By Gobel Brockman
There's an old story about a man who was travelling by train and had a stop in Tennessee. He had a few hours before his train was scheduled to depart, so he decided to take a walk through the quaint little town. He soon came across a small church that looked like every other church in America - until he saw the church sign above the front door. In huge letters the sign proclaimed the church's name:
The Left Foot Baptist Church
Needless to say the man's curiosity was aroused, and he began asking some of the locals about the church. They seemed all too happy to tell the story:
"There was a church in town that practiced the ordinance of foot washing. One night during a business meeting the subject was raised about which foot should be washed first. Those who thought the right foot should be washed first made their case, as did the other side. There was sharp disagreement on the subject that quickly escalated - so much so that the folks who thought the left foot should be washed first left the church, planted a new church, and named it in accordance to their strongly-held beliefs."
I'm glad to say that I've personally never seen a church dispute reach this level of stupidi...I mean, uh, disagreement. But church disagreements are nothing new. In the second chapter of the book of Acts the Holy Spirit filled the believers, giving them power and beginning the New Testament church. By Acts 6 there was disagreement about how widows were being cared for. We've seen it in the church ever since, sometimes bringing disrepute to the very message we believe. Why does this happen? Really, it's pretty simple: there are human beings there. As long as there are humans behind the pulpit and humans in the pews (or chairs these days) there are occasionally going to be problems. The God we serve is perfect; the people serving Him are not. Does that mean we should just avoid church, stay home and do our prayer and Bible study by ourselves, and otherwise avoid people as much as possible? I'll let the writer of the book of Hebrews answer that:
"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."
Can you get hurt in church? Yes. Have I been hurt in church? Yes. Have I hurt others in church? I'm sure I have. Have I ever sat through a service wondering if it would ever end? Of course. But rather than focus on all of that, I will tell you that what is immeasurably more important is that I have been incredibly blessed, encouraged, helped, taught the Scriptures, corrected, and grown closer to Jesus Christ because of what I've experienced in church. On January 7, 1981, I walked into a church in Edinburgh as a young man whose biggest concern in life was where his next beer, joint, or hit of LSD was coming from. I walked out that night a new creation in Jesus Christ. In the years that have followed I have seen some amazing things. I've seen alcoholics and drug users set free from their addictions, marriages restored, and hurting people encouraged, all inside the walls of a church. That makes the occasional problems pale in comparison. The Psalmist said, "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the LORD'." That should be our mindset as well. There are people there who've experienced things we can learn from, and people there that can learn from our experiences. The Lone Ranger may have been a good TV show, but the Lone Ranger mentality makes for a very difficult journey when you're trying to walk by faith. Most of all, God has promised that when people meet in His name, He will be there, and it's always good to be where the Holy Spirit is present to touch people's lives.
See you at church. And for the record, I don't care which foot you wash first.
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