There is some errant thinking today that church should be all about love, and unity. That everyone should be confirmed in their current thinking and all lifestyles are to be accepted. That the mission of the church is to unify everyone in love. This is actually the opposite of what Scripture calls us to in Romans 12:1-2.

GOD GIVES SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR ETHICAL BEHAVIOR

God has a specific ethic that He has called Christians to and expects of them. Romans 12:1-2 says that we are to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” In other words, there are acceptable things we do with our bodies, and ways that are unacceptable to live. All throughout the Old and New Testaments we find those ethics.

This is why the apostle Paul calls us to “glorify God with your body” in I Corinthians 6:20. It is because there are ways that we can dishonor and bring shame to God with how we use our bodies and live our lives. 

GOD HAS SPECIFIC WAYS OF THINKING

God doesn’t just have a specific way of acting, but a specific way of thinking. He does not bless every worldview and ideology. What God doesn’t say is, “come to church to have your way of thinking blessed.” He says, come to have your thinking transformed by Him to His Word. Romans 12:2 says that we are to have a “renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern the will of God.” 

NOT JUST CORRECTING, BUT DESTROYING FALSE ARGUMENTS

We are not at church to have our thinking confirmed but conformed. In fact, not only are we not to confirm every way of thinking, but we are called as Christians to destroy arguments, worldviews, and thinking that goes against that of Christ and Scripture. II Corinthians 10:5 says, “we demolish arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” 

MAKE SURE YOU ARE ALIGNED

When we come to church, to Scripture, to prayer, our job is to place our beliefs and thinking aside and find out what God says and follow that. It is easy to think that we know the right way because we have thought a certain way for so long. 

Recently we took our car into the garage for an inspection. We were told we needed one new tire. What we didn’t realize is that there was an issue with the car. The car went forward, backwards, left and right. To someone who knows nothing about cars, I thought everything was well. The tire on the back passenger side showed something else. The tire’s wear revealed that there was something wrong with the front of the car, which we fixed.

Sometimes people who have not been in church for long or in the Word come in assuming they know what God says about something. Their grid can be small, and knowledge limited because of that. Then, when we study Scripture, we find out that our thinking, and our way of living was off. We need an alignment, and that is an alignment with Christ. We must search the Scriptures and submit ourselves to Christ to make sure we are thinking and living in accordance to His Word. 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, church is not about “everyone getting along” or “unifying everyone in every form of thinking, behavior and belief.” Churches must call all of us to conform to Christ’s way of thinking, belief, and behavior. It calls us to unity, but that unity is specifically in Christ – not just in salvation, but in how we think and act. Ephesians 1:10-11 tells us that He is saving people and bringing them under the authority of Christ and conforming them to His ways and His will.

Do you think the mission of the church is to confirm everyone’s belief, thinking and behaviors, or is it to bring everyone under the subjection of the will, ways, and thinking of Jesus? Have you studied what Scripture says about the kind of ways Christ has called us to think and behaviors? Who is King of your life? Is it you, or is it Christ? Whoever controls your thoughts, mindset, worldview, and behavior will answer that question.

Thanks for taking time to read this Maddening Theology post. If you enjoyed this content you can find Pastor Tim’s sermons at www.cornerstoneforestcity.org. You can also join us at 520 Marion St. Browndale, PA 18421 on Sundays at 10 AM. To make following the blog easier you can also register. You can also join us on Facebook at Cornerstone Forest City. Also, don’t forget to download our APP on iTunes  or Googleplay.