A good friend and I went out for dinner last night, and had a nice long conversation. One thing that we discussed was the concept of “black and white” Christianity. To set the stage for where I’m coming from, I think that very few things in life are black and white. In fact, I would argue that a black and white approach to things is often very wrong, and has serious consequences.

Typically when people say black and white they associate it with conservatives. This is usually because conservatives are the most vocal about things that are wrong (i.e. drinking is wrong, smoking is wrong, dancing is wrong, etc.). In other words, they highlight the black (wrong) side of things. However, there is a counterpart to that which we aren’t nearly as hard on, and they are the liberals. This camp likes to say that lots of things are right (white). I think both are dangerous, for a variety of reasons.

(I should like to throw in a note: I do believe that some things are inherently wrong and some things are inherently right, but I am not referring to those. I am speaking to things like drinking, dancing, etc.)

Essentially what I look for is someone who has really wrestled through an issue, sought a Biblical reason for where they fall on the issue, and doesn’t look to judge someone who has a different view on the matter.

However, all of that is my back drop, and something I should write more about later. The point I want to talk about is the concept of the “perennial little brother”.

The perennial little brother is that individual that is the person we always cause to “stumble in their faith”. Paul warns us not to do things that would cause another to stumble. But we use this as a means to shackle us from being effective in our life.

So, for example, we are concerned about not causing anyone to stumble in their faith by us drinking. So we take the easy route and say we shouldn’t drink at all. Or, we say that smoking will cause someone to stumble, so we say smoking is wrong. In a sense, we build up countless rules and regulations to ensure that we don’t cause anyone else to stumble.

The idea is noble: to keep others from stumbling. But the issue is this, we build up rules that constrict us in ways that are not Biblical. Consider the example my friend told me. He had been in several churches that did not allow drinking, so he felt that he shouldn’t drink. He and his wife went to another couple’s house for dinner. They had a great opportunity to witness to this couple, and the couple had wine with dinner, and expected my friend and his wife to drink. The perennial little brother situation gives him no freedom to enjoy a nice glass of wine. Additionally, this makes him appear to be self-righteous and judgmental to this other couple. In other words, his witness is actually hurt by his inability to do things that aren’t inherently wrong, but someone else told him not to do because it might cause another to stumble.

Do you see the paradox that begins to unfold? Because we limit ourselves by the perennial little brother, we also limit our ability to impact the world around us. And I can hear the arguments already starting to fly: “But we are supposed to be in the world, not of the world” (being the main one I hear a lot). And yes, I agree, we should be in the world but not of the world.

So here’s the hitch in that argument. What did the pharisees say about Jesus? They called him a “drunkard” (which, by the way, Christ Himself noted that). He hung out with “sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes”. If Jesus were here today in the flesh, I bet you anything that He’d be hanging out at the bars, not sitting in the comfort of other Christians who don’t want to engage in those things to ensure we don’t cause the perennial little brother to stumble.

Ultimately, in my mind, it boils down to this. We are unwilling to really wrestle with the issues. We want the easy answer, the easy way out. And it’s never simple, it’s never easy. We have to look at the heart of the matter, we have to really investigate why we should or should not do something. Saying it might cause someone to stumble is a weak argument. While it has noble intentions, it is nothing more than a moral plea. And it is dangerous.

The caveat to that thought is this: you should be wary of causing others to stumble. But this needs to be on a case by case basis, not a blanket grouping of laws intended to shelter the perennial little brother. If you have a friend that struggles with alcoholism, then don’t drink in front of that friend. This doesn’t mean you can’t drink with other people.

Don’t let the perennial little brother hold you back. He cannot be an argument of why you do or don’t do something. Do consider those weaker in their faith, but do it in a personal, relational way. Don’t make blanket rules and regulations. Be willing to think, be willing to study the Scripture, be willing to pray.

A good friend and I were chatting today, and he told me about one of his coworkers. He said that his coworker was incredibly frustrated with people saying that they want to grow closer to God. And that was it for me. That was putting to words the frustrations that I’ve been having with Christianity (and what I think many people are frustrated with Christianity for).

But let’s unpack that. How can growing closer to God be bad? Well, the answer is, it isn’t. In fact, it’s an incredibly good thing. Very important, perhaps even fundamentally important. But as I began to chat with my friend about this, I realized why it’s frustrating for me. We make growing closer to God our end all - the ultimate place to get. We envision that someone who is so close to God will be exactly what God is looking for. I disagree, but I’ll return to that point in a moment.

Wanting to grow closer to God should (and I would argue must) be a consistent theme throughout our life as we walk in faith. But, it was never meant to be the end goal. It should never be something that we strive solely for. In my mind, seeking to deepen your relationship with God is something that you do early on in your faith. Later it is an integral part of your faith, but it is not what you are striving for.

I think Jesus has a lot to say about this, and I think that I’m keeping in line with His teachings. Think about it. Some people that are casting out demons will come to Him at the end times and He will tell them to go away from Him, for He never knew them. I can’t speak for you, but I know that I’ve never done anything like cast out demons. Another point He accuses the pharisees of being white washed tombs. They were so concerned with the outside that the missed the inside. And lastly, He was deeply concerned with social injustices in the world.

When we focus on being “closer to God”, often times what we’re really saying is we want to spend more time with God, be more holy, and sin less. All of this is good, but it’s only a small part of the picture. We ought to be seeking to advance His Kingdom. Doing His work. Being like Christ. Instead, we seek to go to one more church service, memorize one more passage, buy one more Christian album.

And in all of our efforts to grow closer to God, we somehow miss the heartbeat of God. We fail to see the poor and needy all around us. We isolate ourselves from the world. We cut off those that desperately need us to show them loving arms that carry the healing power of Christ. We fall into tightly knit circles of people that are trying to be “more Christ-like”, without really understanding that Christ would never do such a thing.

We so busy ourselves with being clean and pure that we miss the opportunities to show this world that we aren’t afraid to get a little messy by delving into the filth that is the brokenness in this world. The brokenness that is in others. The brokenness that is in ourselves.

And what does the world see? It sees people trying to be morally superior. It sees people trying to do the checklists of right and wrong. It sees people that the world knows should be reaching out to it, but they can’t see past the sins of the world. So the only effort the world ever sees is a bunch of people pushing away from the sin, misery and brokenness of the world.

So what do you mean when you say you want to grow closer to God? Do you want to be more pure? Do you want to pray more often? Do you want to experience a revival of the Spirit?

Or do you want to go out and touch a world in need? Do you want to hold a bandage up against the bleeding wounds of others to show them the love of Christ?

Do you want to see the face of God through moral superiority that you experience by sinning less? Or do you want to see the face of God by helping the least of these?

Haven’t we become a little one sided in what it means to be a Christian? Have we lost sight of what Jesus was really about?

Sunday I went to church at my home church. Pastor Dave talked a lot about our words. He focused on issues like watching what we say, not letting impure things come out of our mouth, only saying encouraging things, and not avoiding saying things we should (sins of commission and omission). Now, before I unpack my thoughts, I should like to note something. What Pastor Dave was saying is all good and true. And this thought isn’t intended to pick on him. This, in fact, is a thought intended to pick on Christians in general.

I began to think about what Pastor Dave was saying and why I was getting frustrated. And I began to think why I get frustrated with Christian music. And why I get frustrated with other Christians. And why I get frustrated with myself. And the thought has eluded me for quite some time.

Having been processing about the Kingdom of Heaven, I think I’ve stumbled onto my frustration. Each of the things that frustrate me are valid in and of themselves. Good sermons that challenge us to improve are certainly worth listening to. Christian music that encourages can be a very good thing. So why am I constantly frustrated with it? Because they miss the big picture. There is no frame of reference, no context.

It’s as if we’re told to be good. Well, why does that matter? We’re told not to sin. Why not? And there are certainly elaborate (and correct) theological reasons for it. But let’s put it into a frame of reference that matters more to us. That we can relate to more. I mean, think about Christ’s teachings. Think about the context of all of His sermons. It was always in relation to people. To society.

Christianity in a societal movement. It lives and breathes people. Culture and society are the life blood of it. Christ knew that and was very, very clear about it. Think about the sermon on the mount. “You are the salt of the earth.” “You are the light of the world.” So much of the context was framed around our place in society. If I was the only person in the world, I would have a hard time lusting, or murdering, or stealing.

So much of the moral teachings we preach about are deeply rooted into society. And that’s what the Kingdom of Heaven is all about. We don’t try to be good to belong to the Kingdom of Heaven. We begin to understand that Christ has already paid for our sins. And now we begin to see others through the eyes of Christ. We see that they matter, they have feelings. We see that I shouldn’t say hurtful things because they are just that: hurtful.

Too often we let things boil down to good and bad. Do’s and don’t do’s. But this is falling desperately short of the point. Think about the Old Testament. Why did God punish His people? Yes, for their sins. But look at the sins He accused them of committing. Not caring for the poor and the elderly. Not giving their tithes (which, by the way, were used to support the poor and the needy as well as the religious sect).

The New Testament is also very clear about this. We are not single entities. We are deeply connected and integrated with one another. Until we realize this and begin acting on this, Christianity really won’t be anything but a series of rights and wrongs. And I think that misses the point that Christ was trying to make in a very real and sad way.

Who exactly is the closest to being in the Kingdom of Heaven? I’ve thought about this for a while and really wrestled with it. The common Christian view seems to be the church-goers, the do-gooders, and the moral. But I submit to you that, perhaps, this is all wrong. Perhaps the people we think are a part of the Kingdom of Heaven are, in fact, holding it back. Or not even a part of the Kingdom.

That’s a harsh statement, to be true. But as I think about it, Christ said some really harsh things Himself. Think about it. Who did He give the most crap to out of all the people He ran into? The religious / moral leaders of the day. He even went so far as to say that there would be people who claimed to know Him (and in fact did incredibly amazing things), but He will tell them that He never knew them.

Instead, I think about the people Christ was always around. The poor. The tax collectors. The prostitutes. Or, as the pharisees called them, the “sinners”. Christ didn’t come for the healthy, He came for the sick. I think the more we strive to show others that we are healthy, we get less and less of Christ in our lives. The more we try to show others how good we are, the more we become like those white washed tombs that Christ called the pharisees.

Christ said that when you want to pray, go and close the door to your room and do it in private. Don’t do things so men can see you. Go out and spend time with the “sinners”, for it seems pretty clear to me that they are far closer to the heart of God than people focused on being “good”.

I think about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. We usually think of them as having been destroyed for their sins in sexuality. While there is truth to that, Ezekiel notes that they were destroyed for being arrogant, overfed and unconcerned. Included in that is not helping the poor and needy. I think about many “good” Christians I know (and I certainly fall into this category as well) that are overfed and unconcerned (we might not be arrogant, I’ll concede that). We also seem to be pretty unconcerned with the poor and needy, thinking that they are poor and needy for some sin of theirs.

Which of course brings to mind the story about the blind man. The people asked Jesus why He was blind: because of his sins or the sins of his parents. Jesus said that neither, there was a purpose for him being blind. I think we look at things in ways that make it okay for us to be comfortable. And that, I think, is the farthest view from the Kingdom of Heaven that is possible. In Revelation God says that He wishes we were hot or cold. This lukewarm business is disgusting to Him.

So what does the Kingdom of Heaven look like? I’m going to be wrestling with that for a while, and I’ll be posting my thoughts on it.

I’ve really been wrestling with the issue of injustice for a while now. In fact, I would say the majority of the time that I have been here in South Florida. Dave (the pastor at my home church, Grace) is going through a sermon on this as well. I haven’t listened to the sermons yet, but I fully intend to do so. You can check them out here.

Injustice is a big and complicated beast. It is a system. It is a series of beliefs. It is assumptions. It is short sightedness. It is selfishness. It is greed. It is arrogance. It is a variety of things that weave together to manifest itself into injustice.

The poor. The hungry. The homeless. The destitute. I can conjure up a thousand words to describe the effects of social injustice, but you probably already have a good understanding of it. What are we, personally, doing to combat it? What am I doing to combat it?

In my personal life, I’m struggling to find ways to reach out to the poor, to those in need. I don’t want to go out and fix their problems. As noted in my post about listening, people are not problems to be fixed. They are people to be loved. So how does that translate for me? I’m involved with youth, which I love and believe is my ministry (at least for this part of my life. And I hope for the rest of my life). But that doesn’t give me an automatic pass from helping those that are less fortunate.

Grace has several ministries that work with the needy, and I think I would like to get involved with one or two of them. I can definitely give money or food to things, and that’s something I want to do. But I also want to give some of my time to these organizations.

The Bible is chock full of examples of how to serve or commands to give. Those of us that are blessed financially and materially should share with those that aren’t blessed in that same fashion. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy what we have, but that’s an entirely different post.

The world can be an ugly place for many people. We can add to the problem. We can do nothing. Or we can be the hands and feet of Christ.