Thursday, November 11, 2010

Bridge Church

Tuesday night, 11/9/10, I attended my first service of "Bridge Church", a "church" in Nashville that meets under a bridge that focuses on ministering to the needs of the homeless. It was AWESOME!

Believers from all around Nashville, even up to 100 miles away, from all kinds of denominations, come together to worship, sing, pray, share the Word, share in a meal, fellowship, and minister to the needs of one another, especially to the homeless. The staff (volunteers) arive at about 5:30 to set up the chairs, speaker system, chuck wagon, and packaged food distribution truck.

About 6:00 the ladies began serving hot meals from the chuck wagon. Shortly there after the worship service begins while people are being served. We worship together. Some ate, some sang, some prayed, some smoked, some walked around nervously, some talked, etc. It was one of the most refreshing worship services I've participated in - real people with no pretense of being anything but in need.

After about 45 minutes of worship, one of the regular attending pastors preached an awesome affirming message of God's love and our value to Him. The minister's text was the story of the Prodigal Son and his primary point was that even though the son found himself homeless, starving, stinking, covered in hog crap, and feeling absolutely worthless, he was still of immeasurable value to his father! This was exactly what they needed to hear – God loves them and they are worthy of love, care, healing, and deliverance, because they are children of God, created in His Image.

I mean, think about it. Many of the “members” of this church are homeless, sick with aids, cancer, etc. Many are addicted to drugs and alcohol; some are even demonized, out of their minds with fear and pain. And I was suprised at the number of verterans who were there, men who lost their minds in the ravages of war, especially the Vietnam War. What message do these my brothers and sisters need to hear? Do they need to be warned that it they don’t repent, turn to God, and get their lives straight, not only is their life going to be a living Hell, but they are going to burn in Hell forever? Of course not! They need to hear the truth that God loves them that Jesus came to save them and will save them. God loves them and will not fail to deliver them – if not in this life, surely in the life to come! God loves us and saves us simply because He created us to be His children.

Well anyhow, after the pastor preached on God’s love for us all and our innate value, we ministered in prayer to those who wanted it. We then had a drawing to give away speacial items - a "mobile home" (tent), a homemade quilt, etc. and the grand-prize, a new and very nice bycicle. After that everyone was dismissed and got in line to leave and on the way out they went through the packaged food line where they could get as much food - soups, cereals, granoila bars, chips, pasteries, sodas, etc. – as they wanted and could carry with them.

It was a wonderful evening and I plan to be a regular member of “Bridge Church”!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Judgmentalism, Legalism, and the Traditional “Gospel”

I believe that judgmentalism and legalism are a natural byproduct of the traditional “gospel” of acceptance/exclusion. The traditional “gospel” affirms that God ultimately accepts some people and excludes/rejects others. If we believe this then we will naturally seek to identify those who are accepted “with us” and those who are and will be excluded from God and us. We naturally question whether or not we and others are accepted, and we come up with a list of rules, requirements as to whom we believe to be accepted by God and thus by us. The rules might be as simple as confessing faith in Jesus, praying the sinner’s prayer, or as specific as taking several steps.

I was raised in a fellowship which taught that no one was really saved until they actually made it into heaven because a person could fall from grace at any time if they… We didn’t know for sure we were saved, but we were pretty confident that others were not! This judgmentalism and legalism flowed from a lack of faith in the atonement of Christ for ourselves and others.

Thankfully, I have come to have faith that salvation is by grace alone, and not based on my rightness in beliefs, attitudes, or actions. I believe that Jesus died for all my sins – past, present, and future, sins I’ve repented of and sins I’ll not repent of until I stand before Him in judgment. And since He died for my sins, I’m assured I’ll live with Him forever. He has redeemed me and is and will set me free from sin and death! This was a revolutionary change in faith for me, chaning from a works based salvation to a grace based salvation.

And now I have come to have faith in Christ not only for my salvation, but for the salvation of others also, all humanity, believing that Jesus not only died for my sins, but for the sins of the whole world. I’ve come to trust that the revelation of His love for me that set me free will ultimately set everyone free when they receive that revelation, if not in this present evil world, in the world to come (Evangelical Universalism).

This faith in Christ and faith in the grace of God has freed me from legalism and judgmentalism. Instead of seeing others as not being accepted by God, I see everyone as family, “us”, whether they believe as I do or not, whether they’ve been born of the Spirit as I have or not. I see them this way because 1) they are created in the image of God (an idiomatic phrase that speaks of family relationship, even parenthood), 2) Jesus died for their sins, and 3) God loves them/us and love never fails. Jesus does not fail to save any whom He loves, and He loves all humanity!

Judgmetalism and legalism are natural byproducts of the tradtional “gospel” of exclusion. And note that I put “gospel” in quotes; I did so to highlight that this “gospel” is not really “Good News” at all; rather, it is “bad news” for the excluded. Is it a wonder that most Christians are not active in sharing the traditional “gospel”; no one wants to be the bearer of “bad news”.