Church Hate
“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.”
Growing up as a pastor’s kid was complex, to say the least. You’ve probably heard it before—kind of a “living on display” in the community thing. Furthermore, I grew up in a church that was at one point one of the fastest-growing churches in the United States. We were, in my opinion, a fairly large church. Some have called it a “mega-church”.
Others have called it much worse names.
I remember when we were building the church building we had picketers come and protest the opening of our church, when it started raining we took them coffee, donuts, and umbrellas to help keep them dry.
I’ve seen people, Christian people, do everything they could to take shots at my home church. They’ve fired their words in the comments like missiles, they openly filmed in the front row hoping to find something they could sue over. They’ve sent death threats to my family and more. The staff has experienced it, my family has experienced it, and I’ve experienced it.
I hope you know what I’m referring to. This isn’t the private conversations of feedback or the criticism given out of love and a desire for the growth of that church. This is the kind of church hate that has no purpose except that which the enemy desires: the divisive, abusive release of over-stressed people, who have been steeped in a graceless and callous culture. Such people have no empathy for others, no sense of the gentleness they ought to show, and no sense of the pain and sorrow they cause with their words. They are intellectually astute and ignorantly cruel.
Church hate appears to be a very fashionable fad for a lot of Christians.
When we hate the church, we hate the bride of Christ. We are not attacking “organizations” we are attacking groups of those who have been made in the Image of God. We openly assault, in full view of the world, the bride of Jesus. Yet I have to confess—I’ve also done it. I have talked bad about churches before, and I need to repent.
Nothing will contaminate your witness like the bitterness and resentment you show towards the bride of Christ.
The witness of American Christians in the world right now is that we are full of judgment, bitterness, and resentment towards all, even ourselves.
So how are we called to represent Jesus in this world?
The Action it Requires
“Do everything without grumbling or arguing…”
Those words are difficult to read. Do everything without grumbling or arguing. When we look at this in the context of the church, it isn’t rocket science. I firmly believe we know the good we ought to do, and we know the evil we ought not to do. So how can you practically avoid grumbling or arguing? First, I would suggest staying out of the comments. It is far too easy to be tempted to react.
We do not dismiss church hurt but we are never to respond with church hate.
Please hear my heart on this—no church is perfect, no leadership is perfect and we should not dismiss the actions of leaders who fall short, those who are called to a certain standard by the nature of their position. Or dismiss the leaders of churches who should be removed from their positions because of the abuse they’ve wrought.
We instead, respond with love, justice, forgiveness, mercy, and grace to the goal of reconciliation.
The Condition it Creates
“…become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.””
Pure, set apart, blameless, all these and more are what we become; in short we become like Christ. These are what we are called to be. Packer summarizes the goal of the New Testament beautifully when he writes,
“Were I asked to focus the New Testament message in three words, my proposal would be adoption through propitiation, and I do not expect ever to meet a richer or more pregnant summary of the gospel than that.” - J. I. Packer
We have been adopted into the family of God, by the good mercies and grace of our God through Jesus Christ. We are now children of God. We cannot lose this status. We are called, therefore, to uphold the family name. We do not live this way to earn our place in the family—that is why Christ came and died for our sins—we live this way out of gratitude for what God has done for us. My friend Jason Caine put it this way,
“Your calling has to be louder than the criticism you hear.” - Jason Caine
Your calling is to be a child of God. To be full of love, joy, peace, gentleness, and respect. To uphold the downtrodden and oppressed and to advocate for justice. To love and serve others humbly with joy. The results of this lifestyle will speak for itself.
The Result it Brings
“…you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”
For those of us who trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, we have become children of God and so we are set apart; the natural result will be visibility. You do not live as you once did. You do not relieve stress in the same way. You will stand out from your coworkers, your friends, from your family because of how you love, forgive, and live. The world is dark, yet you will stand out like stars, like navigable lights in the darkness. The world is dark and will hate you for it, this is why Jesus says,
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” - John 15:18-19
Gene Edwards wrote a book entitled “A Tale of Three Kings” In it he talks about David and Saul and how Saul would throw spears, he further relates it to how we “throw spears” in our world.
“You can easily tell when someone has been hit by a spear. He turns a deep shade of bitter…. One, never learn anything about the fashionable, easily mastered art of spear throwing. Two, stay out of the company of all spear throwers. And three, keep your mouth tightly closed. In this way, spears will never touch you, even when they pierce your heart.” - Gene Edwards
If they persecuted Jesus they will persecute you. You will be criticized. You will be mocked. People can and will criticize you for nothing more than that they’ve been trained by the world to do so—some have even been trained by churches to do just that.
How easy it is to become a spear thrower today! Do not be deceived—this is a trap from the enemy. Nothing pleases our adversary more than when we decide to hit back against those who hurt us. When we throw spears, we stab the bitterness deeper and deeper into the recesses of our hearts. When bitterness finishes its work, it will have hollowed you from the inside out, leaving nothing but a shell of its former self.
God has come to remove the bitterness and resentment. He does this through the grace, mercy, and love of Jesus through the most powerful offering of forgiveness. He does this through the word of life. We hold to Jesus, the word of life, as our lifeline. He is who sustains us and makes us new. So when your enemy aims at you with their hate, respond with the love that is within you, and ask for the Holy Spirit to be powerfully at work in you. Do not let your hearts become hardened by the sin that so easily dominates us.
He is here and desires for you to shine like a stars in this dark world, He will help you do it.
