A couple weeks ago, some of our church members were listing ways that we can be a more loving church. Many ideas were suggested:
- Welcoming guests
- Caring for each other in times of trial
- Celebrating with one another over successes, etc.
Eventually, the discussion arrived at the need for challenging one another to holiness. One comment in particular stood out. In some churches, when a couple gets divorced, others will gossip and say, "I've seen that coming for years." The question came up: How is it loving to see a family self-destructing, but to not intervene, challenge, rebuke and restore?
That conversation brings me to a recent book by Jonathan Leeman: The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline (Crossway, 2010). This book was given away at the 2010 Together for the Gospel. I had the chance to work my way through it this summer and found it to be a very helpful resource for thinking through the nature of Christian love and church leadership. Today, Jonathan joins me for a conversation about his book.
Trevin Wax: What I like about your work, Jonathan, is that you are challenging us to adopt a more biblical view of love. Why is it that this view seems so "offensive?"
Jonathan Leeman: Great question, Trevin. The offensiveness of God's love and Christian love is that it calls us to holiness. It grabs us wherever we are, but then it refuses to leave us wherever we are. It calls us to conform to Christ's image.
As sinners who are in love with our sin, we don't always like being asked to let go of our idols. But Christian love is willing to offer the socially awkward word of rebuke. Christian love is willing to risk stepping on someone's toes because you don't want to see them continue heading down the path of sin and self-destruction.
Think about this in our culture in particular. We are suspicious of anyone who claims to have "the truth." But Christian love (which John's epistles tell us always comes together with truth-just read 2 John!) not only claims to have the truth, as revealed in the Bible, it's presumptuous enough to say to someone, "Oh, friend, this truth applies to you and you need to hear it and give up that idol which you love so much. That idol is a liar and only promises more bondage. I love you, please hear me."
In a word, God's love is offensive because it refuses to tolerate our sin. It calls us to life and freedom, but we prefer our slavery.
Trevin Wax: So God's love calls us to holiness, but it doesn't mean that our church will be perfect, right? I'm recalling a section in your book when you expound on the "love chapter" in 1 Corinthians 13 and show how the biblical understanding of love takes place within the context of a church that has a myriad of problems.
Jonathan Leeman: Perfect? Goodness no. That's like asking whether a car repair garage is for perfect cars. No, it's a place for broken down cars! Come one, come all! But come recognizing that we're a repair shop, and we're going to get to work.
Think of 1 Corinthians 13′s words: "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth." In the car repair garage of the church, we're going to "always trust, always hope, always persevere" in pointing people away from the evils of broken down engines and the truth of life-giving engines. Okay, so this analogy is getting ridiculous. I have no idea what that last sentence means.
Let me drop the analogy: Sometimes churches emphasize, "We'll love you right where you're at." That's exactly right. Jesus' work of atonement covers you right where you're at. As the hymn writer puts it, "If you wait until you're better, you will never come at all.'" But it's just the first step.
