The banana which stays with the bunch won’t get peeled…

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. ²⁵  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT)

We live in a time when many question the value of regular church attendance and involvement. In fact, it is in vogue now to love Jesus, but not the church. There are many reasons this attitude and practice are being adopted by a growing number of people.

Perhaps the most troubling of these “excuses” for not assembling with other believers is the one which seems most noble, the revolutionary critique of the church in general, which resonates in my own heart.

Instead of “going to church,” they are eager to be the church. Instead of being a face in the crowd, they are eager to be a known and needed member of a community. Instead of being passive observers of an event, they are eager to be active contributors to a shared mission. Instead of listening to a preacher pontificate and tell stories from behind a podium, they are eager to be welcomed into a Story that is bigger than the preacher. Instead of sitting in a room full of people who “accept” Jesus but who also seem bored with him, they are eager to find others like them who truly love Jesus and who come alive at the mention of his name. Instead of busying themselves with church programs, they are eager to be part of a movement that resembles the book of Acts, where believers kept peripheral things on the periphery and devoted themselves to the main things, such as worshiping God, studying the Scriptures, living in fellowship , breaking bread together, praying together, opening their homes, giving generously to those who had need, and living in such a way that the watching world took notice and the Lord added daily to their number.

Sauls, Scott (2015-03-01). Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides (pp. 42-43). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

A growing number of people resonate with the above passage, but, unfortunately, instead of finding (or starting) a church that fits the bill, they have given up on the quest and have become cynical and critical, not realizing that their unease with the current state of the church is actually a call to help it change for the better. Dropping out of the race while being so close to the prize is a tragedy.

People need people. The author of Hebrews knew that we need to be around other believers who can spur us on in our faith journey as followers of Jesus. Human nature, like water, is drawn to the path of least resistance. If we are not growing in our faith and devotion to the Lord, we likely are going backward. When the church gathers together, it is for the purpose of encouraging one another by sharing our lives, our gifts, and our hearts, all through the power and presence of God’s Spirit. There is a special anointing that comes upon any group of believers who gather in Jesus’ name in a spirit of unity. We also share the Scriptures with one another, worship together, pray, and share the Lord’s supper. As for me, I am almost always lifted and encouraged when I get with other believers.

The opposite is staying alone or aloof. We sometimes feel depressed or discouraged to the point where we don’t “feel” like being around others. This sort of feeling is a very poor guide to behavior. The very thing we most likely need is to be around people, especially other followers of Jesus. Aloofness, on the other hand, comes from believing we are better than others, who ,we feel, have nothing to offer us. This is very dangerous and is rooted in judgmental pride.

Not only do people need people, we all need to be part of a family. The church is God’s idea, not man’s. It is composed of brothers and sisters who have the same ABBA Father. Every family is imperfect, but hopefully you have experienced a family which loves and has stayed connected despite differences and offenses. The church is just such a family, which God has created, where we learn to love difficult people with God’s love, even as others learn to love us. Don’t forget we are likely someone else’s trial!

Part of the Christian experience is learning to love difficult people just as Jesus loves us when we are difficult. This includes actively moving toward people we don’t naturally like or enjoy… . Only in regular contact with ordinary, imperfect believers can we learn real fellowship and experience the New Testament truth of being connected and dependent on each other.

Sauls, Scott (2015-03-01). Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides (p. 48). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

In The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis says that if the devil wants to distract , discourage, and alienate a new Christian from his newfound faith in Jesus, the best way to do so is by tempting the new Christian to grow cynical toward his local church. In a letter to the young devil Wormwood, the experienced devil Screwtape says that the local church is one of the devil’s most effective allies against “the Enemy” (God). All Wormwood has to do is get the new Christian to fixate on other people in the pews—especially those who have squeaky boots and double chins, and who sing off-key. The more unattractive and unimpressive the members of the local church appear to the Christian, the more cynical he will become toward the local church itself. And the more cynical he becomes toward the local church , the more cynical he will become about Christianity as a whole.

Sauls, Scott (2015-03-01). Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides (pp. 48-49). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

But is retreat really an option? Can we be in relationship with God while opting out of relationship with people—even difficult people—whom he loves? Can we claim Jesus as our elder brother while rejecting the church, whom he affectionately calls his bride? … Can we accept and receive his free offer of grace and patience and kindness and forgiveness and long-suffering toward us, while refusing to offer others the same?… We don’t get to choose our family. Our family is chosen for us, and we make the very best of it because family members share a common heritage and a common inheritance… As troubling as it may be to the individualist in each of us, God and the church come to us as a package deal. God never calls us to himself in isolation. He calls us individually, but never as mere individuals… Family members change over time. Family members go through seasons of being low-maintenance and also high-maintenance people. But because they are family, we stick with them through the good, the bad, and the ugly. They are family when they are at their best, and they are family when they are at their worst. They are family when relationships are easy, and they are family when relationships are difficult. They are family when we have offended them, and they are family when they have offended us. Either way, the nature of family is to stick together through thick and thin, for better or worse , for richer or poorer, in sickness and health. This is how the church is meant to be as well. Family is the chief metaphor that the Bible uses when it talks about the church. God is our Father. Jesus is our Husband. The Spirit is the Counselor to a redeemed, beloved, and often dysfunctional spiritual family. We are spiritual brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and daughters and sons to one another. We didn’t choose one another, but we have been given to one another by our Father in heaven, who intends for us to stay together and not hit the eject button when things get difficult or irritating or boring. And when we stay together, we are the better for it.

Sauls, Scott (2015-03-01). Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides (p. 50-52). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Some church planters today, in search of growing a big church quickly, have opted to go after “target groups” of homogeneous people, knowing that such people will feel relatively comfortable with one another, have similar values, and feel an attraction to people like themselves. This type of church has value, of course, but is not the best reflection of God’s kingdom, which by design is very diverse. Jesus’ disciples were from all walks of life, some of which were mutually antagonistic. They learned to place their individual agendas beneath the Kingdom of God. They learned to get along and build unity under the common mission of going and making disciples. Unless dissimilar people are coming together in unity, it is questionable whether our churches accurately reflect God’s kingdom.

Ideally . . . the church itself is not made up of natural “friends.” It is made up of natural enemies. What binds us together is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything else of that sort. Christians come together . . . because . . . they have all been loved by Jesus himself. . . . They are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake… Sometimes it takes having differences, not understanding one another, and even being a little bit irritated by and bored with one another, to remind us that the church is a family and not a club. At its best, this family dynamic of the local church functions as God’s fertile soil for growing us beyond mere tolerance toward true expressions of love and unity. Tolerance toward others in the local church is a good starting point, but it is not our final goal. To tolerate somebody is to merely put up with them, to live and let live. But it does not require us to be in relationship with the person. It carefully avoids all of the costs, inconveniences, and risks of love. Tolerance allows us to keep a safe, comfortable distance. Friendship, on the other hand, welcomes that somebody into our circle. Friendship takes us beyond tolerance to a common life together… Friendship between opposites enables us to see that bonds formed around a shared love for Jesus are even greater than bonds formed around a shared interest, hobby, favorite sports team, income bracket, ethnicity, nationality, or bloodline.

Sauls, Scott (2015-03-01). Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides (pp. 53-55). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

When believers choose to dissociate from the rest of the church family, it hurts them and the larger group. It hurts them because the miss out on what others bring to the table, and through isolation they put themselves in a more vulnerable position. The wolf always goes after the stragglers, the weak, and strays. The banana that stays with the bunch will not get peeled. Conversely, when we join the rest of the group, we increase the blessing. Isaiah the prophet wrote the the new wine is found in the cluster. There is a certain special anointing that rests upon the group which remains in unity in the service and worship of Christ.

Because of your uniqueness, you, and only you, are able to bring certain things out of me. Because of my uniqueness, I, and only I, am able to bring certain things out of you. This is what I hope every Christian will consider. As irritating and unnecessary as the hand might seem to the eye, the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” Neither can the head say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” [15] God has designed us to be one body with many differences. The moment any of these parts is removed from the body, the body is weakened. Similarly, the moment a missing part is added back to the body, the body is strengthened and made more alive… The messiness of the local church—let’s just call it “Corinth”—needs the missing revolutionaries. Corinth needs the prophetic revolutionaries who are troubled by the messiness of Corinth . The judgmental saints in Corinth need gracious revolutionaries to show them a more beautiful way. The divisive saints in Corinth need unifying revolutionaries to help them major in the majors and minor in the minors. The adulterers in Corinth need pure-hearted revolutionaries to call them to account. The victims of adultery and wrongful divorce in Corinth need compassionate revolutionaries to love and support them and assure them at every turn that they are not alone. The bullied saints in Corinth need justice-oriented revolutionaries to stand between them and the bullies. The poor saints in Corinth need openhanded, compassionate revolutionaries to lift them out of a desperate state . The drunk uncles in Corinth need love and redemptive pressure from sober-minded revolutionaries who have a soft spot for drunk uncles and a vision for their sobriety. And the painfully ordinary people in Corinth—the ones with the squeaky boots, double chins, and off-key singing voices—need kindhearted revolutionaries to remind them that they are fearfully and wonderfully made. I suppose what I am suggesting is that it would be beautiful, if not truly revolutionary, if the revolutionaries would consider joining Jesus in his mission to love Corinth back to life, versus the alternative of writing Corinth off. Corinth needs the revolutionaries. Something tells me that the revolutionaries need Corinth too.

Sauls, Scott (2015-03-01). Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides (pp. 56-58). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

The banana which stays with the bunch won’t get peeled…

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