“Satan always hates Christian fellowship; it is his policy to keep Christians apart. Anything which can divide saints from one another he delights in.” – Charles Spurgeon
What would it take for you to hate another person? What would it take to refer to another as “other”?
In the 1950’s a fear reigned throughout America known as “The Red Scare.” Americans were fearful of Communism coming from the Soviet Union (Russia). It was the 1950’s version of “side-eye.” People could scrutinize you over what you talked about, who you hung around, your profession, and even where you were from if it had any association with Communism in a way the government thought was bad. Thousands of lives were turned upside-down (a majority through false allegations). The accused were jailed and many were fired from jobs. The fear of a Communist corruption crippled many citizens and government officials.
American history has many instances of fear and suspicion causing harm to innocent people – the first Red Scare of the 1920’s, the Salem Witch Trials, Executive Order 1066 (Japanese Internment Camps), etc.
Suspicion of us vs. them has plagued many people groups and nations for a variety of reason. We saw this through the Covid Pandemic and the Trump administration (just to name a few).
But…
Did you know there is a “Christian Red Scare” festering in churches today?
cONCEAL; DON’T FEEL
Have you ever walked into a church service as the best actor deserving an Oscar? Was there a moment where a Christian leader told you to stop thinking certain thoughts, stop questioning certain things, or stop saying things on your mind? Did your Christian brothers and sisters offer to pray for you as you “struggled with doubt”, or faced a “crisis of faith”, or any spiritual contrived phrase for “your benefit”? Were you ever kept at an arms-distance?
Many Christians, whether out loud or as a quiet response, answer, “yes.”
Something that is said or questioned is not liked, and, therefore, is silenced out of fear – fear of “corrupting the flock,” “fear of causing doubt among other believers,” and many other types of fear.
Whatever the fear is, anything that does not align is silenced, and people are fearful.
It is like Elsa from Frozen. She must conceal herself and not feel what is inside so she can perform her duties above revealing her true self. Many Christians feel the same way.
However we want to package it, this is an unbiblical way to treat anyone who claims to be a Christian. Christians should never be in context over who gets an Oscar for best actor.
What makes a christian?
When we begin to be fearful of someone questioning something in a church or what the Bible says, we tend to question if they are a Christian or not. The first suspicion is the validity of someone’s faith. Their “struggle” dictates whether we believe they are a Christian or not.
But, what makes a Christian?
We could become distracted by things like a church attendance record, music choices, Bible translation choices, or countless other choices. That would give us too many variables to work with and would cause division (which we want to avoid).
Therefore, we need to use a constant – something that will not change. Good thing we have God’s Word as our measure, and we have many passages that tell us what makes a Christian.
Ephesians 2:8-9 states we are saved by grace and not by our own means. What makes a Christian is grace. It is not something we do. So our “Christianness” comes from God out of grace. Grace cannot originate in our Christian choices that we use to judge the validity of another’s “Christianness.”
John 3:16 states that when anyone believes in Jesus he is saved. The dictionary defines “believes” as accepting something as true. Therefore, when someone believes Jesus is who he says he is, that individual passes from darkness into light and is saved.
Romans 10:13 states it very clearly. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Based on these three verses, we see can see clearer than Johnny Nash. A Christian is someone who, through an experience of the grace of God, believes in Jesus Christ. That’s it!
the threat
However, we forget how simple the Gospel is. We forget our faith is demonstrated through works grown out of the love of Jesus; rather than an adherence to a to-do list. We trade the gracious gospel of divine design for a man-made, matted, mess of meticulous millstones. In doing so, we commit the sin of Romans 1 (Romans 1:18-32).
It is in the erroneous exchange that we spark suspicion and fear in the church. We fear things that break our lists. When our list is broken, fellowship is broken, because it was not founded upon God’s grace.
In the early church, suspicion broke fellowship between Jews and Gentiles. There was such suspicion if God’s grace could extend to a people group who were not considered God’s people. It took a vision from God to Peter, and Paul confronting Peter to show how suspicion destroys fellowship (Acts 10; Galatians 2:11-21).
Were there differences between Jews and Gentiles in the way they practiced their faith? Yes. Think about meats offered to idols, the question of circumcision, the adherence to certain “holy day”, etc.
What about us today?
Are there differences in the ways we practice faith? Yes! Yet, we allow those differences to break fellowship and cause suspicion. We see anything outside of our comfort-zone as a spiritual crime leading to a trial of guilty until proven innocent.
The early church took their questions, doubts, and practices back to Scripture (Acts 17:11). Yet, those things threaten us. We cannot handle questions, doubts, or practices we are not comfortable with. Why? Because maybe a simple diversity of believers is threatening.
Mccarthyism manifests
During the Red Scare, a way of thinking called McCarthyism emerged. It drove the Red Scare in the 1950’s. Suspicion and fear led many to be seen as guilty until proven innocent.
Instead of embracing a diversity of unified believers, we tend to create our own McCarthyism in our churches. Questions we do not know how to answer are shut down. Doubts are extinguished. Practices are hidden. Then we hold people under this weight by ostracizing them in our church. Sure, we might offer them a “right hand of fellowship,” but we are hesitant to offer them the rights of being a believer like we think we are.
Jesus condemns the religious leaders for a similar attitude towards people. He called them out for shutting the door to the Kingdom of Heaven to everyone else, and not entering in themselves (Matthew 23:13).
Aren’t we doing the same when we build up a “Red Scare” in our churches? What happens when we do so? Believers are driven away from churches, and unbelievers wave the flag of hypocrisy as their reason not to step foot in church. The reason church attendance is low may be not from what we think, but may be from the lack of self-reflection in how we interact with other believers that show to the world a lack of Christlike love.
Conclusion
It is a bad idea to imitate our churches after the actions of American government. The Red Scare brought much division to our country (like so many other events in American history have). Churches should be above that.
Hebrews 10:23-25 tells us we need to provoke each other to love and good works. This is the motivation for fellowship. If our fellowship is based on what we do not approve of, hate, or are against, then there is no provoking to love and good works. It is not true Christian fellowship. It is a clique of cantankerous Christians.
So…
That Christian who holds a different opinion than you, how can you provoke to love? That believer who questions and doubts, how can you provoke to love? That brother or sister who practices differently or lives their Christian life differently, how can love be the basis of your fellowship with them?
There is one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is one faith through the grace of God. How can we show this union through the beauty of diversity in believers?
A fellow senator said to Joseph McCarty (the guy behind McCarthyism), “Have you no decency?” Have we reached a point where we need to ask the same of ourselves and our churches?
Braced By Truth 