This weekend I was talking with a dear friend about the dangerously unhealthy implications of cliques in churches. We talked about what is being communicated when we huddle together exclusively with folks who are ‘just like us’ according to the flesh. This subject has been rattling around for three plus days now and I figured that I would try to work it out a bit (one of the main reasons for this blog).
At the heart of the church of Jesus Christ is the reality of unity. We are united in and through Jesus Christ. This comes to be emphasized when God calls people from various backgrounds, cultures and ages to come together and sing the harmonious message of Christ’s supremacy in their lives.
However, when we step back and look at our congregations, and even our own friendships, do we not see concentrations of people who share many of the same earthly preferences?
For example, I like to hang out with my family, play and watch sports, talk theology, and laugh a lot. As I look at those people I spend time with do they all like to watch and play sports? Are there people that I hang out with that do not share the same hobbies? Do I spend time with older people or single people or people who watch Nascar and drink Light Beer?
It should be said at this point that I do not think there is anything wrong with having friends that enjoy the same types of things as you do. However, as a Christian we should never unite on the basis of anything above the gospel and we should not exclude people or isolate ourselves from people who love and cherish the same Christ. To put it another way, I have to ask myself if the basis for my friendships and relationships are earthly or eternal.
Many of us are extremely biblical and God-centered in our creeds, but regrettably exude a rank man-centered, self-pleasing, earth-clinging practice with our relationships.
Imagine with me the early church and its convergence of different cultures to the Lord’s Table. Colossians 3 paints the picture that there are no distinctions between, “Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”
Most of these categories are self-explanatory. However, the Scythians are the wild card. These cats were bad news. From what I have read, the Scythians were professional killers. They were worse than barbarians. To use a contemporary illustration, they would make Al Qaeda look like boy scouts! They killed tribes of people, drank their blood and used their sculls for bowls and peeled off skin for napkins.
And Paul says, “You are one in Christ. Go ahead and sit next to them. Talk with them. Share a meal with them.”
We like people that look like us, act like us, like what we like, and are similar to us; however, the Christian life is just not that neat. The point of the gospel is not to unite people according to the flesh, but rather to unite people in Jesus Christ. If I am a cliquey person then I am enjoying exclusive relationships with folks while also excluding others whom Christ has brought together. I have just unwittingly undermined a major aspect of what Christ has bought in and through his gospel! I have promoted my personal preferences to a position of supremacy and put the gospel in position of submission. This should not be.
As Paul says in Colossians, “Christ is all, and in all.”
This is it. It is Christ. My motive for relationships with other believers should be Christ and my desire for our time together should be the pleasure of Christ. If I have somehow flipped this on its head, replacing Christ and his pleasure for my own then I am a flaming idolater, worthy of a hearty rebuke. This idolatrous inversion is seen clearly in many church cliques but more subtly in our use of time in relationships.
The burden is to be Christ-Centered and Gospel-Boasting in everything with everyone. We should see our relationships, ranging from the close intimate friendships to perhaps the more casual relationships in our congregations, with the priority of making much of Christ, magnifying his power by preserving and promoting unity in him.
If you are a ‘cliquey’ person, get over yourself and fall in love with Christ and trumpet his unity producing gospel.
If you are not being intentional about relationships, make it a priority to exalt Christ with what you have eternally in common with folks. This will no doubt forge greater humility and love in Christ.
