It has been observed that, during the early settling of the British Colonies in North America, the first two buildings constructed were the church and the pub, thereby filling two great needs found among humans while ensuring that people could gather in their chosen environments. You would be hard pressed to find a community today where those two structures aren’t still in use, even though the church may now be meeting in a home, and the pub might be some clandestine spot.
What is curious is how people who frequent one of those structures often tend to label or identify the people who frequent the other structure (the conversation gets to be more nuanced when people frequent both). From the “church” perspective, it is easy to think of someone who spends Friday or Saturday evening at the local drinking establishment tipping a few back as someone who is simultaneously far from God and possibly with a drinking problem. While both of those things might be true, they are not necessarily true and are probably equally likely to be false. Despite how some people of faith may feel, neither being in a pub nor having a drink indicates the condition of someone’s relationship with God or a behavioral problem.
At the same time, from a “pub” perspective, it is easy to think of someone who spends their Sunday mornings in church as a hypocritical wanna-be saint who considers themselves to be right with God and better than others. Frankly, part of that flows from a willingness of the church crowd to label those in the pubs, so turn-about is fair play. But just as spending time in the pub doesn’t make one an alcoholic, attending church doesn’t make one a disciple of Christ. And we can ratchet that up a bit – getting drunk in the pub one evening doesn’t make you an alcoholic, any more than attending a spiritual retreat one weekend makes you a disciple of Christ. In either case, the experience might indicate something larger, but on their own, they don’t say much.
There are various definitions of an alcoholic, but a sure sign is when someone is constantly thinking about alcohol, looking forward to their next drink. It has nothing to do with what structure a person spends their time in. There are many definitions of a Christian, but a sure sign is when they hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness, and they are looking forward to feasting on God’s Word. Again, this has nothing to do with a structure. Yes, we have created buildings where people can feed their preferred behavior and be among others of the same desires, but the building itself doesn’t create the identity. Instead, it is the desires and conditions of the heart that reveal who that person truly is.
So, my friends, be careful with labels, and remember that when we ourselves wear labels, they are worn on the outermost layer so that people can see them – visible only on that which can be seen. It is very difficult to see what is beneath, in those places that really define us.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron