We probably all have at least one acquaintance who makes us nuts with their social media posts because we know that their life is not as pleasant as Facebook would make it appear. According to Facebook, every social event they attend is wonderful and they had a great time and were appreciated by all.

This surreality is one of the reasons why I’ve removed the Facebook app from my phone and iPad. Well, the cute puppy and cat videos may also have had a little to do with it.

But if we’re honest (as the title of this blog seems to indicate we ought to be), we must admit our own tendency to display ourselves as better than we are. We may do it less blatantly but we all do it.

I’m not trying to say that the Facebook deception should be considered normal or acceptable. My point is that, for Christians, every form of deception should be avoided.

Boasting is never a good idea for Christians unless we want to boast in the extravagant grace and limitless love of God for his people. But boasting’s close cousin, false humility, can creep in and cause at least as much damage.

As Christians, we are called to speak the truth in love. We are called to confess our sins to each other. We are called to live lives of humble worship of our God.

But this takes wisdom. It would be very weird and probably unwise to start confessing our faults to a complete stranger.

My gut feel is that the less we say about ourselves the better.

Jesus addressed this issue when he cautions us about taking the coveted place at a banquet. We should, rather, take the lower place. If we are to be elevated, it is better that it be at the initiation of someone else (See Luke 14:7-11).

The question we need to ask ourselves is, “why do we feel the need to make people think we are better than we are?”

My opinion is that we feel this pressure because we have not let the gospel of Jesus Christ penetrate to the core of our being.

If we feel pressure to make ourselves look good, it is an indication that we are still holding on to some self righteousness that is odious to our God.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” I admit that I am a Christian despite the church and not because of it so I can relate this statement.

But, before I get on my soap box and denounce the church, I must remember that I am one of those Christians. I must immediately admit that I let myself and others down on a regular basis. Even though I grade myself on a curve, I still fall far short of my own standard. I can’t even think about approaching the standard set by Jesus Christ.

In short, the problem with the church stares back at me in the mirror every morning. I am the problem with the church.

So how do we respond to this? Do we just say, “well, that’s just the way it is” and go have another beer? Do we give up and buy into the “spiritual but not religious” nonsense? Do we keep hopping from church to church until we find a group that allows us to operate totally within our comfort zone? Or, do we strive for something better?

When Jesus gave us what is commonly called the Great Commission, he included a part that seems to make much the American church uncomfortable since we largely ignore it. He describes the disciple making process as “teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.” Since we are to teach everything that Jesus commands us, we have no wiggle room for letting anything out.

Question: are we striving to yield to God like Paul commands us in Ephesians 4?

” . . . assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Ephesians 4:21–24 (ESV)

We are called to put off and put on. It is the analogy of taking off a garment and putting on a different one. We take off the dirty garment and put on a clean one.

This implies choice and volition. We need to choose to pursue different behavior and we need to have the will to do it.

This is not a call to pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps spirituality. Earlier in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells us that we begin life, “dead in [our] trespasses and sins” (2:1) but God made us alive with Christ (2:4-5).

Salvation is a gift and cannot be earned. We contribute nothing. Christ’s righteousness is given to us as a status, the theological term for this is imputation. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us when we have responded to Christ in faith.

So then, why is it important to do the putting off and putting on?

In preparing for an upcoming sermon, I ran across a writer who made the point that not only is Christ’s righteousness imputed to us, it is also imparted to us. In other words, while the imputed righteousness allows us to be viewed by God as righteous, we are also given the power to actually live righteously. The same power that caused Christ to live a righteous life is imparted to us so that we can also live the same righteous life.

We don’t earn any points with God by our behavior. We have perfect status already. So then, what is the motivation for obedience and righteous living? Off the top of my head, I can think of four reasons:

1. Living as we were designed to live will promote inner peace.
2. Living as we were designed to live will promote peace with others.
3. Living as we were designed to live will display the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who desperately need it.
4. Living as we were designed to live will remove barriers to our fellowship with God.

So, what is the best way to deal with the hurt that is caused by churches (the purported topic of this post)?

First, we must realize that we contribute to the hurt. It is harder to be severe on others when we are aware of our own shortcomings.

Secondly, we must look for a fellowship of believers that is honest about their own failures while at the same time seeking to be obedient to Paul’s commands regarding putting off and putting on.

This is complicated by the fact that our inner Pharisee can quickly turn the good motivation for obedience into Pharisaical legalism and checkbox thinking.

The question to ask yourself, especially if you are a church leader, is whether the leadership of the church understands the Gospel and is seriously committed to living it out in every aspect of life.

We can allow no shortcuts, no qualifications, no excuses.

The question to ask is, are we seeking to observe (do) everything that Jesus commanded us to do?