The Church is Too Judgemental

I've been re-reading The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel, by C.F.W. Walther--this time more slowly and with greater purpose than when I rushed through it for my class at the Seminary.

It has been placed on my heart to figure out how we might bring more people to the faith which we hold so dear and as I talk with people one comment I hear so often is "I don't have a problem with Jesus, I have a problem with the Church--its so judgmental".  And when I hear that I immediately think, "How is that if we are the only religion which preaches grace?"  Well, since grace is such a sweetheart deal, we much not be preaching it, so this study of Law and Gospel might be helpful to me as I struggle with my weekly preaching task.  But I'm hoping you can help me flesh this out some more.  Read on, hear me out, and add your two bits.

In Walther's work he points out the obvious; that there is a difference in content between Law and Gospel.  Law = what we are to do.  Gospel = what God is doing.  He points out that so often we mess this up, even though it seems so simple, especially when it comes to faith and forgiveness. 

Many see contrition as an act of obedience on our part--a Law--and required for forgiveness.  A divine tit for tat, so to speak.  Likewise, they see faith as our act of complying to the work of the Spirit in us--not Gospel--again a give and take scenario requiring us to participate as one of the "do-ers".

Here Walther makes a very simple, yet graphic illustration to make the point that faith and forgiveness are always a gift from God and thus, purely Gospel/grace activities.  He likens us and our receipt of the Gospel to a starving man who is offered food at the dinner table.  "He would be foolish to say, "Bosh!  I will not take orders from you."  But, instead accept the invitation as a gracious gift from his host.  That's what the Gospel is--a kind invitation to partake of heavenly blessings." (p.9) 

The starving man is very keenly aware of his hunger as is the host by his gaunt and, perhaps, dull appearance and does not need to explain just how hungry he is and what exactly he is lacking so that the banquet host may feed him adequately.  So too, God knows our need, that is to say, he knows our sin and his forgiveness of that sin is not dependent upon any thing we do to acknowledge that sin.  We do not need to list every sin.  In fact, we sin without our even knowing it at times, so that requirement alone would doom every one of us to hell.  No, forgiveness, if we assume it is Gospel and grace, cannot be dependent upon us at all.

Yet we are called to know the law so that we would not accidentally fall into sin.  That also puts upon us the responsibility of not sinning on purpose!  And this is where I think we as the Church have fallen prey to our human nature too often.  In our quest to know or categorize sin in our life so that we can avoid it (and not have to ask forgiveness for it), we have stressed every extension of "thou shalt not..." to their greatest extent, and perhaps even farther. 

Now, while this might be helpful for mature Christians who are actively involved in partnering with the Holy Spirit in their continued Sanctification prior to the Resurrection, these "lessons" are not helpful to the new Christian or the pre-Christian who are still discovering what true grace and forgiveness in the Gospel is all about.  I would be willing to bet that most people who are new to the church, they have been laid low by something in their life and they are looking for healing.  And I would also be willing to bet that the thing which has laid them low has its roots in a particular sin or the sinful condition in general which has been amplified some way in their life.

This, then, brings me to Walther again, who says, "When the Law has laid us low, we can cheerfully raise our heads again because beside the Law we have another doctrine [Gospel] which proposes to us no demands of any kind.  Were we to ask Christ, [as the rich young man] , "What is expected of me in order that I may be saved?" He would answer "No works; I have done all the works that had to be done.  You need not drink one drop of the cup that I had to drink." (p. 11)

So, now, all this leads me to wonder, "do unbelievers "know" or "feel" the Law?  I fnot, perhps I want to be an unbeliever, for, surely , life would be much simpler, free-er, fun and exciting if I were not burndedn with the Law I find in God's word.

I would suspect, however, that since all are born with sin, and it was sin which caused Adam and Eve to feel shame for their nakedness (not the lack of clothing) then, surely this built-in defect would also lend itself to natural guilt.  

By observation is would seem to me that many, many people are living very unhappy lives because of guilt, perhaps over sin to a Law they have never heard, but which is written on their hearts.

When we hear people say "the church is too judgmental," perhaps that is true.  In order for us to rectify that characterization, what if we made the following assumptions:

• People we know understand they aren't perfect?
• People we know ennjoy recieving forgiveness from those they have wronged and will cultivate relationship where that behavior has occurred?
• Upon hearing the unconditional Gospel of forgiveness in Chris, thousands/millions will sit at the table and be fed the bread of life? 

If those were our assumptions then the following attitudes might be expressed in our churches:

• We assume you sin--like we do--and will receive Christ's absolution in worship.
• We assume you desire Grace--as we do--and wish to learn more about it from the Gospel through hearing it preached.
• We assume you seek Jesus in your life--as we seek him--and will ingest his Word and Sacraments so that he will dwell within us.
• We assume you will be moved to imitate Jesus--as the Holy Spirit has moved us--so that his grace may be given freely to others who starve for forgiveness and mercy.
• We assume you will be forever grateful--as together we respond to God's love through our time, treasure and talents, given freely to the God who gave it to us to manage for him and to use for his kingdom.

I would love to hear your feedback on this.  Send me a note, tweet me or post a comment.