In The Beginning, God
This semester I am taking a class at LBC that is called Christian Perspectives: Sin and Culture. So far in this class, we have discussed things like our viewpoint of the church, and how we view Christianity. Let me tell you if we are viewing the Christian Church from the eyes of an “outsider” there is some scary news for us as Christians, we aren’t that different from culture anyway. As we dive deep into this concept in the classroom I aim to share some insight on what I am learning through some posts here! Without further ado let’s dive into the text from “Sex and Money” by Paul Tripp
In Chapter 2 of “Sex and Money” he explains The first four words of scripture that become the basis for the rest of our lives. “In the Beginning, God”. As Tripp explains in his book, these four words are what gives everything in life it’s shape, meaning and purpose. Although we aren’t discussing everything in life. For this conversation we are talking about sex and money, and within these topics specifically these four words take away the ability to separate things in life between secular and spiritual.
- God exists and is the center of all things
Tripp Says “ The story that unfolds on the pages of your Bible is God’s story. He stands on center stage. He has the most important lines. The following spotlight is always on Him. The story moves according to His will and plan.” We aren’t in charge of what happens it isn’t our job to do that it is God’s, We also need to be living our lives and all of our lives (not just our “Christian/ Church” lives) to glorify and honor Him.
2. God is the Creator and owner of all things that exist
This includes sex and money… and anything else that is culturally “unchristian” It isn’t our job as the creation to relate things to our lives. If you created a masterpiece painting and worked for it to be perfect in your eyes and someone were to come and destroy it either physically or with critics you would probably be distraught. This is a comparison to what happens when we destroy our hearts and minds and even our body because we feel like it. It is not our job to destroy the creation of another creator or owner.
We see this being directly gone against in our culture today, for example the pause of the Houston TX location of the Hillsong church.
On April 10th 2021, there was an announcement that the location would be fully on pause, this was the culmination of the lead pastor being put on investigation and suspension, which followed in resignation.
The pastor was said to have been the leader of finance, and Hillsong as a whole was being accused of it’s leadership living lavish lifestyles to push themselves into the celebrity scene. While this was an issue in general it is said that they were using the tithe money that the congregations were giving to support these lifestyles financially.
Hillsong Church Pauses Dallas Location After Scandal Investigation (faithstrongtoday.com)
This is an example of what happens when we don’t have God at the center of all things and don’t respect the way he has created this world.
With God at the center of the church or even of the hearts of the leaders, I am sure there wouldn’t have been a second thought to act on living in the lifestyle they chose. Now, we as human beings have a sin nature, so I am sure that that is part of this situation but I also know that just because we are humans and know we are going to sin, is NOT and excuse to sin. The church leadership knew it was wrong and still continued. The church leadership knew God was not at the center of their decision and they still decided to do it. They made their choice as leaders to take God out of the equation.
Now not only did they take God out of the situation but they also stomped all over how God created the church dichotomy and who the leadership and congregation should work alongside each other. While instead the leadership was hurting their very own congregation and hurting the dynamic of the church itself.
Unfortunately, the situation with Hillsong is not a rare occurrence amongst Christian communities and churches. We take for granted the things that God instilled at creation to makes us rely on him. We take the very institution that God created to make the world run the way that he intended away.