Disputable

July 7, 2017 |admin

It was refutable, rebuke-able, and most definitely indisputable. Peggy Wiseman wore a pant suit to church. Mrs. Wiseman was the pastor’s wife. She should have known better. As a nine-year-old, I didn’t—but my mom sure did. I heard about that infamous pant suit all the way home from church. The back seat of our Pontiac was quite the theatre for juicy, church-world gossip. However, this wasn’t gossip. AND the Wisemans were due to come over for Sunday lunch at our house! “Mom,” I asked, “Will Mrs. Wiseman be wearing her painting suit?”

How could a pastor’s wife not know the commands of scripture well enough to know better? Does the Bible say anything about that? “For crying out loud!” “For heaven’s sake!” Those were Mom’s words, not mine.

We dispute and fight over disputable church stuff. This is clearly indisputable.

Length of hair. Makeup. Style of music. Dancing. Card-playing. Hymnals or video projectors. Chairs or pews. Untucked preachers. Church bake sales. Raffle tickets. Women teachers.

This stuff wraps us tightly around the church axle and the finger of Satan himself. And when we get entangled, here’s what we miss:

-Freedom in Christ
-A strong witness to a lost, dying world
-Unity
-Righteousness
-Peace
-Joy

This is exactly the tension and solution Romans 14 will lead us into on Sunday. You should most definitely give this an advance read. You might be surprised and perhaps a little ticked off on who is considered a weak person and who is seen as strong. This is shadowy stuff, but as we’ve seen—God Is In The Shadows!

What disputable church-world “thang” often gets stuck in your spiritual craw? Can you name it without naming names? What nonessential offends you when you step through the church doors?

I’m excited to be with you and teach. Our challenge is to commit to loving and yielding to each other because of the Gospel. Can you imagine such a church? Don’t you want to be a part of such a church? GOD can do this at Cumberland!