Band of Brothers

"But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." - Matthew 9:36

This week's elephant in the auditorium is the lack of Christ-like compassion in modern evangelical denominational Christianity. Yes, this is a general statement and there are, as always, exceptional people serving Christ with genuine love for God and their fellow man. Unfortunately, those exceptional people seem to be just that, the exception.

Case in point, just this past Sunday one of elders of the church I pastor approached me after the service; she was nearly in tears. This kingdom-minded lady does not have a judgmental nor vindictive bone in her body. She serves with love and devotion to God as well as the people He puts in her path. The reason for her tears was due to one of the church members blindsiding her with condemning comments about her choice of clothing before the morning service.

In the span of about 5 seconds the condemning words from a member of God's family brought this lady from a place of joy to a place of sorrow simply because she did not meet the dress requirements of one of her fellow brethren.(The offending article of clothing was a pair of blue jeans). What most troubles me about this exchange is the absolute lack of compassion shown by the saint who felt compelled to bring their opinion to this woman's attention. Apparently the sin of wearing denim to church was a far greater crime against God and His word than the sin of judging and condemning a fellow believer in Christ (Matthew 7:1; Romans 8:1; Romans 14).

Another example of this void of compassion in Christianity revolves around my second pastorate in Galena Park. Believe me I've got a guano mine of examples of compassionless Christians from that second pastorate but the one glaring example stems from my attempt to start a Spanish-speaking mission from our church.

Anyone who knows anything about the Galena Park, TX area knows it is predominantly Hispanic. My desire was to minister to those in our community. We had the minister, the support of other churches and the facilities to make it happen. We even had some Hispanic saints attending our church...at least until the vote to begin the mission came.

I'll never forget the shock I felt when I opened the floor for discussion before bringing the mission effort to a vote. One by one my oldest and (supposedly) most experienced and wise saints stood to voice their opposition to this effort. The excuses they gave were some of the most blatantly racist and ignorant statements I've ever heard in a public forum. The statements ranged from asking why 'these people' just don't go to one of their own churches to (and I'm not making this up) voicing concerns over 'these Mexicans using our toilets'. The vote was taken and the effort was voted down. Ironically, this church had taken the effort to permanently paint the church's foundational mission statement on its exterior sign for all the world to see: "Independent, Fundamental, Missionary".

Compassion means "to have mercy on; to help one afflicted or seeking aid; to help the afflicted, to bring help to the wretched." The words "pity" and "empathy" are synonymous with the word "compassion". Christ's motivation for everything he did on earth was compassion (Matt.14:14; Matt. 15:32; Matt.20:34). Since the word "Christian" literally means to "be like Christ" I assume Christians are to be motivated by the same stimulus as their leader. For far too many, this fundamental fact has been tossed aside in favor of defending denominational/doctrinal distinctives and man-made rules and regulations.

There are many Christians who believe Christianity is the most perfect expression of love and compassion known to man. In fact, I've heard preachers assert that only Christians have the capacity to show true love and compassion. This is false. If you doubt me just read Exodus 2:6 (which happens to be the first time the word "compassion" is used in the KJV of the Bible) and see who the bible describes as showing compassion for another human being.

The title of this blog is taken from the book and HBO mini-series about the lives and experiences of the men of Easy Company during World War II. What you'll find is that human beings have an amazing capacity for compassion for their fellow man. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the story of men and women who form unbreakable bonds during wartime. I believe it is a telling point to observe men and women who have no spiritual affiliation whatsoever showing more love, compassion and loyalty to one another than an entire nation full of Christian churches.

We should be the example that others follow. Christians should have the reputation of a company of brothers who would die for one another instead of kill one another over dress code violations and bathroom habits. The sad truth is the enemy succeeded in dividing and conquering us a long time ago by convincing men and women that it is the pinnacle of godliness to major on the minors and ignore the majors of the scriptures. I still hear pastors screaming on the radio about the sin of compromising the word of God by allowing women to wear pants in church or by using the wrong version of the bible or one of 1,000 other minor topics that have no bearing on eternity one way or the other.

Ungodly judgment is founded in selfishness and bitterness and these things are the exact opposite of pity, empathy and compassion. Would to God that His people would stop trying to find reasons to divide and start doing what the bible says (1 Peter 3:8) for a change.

I find it amazing that God was able to do more ministry with one physical human body and 12 helpers in 3 1/2 years than he's been able to accomplish with a global Body of Christ and millions of servants. I believe we wouldn't need homeless shelters and other para-church organizations like Promise Keepers if the church would stop eating their own and simply start letting love and compassion be their motivation for their actions (James 1:26-27).