-
Christians (http://www.faithit.com/tag/christians/),
Church(http://www.faithit.com/tag/church/),
Culture(http://www.faithit.com/tag/culture/), Faith
(http://www.faithit.com/tag/faith/)
Lets start by saying we are all guilty of being at least one of
thesepeople sometimes. This post is a great opportunity for us to
pray forGod to show the areas of our lives that dont parallel the
Gospel andhow we can pray to be a Church that glorifies Christ!
(http://www.faithit.com/)
10 Toxic Christians in the Church Today
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(./10 Toxic Christians in the Church Today_files/10 Toxic
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Church Today
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Christians in the
Church Today.html)
(http://www.faithit.com/short-people-problems-crowds/)This Video
Shows EXACTLY What Its Like
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problems-crowds/)
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Share this Several years ago, I had some friends over for
dinner. Things weregoing welluntil everyone took their first bite
of food. You see, Idecided to fire up the grill and cook some
burgers. I went throughthe usually grilling routine. Id grilled
dozens of times before. Slapon the meat. Flip a few times.
Voila.
Not really.
When everyone sunk their teeth into the burgers, blood
flowedworse than the time I nearly sliced off my finger. After a
fewawkward stares, I realized what happened. In a moment of
sheerembarrassment, I got up from my chair and grabbed some
deliturkey from the fridge.
Random question: Why is the person who makes the mistakealways
the last one to realize it?
Anyway, no one at the table even considered trying my
straightfrom the meat section burgers. Why? Just one bite of
uncookedmeat is toxic to the body and could result in an
appointment withMr. John.
What is true of meat is also true of the church. A few
toxicChristians can impact an entire church. So, I want to
highlight some toxic Christians in thechurch today. The following
Christians describe me at various points in my Christianjourney.
Understand something. This post is really about self-reflection. My
prayer is thatyou will identify some of these toxic behaviors in
your life and, like myself, make somechanges.
Here are 10 toxic Christians in the church today.
1.)THE ALWAYS CYNICAL CHRISTIAN
-
Cynicism is toxic
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140528163739.htm).From
a general lack of trust towards people to the inability to see good
in anything,cynicism has the power to infect every arena of
life.
Many Christians, starting with me, master the art of pointing
out the bad from a youngage. For much of my Christian journey, I
thought it was my job to find the errors ineverything from sermons
to the lives of those around me. I was like a stealth ninja. Myonly
job was to make sure every mistake was pointed out. And after
finding the errors, myfriends and I would gather for a time of
reflection.
It was really an exercise of self-glorification.
Heres the problem with cynicism: as long as its your default
perspective, you cant be acatalyst for change. Not for the good, at
least. And I say perspective because cynicism isall about how you
see things. You and I can look at the same person, situation, etc.,
andsee two different things. Theonly difference is the filter
through which we see it.
If you are a Christian, everything you believe in and look
forward to is anchored in hope,and the breath that gives life to
hope is optimism. God refused to give up on you becauseof hope.
Jesus came to this world because of hope. One day every man and
woman wholoves God will live eternally with him because of
hope.
Now, I understand what you might be thinking. There is a
difference between cynicism andcritical thinking. Here it is.
Cynics look at the worst in every situation, never desiring tomake
things better. Critical thinkers recognize the evil and ugly, but
always choose tofocus on something redeeming. They always operate
out of hope, and they are always inthe trenches trying to make
things better.
To put it another way, cynics focus on what something is.
Critical thinkers focus on whatsomething could be.
The church is desperate for men and women who will choose to
focus on the redeemingqualities of the church. After all, God sees
the redeeming qualities in us. Even when we areat our worst.
2.)THE BACK ROW CHRISTIAN
In college, I sat in the back row of every class. I didnt want
the teacher to call on me. Iwanted to spend my time browsing the
internet or adjusting my fantasy football roster. Iwasnt interested
in the material. To be honest, I only showed up for class because
Ithought it would help me at the end of the semester.
Such is the case with back row Christians. They are mildly
interested in God, at best.Being a back row Christian isnt about
where you sit in a pew or chair during worship.Some back row
Christians are front row worshippers. This is about where God sits
inproximity to your life.
-
Most back row Christians keep God at arms length. They are
driven by money, titles,and achievements. And they dont want God
interfering with their pursuits. Unless, ofcourse, God wants to
help them reach their goals.
Back row Christians are toxic because they wear the tag
Christian, but their lives arentinformed by God.And because the
church is a body, these Christians force the church tocarry their
weight. What fat is to the body, these Christians are to the
church. And themore fat that churches carries around, the less
effective they become in moving towardsa broken world and impacting
an ever-changing culture. .
3.) THE WORLD IS CAVING IN CHRISTIAN
Its not ironic that most of these Christians favorite channel
ends in news. Fox News.CNN News. ABC News. They are paralyzed by
fear. ISIS is taking over the world. Globalwarming will eventually
wipe out humanity. The zombie apocalypseis imminent. Andevery major
story, especially the tragic ones, are conspiracy theories.
Never mind that the God these Christians serve claims to be
sovereign over all theapparent threats to humanity. Never mind that
the phrase do not fear appears hundredsof times in the Bible.
These Christians allow fear to dominate their life, and this
drowns out any opportunity forthe world to see God. When fear is
present, God is absent. Fear is self-reliance. It is adeclaration
that God isnt enough. Hes not big enough, strong enough, or
knowledgeableenough.
This is why fear has no place in the church. Its the opposite of
faith and therefore theantithesis of God.
4.) THE FOLLOW THE RULES CHRISTIAN
Follow the rules Christians believe their actions make them cool
with God. Theycondemn other Christians for their lack of morality.
And secretly they are okay withChristians falling on their face
because it makes follow the rules Christians feel betterabout
themselves.
Eventually the weight of earning Gods love will crush your
joy.Theres no room forauthenticity or transparency. Theres no room
for gray areas. And eventually the weight oftrying to earn a
relationship with God crushes their joy and destroys their intimacy
withGod.
Lets face it. When someone is only happy with you when you
follow the rules, itsimpossible to grow in intimacy with that
person. When that person is God, the only thingthat will please him
is perfection. And you screwed that up this morning before you
gotout of bed.
The message of the cross is You cant earn it! God knows you suck
at life. Maybe thatstoo harsh. God knows you suck at perfection.
But Jesus is awesome at perfection, andbecause of Jesus, God is
cool with you. What the world needs to see is your weakness,
not
-
your perfection. It is in your weakness God will show the world
his perfection.
It is in our weakness God shows the world his perfection.
5.) THE POLITICAL CHRISTIAN
Every church has a few of these Christians. They equate the
decisions of our governmentwith the direction of the church. They
believe how you vote determines whether you loveGod. And their
conversations usually include a rant about the President the most
recentgovernment decision.
Its really quite fascinating how these Christians work politics
into every conversation. Justthink if political Christians
channeled their creative energy and passion about politicstowards
Jesus?
Can you say, Revival?
6.) THE CULTURE IS EVIL AND SCARY CHRISTIAN
Culture is evil and scary Christians find insanely creative ways
to escape the world. Itsevil and scary, after all.
These Christians act more like the Old Testament Israelites than
the New Testamentapostles. They are the chosen people. And, like
the Israelites, engaging in the worldsaffairs is a slippery slope.
Engagement might start harmlessly. But before you know it, youare
worshipping their gods and stuff. So these Christians stay off the
slope altogether.
This would be a great idea if not forJesus. You see, when Jesus
showed up, he changedwhat it meant to be holy and righteous.
Disengaging was no longer the way God showedhimself to the world.
Engagement became the new way.
Culture is evil and scary Christians believe the goal for their
Christian life is to playdefense, hoping to arrive on their death
bed with no scratches, scrapes, or wounds. Butthe opposite is
actually true. The goal is to engage the culture, praying that Gods
love,joy, and peace will seep through your words and actions onto
those around you. In theprocess, you might get wounded.
But remember this. Jesus was wounded. And his wounds gave you
life.
7.) THE I LOVE JESUS BUT NOT THE CHURCH CHRISTIAN.
These Christians believe faith is best worked out in isolation.
Its disengagement of adifferent kind. A more dangerous kind.
Isolation is Satans secret weapon.
You see, Jesus spent most of his ministry around people. These
people werent perfect.They struggled to get it. They fought over
worldly stuff like having the highest place inJesuss kingdom. And
eventually, all of Jesuss friends left him. Abandoned him. But
Jesusknew his friends would hurt him and he invested in them
anyway.
-
Look, I get it. Some of you have been hurt by the church. I have
been hurt but the church.There is nothing easy about plugging into
a community of believers. They will hurt youand disappoint you. But
nothing worth having comes easy. You are selfish. I am selfish.And
community releases us from the drug of self-addiction.
I love Jesus, but not the church Christians will only become a
fraction of the person Godcreated them to be. And they will only
show the world a fraction of who God is.
8.) THE GOD DOESNT WORK THAT WAY CHRISTIAN
Cut and dry. In or out. Up or down. Black or white. All of these
describe God doesnt workthat way Christians. Their view of God is
limited to their perspective, their experiences,and their
understanding of the Bible. These Christians claim to have faith in
God, but theywont believe anything they havent seen with their own
eyes.
These Christians believe God is all-powerful. But if something
isnt logical, they areskeptical.
The mystery of God and how you become a Christians are
compressed into five easy steps.
Intimacy and love cant be manufactured. They can only be
experienced.And heres whythis is a problem based on personal
experience as God doesnt work that way Christian.You can follow the
right steps, figure out all the formulas, and still be a long ways
fromGod. Light years, in fact. Intimacy and love arent formulas.
They cant be manufactured.They can only be experienced.
While these Christians conjure up formulas for God, I believe he
is saying, Look up. Lookaround. Get out of the box. Experience my
greatness. Stand in awe of my unending powerand unfailing love.
Fall in love with me and stop falling in love with some
churchyformulas.
9.) THE LOVES TO PICK A FIGHT CHRISTIAN
These Christians show up anytime someone mocks God or challenges
their theology.Social media. The local coffee shop. Wherever. I
promise, sometimes I think, Were youhiding behind my bookshelf
during that conversation? How did you even know I said that?
These Christianity believe they are the morality police. They
use their knowledge of theBible as aweapon to beat down all the
theologically misinformed Christians. They areaggressive. They are
obnoxious, and they usually have a temper shorter than your
averageOompa-Loompa.
These Christians are toxic because they believe winning an
argument and pointingsomeone to God are the same thing. But its
interesting. Jesus wasnt interested in winningarguments during his
ministry. He was ok with people not understanding his purpose orhis
relationship with God.
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Winning arguments might give you satisfaction. But it doesnt
bring God glory.Jesus wasmore concerned with love. Winning
arguments might give you satisfaction. But it doesntbring God
glory.
10.) THE YOU CANT TALK ABOUT THAT IN CHURCH CHRISTIAN
These Christians are fearful every word they say will be taken
the wrong way. They believetruth should be filtered, just in case
some weaker Christians dont fully understand whatyou are trying to
say. In other words, there are certain conversations the church
shouldnthave. Mainly the ones that make people uncomfortable.
Sex. Abortion. Mental Illness. Doubts about God. Justin
Beiber.
Jesus, however, wasnt concerned with being politically correct.
In fact, Jesus said onnumerous occasions, You wont understand this
right now, or some variation of thephrase. Jesus was obviously not
concerned with being misunderstood.
Jesus proclaimed truth because he was the Truth. And truth has
nothing to hide.
________________
Only a few toxic Christians can impact a church. Again, my
prayer is that you will do somereflection. At some point in my
journey, I was every one of these Christians. Some of theseI am
still fighting today.
As you take steps towards Jesus, the world sees a clearer
picture of his glory andcharacter. Thats the goal.
About Frank Powell
Devoted follower of Christ, college/young adult minister,
husband to @tiffanipowell(https://twitter.com/tiffanipowell), dad
to Noah and Micah, avid blogger/writer, sportsfan. You can follow
him on twitter here (https://twitter.com/frankmattpowell) and
readmore blogs here (http://frankpowell.me/)!
N/LNH 6KDUH
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