To Love God and Neighbor, pt 2

This is part 2 of attempting to clarify "the Great Commandment", as Jesus spoke it in Matthew 22:37-29. Allow me to continue the last blog by diving right in:
-To become so concerned with 'loving God' that we forget to love our neighbors isn't as much to literally 'love God too much' as it is to not understand what it means to love God, because it's impossible to love God too much, but it IS possible to be so concerned with the personal and private striving after God's holiness and glory that we know our Bibles very well and know theology very well, but we hardly do ANY of the hard work of bringing the Gospel to people who don't have Christ. This plays itself out in churches where the preacher is on fire from the pulpit (not literally) and the people are 'amen'ing all over the place during his sermon, but the idea of ministering to the people with needs in their community is something that's not even in their vocabulary. They operate under a "come to us" ministry mentality (which is big-brother arrogance), assuming they have all the answers and the people with the needs need to take the initiative; this is opposite of a "go to them" ministry mentality (which is humbling and Christ-like) and assumes that since the people obviously can't get to God unless they have Christ, the only way that they can get to Christ is if those who have Christ bring Him to them. The former assumes that we have all the answers and they need to come to us, and the latter assumes that we don't have ALL the answers, but that since we have the only answers that matter, we can boldly and humbly take it to them, trusting that God is going to do the work of the Gospel through us. Nevertheless, the absence of this is a common problem in churches--we concern so much over 'loving God' that we forget that to truly love Him means to make much of Him for others who don't know Him, like the disciples did when they received the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, and like Paul indicts in Romans 10. This mindset is prevalent in many churches with predominantly older congregations. "We're successful if we have our Bible verses memorized and if people in church are acting right," is what they live by. Many of these churches are marked by a certain deepness in their theology, but a shallowness in their ministry.
-Conversely, to become so concerned with 'loving others' that we don't love God like we should is to assume that the chief end of Christian ministry is to meet needs and have a "church as a hospital" mindset, and completely neglect God's call for His people to be holy like He is holy. This plays itself out in predominantly younger congregations, many times in response to the older congregations that don't do anything for people with needs. But this is just as (if not more) sinful, because it makes man the chief end of ministry. "We're successful if we're filling the pews and if we're feeding people that are hungry and getting recognition by others in the community" is what they live by. Many of these churches are marked by a certain deepness in their ministry, but a shallowness in their theology.

Clearly, both sides are wrong and unfortunately if you had a coin in your hand where one side said "God-centered but man-neglecting" and the other side said "man-centered but God-neglecting", you could enter most churches in America and make a pretty accurate guess as to which side of the coin faces up in that church.

I think the Church isn't supposed to be a place where we either lean too heavily on the first Command that we neglect our neighbors, nor is it to be a place where we lean so heavily on the second Command that we neglect loving God with all we have. Clearly in the Great Commandment, Jesus calls His people to strive after God first, and in response to striving after Him, take care of and love your neighbor. This looks much more like a basketball than a coin, because a coin always lands on one side or the other, but a basketball lands however it's going to land, and you know that if it landed another way, it'd still look the same. This way, God remains on the throne where He belongs, and our ministry to our neighbors, friends, community, etc. happens in response to the fact that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And if the ball lands another way, it'd still look the same because the make-up of it is the same all over the surface.

Seeing it this way, we will always a) remain underneath the sovereignty and Lordship of God, and b) keep in mind what it is our neighbors really need, which is to hear of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. We'll stop assuming that if we have Scripture memorized we're doing all we need to do, and we'll also stop assuming that if we're meeting needs in the community, we're doing all we need to do.

I think the real reason why ministry's so hard isn't just because we work with people, nor is it just that we strive after the Holiness of God. It's because we lean too easy to one of those pursuits or the other:
-If we're tough-guys (or girls), we lean on Loving God but forget that to truly love Him means that we have a tenderness towards others (because tenderness goes against our personality!). That's why it so difficult for us to TRULY connect with people and get motivated to be priestly with them. We'd rather just be prophetic. Many Bible-thumpers AREN'T truly ministering out of Gospel-transformation.
-If we're more tender-hearted and compassionate, we lean on Loving Others but forget that to truly love them is to be sent to them from being up underneath the throne of God like Isaiah in Isaiah 6. So we tend to have gifts of caring for people and helping people, but we never read our Bibles or spend time in prayer, because it frightens us to have to come to grips with our unholiness, which happens to ALL people when they come to grips with God's holiness, like Isaiah did. We'd rather be priestly than prophetic. Many Christian activists also AREN'T truly ministering out of Gospel-transformation.
The answer and solution?: Go to our knees and pray honestly for the Lord to reveal which side we've been guilty of landing on. Do you study Scripture all the time but don't ever bring the Gospel to people who don't have Christ, and thus make void the faith that you profess to have (see James 2)? Or do you minister to people all the time, but never actually spend time in the Word or in prayer, and never actually share the GOSPEL with the people you're ministering to, making your work no different than secular humanitarians (see Revelation 3:15-16)? Whatever side you're on, it's time for the Church to look much more like a sphere than a coin. It's time that our gospel be THE Gospel, and it's time that we be reconciled to God first, so that we can work to reconcile our neighbors second. In the Kingdom, it doesn't work one way or the other. It ONLY works if both sides are embodied. It starts with answering the first question: Do you love Him with all you have? If not, maybe you should take a step back from ministering for a while. But if you DO love Him with all you have, are you bringing it to those who need it? If not, you should pray long and hard.
Pray for Hazelwood Christian Church as we seek to live the Gospel in our Church family, and as we seek to live the Gospel in our community. I'll pray that you do, too. Thanks for reading.