Back Alley of Judgementalism: Added to Video

 If we are honest

we must admit there is a bit of all four roads in each of us.

 It's just not that black and white. 

~~~~~

In the video below one of my favorite authors, Francis Chan, describes a new "middle road," where Christians don't have to really "DO" what Jesus did. The audience laughs. I laughed. But he makes such a very good point. What did Christ do? He taught about the Kingdom but more importantly He showed us what it was. Christ loved people! He showed us a model of self-sacrificial and unconditional love to such a degree that it changed the world.

There are two roads given in the example which Christ laid out, one narrow road leading to LIFE, and one wide road leading to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). We all know this teaching. Watching this certainly made me think... so I submit some thoughts here in the midst of some humble evaluation. Three points I'd like to consider:

1. We should NOT decide for ourselves what road we are on. If we do we might end up on the fourth road.
2. There is also a fourth road and it's a back alley of self-righteous, judgementalism.
3. If we are honest there is probably some of each of the roads in all of us. The point of Chan's teaching, and the teaching of Christ is that we would examine our OWN lives and ask God to help us be fully on the right road in our hearts.

More on these three points in a minute. But first... the video.



Here's the test I placed on myself. While watching this video, did I think about how this teaching applies to my own life or how it applies to someone else's? Did I think of all the people and/or institutions or churches which **I** believe are on the Middle road as described here by Chan? Unfortunately I did think about other people and churches, and exalted my own opinions of them above the love of Christ. That's when I realized I'm in danger of being in the back alley of self-righteous, judgementalism.

There is indeed a fourth road, and it is a back alley of self-righteous judgementalism. These back alleys exist all over the world. These alleys are lonely roads to no where. I've been here more times than I care to admit. (And this is why I'm working on a public apology to friends in TN whom I've hurt.) These back alleys are full of people who once were on the narrow road. The back alley is a dead end in the mind and a dark place of the soul. It's full of the trash and litter of gossip, opinions and assumptions. The residents of these back alleys all have one thing in common. They all started out in search of the narrow road, having realized the very problem which Chan describes, the problem of the middle road. They noticed the middle road of Christianity and ran full speed toward the Narrow Road. Unfortunately they ran right by it, and into the alley of judgementalism. Now they stand together and condemn all those they place judgment upon, saying they are on the middle road. This was me. And I'm SO very sorry.

Even though I was in a stagnant back alley I believed I was on the Narrow. (I'm speaking of a place in the mind and heart, not a physical location.) And in most cases I believed I and those whom agreed with me were the ONLY ones on the narrow road. We believed this because we believed we had the only true interpretation of scripture; or because we used the only approved translation of the Bible; or because we lived apart from the world; or that we are doing "house" church. I'm speaking from experience here. I woke up one day and realized how judgmental I had become, as if I had the clear ability and calling to decide for myself who was on the Narrow road and who was on this Middle road. And though I am repenting now in my life, I still have this tendency in me. Prime example are the thoughts I had while watching the above video.

After going back and watching this video again, fighting the urge to judge others, I noticed a few things. One, Chan is speaking to a huge room full of people. He also speaks to hundreds of rooms like this every year. Thousands more are reading his books. And thousands more are watching his videos. Why is this? Why is he able to point out the problems with modern Christianity, and to make a clear and direct call for us all to look at the middle road? I suggest it is because he himself is not in the back alley of self-righteous judgementalism. He does not come across as condemning. He is certainly not condoning luke-warm Christianity. But he has a voice to do this because he directs his own teaching right back toward himself. There is a sense in which he is always examining his own life. And more than that -- to summarize -- he is humble. He is able to say these strong things, and God is able to use him to move the hearts of thousands, because he is indeed humble. And so is Christ.

Christ gave the teaching about the narrow road so that we would look hard at our own lives. He did not give us the analogy of the narrow road so we could become a self-righteous traffic cop. If we are honest we must admit there is a bit of all four roads in each of us. It's just not that black and white. There is a bit of each in me: some wide road, middle road, narrow road, and back alley. My primary job then is to submit to the Spirit of God, begging God to examine my heart, just as King David did as described in the Psalms -- to search me and show me where the narrow road is not primary. Where is the compromise; where is that middle road in me? That's rough. And that's the way Christ meant it to be. Only by continuing to turn this teaching and the high beam spot light of self-examination on myself, will I have any hope of not ending up squarely back in the alley of self-righteous judgementalism. And as this light gets brighter it exposes the back alley trash and clears away the smell. And then we're able to ask the really, really important question, the question which puts us on the narrow road every single time. That question is, "What would Christ my Lord do?"**

The question "What would Christ my Lord do?" is the best question to ask in every situation, and it is the only question which helps us navigate to the narrow road. When we stop and ask this question it changes everything. This is the point Chan is making in the second half of the above video with his "follow the leader" comparison. Chan is reminding us that Christ Jesus IS our only leader. And if we follow HIM and him alone we will have a better chance of ending up on the narrow road. We cannot travel on the Narrow in any other way. The narrow road is a road of love. It's a road OF LOVE.

We cannot just decide we will be on the Narrow road and therefore we are.
We cannot read our Bible and automatically be on the Narrow road.
We cannot join the right church and automatically be on the Narrow road.
We cannot decide to be a "radical" Christian and automatically be on the Narrow road.
We cannot agree with videos like this one and automatically be on the Narrow road. And...
We cannot judge who might be on the middle road and automatically be on the narrow road.

The only way to end up on the narrow road, in my humble opinion, is to seek hard after the mind of Christ, asking God Almighty to give us His thoughts in all things, and to DO what Jesus did, living a life that is defined primarily by love. The narrow road is a road of love. It's a road OF LOVE.



This is a great video. "We're twisting things," he says. And he's right. We should seek to walk as Jesus walked. How did he walk? What road did He walk on? He walked in perfect LOVE and in so doing he alone walked perfectly on the narrow road. Since none of us are perfect in our love then none of us are perfectly on the narrow road.

      But as we
repent daily of our own back alley self-righteousness and our own back alley judgementalism;
      and as we
repent daily for our own middle road luke-warm attitudes and our own middle road watered down  versions of Christianity;
      and as we
repent daily for our own wide road sinfulness and our own wide road places of rebellion;

Then and only then will we have any hope of truly setting foot on that Narrow road.

~~~~~~~~

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.

Do not judge, and you will not be judged.

Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.

Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

** As I post this I am praying for two families who have lived in Jackson for many years but are victims of fourth-road church thinking. They are finding their way to a Way of Love. That way is THE WAY of our LORD and Savior Christ Jesus. We love you, unconditionally. We call you friends. ;-)

*** I just added a VIDEO PAGE to this blog after watching an amazing teaching by CHAN.