Church Folk Attitudes
Discovering the Riches of Relationships
28. And He (Jesus) said to him, “You have answered right: do this, and you shall live.”
29. But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus, “and who is my neighbor.”
30. And Jesus answered and said, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his clothes, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”
31. “And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.”
32. “And likewise, a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.”
33. “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,”
34. “And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.”
35. “And on the next day when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘take care of him – and whatever you spend more, when I come again, I will repay you.’”
36. “Which now of these three, do you think was the neighbor to him that fell among the thieves?”
37. And he said, “He that showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and you do likewise.”
Luke 10:28-37
When Religion Gets in the Way
We have all been influenced by tradition, and more specifically, by religious traditions. These norms tell us what is right, what is expected, and sadly, they tell us who we should and should not be associated with. Believe it or not, there have been more wars started over religion than for any other reasons. Religious tradition has a way of hurting innocent people as well as not rendering assistance to people who have a genuine need.
Religion can get in the way of progress. It will often look to the past first and conclude that certain actions have never been performed before so why start now. These same traditions will often look at strangers as obstacles rather than opportunities to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, religion will get in the way.
Religion will get in the way of showing compassion. It will judge people based on certain standards and norms. Religion ignores the fact that everyone has sinned and come short of God’s Glory. It ignores the fact that God had mercy on us. Religion ignores the truth that God Almighty looked beyond our faults and saw our need. It ignores the decree that we need to go into all the world and make Disciples. Religious people (church folk) only like to associate with their kind. Thus, church folk don’t venture beyond their religious boundaries lest they should become polluted by folk who are not like them.
The parable of the “Good Samaritan” provides an excellent lesson on how to avoid the “Church Folk Attitude.” As Jesus spoke to an expert in the law (lawyer, scribe), our Lord was getting the lawyer to see past his religion into something called relationship. Jesus was inviting the man to see the point in the second part of living the eternal life. He had grasped the part about loving the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. That part, he felt that he was fulfilling, or so he thought. What Jesus was telling him was the fact that the proof that you are loving God is demonstrated by you also loving your neighbor. It is impossible to do the one without doing the other. In other words, you are not living until you are loving. People who say they love God but hate people are really lying to themselves. You cannot do one without the other. In God’s Eyes, relationships matter. You have not lived until you love God and then share that love with others around you. Using the Good Samaritan as our model, let’s take a closer look at some of the attitudes of Church Folk.
Church Attitudes Get in the Way
In Jesus parable, there were four types of people mentioned. The first was people in need. The wounded person found himself in a dangerous place and suffered at the hands of attackers. The second type of people are those who injure others for gain. Believe it or not, there are folk in the Church, who like the thieves, get great pleasure out of hurting other people. The third type of people were represented by the priest and the Levite who show up but do nothing. They are not merely spectators, they are those who could help if they really wanted to, but do not because ministering to needs is not their goal. The fourth type of folk in the Church are those who help where they can by doing what they can. So, there you have the four groups: the needy, the greedy, the do-nothings, and the do somethings. The decision that we all must make is which group will we join? Also, if you and I are not careful, we can all find ourselves in the greedy and the do nothing group.
Jesus reached out to the Levite who had a disconnect between loving God and being a good neighbor. He thought he could love God but then pick and choose how to, and when to love the neighbor. To help him overcome his lack of action, Jesus illustrated how the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan responded to the injured person in need. We must not forget the first group, the thieves, because there are Church folk who for whatever reason end up injuring other people. Jesus said, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his clothes, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.” Church folk can rob people of their reputation, their dignity, and their self-esteem at the drop of a hat. It is called fault finding. They love to preface their attacks by saying, “I don’t mean any harm – but.” Then they launch their attack of both gossip and slander. The end result is that you have many who leave the Church due to injury caused by well-intentioned people who never stopped to pray and ask God for wisdom and guidance. The Bible says, “if you see your brother or sister in a fault, restore them (not attack them).” Church attackers always mean well but they still do wrong.
This brings us to the second type of Church folk, the do-nothing. Jesus went on to say, “And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side” … “And likewise, a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.” While we might be tempted to conclude that inaction is the only motivation here, there is more behind the motives of the priest and the Levite. They had the attitude that is common among Church folk. First, they practiced that they were holier than thou. The priest and the Levite believed that because they were who they were that they were not sinners like everyone else. They also believed something else that is common among Church folk. They believed Titles mean everything. For some strange reason, people believe that the more titles in front of your name with alphabets after the name give credibility to your name. Preachers must be called doctors, bishops, prophets, reverends, and so on. Then when we call the Lord, we just say Jesus.
We’re not done yet with the priest and Levite, but I must digress to the Church attackers mentioned earlier. They also have motives for their actions. It is not just simple robbery; it is malicious wounding added to their crime. These Church folk also have some attitudes behind their actions. The first is the attitude of free stuff. While that sounds innocent, it is not. People have been hurt as a result of trying to get free stuff. Church folk will get into heated arguments when their names are not included on “church give-a-ways.” On the other end of the spectrum, I have seen Church folk become mobs when someone or anyone tries to change something. If you want to get into trouble really quick in a Baptist Church, just try to change something without getting permission. The mob will immediately respond with, we have never done that before. They forget to ask the question if something is needed or if the other program had stopped working. The third attitude used by the mob of Church folk is the majority rule. If all else fail, they will take a vote and often vote for what is wrong rather than trying to pray about what is right. Lord help us Church folk. Then, to top it off, attackers love to cover up their gossip crime by making it seem like it was spiritually focused. They will disguise a mob attack on character in the form of a prayer request. They will use words like “we need to pray for so-in-so that the Lord will help their attitude.” That approach is nothing more than a gossip cover-up. We may laugh and yet all of us are guilty of Church crimes. For that reason, many have left the Church over something that was said or done to them by Church folk. You don’t have to visit the Jericho Road to find injured people, just visit the paths of many Churches and you will discover the maimed, the lame, and the wounded as a result of Church folk attitudes.
The Church of God has been called to go out and make Disciples of men. That fits well in this parable because Jesus said, “go and do likewise.” How can we make Disciples without loving our neighbor as ourself? How can we invite people to believe the Gospel if we have such atrocious Church attitudes? We cannot and must not respond to the needs of the world as attackers nor must we look past the needs with inaction. We must do as the Lord commanded because we have His Eternal Life driving our action.
The priest and the Levite were displaying some common attitudes that Church folk deal with. Another attitude is the “I’m too busy” mindset. Notice the priest passed by on the other side and the Levite likewise. While the Levite did come and look on the man, he failed to act on the opportunity to serve. This points to anther Church folk attitude that says, “It is not my job, or it is none of my business.” When you ask some Church folk, they will admit that they knew about it but didn’t feel like it was their duty to do anything about it. This brings us to the ninth Church folk attitude, many in the Church feel that it is their duty to know about it and report it. They will justify their lack of action by saying, “well we are just going to pray and wait.” While they are waiting for the Lord, the Lord is waiting on them to act. Lord help us Church folk. Then, there is the tenth attitude of Church folk that is often fatal, it is the attitude that the Lord will fix it. Why do you think the Lord showed you the need, if He didn’t want you to get involved? God will fix things, but He often uses our hands and our feet to fulfill His will.
Compassion Gets the Job Done
Jesus took a sharp turn in the parable by introducing what we call, the “Good Samaritan.” For the Jewish culture Good and Samaritan did not mix. Samaritans were hated by the Jews and considered to be pagans for all intents and purposes. Yet, Jesus illustrated that God’s Grace can work through anyone. “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him.” The key word is compassion. It leads to action and action leads to remedy. If there is a need, God will lead us to take action, plain and simple. To have the attitude of doing something does not mean we are capable or that we are even being asked to do it all, we simply do what we can.
The compassion led the despised Samaritan to action. “And on the next day when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘take care of him – and whatever you spend more, when I come again, I will repay you.’” After telling the story to the Levite, Jesus then asked him, “Which now of these three, do you think was the neighbor to him that fell among the thieves?” The lawyer now understood how to apply this principle, so he said, “He that showed mercy on him.” Based on that response, Jesus said to him, “Go and you do likewise.” Today, we can choose to either act like Church folk or to act like God’s folk and show compassion. Which attitude will you choose? Choose wisely!