The Social Network

Paul Williams and the Victory Trio have the bluegrass gospel scoop on the very best social network you can join.

Yesterday's post on "Following" was a long one with lots of biblical examples, but some of you just didn't get it. Near the end, though, your outlook brightened. "Shake and howdy with folks I've never even met? I can do that."

You can do that because God gave you that gift, and drew you into the body of Christ to compensate for people like me on the opposite end of the spectrum. You have a good and valuable gift; let's be clear on that.

It is not, however, a gift that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit. The gift of gab is just part of your human make-up like, say, charisma, athleticism, intelligence, good looks, or musicality. Unlike the gifts of the Spirit, these gifts can be misused, which means that you can use them in sin. Yes, even if you're Spirit-filled, even if you're in church or doing church business, even if you're spreading the Gospel.

How is this possible?

Jesus spent a good chunk of His time here showing us how it's possible, and upbraiding the Pharisees for being so infernally good at it. In Luke 11:43-44, Jesus says, "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it."

Oh, you can shake and howdy with anybody, as long as they're a certain kind of person with a certain pedigree, encountered in a certain setting. You fancy yourself a refined individual, fit only for the company of other refined people. If, one day, you discover that someone in your circle didn't go to college, can't afford the "right" wardrobe, doesn't eat in the "right" restaurants, isn't interested in the "best" cultural pursuits -- High art only, please: If you absolutely must indulge in lower forms, only juiceless, prissy renderings of folk art, e.g. bluegrass, will do -- you turn on that person like a wasp that's been evicted from its nest.

I've got news for you, your highnesses: Church is not your social club. It is not your live-action Facebook page. It is not your salon. It is not an excuse to showcase and brag about your obscenely-expensive home renovation or your glut of possessions. It is not the place for you to put on airs or put on the dog. It is not the place for you to ritually murder your own insecurities by sacrificing others who don't meet the standards that some high-falutin', insecure person just like you inflicted on you a long time ago (Hasn't worked yet, has it?). 

Church is not the place for you to make business contacts. It is not the place for you to increase your family's fortunes. It is not the place to promote your fabulousness in any sense. It is not the place for you to advance any causes -- political, social, familial, or otherwise -- that aren't 100 percent focused on following Jesus and spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

What about Acts 2:46-47, you know, "... day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people"?

That's church -- one day a week in the modern, crazy-busy, American schedule of fabulous people like yourselves. Jesus says the rest of your week should look very, very different. "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." (Luke 14:12-14)

Later in Luke 14, Jesus says, "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." (verses 27-33, emphasis mine)

Not so fabulous now, is it? That "suffering" thing? Jesus is deadly serious about it. The return on our investment -- and His -- comes later. When it comes, Jesus will announce -- in front of God and everybody -- how we did church during our lives here on earth.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
 
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:31-46)

How's that for being with the best people in the best place at the best time for a fabulous time?

Jesus is not, you will note, telling us to send a check, host a benefit, or take part in a walkathon. He's talking about getting up-close and personal with others' sufferings -- getting our hands dirty; staying up nights; taking the phone calls; being the shoulder to cry on, the free ride, the housekeeper, the cook, the tailor, the practical nurse, the bank, the innkeeper, and, yes, the welcome wagon, for someone who needs us.

Jesus is telling us to do this, too: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:38-48)

Yes, it's difficult -- almost impossible -- and it hurts like crazy at times. That, folks, is what church is for: To minister to suffering people in the body of Christ and out. To minister to each other when it gets too difficult, too painful. To share ways to make it better and maybe, just maybe, a little easier. The early church, described in Acts 2, did that, "And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47b)

That's a good result -- a great one, in fact. But God showers us with boundless gifts here and now when we get down off our high horse and start serving others: "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you." (James 4:6, 10)

Here's Paul Williams and the Victory Trio to sing about the company we'll be in here and in the hereafter if we humble ourselves and do church right -- "Come and Dine".