Practice What You Preach

I went to pick Isaac up from daycare about 2:30 this afternoon and headed toward Savannah Wal-mart because I needed a new spindle of blank CD’s. We’re also trying to find him a toy guitar that he can hold onto when I play Guitar Hero, so he won’t try to stand up and hold onto mine. Between Adamsville and Savannah there is a small community (it’s not even really a town) called Crump that has the distinction of being the worst speedtrap in the state of Tennessee. As I was driving down the road, I passed by a recently opened restaurant called “United Steaks of America” where they also sell shirts, do tattoos, and some other things. What I saw out front of the restaurant gave me pause, however. In plain sight near the road was a large sign (the kind with interchangeable letters) that read like this: “Quote of the Week: “Go Back Where You Came From” ~ Local Pastor”. Immediately I felt my stomach turn and my heart begin to pound as anger flared up in me. If I hadn’t already been past the place, I would’ve swung into the parking lot, went inside, and told them that not all pastors are like that. Instead, a phone call had to do. It was very pleasant, and the person on the other end of the line chatted with me for a few minutes before I let him go. But I was still angry.

Apparently, the situation relates to the restaurant trying to get it’s beer license and the pastor being on the board of the city. During the meeting, they were denied the license for no good reason, the board stating that it would disrupt the peace of their little town. The same town that has a gas station not 1/2 a mile down the road that sells beer. So, the owner of the restaurant began to explain his knowledge of the law to the board. The argument got heated until the pastor simply spat out “Go back where you came from!”. What a great witness.

How dare a person, who claims to be set apart by God, say something like that to a lost soul? How dare a pastor tell someone who needs to experience the love and grace of Jesus Christ to go back to where they came from? At that moment, that pastor sinned. He sinned by allowing anger and personal conviction (which isn’t Scripturally based) to trump the command of Jesus. Did our Lord and Savior not say:

“Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

~ Matthew 22:37-40

So how is telling a person something like our pastor friend did loving your neighbor as yourself? I feel sorry for this pastor, because their understand of love and grace is most likely very limited to the list of things that he feels a good Christian should do and be. And if that’s the case, I feel sorry for his congregation, because they are not being preached the full Gospel, the Gospel of mercy, grace, unconditional love, and redemption.

Amazing that convictions outweigh that message sometimes, isn’t it?

~ by Marty on January 29, 2008.