Are You Safe in Church? Part II

“For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword,

It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;

It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

Hebrews 4:12

Last week reflecting on the shootings in South Carolina, I asked the question, “Are you safe in Church?”   Well, I hope you will be patient.  I want to ask the question one more time.    This time though I am looking at this question from a new angle, unrelated to the shootings in South Carolina.  This time I want to answer this question three different ways. 

“Are you safe in Church?”  First, I hope not!  Think about the passage from Hebrews 4 where the word of God is called a “double edged sword.”  That tells me that if the Word of God is being proclaimed in all its fullness, then there are going to be moments when we feel uncomfortable in Church.  There are going to be times when we are cut to the heart, when our sinfulness is exposed.  Church should not be a place where we are allowed to continue hiding from the truth of our sinful habits, our unloving actions, our worried and fearful hearts.  I once saw a sign that read, “The truth will make you free but first it will make you miserable.”  One person told me, “I know I need to face the truth about what’s been going on in my life but I really don’t want to.  It hurts too much.”  If the church is place that allows you to feel safe by avoiding the hard truths… If the church is a place that simply pats on the head and says, “Don’t change a thing” then the church is not proclaiming the full word of God.  So in that sense you shouldn’t feel safe in church. For our own good we should feel exposed and called out!

Are you safe in Church?  Secondly, I hope so!  Having had the hard truths of God’s word penetrate our hiding places, we also so badly need the even greater truths of God’s love in Christ!  A church should be a place like that church in South Carolina, that offers forgiveness and love even to those who come in shooting a gun.  When guilty or lonely, or worried or grieving, or struggling the word of God has great comfort to offer – a savior who gave his life for you, a community of believers to be your family and friends, a God who listens to all your prayers, who promises to be with you always, who says to you, “Have no anxiety about anything” and “fear not,”, a God who has conquered death and comforts all who grieve.  In the church you should meet Jesus. You should meet the Father who knows all about you and loves you anyway. You should meet the God whose arms are open… who embraces you  as His son or daughter.  Yes you should be safe in Church!

Are you safe in Church?  Finally, I hope not.  Too often you and I want the church to be a fortress, a place where we can hide from the world.  We want to build walls and keep the world out.  Like I told you last week Jesus didn’t call us to stay behind locked doors and be safe.  He said, “Go and make disciples of all nations…”  We don’t come together as God’s people for worship, for the Lord’s Supper, for Christian fellowship in order to avoid the world.  We come together so that God can strengthen us with His love and power in order to go out into the world.  Jesus called us to be “in the world but not of the world.”  John 17   God doesn’t want us hiding behind Church doors. He calls us to go through those doors into the world to share His love with that world.  He promised that when we go the gates of hell can not prevail against His love in Christ… He promised as we go He would go with us.  In short the church is not a place for running from our troubles or running from the world.  The church is a place to run to for help… to run to for strength… so that you can then run to the world with the good news.  Are you safe in Church?  Well I hope so and I hope not!