Prejudice All Dressed Up

Prejudice all Dressed-Up
Learning to Recognizing an Unseen Evil
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10-10-10 / 08-31-11
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There used to be a time when Sunday came around and it was time for Church, the family would put on what was called their ‘Sunday best,’ with shoes shined, clothes crisp and ironed and Mother got to ‘show off’ her new dress, etc. To some degree, that still exists in different parts of the Country and Church cultures. There is also the ‘seeker sensitive’ model where you simply come as you are. Both models are perfectly fine.

Regardless the area of the Country or the Church culture represented, there is ‘someone’ that shows up in far too many Churches all dressed up but finds a way to blend in no matter the model or paradigm. That would be the ‘Prejudice Family.’

Prejudice - sometimes it is so very covert with unabashed disply and then sometimes so very subtle that it is almost inperceptible. When it is the latter or we are blinded to its presence, someone must poke us and give us a nudge that it is present - it is showing.

Prejudice can be found in great variety but for sure, it loves to get dressed up in religious garb and is pretty hard to detect or admit to and is too often denied. In other instances, it has almost become venerable and worshipped.

Prejudice is like lobster-red sunburn on the backs of those who are infected with it or affected by it because it is so, so stinging and abrasive. We grimice and recoil when we encounter it because it is genuinely painful.

For instance, in some cases the younger folk don’t like the ways of the older folk. Sometimes those who are very image conscious (I’ll call them the ‘Haves’) do not like the ‘have-nots.’ In the very, very challenging high school environment where ‘image’ is a matter of life-and-death, the preppies do not like the emos or the athletic types just can’t hang with the academic nerds. Here in Chicago, fan loyalty is almost a sacred thing and for sure, the Cubs fans have no care for the Sox fans and vice-versa. It is a mind-spinning, mind-splitting affair if one tries to keep up with it and measure one’s reactions to each nuance.

There are not too many institutions wracked with more prejudice than the church. Keep in mind that Jesus said that if anyone ‘hates’ his brother he is in danger of judgment. The Greek word that is translated ‘hate’ in this particular verse speaks of ‘having a disregard for’ another. Prejudice does just that: it causes people to either be adversarial and confrontational or completely disassociated from other believers if they are not of our particular flavor.

Prejudice is terrible but if there can be lower levels of prejudice, it is seen in the prejudice that one church or believer has for another church or believer because their faith and dogmas are not absolutely identical.

When the Apostle Paul confronted this issue, he asked the question: is Christ divided? Then he said that we are to make sure there are no schisms and divisions among us because they are absolutely contrary to the covenant connectedness that Jesus preached concerning His kingdom.

The margins of acceptance or tolerance are so narrow church-to-church or believer-to-believer that there is no room for imagining that God’s family could actually be larger than our narrow, exclusive concepts of God and His forgiveness. The church (believers) has not sufficiently wrapped their minds around the fact that God loves each and every believer and each and every doctrinally sound (ie. Nicene Creed) church as much as He does us. We like the idea that we are so right-on and thoroughly correct in our understanding of God and His Word that we are His ‘favorites.’ However, just cannot imagine or be secure enough in His love to see Him ‘feeling’ the same for another group that is not a part of our direct ‘vine’ as He does feel about us. To consider such a thought kind of takes away our religious / spiritual pride that we like to wear like a badge of honor.

You see, we want 'our side' or 'our team' to win. Consequently, we believe that God is on 'our’ side and if He is, that means that He is not on ‘their’ side. It sounds rediculous when you put it out there on paper or in conversation, but it is what it is. In reality, you are not His favorite and neither am I His favorite by some kind of assumed right or privilege. We all are His favorites and that is just fine with me!

What constitutes grounds for mutual-respect and acceptance? Too often we want the criteria to be ‘Exactness.’ However, the grounds for mutual respect and acceptance rests in the fact that every human being is created and given life by God intentionally and holds the same hope and promises for experiencing His life-altering grace as we have. God has honored and elevated every human being (by faith) by giving the life of His Son to be the ransom and price paid for our soul. What honor!

I like to engage people wherever I go hoping that I will get an open door to minister to them. People are 90+ % of the time gracious and respond in kind. However, there is one exception that I run into every once in a while – in a Christian bookstore. That is the one place (not all of the Christian bookstores but the one I visit) where I do not find open, warm and friendly greetings. It feels like I have walked into a high security area where the workers that are present are the guards who are just waiting for our infraction of some kind. I know that sounds hard, but it is my experience.

Another observation is that when faith starts becoming institutional and is no longer organic, everything exists for the maintenance and perpetuation of the ‘institution.’ The ideas is that ‘we’ must keep everyone that we can from our particular form of faith and religion and churches become cloistered, exclusive and their own stardard by which everyone else is measured. Thus, we create an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality.

The religious ritual works like this. When religious prejudice is present, one begins to gather data and information about the person we are engaging for the first time. In such situations, you can either look for commonalities as a means of putting a value on the person in order to establish acceptance. Or, we can look for differences using them as a means of eliminating any possibility of acceptance. Or, we can be like Jesus and accept them with open arms just as He did us.

The place we give people in our hearts is where prejudice begins or ceases to exist. That is why it is such a serious issue to Christ. When Jesus saw the ‘people,’ which included the people who would turn against Him and crucify Him, He saw them through the eyes of His Father and was moved with compassion for them and their needs. He was in Galilee of the Gentiles when He saw the multitudes and was moved with compassion. These were people whom a Jew should have disdained and abhorred from a religious / faith standpoint. However, He saw them through the eyes of His Father.

God existed long before any church and faith tradition began. He lived and continues to live outside any boundaries erected by man or otherwise. He cannot be contained. If you feel that you are exclusive in your claim on God and His affections, I’m here to let you know that your dogma can’t contain Him. If you believe that you are outside the commonwealth of His love, acceptance and forgiveness, even those boundaries cannot contain Him. If you think you are the only church or faith that is right, then you serve a very small, predictable god.

God’s love extends without parameters far beyond the walls of separation and isolation that dogma and tradition have erected. He reaches past our prejudice and idiotic small-mindedness to meet those who are like the Biblical ‘woman at the well’ who discovered that His love and forgiveness know no barriers.

Yes, I believe that I am ‘right’. However, I also believe that every believer who has found Life in the vicarious death, burial and resurrection of Christ are also right – as are their particular church which holds to the same. I see it, then, that if I am ‘against’ them just because they aren’t my ‘brand,’ I am actually against THE Body of Christ and have unjust, unfounded prejudice that hurts Him and His ministry.

I do not necessarily agree with everything that I hear being preached on Christian television. However, God IS using these soldiers of the Cross to reach people that I could never reach in ten lifetimes. God is using many of them to reach the un-saved at their point of knowledge and faith. And, the bottom line is a ‘net gain’ for the Kingdom of God as God takes their ‘foolish preaching’ to convince multitudes of His reality. In this, I rejoice and covenant never to impede their credibility with the platforms of influence and speaking God has afforded me.

What I do mind, are the ministers who take the valuable Harvest-reaching time to discredit another harvester who is helping to see that the Father’s house is filled. It is a waste of time and akin to sabotage to spend limited, valuable public time to discredit the work and ministry of another laborer in the field (unless the laborers infractions are absolute and undeniable). If they are preaching Christ and Him crucified, buried and raised from the dead, leave them alone and be certain not to help eradicate their platform and influence while they are de-populating hell and populating Heaven. I’m just sayin . . . .
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Bishop Freddie Steel – Life Church of Chicagoland – www.lifeinchicago.org - revfts@usa.net
6600 W. 127th Street – Palos Heights, IL 60463 - 708-824-1501

'Grace is Free - But it Sure is Expensive'

Grace is Free, But It Sure Is Expensive.
by Freddie Steel on Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 5:10pm

Grace does NOT make sense. Neither does faith. Forgiveness doesn't make sense. That is why they are supernatural and so powerful.

If grace does not make 'sense,' then I can't lean on my own understanding to dispense grace. I have to commit to living grace and offering grace intentionally rather than emotionally.

I'm pretty convinced that grace is not shared and released more liberally by more of us because far too many do not know grace personally. We live in a culture where we receive everything by way of performance. Grades in school come via academic performance. Salaries and compensation come via performance. Too often, husbands and wives relate and offer love to one another via performance. But grace sees people through 'rose-colored' glasses. Grace doesn't close its eyes to faults, failures and shortcomings, it just helps you to see them through God's 'rose-colored' glasses.

The best way to get our 'rose-colored' glasses (a personal understanding and encounter with grace), is through failing (God's Word is the foremost means). Failure is how God teaches us that He has been blessing 'everyone' of us on credit. Here is a glimpse of grace.

'God makes it rain on the just and the unjust.' Everyone seems to know how to quote this as a verse of judgment. However, rain is a blessing and shows the benevolence of God. So, Jesus is saying that the Father releases His goodness of life on the 'deserving' and the 'undeserving.' He loves ALL of mankind impartially. He is not prejudiced or secterian. God so loved the 'world' that He gave His Son - liberally and freely.

Since we really do reap what we sow, I try to sow grace every single day, and especially when it doesn't make sense. In doing so, in those moments, we are more like Jesus than at any other time. His grace is free, but it is also very expensive - it cost Him His life.

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What You Will NOT Find At Life Church

I just had to create this note. It has nagged at me for days since hearing more than once the stories of how Father God is too often presented as only being a 'has been' God or as a 'will be' God when, in reality, He IS (everything He says He is) . . . was . . . and will be.

I like every church and am for every church that is for the Bible and I am for their success. As I see it, we are all on the very same team. I want them to 'win.' I 'like' every television minister too. They all present Jesus differently from one another but somehow in the sovereign design of God, I believe He can use each word to touch a heart somewhere, somehow.

Part of my calling is to be a bridge between people and God - specifically, people who have been hurt, wounded or turned off to God in the house of God. Though I have weathered a lot of church storms, I believe God has helped me and my family to remain free from hurts and wounds that could have dabilitated our faith in God and in people. I also realize that we are to help heal God's distorted image presented by well-meaning churches and voices but really does not reflect, accurately, Who He really is.

The Bible says that Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were sick and oppressed of the Devil. Later, Jesus said that if you have seen Him, you have seen the Father. He was/is a perfect reflection of Father God and has not mutated into something less generous, liberal and giving or less willing than what Jesus presented Him as being. The logical and reasoning faculties of man cannot grasp, contain or imagine One Who resides outside those limits. It takes the Holy Spirit breathing life into the Word of God to enlighten our spiritual understanding to even begin to grasp His grandeur and immensity.

At Life Church, you will NOT find church politics running and ruining everything overtly or covertly. Far too many have been hurt and disconnected from a church due to church politics and the strife it can gender. We have determined to model New Testament church government that genders trust, vulnerability and unity.

At Life Church, you will NOT find us presenting a God Who 'was' or Who 'will be.' We present God Who was, will be and 'is.' In other words, He is all and everything His Word says He is and His Promises have no expiration dates. If He showed Himself to be a healer of disease and brokenness, He remains to be that same healer and restorer. Our messages and doctrine does not teach a God Who has diminished capacity or willingness to be all that His Word describes Him to be.

At Life Church, you will NOT find 'membership' in the traditional sense. You cannot just join a church like you join an organization because the church 'has' organization but is an 'organism' - not simply an institution. The Bible says that it is like a family, the Father's family in Heaven and the Earth. Therefore, rather than presenting the traditional membership, we offer 'Mutual Adoption.' It's a family thing and families are 'organically' connected for life.

At Life Church, you will NOT find that we are more concerned about your dollars than we are about your discipleship. In other words, the Word we preach will probably offend you but not just for the sake of offending. We will not adapt or water-down the Word of God so the Truth doesn't upset you.

At Life Church, you will NOT find exclusion but you will find inclusion. Our doors are open to anyone and everyone. Our love is color-blind, unconcerned about social barriers and is the true test of our spirituality.

At Life Church, you will NOT find us competing with or disregarding any other church or minister. We are all on the same 'team' fighting a common 'enemy.' When another church prospers, we prosper and our community benefits. We are a part of the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) , but our affiliation carries no restrictions with how we view people in need and carry out our mission.

To learn more about Life Church and our mission, visit www.lifeinchicago.org .