Too Difficult

Acts 15:19 19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

I live in a community with some gated communities. We specifically chose not to live in one of them. With the gate comes expectations. The community has some say over what you can and can’t do on your property. They can restrict what color you can paint your house.

You might have heard in the news lately that the military is having a hard time getting enough qualified people to apply. Too many people have substance abuse or mental health issues, things which disqualify them from serving. It used to be that most rejections for service came because of criminal or physical problems. Times have changed.

Getting into college or university used to be more difficult as well. Now many institutions have lowered the entrance SAT score minimum, or eliminated the SAT completely from their criteria. It has become about the money, much to the detriment of our educational institutions.

I have a new church in our area that has a sign with the name of the church out by the street. The name, nothing more. No service times. No quotes for passerby’s to read and smile. No phone number. No website. No denominational label. Just the name of the church.

How are you supposed to know when to show up for church? They make it very hard for outsiders. People have to walk into a completely unknown if they want to attend. They must sit in the parking lot and wait for cars to arrive. As a result of making it difficult for new people, the parking lot only has a few cars in it when we pass by.

Out text tells us that the early church made it easy for newcomers to become integrated into their community. They wanted to eliminate any barriers to faith. They took the “who so ever” very seriously.

In fact, the only restrictions they placed on outsiders entering had nothing to do with the outsiders. The four restrictions placed on new believers had to do with not offending the establishment. It was those who had been around the faith for a long time that needed to be protected from offense.

I hope we don’t place undue restrictions on those from the outside coming into our assemblies. Things should be clear. Questions should be answered. Welcome should be extended. We should do the adjusting, not those who are entering.