"For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:20
Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love everything about it and the week of Christmas is the most exciting for me because there is so much fun stuff to look forward to. Except, this week.
This week of Christmas week 2016 has not lived up to the hype. It is partly due to losing my dad this year, but it is also due to seeing how Christians are treating each other over whether or not a church is having Christmas day services. Instead of Christmas joy, there have been Christmas trolls.
Trolls are those on social media who make it a point to try to pick fights with people. And, this week, over the issue of Christmas Day services, the trolls are coming from within the Church. This needs to stop.
I have seen people called idolaters and enemies of the cross of Christ because their church is not open on Sunday. I have seen people encourage people to find another church if their church is not open on Sunday morning. Do we not understand how social media works? Do we not understand that the world is watching how we treat one another? Even if people were to go to church for the first time on Christmas Sunday morning, why would they go to a church with social media trolls?
When did we get to the point when being open on a Sunday was what defined us as followers of Christ? Why are we calling people idolaters for wanting to have a Sunday off, especially when the night before most churches are having at least one service, some are having multiple services to celebrate the birth of Christ?
Jesus said that our righteousness has to surpass that of the religious leaders of his day. Their righteousness was self-righteousness. It was all about following rules and making sure you did your religious duties. They emphasized going to the temple at the appointed time and offering the right sacrifices. Their problem was that they did all of these things without any heart behind them. Jesus wanted people to hunger and thirst for a new righteousness, one that was not dependent upon what a person does; rather, a righteousness that was dependent upon what Jesus did.
Our relationship with Christ does not hinge upon whether we have church services on Christmas day. Our relationship depends upon Christ. Every church situation is different. If a church wants to have service on Christmas day, then by all means do that and it will be awesome. If a church does not, then by all means celebrate Christmas with your families at home or on the road. Having a church service or not does not righteousness make. Jesus took care of that. If our relationship with Christ depends upon a Sunday service, then maybe we should really examine our relationship with Christ. Are we worshiping him or worshiping worship of Him? They sound the same, but are very different.
Church, we have to stop trolling each other over an issue like this. This is a non-issue. We have to be the Church, showing grace and love to the outside world, but the only way we are going to be able to do that is to rest in the grace and love of Christ and show that grace and love to each other first.
