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| Feeling Down and Out |
I heard a statistic that 66% of people who leave churches,
do so because they’re offended. That’s a large percentage of church folks
walking around offended in some way by the church, and I happen to be one of
them.
We grew up going to church, but the environment we worshipped in was an extremely legalistic mindset. It was frowned upon for women to wear pants and make up, or to cut our hair. We couldn’t go to a movie theater or a school dance, we couldn’t listen to secular music (only gospels were allowed) … and the list goes on and on.
Many, many sermons I’ve heard over my lifetime dwelt on these thou-shalt-nots… and finger-pointing… and judging. God finally delivered us from legalism… most of that generation has passed on and we can now stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, no longer yoked in bondage to “the law”. Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we’re free at last.
Even though I’m now free, I’ve noticed a tendency to still be offended by preachers coming at me, brutally pointing out my flaws. I said to my Heavenly Father, “You don’t have to come at me with scathing rebukes. I want to be delivered from my hang ups. I’m not some wayward child You have to beat down every Sunday.”
Then I discovered that this proclivity toward being offended was deeper than I’d realized. The light came on. Those legalistic sermons that I grew up listening to have built up deeply rooted spiritual strongholds that causes me to become offended by a certain tone in the preacher’s voice, or even by how “he chooses” to express himself throughout the message. I cannot tell you how many times I have left the building feeling down and out as a result of the Sunday morning sermon.
Author, Lisa Bevere says, “How a person reads a book is just as important as what they’re reading. If you’re reading a page and it sounds like God is attacking you, then you’re reading it wrong. God’s eternal love must be the filter through which we receive His word.” Her words hit me like a brick. I am not filtering the word of God through His love for me, I am still seeing Him as that mean-spirited judge leaning over his bench and throwing the book at me every Sunday, even though I try my best to live and walk with integrity every day. I have many faults that I need to be delivered from, but God is not angry with me about any of that. His love has been poured out in our hearts by His Holy Spirit that abides in us. God is not sending sermons to attack me; He wants to edify me through them. There’s the filter. He wants to edify me. He is tending the sheep, not beating them.
Over time I have built up strongholds against all the finger-pointing, and now these strongholds need to be knocked down so that I can come away from the church building without my feathers ruffled every Sunday.
The apostle Paul said, “The weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but mighty in God (not natural, but spiritual) for pulling down strongholds, and casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.” The weapons of our warfare is God’s divine power for the destruction of strongholds.
I gotta let go and let God change my filter, so that I can be totally free; not just free to wear pants, but free to receive a word on Sunday morning and not hear it wrong. Jesus said to His disciples, “Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.” Holy Spirit gives us the ability to discern and interpret His word. Ask, and it'll be given to you. Seek, and you'll find it. Knock, and it'll be opened for you.
James 1:5 (NKJV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Now, there may be some ministers out there that God needs to change their delivery and mechanics for sermonizing, but there are many more that has God's anointing to speak a word of encouragement for the equipping of the saints to fulfill their part in kingdom work, and to collectively edify the body of Christ.
Come, let’s go higher, ever increasing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove