Drinking Milk or Eating Meat?

Yesterday I had two people approach me; one was personal, and one was a letter from the past (from well before I arrived at First Christian Murfreesboro). The first person sent me a message thanking me for leading them towards reading the Bible for themselves instead of getting spoon fed. This person felt that they had found a healthy church and was able to examine the Scriptures to see what a healthy church looked like. The letter was from someone I had never met; it was written to the church probably about 40 (or so) years ago, and yet it still spoke to me, and on much the same subject: Christians show up at church, expect to hear a message, but their walk does not reflect what the Scriptures say. They expected the elders or preacher to live and do the work, but they themselves were living as they wanted to live instead of a careful lifestyle examined through the Scriptures.

If we read the Bible, even lackadaisically, we find that this is not a new topic! People either follow the laws hoping to be saved, or they feel that since they are God’s people, they can do what they want, and His grace will cover their sins, so why not live it up, right? We (I’ll say we, because I’m sure most of us are not innocent of this) think that because our grandparents thought this, or our congregation voted, or this is our tradition, or a preacher taught that this is the way things must be. We don’t examine the Scriptures to inform our walk with Christ, and, instead, trust in someone else to get us there. What?! Friends, this shouldn’t be, and yet, even among many Church leaders, this is how it is! I don’t know how many times I’ve heard preachers say to me “if I preached like you, they’d vote me out” or “I’d get reprimanded” or a plethora of other things. I’ve seen preachers abandon the Gospel to make a more seeker friendly church and sacrifice boldness for growth results. In our day and age, we’ve created a church culture that says, “If it gets too hard, I’ll shop around” or “I’ll vote him out” or “I’ll run to the manager.” Yet if we examine Scripture, it’s SUPPOSED to be hard! A small church isn’t necessarily doing it right, and a growing church isn’t necessarily preaching the Gospel. Church members must stop looking at externals, and, as the person who messaged me yesterday said, seeking to be spoon fed, and get into the meat of the word for themselves. We need to, as the brother did in our congregation 40 years ago, examine ourselves and the church and say, “How are we living up to the Scriptures?” and “what are we doing wrong, according to the Scriptures?” And then, beginning with ourselves and working outward, we need to, through the Holy Spirit and by the Scriptures make the necessary changes.

1 Corinthians 3

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.