My Pastor Has To Be Drunk…

Posted on 03/02/10, in Faith, Religion, by bradhensley

Have you ever ran into a friend somewhere and caught them drinking? I don’t mean just socially drinking but down right completely trashed drunk that they didn’t know what they were doing? Well, I kind of had a similar experience this past Sunday… with the man that I have once blogged about… the man that I now call pastor.

It has been rumored or anticipated that he would discuss alcohol in the sermon. Now, for you that may not know, alcohol is one of the most debated and theological discussed issues in the south. It’s kind of like talking about politics or abortions at your office party. It’s just something that you don’t do. So as we opened up the service with “Whiskey for my men, Beer for my Horses,” the thought hit me… Pastor Rodney has to be drunk! There is no way he is going to go up there and tackle one of the hottest, most debated issues of “church”. I will tell you how serious this was… I know people that came and missed their home church to check out our new series: Sex, Drugs, Rock’n Roll when “Sex” was the topic of discussion and right after he gave a snippet of what this week’s sermon would be about they said, “I got to see where he goes with that!” So they came back. You understand, coming into this I just knew that the man that I call pastor would have sought God throughout the week and God would speak to him to tell him that he should just mention alcohol but focus on drugs. There are a lot of good sermons that would fit a “drug” theme and how we become addicted or dependent on something other than God. So surely, Rodney wouldn’t talk about alcohol… right! Wrong… You should definitely watch the sermon online here but I will say that you have to listen to all of it so you don’t take anything out of context.

I came into this service completely and utterly nervous about what was going to be taught. I mean, here I am coming in from some questionable “church experiences” and honestly from hating the whole idea of “church” as a whole just last year. So what if this sermon doesn’t line up with my beliefs? What if I disagree with most things that he says? Can I continue to keep my family and I at a church if we don’t agree on such a largely debated topic? I mean, this topic of alcohol, divides entire denominations and masses of people.

As you can see on my Facebook profile under my religion status it says: Relationship – Jesus Christ. That is because of what I truly believe. For so many years, I have been caught up in the legalistic ideas of religion and what the scripture says about this or about that and where I stood on this issue or that issue but is that what Jesus commanded us to do? I don’t think so, now. I use to find myself on the side of the Pharisees talking about what was wrong and what was right; what Christians should do; and most famously ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ When, in fact, I probably missed completely what Jesus would do in any situation just as the Pharisees did in their hay-day. So I went back to the basics in my walk with Christ and my relationship.

In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus is questioned about the greatest commandment and he simply answers. The greatest and first commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, & strength. Secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. It’s really simple, right? Jesus goes on to say that his ministry hinges on these two commandments. Hinges… hinges… Do me a favor. If you’re home or when you get home, take your front door off the hinges. Just take them off. Don’t remove the door. Don’t unlock the door. Take the door off the hinges, leave it up, and go to bed. The next morning, just leave. How safe do you feel about your front door? How do you feel about your door being off the hinges? How effective is your door when you try to open or close it… be careful because if you do this and try to use the door it will completely fall and shatter when it hits the ground. So now that you understand how important the exact term “hinge” means, Jesus’ entire ministry hinges on two things: love God & love your neighbor. All of Jesus’ miracles, all the lives that He touched, and all the people that followed Him means absolutely nothing if He didn’t do these two things just as your front door is completely useless if it’s not on it’s hinges.

On Sunday not only did I realize that Rodney wasn’t drunk but I realized even more that God has placed me under an absolutely awesome leader and Pastor at OneLife. For a “pastor” to stand in front of 220+ people and say that he is struggling with everything he has always been taught but went to God’s Word and found the answers. He found and taught what God’s answers were and did not teach his own answers (as I have seen some “pastors” completely do). Rodney says many things that would number one, catch me completely off guard but number two, realize once again God is moving in our family’s life and has placed us in somewhere that would challenge us to get closer as a family and challenge us to get closer to Him. I am so thankful for OneLife Church. Skipping the complete message, he began to lay some groundwork for OneLife’s beliefs. Basically, it’s this… there are two kinds of issues that will come up in the church: Close-handed issues & Open-handed issues. Close-handed issues aren’t up for discussion or debate. Some of those issues are:

  • We believe the bible is the perfect Word of God.
  • We believe the only way to get to heaven is through Jesus Christ.

Then there are open-handed issues. Open-handed issues are going to, not be necessarily up “for debate” but more discussion. This is how I feel and why and this is how you feel. The open-handed issues will push us to be more open-minded and not so close-minded to our “neighbors” who we are called to love as ourselves. Which, by the way, would only push people out of the church that truly want to be there, like myself. One of the open-handed issues, like alcohol, could be tattoo(s). Tattoos are frowned upon among many churches or “religious people” because of the stereotype that had tattoos in our parents’ generations and beyond. I sat with ink wrapped on one arm in a church with a Pastor that I respected very much as he said to a congregation of about 40% of tattooed members, “Tattoos are a sign of low self-esteem.” I got another tattoo after that sermon and had good self esteem when doing so. I will also just let you in on an apparent secret to many churches or “religious people”, Jesus had “Hebrew ink markings” on his body.

To conclude, I just want to say how amazed I am by God once again and how excited I am that He has placed us in this intentional church plant in Powell, TN that gets it. That gets it’s not about the religious by-laws, dos and don’ts, but it is only about discovering God and how our one life can make a difference. That is simply by doing the greatest commandment that Jesus called us to do. To love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and love our neighbor as ourselves. But most of all, I found out that OneLife Church is okay if I don’t believe exactly they way they do about the “open-handed” issues so I don’t feel like just another outcast at church. In this case, I agree with what the bible CLEARLY says about drinking and getting drunk but if it was another widely debated topic that has split denominations such as interracial marriages (see King David which had a interracial marriage and God said he was a man after his own heart, just sayin’) then it’s okay if I believe a certain way and I can even explain why I feel this way! How awesome is that? I can bring my beliefs and understanding of the bible to my friends and fellow believers (brothers and sisters in Christ) and compare notes. I have a feeling that this is the way that Jesus intended us to walk and what he meant for Church!