“Some preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. . . . What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”
A church can be controlled by a horizontal dynamic of winners-and-losers, the people focused on each other, disappointed with each other, grumbling about each other, offended with one another — self-righteousness bumping up against self-righteousness, hurting and getting hurt. And simply going in circles, counting for nothing in the Kingdom of God.
Or a church can be controlled by a vertical dynamic of response to Christ, the people looking upward, amazed at Him and his grace — broken but grateful sinners coming together because all they need to be happy is Christ himself. And then pointing one another to Christ Himself and encouraging one another towards more and more Christlikeness!
I have heard of churches that are dysfunctional. They have many problems - leadership problems, financial problems, resource shortage, human failures. But if Christ is being preached in such a church, even with impure motives, that should be enough to make us happy. It is the reason why we go to get out of your church. We go to be pointed to Christ and to become more like Christ so that in Christ our dysfunctionalities are healed and He is magnified.
And if you require more, who gave you the right to overrule the Lord Jesus Christ as your only treasure and satisfaction and sufficiency?
