This is Me: Finding My Voice

‘And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” ‘
Matthew 16:18-19 ESV

The Church.

One of God’s most underrated miracles. A place for people of all forms of life to dwell together and be in community with. A place where people grow together and help each other to be the versions of ourselves that God aspires us to be, while worshipping and honoring God and him dwelling in the sanctuary. A please that we can mourn out loud, celebrate out loud, and be our authentic versions.

Sounds too good to be true. At times it feels like it.

I grew up in church. I have felt pain and hurt because of the people in church. I wanted to emphasize that it was the people and not God. Because God didn’t hurt me. The people did. And that hurt has unknowingly glazed my eyes with what behavior is acceptable in church. And God, in his love, has been patiently showing and revealing and teaching me things in the church and my life that I’ve been neglecting because of my hurt. And I guess I want to take some place to gather my thoughts and really breakdown what’s going on currently in my church and the big Church.

Phrases such as “God is Love” and “Only God can judge me” as well as “Love the sinner hate the sin” have made very toxic

And I’m not saying this as a way to judge (and please let me know if it’s sounding Pharisees/Sadducees like). We are all flawed, whether we are saved or not. I think I’m just trying to bring up conversations about things that we may be sweeping under the rug that we shouldn’t be so we can glorify God.

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1. Purpose of Church

‘And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.’
Acts 2:42-47 ESV

2. One Body: Are We?

I love my church. I think it’s a great place and I’ve grown since I came in 2022. But recently, I’ve started to listen to the Spirit. I’m also thinking out loud so excuse the lack of structure

Types of Christians (Not All Obviously)

1. The Lazy Christian
   • I think a big danger in Christianity is being complacent. But a bigger danger is being satisfied in our relationship with God and not listening to the Holy Spirit with our convictions.
   • It’s not just laziness. I feel like some Christians are cosplaying baby Christians to avoid growing. Like they know what to do but they’re using “I’m new to the faith” as an excuse to not grow or press in with God. Meanwhile, there are Christians who got saved later and are more intimate with God.
   • It feels as if sometimes we don’t want to grow deeper with God because it means that we’d have to give up our sins or it’ll take more work.
   • The danger with this is that the behavior can encourage others (especially new Christians) to also stay stagnant.
   • I’m also pondering the role of the church in this. Yes, the pastor can preach about not doing sin but what does that look like on the daily? And what about if all of the congregation is complacent in being lazy. Acts 2 said that the people were the ones devoting themselves to the apostles’ teachings. The people were the one who was breaking bread and praying together. Not the apostles.
   • I guess my question is what do we do when the congregation is full of “Lazy Christians”. Maybe a better question is what would Christ do?
   • ‘For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.’
     Hebrews 5:12-14 ESV
   • What good is it if we act like we are kindergarteners when we’re supposed to be in college? Yes, there are levels, but at some point we must graduate. How does the church navigate that?
   • I think the big danger in this one is that it leads to things like correction being taken as judgment. And if we can’t correct then how can we ensure growth?
2. “Baby” Christian
   • These are people who are new to the faith but are afraid to speak on their experiences.
   • But more specifically, those who feel afraid to say anyone because they think they are too new or fresh to contribute anything.
   • 1 Timothy 4:12 says “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” Although he was talking about physical age, I believe this can also apply to spiritual age as well. God uses who he chooses to use, and we shouldn’t think that we can’t be significant because we haven’t been a
   • Yes, there are people who have lived life with God and have substantial wisdom, but we should also not discourage new Christians to speak. I’m not saying they should be pastors or leaders. What I am saying is that they should be able to discuss their experiences in Jesus.
   • The Holy Spirit doesn’t come when we have been saved for a certain amount of time. It comes when we receive Jesus as our savior. So why then are we limiting them (externally or internally) and making them believe that their voice doesn’t matter? Or that their perspectives mean less.
   • What is the role of the church with new believers? Not only to guide them and grow them but also to make their voice seem important?
3. Pharisees
   • This one is interesting. Because it’s been around since before Jesus’ time.
   • I think the danger is how people disguise their judgment as love. When it’s not. What it actually judgment is a way to bring a Christian hierarchy of betterness. They believe they are better because they don’t participate in that sin (normally external) while ignoring the own sin in their life. And they will acknowledge that they have sin, but still use it as a way to judge (I know I have my own sin but…”) It’s also interesting because more often than not, they don’t have a relationship with the people they’re judging.
   • The thing is, the Pharisees sometimes forget that they can’t determine someone’s salvation. Only Jesus can. And what’s more, what is their fruit saying?
   • I’m not even saying that they are intentionally trying to judge, I’m saying that consistently looking at others sin without looking at your own is bad but will also bring divisiveness in the church
   • “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
     – Matthew 7:1-5 ESV
   • Because what happens is that we start to idolize other Christians or churches saying, “that’s what we’re supposed to do, that’s what wrong with us Christians…”. Ignoring that they as humans are still sinners and are not perfect. And when we exalt people, we are always going to be let down.
   • I think a question is how we can consistently as a church does not participate in judgment but in correcting in love.
   • Because even with relationships outside of church, we have to confront people who do wrong. Sometimes it feels like we go to two extremes (ignore the sin or overly judge harder than Christ would)
4. Iniquity clothed as authenticity
   • This one is hard. I think God created all of us with different personalities and gifts. And sometimes people’s personalities get categorized as sinful because it doesn’t fit their mold of what they believe Christians should look/act like. So, people are afraid to be authentically themselves in fear of getting pegged as unchristian. (I’m thinking of how people think
   • I do feel, however, that sometimes people take advantage of that and lead sinful lives in the name of authenticity. We are supposed to be consecrated, and everyone has different personal convictions.
   • Being a Christian doesn’t mean we’re devoid of a personality or we’re holy rollers. It does mean we have different standards to submit to than the rest of the world who don’t know Christ. But we can’t let sin become our identity and claim that’s authenticity. That’s not freedom, but bondage.

3. What’s Next?

So, what do we do? And why is this even important? Because we are one body in Christ. And when there’s conflict with one person, that brings conflict within the entire body. Because like it or not, just because people may be in the categories above, that doesn’t mean they’re no longer Christian. So, we have to figure out how to navigate this and push ourselves to be not who we want to be, but who God wants us to be. A better question way is how do we navigate correcting people in love and how do we get out of these categories? And how do we live authentically in Christ while still honoring God the way he made us? I don’t know. Teehee. But the gates of Hell won’t prevail. And these divisive things, I pray God will turn them around and bring unity to his bride.