Loving Prophetically: Kevin H

When the Apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the church in Corinth he opened it up by expressing his affection and thankfulness for the people and signed off by telling them, “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.”

In between, he beat them up pretty good.  For instance:

“for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” – I Corinthians 3:3

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.  And you are arrogant!  Ought you not rather to mourn?  Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” – I Corinthians 5:1-2

“For what have I to do with judging outsiders?  Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?  God judges those outside.  ‘Purge the evil person from among you.'” – I Corinthians 5:12-13

“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” – I Corinthians 10:14

“When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.  For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal.  One goes hungry, another gets drunk.  What!   Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?  Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?  What shall I say to you?  Shall I commend you in this?  No, I will not.” – I Corinthians 11:20-23

The Apostle Paul had a genuine love for the church in Corinth, and presumably at least partly because of that love, he did not hold back in correcting and reprimanding them where they were significantly off course in following after the Lord.

I grew up in the Evangelical church and to this day have continuously remained within it.  I love the church and many people within it whom I have gained the pleasure to meet and know.  My faith has been fed primarily within evangelical settings and I am grateful for the many good teachers, counselors, and friendships I have had.

Hence, this is why I care so much about the issues that I speak out about.  This culture and church family that has been so good and beneficial to me and many others is also riddled with sins and difficulties that contradict so many of its own supposed values and principles and claims to be following Jesus and upholding the Word of God.  These last eight or nine years have been especially rough with the deep dive of so many into shameless partisan politics.

It is with equal parts disappointment, sadness, frustration, hurt, incredulousness, and yes, love, that I choose to speak out.  While I certainly make no claims to be some kind of super-spiritual, super-righteous saint of God who’s got it all together, I do believe God has bestowed upon me the gift of discernment and that He prompts me to put that gift in action by speaking to the wrongs and immoralities that have become so excessive and prominent in my own Christian culture and church family.  I try to follow the example of Paul, the prophets, and Jesus, Himself, in speaking out of love and obedience and focusing primarily on my own people, family, and culture – those who already claim to be followers of Christ – and not on “outsiders”.

Michael feels a leading to tone down the focus here on the ills, at least the political ills, that defile the Christian culture, especially the evangelical culture and to instead focus more on the positives of what we can and should do as followers of Jesus living in a Christian culture where it is pretty much a given that there is and will continue to be serious compromise with and capitulation to political idolatry.  There is certainly value and wisdom in such and I will try my best to follow Michael’s leading here.  Just please know where my heart has been in my previous writings and may still show on occasion in future writings.

Since leaving Calvary Chapel, my family and I have found an evangelical church that while it may not meet all the exact preferences of methodology or full agreements on all points of secondary doctrines for all members of the family, it stays true and focused on the core tenets of the faith, avoids division and haughtiness on matters of secondary importance, and functions as a church family with care and concern for its members and community and not as some business or corporation looking to champion its brand, win the culture wars, insinuate superiority, and/or achieve “success”.  While they will address political issues and other contentious issues within the church culture, they eschew so much of the partisan politics, commercialization, authoritarianism, celebrity worship, arrogance, and lack of transparency and accountability that so plagues the evangelical culture today.  While, of course, being far from perfect as it is a church made up of humans, it has been a breath of fresh air for me as it acts far more like Jesus and His Bride than what I encounter in much of evangelicalism today.

I pray that the rest of you may find a similar blessing in one manner or another as we navigate this fallen and chaotic world where it sometimes feels as if the Christian world is just as fallen and chaotic, if not even more so.