1 Cor 3:11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is
laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation
with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work
will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be
revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort
it is.
1 Cor 3: 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the
Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God
will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
In a time when the churches just like politics are moving to the
dogmatic positions of being to the extreme left and to the extreme right
with very little middle ground, what are the foundations of Christian
faith that will stand the test of time?
With LGBT becoming more mainstream, many GLBT churches are facing a
decline. In May 12, the famous MCC San Francisco which has been a
Christian presence for over 40 years decided to let go the pastor
because of a budget deficit. Earlier in Feb 12, MCC San Jose closed down
because of poor attendance. The churches are facing a difficult time.
The theology of many GLBT churches are very open. Many do not believe in
the message of redemption and do not consider the bible as the Word of
God. Evangelical outreaches are rare. Inclusivity can become our god and
idol rather than Christ. When our Christianity offers only a support
community and a spiritual human kind of theology, we may end up a
cosy social spiritual group.
In Singapore, it is ironic that the biggest Protestant Christian community
services are FCBC Touch Community Services,
Salvation Army, and City Harvest Community Services Association, but not
more progressive protestant groups. But they served the mainstream
but not the truly marginalised lepers of modern society beyond the reach
of the mega churches.
In my unversity days, there was much debate about liberal and
evangelical theology, and also the rise of the charismatics. There were
no mega churches then, and liberal theology was very predominant. In a
surreal scene, I was having a conversation with the most liberal of
Catholic priest who was obviously gay in a smoke filled room because he
was smoker. God was present there even though it was quite smoky.
But the real question was not asked - being gay and being a
pastor/priest!
Many of our beliefs are not centered on the Word of God and the
revelation of Christ as Saviour, but it is our own human construction or
a satanic deception. We are not called to judge to split between the
tares and the good seed, the sheep and the goats for we may uproot a
genuine work of God.
Mat 13: 24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of
heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men
slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
Often good and evil, sin and righteousness are mixed. We are called not
to be inclusive per say but to relect on the different theological
stance and give space to people for judgement belongs to God and often
we might be right about gays but completely wrong in the rest of our
faith beliefs. Alternatively, the mega churches, might be wrong about
gays, but right in the remainder 95% of our faith beliefs. We are to
give grace to others.
The
Fire of life will test our foundations.
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Gold represents a centrality on the righteousness of
Christ, as God and Saviour .It is based on God's love, grace and mercy.
-
Silver represents the redemption of our sins through the finished work
at the Cross of Calvary. We are secured in Christ, our sins forgiven.
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Precious stones is how we treat others as precious and sacred in the
sight of God. The world system is where the rulers lord over the people.
In Christianity, it is the reverse, and leaders are to be humble and be
like servants. There is no hierachal structure the infallible pope at the top but a flat structure because all
have access to God.
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Wood represents humanity, where we create religion through our human
intellect. Redemption,
Christ atonement for our sins, are denied. Satan and and eternal hell, the Gospel, the creation story, and the biblical
events are rejected. Christianity is from a bottom up, human
perspective.
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Hay and Straw presents a self centerdness and human pride where we saved
by our works.
We boast about our morality and being able to abide by the law. The
foundation is on carnal man such as the apostle Peter or the Holy
Father, or a mega church leader. We have a structure and rituals to maintain power, wealth and
control.
With limited time, we should be wise to seek churches and ministries
that are built on the foundation of Christ and His finished works at
Calvary, so that we too are built up in our faith based on the Word of
God.
The focus of progressive churches are on precious stones represented by
an emphasis that people are precious and sacred in the eyes of God.
Hence, we emphasis their social justice and welfare. We seldom focus on
the foundations of Gold and Silver, but I believe that God's heart is
for outreach to the GLBT community to declare salvation to the least in
the community.
People are looking and
searching, and often what was offered are tasteless without salt and not
much of an alternative.
When we bring people to see the light, they loose sight of their self
and the faults of others. The world's condemnation of our sexual
orientation makes us inward looking on humanity when our eyes should be on heaven
above.
It is important to number our days, and in our limited time to seek
after ministries that are built of foundations of Gold and Silver, and
pulpit ministries which do not corrupt or defile the local body of
Christ. Many are looking for churches beyond just being a community of welcoming
spiritual people.
Growth of the inclusive churches simply on account of GLBT acceptance
is over. There is a fire raging. When the fire comes, are our foundations stones made of
Gold, silver, or precious stones that will last rather than wood, hay
and straw?
The warnings of defiling the temple of God through preaching that have
little biblical basis and not founded on Christ is quite severe.
However, we often take the pulpit very candidly.
In 1 Cor 3:17, pastors are warned about defiling the body of Christ
based on a theology of wood, hay and straw. Such theology
is often centered on humanism, legalism, and maintenance of power,
control and authority within the church hierachal. Christ redemptive
work at the Cross is watered down. The centrality of Christ is replaced
by an infallible Pope, St Peter, and the Madona whilst many are
complaining that gays are the biggest threat to Jesus Christ!
We come back to the foundation stone of Jesus Christ, the grace of God in the
finished work of the Cross for the redemption of our sins by faith in
the resurrected Christ as God and Saviour. Jesus asked God the Father whether there
was any other way to heaven that He may not need to go to the Cross and
drink the cup of suffering. But that was no other way, neither through
the law, or worshipping other deities.
The church is to offer oil to the people and when we have eloquent but
empty sermons, people will go elsewhere even though they may not be
fully accepted. We may be gay, but we are still hungry and need to eat
the Word of God correctly preached! After all the homosexuality is
hardly mentioned in the bible.
If the church are to reach more than a few dozen GLBT Christians, our
focus should be the Word of God bringing out the foundation of Christ'
redemptive works. Otherwise, we will end up being a small discussion
group on reflective theology rather than bringing the Gospel message to
our rainbow community.
We are not changing the world because much of our theology is closeted
and there is no multiplying growth. No one bothers about gay churches
because a few dozen gay christians meeting up every Sunday obviously is
not a threat and need not change the church to be a training center to
avoid attention. No one looks at a tiny dot. But a Pink Dot of 10,000
would be disconcerting for the likes of Love Singapore for gays are
"stealing" their love.
The harvest field is out there for the rainbow fish. It is
not a church building we need for ministry, but foundations of Gold,
silver and precious stones. When we build on solid foundations, growth
will come naturally and the church building will take care of itself.
When the temple of God is built up by right believing and right
teaching, we then have a message to tell the world that God's grace
extends to the least whom the world has rejected.
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