I'm new to this whole blogger thing. I think I'm reaching the age where "new" technologies don't come as easily to me as it used to. I'm not at the "can't program the clock on the VCR" stage but I have noticed a slight shift in my mentality towards all things "new".
I recognize how hard it is to change our perceptions. As much as I preach about the need to be conformable, I know that as we grow older we just don't bend as easily as we once did. Our muscles don't flex and stretch like they used to; partly due to age but mostly due to lack of use.
The immovability of God's people has done much damage to the Body of Christ. For example, I remember a young couple who started visiting the church I pastored in the mid-90s. These two young souls were typical of the times they were living in; they were living together and had a baby on the way. They were wanting to get married and had chosen our church for the ceremony. When it was known by the powers-that-be in the church that I was planning to marry this couple, I was informed that they needed to "get right with God" before they were to be allowed to use the church building. I recall a speech about our church testimony and the right image and stuff like that.
So, in compliance with these regulations, I introduced the couple to a home-bible study concept and was pleasantly surprised when they agreed to let me come into their home and teach them some Bible lessons. In the course of the lessons, the young couple accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. I, of course, was ecstatic and happily planned for them to be baptized at the next Sunday morning service.
The following Sunday we had a baptism. Now, the tradition of our church was to stand the newly baptized saints in front of the church and have the members line up and welcome them into the family; this was usually accompanied by hugs and words of comfort, encouragement, etc. So, we did that. This young couple stood dripping in the auditorium as their new family members welcomed them into the family of God. It was beautiful.
The next Sunday these new members didn't show up for church. The following week they were absent again. Weeks went by with nary a peep from these two. I called them and got no answer. I went to their house and they were never home (in spite of the fact that their cars were parked out front). Months went by before I finally caught one of them at home. I asked what happened and why they hadn't been back to church since their baptism. The young man hemmed and hawed his way through some weak excuses about new jobs, busy schedules and tired bodies on Sundays but I could tell he was avoiding the real issue.
When he finally got around to telling me what had chased them away my blood boiled. It seems that as these newly converted, freshly baptized babes in Christ were standing in the front of their new church home, several of my well-intentioned but frankly ignorantly stupid saints decided that was the perfect time to instruct them on the church dress codes, moral codes as they pertained to their living conditions, hair styles, codes of conduct and more.
So, instead of being welcomed into the family as newborn babes, they were assaulted by a barrage of rules and regulations that simply did not apply to them at that moment in time. They, naturally, balked at these new restrictions, concluded that Christianity wasn't for them after all and ran for the door as fast as they could. I tried to convince them that what they had seen and heard was not an accurate depiction of God's Word and Christ's church but the damage had been done; I never saw them again.
When I confronted the members who had done this deed the response was a predictable tirade against compromising the Word of God. While I applaud the passion of those who would defend the scriptures, I must point out that there is a wisdom needed by those who would fight for God. Wisdom is knowledge put to proper use. Wisdom knows there is a time to fight and a time to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Wisdom knows when to speak and when to be quiet. Wisdom understands that the time to to bring rebuke to someone is not when they are a brand new baby Christian still dripping wet from their baptism.
When I instructed these folks on the need to change their minds concerning their actions, one brother proudly whipped out Psalm 1 and passionately argued, "What about the scriptures that teach us to be like the tree planted by the waters?" I half expected him to break out into a stirring rendition of "I Shall Not Be Moved". My response to him was to instruct him to keep moving through the Psalms till he got to the tenth one and pay particular attention to verse 6. I also suggested he spend some time with Matthew 15:1-20. I don't think he got the point...
I repeat, the immovable trees in our congregations are not always healthy. People stop studying, stop learning, stop growing and become rooted in place unable to hear from God or see the fresh moves of God in the earth. Many churches have died on the vine because of an unteachable spirit and immovable attitude. I have found that the foundational cause of this mentality of immovability isn't love of God's Word as is commonly touted. The real root of this inflexibility is fear; fear of the unknown, fear of being wrong, fear of being like "those people" across the denominational divide.
I could write/preach on this for the next 1,000 years, but I think the point is obvious. God doesn't change. God's Word doesn't change. God's character doesn't change. God's message doesn't change. God's methods of communicating that message have changed repeatedly over the whole of human history. God's people need wisdom and maturity when tackling issues like this. You can't approach this topic with naked passion and raw zeal; you must have some wisdom and knowledge to go along with those commodities or they will quickly become liabilities (Romans 10:1-2).
As difficult as it may be, we must be willing to flex our muscles and stretch them out lest we become immovable, stagnant and lukewarm towards the move of God. It is very easy to get set in our ways as we grow older. While this malady of immovability is not exclusive to the older generations, far too many of our senior saints have earned the reputation of "old codger/biddy" because of these attitudes and inflexible mentalities. I say this with all the respect due our senior saints; reaching our golden years doesn't give license to become a cranky, inflexible, immmovable grump.
I close this thought with a familiar scripture (Revelation 3:15-16) to remind you that God isn't a big fan of stagnation. Water only becomes stagnant when it stops flowing. The Body of Christ has become stagnant in many ways in our society. For this reason, God is removing candlesticks from His churches (Revelation 2:5) and is shaking things up all across the Body of Christ. It is a very exciting time to be alive as a child of the King. God is moving; if you're not willing to move with Him, you're going to be left on the wrong side of the Jordan river.
If I remember my bible correctly, the only ones who didn't cross the Jordan into the Promised Land were the grumpy ones who would not be moved...
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