Mozart Metaphor
When you hear Mozart played poorly, who do you blame? Do you blame Mozart? No! You blame the person with the instrument playing the music poorly, not the composer who’s been dead for 250 years! Far too many people have been taking this route, however, when they see Christians playing Christ poorly. People are quick to say, “If that’s what following Jesus is like, then I don’t want any part of Jesus!” But blaming Jesus when Christians play/represent Him poorly makes just as much sense as blaming Mozart when you hear someone play his symphonies poorly.
What’s happening to non-believers and believers alike is this “deconstruction” or abandonment of the faith instigated by people playing Jesus poorly. What’s worse is when this deconstruction leads to a re-construction based on anything other than the Bible. It’s like abandoning Mozart based on hearing a bad performance and then reexamining everything you ever thought about classical music! And instead of going back to the source, back to the book Mozart wrote about his music, classical music, all music—instead you go to books written about Mozart from the perspective you most prefer. It’s as silly as hearing one person or group of people play Mozart badly, deciding that the symphony isn’t for you, turning to rap artists for their interpretation of Mozart and then feeling like you truly know Mozart! But that’s the road so many people are taking when they see Christians misrepresenting Jesus. What we need is accountability.
“It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.” (1 Corinthians 5:12)
Christians should be called out by other Christians when they don’t act like Christ. We can’t expect the world to hold us accountable to Christ’s standards. Christians have to hold Christians accountable to Christ’s standard. And that’s going to take some judging! Somewhere along the way we bought into the lie that we shouldn’t judge others and look where that’s gotten us! We turned a blind eye to bad behavior from Christians and then allowed those blind eyes to turn us away from the faith. What do we have left when Christians turn a blind eye to bad behavior: the blind leading the blind. Do you see any of this at your church? Are there any blind people leading other blind people? Any people who have deconstructed their faith because they saw Christians acting in non-Christ-like ways? Any people who reconstructed their faith based on best-selling authors, podcasters, and influencers? Just because someone plays Mozart badly doesn’t mean you destroy Mozart and build up a love of classical music based on musicians who hate classical music. It wouldn’t make any sense to do that and yet numerous Christians have been doing that for the last four years!
“But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.” (1 John 2:27)
“You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” (Hebrews 5:12-14)
Just because some Christians have played Jesus badly doesn’t mean Jesus is bad. It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with Christianity. And just because Jesus might be represented poorly by one specific group does not mean that the opposite of that group must have the right and true representation of Jesus. Jesus loves the rich majority as much as He loves the poor minority. If you are getting Jesus from any other source than the Bible then you are not getting Jesus from The Source. Don’t proceed in ignorance just because you reacted emotionally to Jesus being portrayed poorly by Christians. If you can’t handle seeing Christians behaving in un-Christ-like ways, if you aren’t bold enough to call those Christians out, then you certainly aren’t equipped enough to deconstruct and reconstruct your faith. Don’t blame Jesus when people play Him poorly—blame the people and hold them accountable to the standards Jesus set.
To the glory of the Lord God, whose I am, and whom I serve.
