What Evangelicals Can Learn From Mormons: Weakness
Not
only is the financial strength of the LDS church impressive, its organization
is impressive as well. The church
has a strong top down leadership starting with the living prophet that trickles
down to each neighborhood ward.
Each ward is organized the same and is expected to operate in exactly
the same way. Services follow
strict procedures and ordinances are carried out with exacting detail. I once witnessed an LDS baptism in
which the presiding bishop missed one word and the entire baptism service was
repeated to ensure the validity of the baptism.
The LDS church is physically impressive in all the ways of the world, and its members strive for the same persona.
Church members strive to have the best jobs, the most put together
families, high moralistic ideals, religious achievements, and possessions that
speak of the blessing of God. This
unfortunately is often a cover for sin, broken families, and hearts that
desperately want to stop striving and find peace in this life.
Contrast
this with the Christian churches in Salt Lake City. Most of them meet in a warehouse or a dilapidated church
building. Some meet in homes and
the services held in each church, while similar in message, will surely differ
in style and application. As far
as finances, well the Christian churches in Salt Lake City are making it, but
we aren’t opening a new mall anytime soon. In fact, many of the church plant/business ventures I have
seen by Christians in Utah have failed miserably. Members? Well we are broken their too.
So
what are we to make of this? The
LDS church likes to point to their organization and strength to show God’s
favor towards them. In fact it is
seen as verification that they have reconstituted the true church of Christ, by
Joseph Smith, after the Great Apostasy.
While we know that not to be true as Christians, it does cause us to
pause and think about the weakness of our churches. If we are honest with ourselves, what we see in the Mormon
church is exactly what we hope for in our own Christian denominations. We want strength of organization,
public respect, and financial stability.
But
physical strength and power is not the way of the Gospel. In fact, the way of the true Gospel is
weakness. Let me repeat that, the
way of the Gospel is weakness. 1
Corinthians 1:27-29 tells us that “God chose what is foolish in the world to
shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God
chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring
to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence
of God.” This has never been more
apparent to me than experiencing the disparity between the weakness of the Christian
churches in Utah and the strength of the Mormon Church. Paul continues this theme in 1
Corinthians 4:10 saying, “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in
Christ. We are weak, but you are
strong. You are held in honor, but
we in disrepute.” This is true of
each and every Christian church in Utah.
At best Mormons consider Christians to have received part of true
revelation about Christ and at worst we are considered to be devils that preach
a false Gospel. Paul is combating
believers in Corinth that think they have surpassed the basic things of the
Gospel and have become more spiritual than their fellow believers; we are combating
a non-Christian denomination that thinks it has a superior revelation. But the true Gospel resides in
weakness, and this by the will of God to confound the wise.
Let
us also remember the apparent weakness of the Savior we serve as Christians. Isaiah 53:2-3 says of Christ’s
appearance that he was “like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or
majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire
him. He was despised and rejected
by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men
hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Jesus was not attractive, if you think
so, compliment your girlfriend or spouse the next time you see them by calling
them a root out of dry ground.
That is ugly. There was no
form or majesty in Christ that we should desire Him. But God, rich in mercy, has revealed Him to be the Savior of
the world to those that he would make His own, Christians, by faith.
The
application of this ideal of weakness becomes easy for Evangelicals. If your church is seeking to be the
most brilliant, most put together show around, you might be seeking something
other than the Gospel. You might
be seeking something you can boast about instead of becoming weak so you can
boast in the Gospel. This is not
to say Christian churches should all be dilapidated and run down, we should be
good stewards of the gifts of God, but it is to say let’s glory in Christ
instead of what we have built. God
has a long history of blessing His saints both physically and spiritually but
in both cases our job is to point back to Him and give thanks. As individuals we also need to learn to
become weak. We need to confess
our sin and embrace our everyday need of the Gospel. We need to realize we have nothing to add to the kingdom of
God that God Himself hasn’t given to us.
And we need to stop striving for the approval of men and seek the
approval of Christ. Let us learn to
depend totally on the grace of the Gospel and its power to do good works in and
through us. Then we will find
peace, freedom, and joy. As Christ
works in and through us we are free to sit back and enjoy the show boasting in
its star, Christ.
Let
us take the attitude of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 and boast in our weakness
so that the power of Christ may rest on us. The churches in Salt Lake City are learning to be weak in
the face of strength so that the power of Christ may be seen in them; will you
become weak with us?
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*The image above was used in accordance with the licensing agreements of WikiCommons and in no way reflects the views of the artist that produced the image.
*The image above was used in accordance with the licensing agreements of WikiCommons and in no way reflects the views of the artist that produced the image.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Creek_Center, accessed 4/4/2013
[2] http://www.pbs.org/mormons/faqs/structure.html, accessed 4/4/2013
[2] http://www.pbs.org/mormons/faqs/structure.html, accessed 4/4/2013
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