Healthy Church: A See-Through Community

Have you ever tried to get a straight answer out of a politician?  A few years back, I approached a local official about our church using one of the town’s facilities.  To this day, I’m still not sure what his answer was.  It was one of those “well yes and no” deals.  Although mastering the ambiguity of “yes and no” may be a shrewd trait in politicians, in almost every other aspect of life, it is frustrating and sometimes even hurtful to encounter.

Is there anything worse than inviting someone to a party at your home and hearing the response,  “maybe if we’re not busy that day.”  In other words, “If nothing better comes up, rest assured, being last on my list, your party is the first place I’ll come.”  Really makes you feel good about a friendship, doesn’t it?  Are you coming?  Well, yes and no.

That behavior is exactly what the apostle Paul was accused of by church in Corinth.  He had told the Corinthians he would be visiting them twice, once on his way to Macedonia and once on his way back.  As it turns out he did neither.  From Paul’s response in this letter we can infer that the Corinthians accuse him of being duplicitous and deceitful - of saying yes when he really meant no.

Why is it of any concern to us, two thousand years later, that an early church planter cancelled two planned changed his travel plans?  What possible importance could such historical minutiae carry?  The actual details of why Paul cancelled his trip we’ll examine next week. However, the way in which Paul responds to these accusations can teach us plenty about how followers of Jesus are to behave not only within a healthy church, but also in all of our relationships. 

In responding to these accusations, Paul does not get defensive about his own decisions. He doesn’t start with some lame excuse like “I just can’t figure out how to sync up the calendar in my parchment scroll with the one in my stone tablet.” Instead he responds by describing the nature of God as found in Jesus.   Paul tells the Corinthians about who Jesus is and consequently that a true follower of Jesus, like himself, would be incapable of being duplicitous - incapable of saying yes while meaning no.  A true follower does not say yes when he means no, or vice versa.  Paul says you know this is true about me because you know me, I say what I mean.  He tells them not to look for hidden meanings or hints between the lines of his letters, because a true follower of Jesus, doesn’t communicate with people that way.

According to a personality test I had to take in order to become a pastor, I am afflicted with a curse.  The curse is this; among the Meyer-Briggs personality types, I come out as Intuitive Perceptive.  What that means, among many other things, is that people like me are very good at naturally picking up on the hidden agendas of others.  In other words, I have what Ernest Hemingway called a “built in BS detector.” 

While that may seem like a great trait to have, as a pastor, it can cause me problems when it comes to church growth.  People often walk into the doors of Vision, with some hidden agenda or ulterior self-serving motive, and when they do, I can sense it.  Sometimes it is obvious, like when an insurance salesperson visits and asks for a copy of our directory the first week they come.  Sometimes it is subtler such as seeking allies for a particular political issue or gaining followers for themselves. Or someone perceives him or herself as spiritually advanced and is doing us all a favor by coming to our church and bringing us up to their level.  These people appear to be saying yes to God, yes to Jesus, or yes to their fellow churchgoers.  In reality, they are harboring a secret no. That secret no is their own agenda.

I usually spot their BS relatively quickly.  They know I’ve pegged it too.  Since one of my goals in ministry is to keep Vision a BS-free zone, they realize their BS isn’t going to fly here.  Consequently, they bring their BS somewhere else for another congregation to enjoy.  Okay, so maybe my intuitive-perceptive qualities are a blessing for all of you - just not so much to the churches where these people wind up.  But that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. 

This certainly isn’t true of everyone who has not stayed at Vision.  God made us all differently and this church is not for everyone.  But in my years here, it is remarkable to me how many people who flamboyantly claim to be Christians, are really seeking to create followers of themselves or their own agendas, and not of Jesus.  The purpose of church is to create followers of Jesus, not followers of the pastor, or us, or our particular talents.  When we in the church fail to address this, we enable dysfunction.  It is the dysfunction of hidden agendas, which makes for unhealthy churches. It amounts to saying yes to community life in Christ, when we really mean no.  It hurts people.  It confirms their worst fears about church and turns them off to God.

Paul makes it clear that in a healthy church, people are not supposed to deal with one another in this way.  The reason for that is because that is not how God deals with us. 

How do we know how God deals with us?  We know it through Jesus.  Jesus said he came not to do his own will, but that of the one who sent him.  He said if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen God.  Jesus had no hidden agenda or secret no.  He reveled his agenda and it was the agenda of God.  He was transparent.

We live in an era when politicians promise transparency, but often have difficulty keeping that promise.  Politicians are transparent all right.  But their transparency reveals a lot of yes and no, self-interest, greed and broken promises. While it is easy to pick on politicians, we in the church don’t fare much better.  

Paul says that Jesus is a straight shooter.  There are no broken promises with Jesus - no yes and no.  There is only “Yes!” In fact, in Jesus we hear God saying, “Yes!” to all the promises God made to God’s people.

God’s people were promised that one day, God’s laws would be more than a series of no’s, or do not's written in a book somewhere, but would be written on their hearts.  God promised that one day his message of love would be extended to all peoples and nations.  God promised to one day recreate the world.  God promised that one day we would be reconciled with God and with one another.

God’s people heard those promises and like us, looked around at the world they became discouraged.  Was all that really going to happen? Would God keep those promises?  The answer was, and still is - “Yes!”. God’s yes to all those promises is Jesus Christ.  Unlike many of us, Jesus has no hidden no’s.  Jesus is transparent.  The transparency of Jesus reveals unconditional love, compassion, and justice - the very nature of God.  The very nature of that to which this universe points.  The very things everyone in this world needs.

So as followers of Jesus, as a church, our call to is to be transparent like him.  People need to be able to look at you and I, at this church, and see right through us.  Hopefully, what they will see is not a bunch of manipulative people self-promoting our own agendas.  They won’t see a church that seeks to grow, merely for the sake of growth, or is after their money, or seeks to advance the career of the pastor or a small group of leaders.  God promises us that when we are authentic and faithful Christians, people will look at us, and see not us, but Christ.  All of our ego and self-advancing agendas must become invisible so that others can see Christ through us.  That is God’s promise to the church.

If you’re anything like me, you may doubt that promise.  In truth, we cannot do ourselves.  So we may ask, is there anyone who can help us? Look to Jesus, and hear God’s answer - Yes! 

Can God remove our self-serving agendas and ego? Look to Jesus, and hear God’s answer - Yes!

Could you or I ever be transformed enough, that if people could see through each of us, they would see Christ?  Look to Jesus, and hear God’s answer - Yes!

Could we ever be a church, that people could see right through and see Christ?  Look to Jesus, we hear God’s answer - Yes!

Paul says it is through Jesus that we say “Amen.”  The word “Amen” is really a pledge to be faithful and it means, “yes!”  When we say Amen we are saying yes to God and yes to God’s yes in Jesus Christ.  In order for our transformation to begin, in order for people to see Christ in us or our church, we must first say yes to Christ.  Yes?