Haeresis

I had wanted to write something about everything going on with Joel and Victoria Osteen, Mark Driscoll, Michael Gungor, Vicky Beeching, and all those other inter-Christian conflicts that have happened within the past month or so. It seems like there's always something going on with some person saying something that is "contradictory" to our view of Christianity. Now, this post is not an elaborate way of condoning what those have said. Some things that they have said and done might very well be outside the realm of "orthodox" Christianity. However, they are brothers and sisters in Christ, and they deserve to not be used as sermon illustrations, blog posts (I'm so meta), or an opportunity to bash other Christians. 

Forgive me for being a one-trick pony these last few posts, but at the silent retreat I had the goal of reading through all of the Pauline letters. Before you begin to marvel at my spiritual prowess, I read Romans and Galatians a couple weeks before I left, so I didn't feel the need to re-read those two. I still read 11 of these letters, and I tried to do a lectio divina (a spiritual meditation on a specific passage) in each of the books. For Philippians, which just happens to be one of my favorite Pauline letters, I meditated on chapter 1:3-11. I want this kind of love for whatever congregation God would lead me to. I want to love the church that I work at the same as Paul did here. Now, most of the Pauline letters contain these thanksgivings and prayers. However, Philippians is unique especially in its tone to its recipients. Paul is so warm and loving in this letter, and he sets the stage for all the theology that he is going to expound upon them. In this letter, any time he is going to talk about orthodoxy and orthopraxy, Paul is sure to do so in a tone of love. 

Now that's something that we could do as Christians speaking of other Christians. People will always use the verses in Matthew and Luke about rebuking a brother and sister about their sins (Matt 18:15 and Luke 17:3). 

There definitely is a place for rebuke in a relationship. Take for instance the ways that parents discipline their children. Or how a dog trainer scolds a puppy. Basically, rebuking is not a bad thing. However, the way in which we rebuke is key. It must be in love. 

That might sound like a cop-out for some people. 

However, I think it's one of the hardest things in the world to love someone who wrongs me. It's taken years of prayer to soften my heart towards some people that directly and indirectly wronged me. And Paul in Philippians says, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." 

Now, the Philippians never wronged Paul, so Paul doesn't have a reason to be upset with any of them. However, he is in jail. Wrongly and falsely accused. Beaten and bruised. Hurt. So it would be easy for Paul to respond to the Philippians in anger even if they weren't the ones to wrong him. 

The more difficult task in life is to love. 

And this verse really hit me hard, "...Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached..." v18.

These sisters and brothers in Christ are preaching Christ. Now I might get some pushback from people about which Christ is being preached, but that is besides the point. The Christ that I preach is not the full Christ because my human words will never fully capture the full divinity of Christ. Peter, James, and John saw Christ fully transfigured, and they still didn't get the complete idea of who Christ was to be. I say this to point out that our theologies are never going to be perfect. People are working on their ideas of God, and that is part of our lives and walks with Christ. (I think that there are good and bad ways of working on ideas of God, but that's for another post) We're never going to be complete until that last day. We're never going to be perfect until then. 

So give these sisters and brothers some grace.