My walk with Christ has left me feeling a bit odd, even amongst a peculiar people. It’s as if the body of Christ is swaying joyfully to the music and I’m unrhythmically searching for the beat. So many of my brother’s in the ministry get in and quickly find a groove. After 10 years, mine still eludes me. My convictions keep me in the body but out pof the flow.
I think others notice too. I hear them struggling to find the words to describe me. Though I’m really not trying to be, I hear repeatedly that my preaching is “deep.” I don’t think it’s always intended to be a complement and I don’t find it flattering.
What confuses me is that few in the body tell me that I’m wrong. In fact, most agree and even encourage me. They simply don’t join me. Although they don’t often say it aloud, they don’t think what I believe works. Its not in rhythm.
What are these things that keep me out of rhythm. Well, here is a short list.
1. I believe that people should be equipped on Sunday mornings through the regular preaching of the word. Sunday morning preaching should be weighty enough to equip.
2. I believe the essential task of preaching is to communicate the author’s intended meaning. To do this, his subject must be my subject. And what he says about it I must also say.
3. A steady dose of topical preaching will not provide a foundation upon which to build an understanding of the faith. The great story of God redeeming all creation for His glory is reduced to our individual struggles and triumphs.
4. We do not trust God enough to teach the righteousness of God is by faith apart from the works of the law. It sounds to much to us like encouraging lawlessness. So, whom the Son has set free is not free indeed.
5. Jesus became a curse for us so that we can never be cursed with a curse, even if we do not tithe. The Church must live by faith too. This we may fear the most.
6. The greatest witness to the power of the Gospel in this culture is an intentionally multiethnic church where people love each other. In this culture, we do most everything together, except worship, and it undermines the truth of the Gospel. But homogeneous church is just easier.
7. Because there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one body of Christ, our faith must be historic and not personal. My relationship with the Lord can be intimate but it cannot be Him and me alone. When I became a believer, I became a member of the body.
You may see now why many don’t believe these things will work. The failure of my church plant is further prove that they may be right. So I continued to struggle with my oddness. But to just sway along would be to do harm to my conscience. Today, however, I believe I have clarity about where I stand. I still feel I’m an oddity, but I understand better. It hit me like a thunderbolt, when I heard it said that to invoke real change you have to think outside the box. That’s when it dawned on me.
I’m just not in the box.
The Point of Reflection 