The Golden Corral Church of the Perpetual Buffet?

I’ve never eaten at the Golden Corral.  People who have say it’s pretty good.  I hear there is a chocolate fountain and that it’s a favorite of many.  I guess I’m just not a buffet kind of guy.  When I go out to eat I know what I want and I know where I need to go to get it.  If I want Italian I know some really great places here in Clinton Township Michigan that serve good authentic Italian.  If I want really good Mexican food, I just stay home because I am married to a wonderful latina who makes the best.  Buffets strike me as trying to do too much.  Besides, if I had the option to skip the brussel sprouts and head right for a chocolate fountain, I know myself well enough to know what I’d do.  That would not be good for me. 

But I sure get it while a place like the Golden Corral is popular.  People like choices, that is, having lots of different things to choose from.  And people like the freedom to choose – what to eat and how much of it and what to skip.  People even like the choice to be able to skip all the things you’re Mom would make you eat before you got to dessert and just go directly to the chocolate fountain.  And all of that is just fine for a buffet restaurant.

But the Christian Church is not a buffet restaurant.  At least it’s not supposed to be.  God has given very specific instructions on what she is to do:  “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) That means just what it says.  The Church is to go into the world and make disciples of Jesus by baptizing and by teaching everything he says in his Word.  The Church is not anywhere told that it has the authority on its own to decide on the menu, to make decisions about what teachings of the Bible it is going to include, which ones it is going to leave out, and which ones it’s going to change to suit people’s taste.  The Church is to be God’s witness to what he’s written (Acts 1), not the author of what it thinks about God.  The Church is to hold on to everything God has said in his Word (John 8), not pick and choose.  The Church is to be Christ’s ambassador to the world (2 Corinthians 5), proclaiming and representing what he says in Law and Gospel, not formulating its own policies.  If God said it in his Word, then the Church is to proclaim it. 

But we look around the American church and we see that some churches have walked away from historic teachings of the Christian faith about origins, about God’s will regarding human sexuality and marriage, about what the Lord’s Supper and Baptism are and what they do, about what the Bible is, even about Jesus himself.  I’ve been at this pastoring thing a long time and I have my own ideas about why that has happened.  Indulge me.

First, when churches no longer regard the Bible as that which it claims to be – the divinely inspired Word of God in everything it says – that church becomes unmoored.  It will tend to be blown about by popular thought, the world view of the time, human reason alone, or by the personal whims of its human leaders.  Its goal will be to “become relevant,” or to get big, or just to try to hang on.  Those things are not the same as being faithful to the mission by being faithful to the Word.  It seems to me that this is also why people will sometimes look for a church that suits their tastes in teachings as opposed to looking for one that is faithful to the Word.  Don’t like what God’s Law says about what sin is and its consequences?  You can find churches that redefine sin or even some that don’t even use the word.  Don’t like what the Scriptures say about Jesus being the only Savior the world is ever going to have?  You can find ones that don’t say that.  Don’t like what God says about his roles for men to be servant leaders and women to be servant counterparts in the Christian church and in the Christian home?  You can find a church that walked away from that, too.  Want a church where human sexuality and the definition of marriage are in tune with the current zeitgeist and explain away what the Bible says?  Yes, you can find churches like that, too.  The farther you get from the Bible as the Word of God the more the church starts to look like a buffet – lots of choices, take what you want, leave what you don’t like, and no one will say a word about it.

Second, when human beings try to engineer outcomes that they want for the visible church that are not what the Holy Christian Church is supposed to be about, really bad things happen in the church.  Jesus said the Church would be wide.  Just look at the inclusive language God uses.  Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for the whole world (I John 2).  God reconciled the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.  (2 Corinthians 5)  Whoever believes in Jesus will be saved.  (John 3)  Jesus said to go and baptize and teach all nations.  (Matthew 28)  John’s vision of heaven reveals people there from every nation, tribe, people and language.  (Revelation 7). The gospel casts a wide net, but Jesus never said that the work of the Church is to be big.  In fact, he talked about many being called but few chosen.  (Matthew 22)  He said that few travel the narrow way.  (Matthew 7)  And besides, it’s his business how big the church is in that it is only God the Holy Spirit who can create faith.  The Churches job is to be faithful proclaimers of the Word of God and faithful administrators of the sacraments; it is God’s work to grow the church by leading people to faith.  So if I think it is my job to make the church big, then I will be sorely tempted to do and say things – and not do and not say things – that I think will be most likely to result in big numbers.  And before long, you have it:  The Golden Corral Church of the Perpetual Buffet.  Lots of choices, take what you want, walk by the rest, and in the end we all end up at the chocolate fountain.

I’m not picking at people who get attracted to those churches.  Hey, it’s what’s being served.  But I would challenge people to look beyond the décor and the house band.  Take a closer look at what’s on the menu, what isn’t, and why that is.  Make it your new year resolution to get more deeply into the Word.  Get a good translation and start reading your Bible.  Find a Bible class taught at a place where there is a high respect for the Bible as the Word of God and go to it - regularly.  Embrace the truth that God’s wisdom is bigger than yours and that means he will call you to believe things that don’t make sense to you and may even seem hopelessly out of step with the times.  Remember, it’s not a buffet; it’s a feast at which God serves everything he wants us to have.