A Moment Of Clarity...
You know, I was chewing on the whole "tower of Babel" story in Genesis 11 today and it struck me, I think that division among the church (most notably in the form of denominationalism) is perhaps
NECESSARY and
GOD BREATHED.
What could I possibly mean by that? Let me explain...
Upside down!
I for one have always ranted about how wicked division among believers is. Even last night as I was speaking with someone from a German Baptist persuasion, I moaned about how wicked it is that we are all so divided.
Often such division is rooted in nothing more than varied interpretations of the Bible. That's it. It's like the scene in "The Life Of Brian" where they are trying to figure out the meaning of the sandal. Hilarious... and bitterly true.
But I feel like God might be telling me differently today. After all, our ways are NOT His ways.
The Bitter Pill.
As postmoderns (or those desperately wishing they were), we bitch and moan about the church having lost significance. We secretly pout at the failed experiment we called "church". We try to regroup and emerge anew.
FRESH
BOLD
RELEVANT
EFFECTIVE
EVOCOTIVE
DIFFERENT
But, in all of our zeal, I fear for us too. I fear that, if the emerging church grows too structured... if it becomes too tangible and easily defined... if it starts to gain organization and directive...
if you can point at it and say "there it is"... it
too will falter, for its form alone. God will see to it.
Lessons from Babel...
The point is not to keep us from arriving at His level. God isn't threatened by us. He is not knocking us to the ground because we are getting too close! On the contrary! As we unite, we drift further away from Him. We begin to elect elders and leaders. We begin to assign power to places, times, and agendas. We begin to THINK that we "get it" as we drift further from the fact that we are perpetually NOT getting it.
In that chapter in Genesis, it seems clear to me that God shot those folks down because they were
too close to becoming self-sufficient. Dangerously close to forgetting how much they
needed redemption. The tower wasn't too tall.
The people were too united.
Taking it all in...
From what I gather, too much community... too much unity... leads to too many accomplishments. And too many accomplishments lead to a feeling of sufficiency. And a feeling of sufficiency leads us in the opposite direction of the cross.
"Who needs God? LOOK what WE'VE DONE!"
We don't say it...
and we deny it if accused...
but we're so good at LIVING it.
"Make yer point son!"
I have MANY suppositions about the purpose and function of the Bible, but today I gained a new one.
Could it be that we are SUPPOSED to be confused?
Is it SUPPOSED to be vague?!
Is it SUPPOSED TO DIVIDE!?
DARE I SAY...
THE BIBLE IS
SUPPOSED
TO DIVIDE
US?!
I think so.
God is no bumbling fool.
If it needs to be clear... it will be.
That is that.
If it
isn't clear... the there's a
reason for it.
Today, we see a church that is spilt every which way. Up and down, side to side, and straight through the middle. We see Christians, like ants under a kicked stone, running madly around... trying to make sense of it all. Killing one another in the process.
Gaining perspective...
From our vantage point, it's a mess. Dogma eat Dogma. But I believe... it is pleasing to God? To see us all so incapable? To see us searching instead of settling? To see us needing instead of having? To see us struggling instead of accomplishing? That is where He wants us. Why?
Because perhaps, at the end of the day, when the sun goes down and we hunker around or work lights out in the garage... trying to figure out why "it" didn't work... we might one night, eventually realize that we are simply
not enough. That the work is futile. That the results are temporary. And that "temporary" is ultimately unnaceptable. Then perhaps, when we emerge the following morning, into a world of second chances... we might look toward HIM for hope. For peace. For security. For accomplishment. For value.
But what about LOVE?
Does saying God chooses to divide us mean that God chooses for us to hate one another? Absolutely NOT! How awful. On the contrary, we are to LOVE ONE ANOTHER. What good is it if you only love those who love you? What good is it if you only love those who agree with you? There is no honor in that. This supposition about God desiring our division only enhances the beauty of love when we choose to love one another... despite the cataclysmic rift that God has placed between us. Could love
be more authentic than that?
"Finger Pointing"
If the church is over... I'm not sure that I completely blame us anymore. I think that God might have just picked up the rock we were under and started flicking us around... breaking up our best laid plans... sending us into a pathetic and beautiful downward spiral. Smiling as He watches us scamper about wondering, "what did WE do wrong?"
It's what we did
right that was wrong.
Our
strengths were our damming weaknesses...
drawing attention away from Christ and leaving it on us.
The Bible.
A tool of division.
Left in Christ's wake,
not to fill the void,
but to maintain it.
a virus in our system
loaded by the administrator himself
A thorn in our minds
that will firmly linger
until Christ returns.
the equation
not the solution
Dividing us.
Confusing us.
Keeping us in a perpetual state of need.
What an interesting and bold idea that is!
