I am truly blessed and excited to have my friend Ann Stringer as my Guest Post today for Cultural Christianity Wednesday!!! She is such a precious lady, mom, wife and Pastors wife! With a heart to serve and share the gospel. She has alot of wisdom to share so I encourage you to check her out if you haven't already.P.S Her creative organizational talent might make you a little sick :) The girls got skill!
Please Welcome Stringer Mama to Beautiful Mommy Feet!
irregular. If you ask a person on the street what they think of church, God or even
Christianity - the answers often suggest they don't know or care or they feel strongly
about not going to church because of the hypocrisy that "lives" there. We just finished
Vacation Bible School in our new church and I was amazed and even shocked
at how little the kids knew about God or the Bible. One night I taught the Ten
Commandments. NONE of the 12 kids had ever heard of them.
So why are these kids completely ignorant of God's Word? Why do their parents have
no interest in coming or even bringing their children to church? If you ask people why
they don't come to church you will come across this blanket statement. "Church is
full of HYPOCRITES." The sad thing is that they may be right. Hypocrisy
is rampant in our churches across America - but here in the mid-
west, it's casting the church into the shadows. But is it really hypocrisy? Or is the root
problem something more basic? Something simpler?
SIN
Sin - specifically PRIDE, self-pity, and
deceitfulness. What
happens when we sin? What happens after?
deceitfulness. What
happens when we sin? What happens after?
We hide.
From the beginning of time, from the beginning of sin's existence on earth we have
hidden as a result of the guilt our sin produces.
hidden as a result of the guilt our sin produces.
"And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
among the trees of the garden." Genesis 3:8
Hiding our sin is a product of the terrible sin nature that we were born carrying.
You don't have to teach a child how to hide after doing something wrong. It
comes NATURALLY! As we grow older and as others exemplify this hiding or
covering up our sin, we become more and more of a professional at hiding who we
really are.
You don't have to teach a child how to hide after doing something wrong. It
comes NATURALLY! As we grow older and as others exemplify this hiding or
covering up our sin, we become more and more of a professional at hiding who we
really are.
Recently my husband (I'm married to my pastor!) asked this question in one of our
church services: "What do the unsaved expect from true Christians?" There were
responses about being good and not sinning, the necessity of having a good testimony.
That's what we've been taught. But it's only PARTLY true!
church services: "What do the unsaved expect from true Christians?" There were
responses about being good and not sinning, the necessity of having a good testimony.
That's what we've been taught. But it's only PARTLY true!
People know if you are a fake. They can sense it. They
despise falseness and hypocrisy. And where do they see it the most? In
those who claim to follow a holy God. In those who claim to walk in the footsteps of
Jesus. They see that we might be following Jesus but they also see us missing a step or
two or three. . . and then we try to cover it up and hide that we fail, hide that we fall,
hide that we are not as Christlike as we should be.
despise falseness and hypocrisy. And where do they see it the most? In
those who claim to follow a holy God. In those who claim to walk in the footsteps of
Jesus. They see that we might be following Jesus but they also see us missing a step or
two or three. . . and then we try to cover it up and hide that we fail, hide that we fall,
hide that we are not as Christlike as we should be.
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by
them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. " Matthew
6:1
We know and the unsaved know and GOD knows that we are not perfect. It's
still there - that sin nature. But the difference with children of God? It's what we
do AFTER we sin. The good testimony that we need to have before unbelievers is
GOING to be contaminated by sin because of that sin nature. Sin is allowed by God
for HIS GLORY. When others are aware of our sin it provides OPPORTUNITY to
bring glory to God.
still there - that sin nature. But the difference with children of God? It's what we
do AFTER we sin. The good testimony that we need to have before unbelievers is
GOING to be contaminated by sin because of that sin nature. Sin is allowed by God
for HIS GLORY. When others are aware of our sin it provides OPPORTUNITY to
bring glory to God.
We need to be walking this walk following CHRIST and the Bible's
definition of following Christ - not our culture's perception of following
Christ!
definition of following Christ - not our culture's perception of following
Christ!
May my testimony be more about HIM and less about me.
Linked Up:
Amen... our sin is the very thing that Jesus died for... we need to share in bringing Glory to His name by being real. We're Christian's... but still sinners in need our Savoir to keeping saving... restoring and revealing Himself to us and to those who don't believe through us. Great post and that song was a perfect end to your message! Thanks Ann :) Blessings!
ReplyDeleteIt is so sad. I, for one, have two of my children wanting nothing to do with the church because they say it is full of hypocrites. They have known many godly adults in their lives but they judge their view on a few! That is why we ALL have to live godly lives: and that means confessing sin and being real.
ReplyDeleteHeidi-excellent response. Absolutely!
ReplyDeleteShanda- your words are so heart breaking and true. Thank you, and Ann Thank you again for Guest Posting!
This was so good. Thank you for posting and for sharing the music video.
ReplyDeleteA while ago our pastor (whose Dad is a pastor as well) said that when he had his first child, he interviewed several families to find out one thing in particular: why were so many pastors' kids turning away from the church and from God? His impression was that it was often (not always) because they saw hypocrisy in the lives of their parents. Especially their fathers.
That was so powerful for me. I think I am more likely to sin big in the context of marriage and parenting, and then try to cover it up in embarrassment. But hearing that challenged me even more to address my sin, confessing it and asking forgiveness from my family and my Father, giving Him all the glory for His holiness, mercy, and forgiveness. When my children see the steps of that process, it makes a huge impact on them!
Impressive video. If we can learn ourselves and teach our children to keep our eyes on Jesus. There are fakes everywhere, it just seems worse when they profess to love our God. Jesus was hard on them -- harder than any one else doing wrong. He knew that Satan would use it to make people despise the church. A post I won't soon forget.
ReplyDelete