A facebook post that made me think

'In the church context, it was culturally unacceptable to have problems; it was called being sinful. At Alcoholics Anonymous, it was culturally unacceptable to be perfect; that was called denial. In church, people looked better and got worse, and in the AA group they looked worse and got better!’ [Henry Cloud, Changes That Heal]

A friend of mine posted this on facebook recently. I got to thinking about it. This is a bit of an overstatement, but has enough truth to be a source of sadness. Of course, there is victory in the Christian life and it is not denial to testify to it. And wallowing in sin and defeat is sinful. Still, this is something to consider.

The churches I pastored had a culture of testifying. I am persuaded this is a very healthy practice. But I realized at some point that people usually shared victory and answers to prayer. These are good, but only half the story. We tried to address this. These same churches were also praying churches, frequently meeting in small groups for prayer. I believe this was one way the brethren could share their struggles: “Pray for me about…” and “I’m praying about…”

I would also often ask for testimonies of salvation. One Sunday, the Lord showed me that by doing this I was magnifying the sensational ("Man, I was really bad...") and marginalizing the saints who had been believers since childhood. The way we were doing this, they had no story. And yet they did! In addition, the Spirit showed me that the Lord Jesus said, Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. He said confess, not testify.

From that day forward I changed my approach. I began asking, "Anyone want to confess their faith in Christ?" or, "Anyone willing to confess they believe Jesus is the Son of God?" That way, everyone who had accepted Christ at the age of 5 and had never wandered off into sin had a glorious testimony too! And isn’t that what Jesus called for? confess me before men. And it was effective.

I believe Jesus saves, that there is victory in Christ, that God answers prayer, and that we are changed into the same image from glory to glory. And I believe in the practice of testifying. Frequent testimonies are a sign of a vibrant church. Churches have to be careful lest they create the culture described in the quote above, but testifying and the expectation of victory should be the norm in a church.

We used to sing:

Victory, O victory, it is mine 2x

If I hold my peace, 

let the Lord fight my battles

Victory, O victory, it is mine

Victory, O victory, it is yours… 

Victory, O victory, it is ours…

We should hold forth expectations of God moving in our midst and doing great things. We should also have the tradition of testifying to what He is doing and has done. But, to be a fully biblical church, we also need the freedom and transparency to Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. Otherwise we fall into the trap mentioned at the beginning.

Isn’t it cool when a simple facebook post causes you to think?