Legalism and value

I remember watching a video series on church history. A pope early on had an apparent conundrum. If people are justified by faith alone, then there is no need for works, and if there is no need for works, then why would Christians do works? So, this pope introduced the idea that salvation was faith AND works. Luther protested against this and it divided the church. However, the Reformers ended up in the same conundrum, if people believe in Sola Fide, then will they work? So, they elevated works almost to the point of justification, but not quite. Christians must have works to demonstrate faith, and if they don't, their salvation is in question.

So, obviously, no Reformed church would say that a Christian's value is measured by the works they do, yet, somehow, Christians are measured by the works they do. Frustrating, to say the least! Not only that, but works become a scale by which the church values members.

The conclusion is that Christians end up in a state of cognitive dissonance. Their theology says that works don't contribute to their salvation, but the entire currency and value system of the church revolves around works. This is, I believe what Jesus was talking about when he said, "And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as their finger." (Matt 23:4), and when he offered an alternative: "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light." (Matt 11:29-30)

So, we see this cognitive dissonance in many ways:

Grooming:

Pastors constantly praise current and past saints and their saintly deeds. There is often the implication that, if you want to be a good Christian, then you will emulate their standard. In true Pharisee fashion, this standard is all but impossible to attain even if we're compared against one person. However, the grooming process makes each step seem small. So, we need to spend four hours in prayer like Martin Luther, and we need to spend four hours serving others like Mother Teresa, and we need to spend four hours volunteering at church like sister Fanny, and we also need to spend two hours doing homework with kids and two hours with our spouse each day, and two hours reading and meditating scripture. When it's all summed up, we need 40+ hours per day to attain what is presented in bits and pieces as the standard.

So, again, we're "justified", but the implication is that it isn't enough, we need to be doing good works to advance the kingdom. In fact, we'll see that the works become a scale by which members can perceive their worth.

Another path of grooming is the idea of works being thankfulness to God. The implication is that we give thanks to God by doing works. Of course, they're not the works God has put on our hearts, but the works the church thinks should be on our hearts. Maybe it's working in the nursery or serving meals or teaching Sunday school. Not that these aren't good things, but the implication is that if the church doesn't see your good works, then they don't count.

Advancement:

How do churches decide which members should be promoted into church leadership? It's works, of course! I don't know of a better solution, honestly, but the issue is what works we look for. Do we look for people of peace who have demonstrated wisdom and show a lack of burden, or do we look for people who are wearing themselves to the bone volunteering at church or bossing others around.

When the Bible talks of church leaders, elder "presbyter" is front-and-center. Presbyter means literally, "old guy", so for example when we talk about presbyopia, it's an eye condition that happens in older people. So, why do churches push 20-something pastors, and maybe 30-something "elders"? It's because the value system is geared towards working and not wisdom. The 20-something pastor has endless energy and can devote long hours to volunteer, prepare, preach and do all the "things" that a more senior pastor cannot.

In fact, this is getting worse. Out of RPTS, more and more pastors believe it's their job to "do the work of the ministry". In other words, we lay people sit around and watch the pastor do all the stuff. Wow! Now consider how that works into the value equation in a church like that? Are individual members valuable if the pastor is the only one ministering?

Discipline:

How do church decide appropriate discipline for leaders caught in sin? Let's say the pastor commits adultery with his secretary. Based on what scripture seems to say, he can no longer be a pastor. He can be a wonderful, forgiven member of the church, but leaders must meet the standards laid out for leaders. Instead, however, the church weighs "the good" against "the bad" (sound familiar), and since the pastor has been working so well for so long, the Bible doesn't matter. Instead, we put the good works and bad works on the scale and say that adultery is bad, but it doesn't outweigh the good. It could be abuse, porn addiction, sexual abuse of a minor, whatever. The good outweighs the bad and the pastor gets "forgiven" (despite never doing right by the victim!) and the church moves on satisfied that their pastor is still valuable.

Workaholism Vocation:

Unlike Jesus, the goal of the church is not to find peace and rest for souls. The church holds up the carrot of our eternal state being secured when we are justified, but then practically whips us with the stick of needing to prove to others that we are worthy of our justification. The church pushes vocation, which, again, is fine, but this is all done without the concept of rest. 

So, as someone who had a lot to offer the church and society, it has been a constant emotional battle. Rest - what Jesus offers us as Christians - is foreign to the experience of the Christian. Vacations or Weekends just become another form of work. We go from the work to-do list to the home to-do list to the church to-do list. When we retire, we replace the work to-do list with the volunteer to-do list, and those who don't figure out how to keep busy end up declining and dying. Is this because rest is bad, or is it because people feel worthless when they can't "work"?

I can know mentally that my value is already a settled thing. I'm adopted into the family of God and my eternal destination is secured, but still I can sit awake at night feeling despair as my energy and mental capacity start their slow decline. This isn't the place Christians should be! How does it make sense that I should have more to offer as an "old guy" and a young guy in the kingdom economy, but I watch the church fawn over people in that hot spot of not quite adolescent, but still not wise.