My wife and I recently started watching a long running
sitcom together in the evenings. One of
the main characters is a unique individual, with equally unique character
traits. In one episode, several of the
other characters began to argue. The
main character left the room, went into the kitchen, and turned on a blender
full of ice. When one of those
characters that were arguing asked what he was doing, the other character say that
he was attempting to drown out the sound of the arguments.
In the last several weeks, I’ve really wanted to do something similar. I have heard of people—good, solid, Christian folks who were arguing with other people about some silly things. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Example one, two churches were arguing over who was serving the
Lord’s Supper correctly. Really? You’re going to argue over that? Sure, I have my beliefs on the Lord’s Supper,
and that’s what we practice at my church.
May I just say, with all due respect, that I don’t care if your church
serves communion with saltine crackers or gluten-free, pita bread hand torn into
pieces. I don’t care if your church
practices closed, open, or some in between style of communion. I don’t care if you use Welch’s Grape Juice
or the store brand.
Example two, two brothers were arguing over which Bible
college was better. Obviously, they went
to two different schools. Each was loyal
to their Alma matter. These two brothers
weren’t just having a lively discussion on the merits of the two schools but
were having a heated argument about why one school was right and the other was
wrong.
Example three, there was a group arguing about what group of
churches was right and which ones were wrong. This arguing quickly devolved into name
calling and a couple of broken friendships.
Example four, a dear friend and missionary asked me if it
would be okay if he wore a bow tie to church.
He was told at a previous church that he was in that he could not wear a
bow tie at that church, so he wanted to make sure it was okay at this church. Really?
Is that a doctrinal issue now?
WHIRRRRRRRRR! I wish
I could start the blender in all these instances. May I take a few minutes to explain why I don’t
care how your church serves communion, or what Bible College you prefer, or
what camp you are a part of? Pay
attention, I don’t want you to miss this.
Ready? Here we go: it’s not any of my business. I’m not a member of your church, so I don’t
get a say. I’m not going to go to either
of those Bible colleges, nor send my children there, based on your testimonies. I don’t care which camp you side with, I try
to get along with everyone.
If more Christians today practiced this philosophy, can you
imagine what would be done for the cause of the Christ? How many more souls could be reached? How many more ministries could be helping
people in the name of Jesus?
We’ve (myself included) have gotten pretty snooty when it
comes to our practice of Christianity.
We get very comfortable critiquing other folks, when it really isn’t any
of our business to begin with. If we
were more careful to mind our own p’s and q’s, we’d be far better off. The Bible speaks very eloquently about this—the
mote and beam? We are quick to point out
our brother’s mote while ignoring the beam in our own eye.
You may not tie your necktie the way I do. You may prefer a double Windsor to a half
Windsor. You may wear a bow tie. You may prefer a belt to suspenders or vice
versa. You may use one curriculum in
your Sunday School while I use a different one.
Don’t care, don’t care, don’t care.
As longs as you believe in the Book, the Blood, and the Blessed Hope, we’ll
get along quite well. Who knows, we may
just learn some things from each other—if we aren’t too busy looking down our
noses at each other.
Oh, you may be wondering what sitcom my wife and I are
watching together. Well, I’m not telling. You’ll probably go out of your way to tell me
why it isn’t appropriate for a pastor and his wife to watch that show. May I summarize: None of your business.
