, will it shine?

How does this relate to my first paragraph? We know what Jesus said about "do unto others", but many will turn their head and be ok with one who calls a brother out in public over a tradition. Or calls a church out over it. Therefore, I see that as breaking the command of God for the sake of a tradition.

That's not who we are. Christians are called to a higher standard than that. That is not discipleship.

May God forgive us.