To the exiles scattered by toxic church

Red, pink and white rose petals, along with tiny yellow leaves, lie scattered on gray paving stones

Maybe the church has become bewildering to you.

Leaders you trusted and people you respected are acting in ways that do not reflect who Jesus is, nor what they profess to believe. They have turned on anyone among them who appears to threaten the status quo.

What is going on?

Previously, it wouldn’t have hit you. But now, it does:

Peter addressed his first New Testament letter “to exiles scattered.” He said:

I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours! (1 Peter 1:1-2 MSG)

Later in the same letter, Peter wrote, “Don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through.” Then he said something really strange: “Instead, be very glad – for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering” (4:12-13 NLT).

Always before, you read past the word exiles. Yet now, you notice it. And something in you hesitantly responds to it.

Many exiles have been compelled to depart their homeland, family or community because the powers-that-be counted them a liability or a threat.

Others have had their sense of belonging ripped out from under them in other ways.

If your church community has begun acting distant and hostile, toward you, or toward others, you may yearn to know whether God is still there, whether he’s angry, whether he cares and what is going on.

And you may be drawn to those opening words that Peter addressed to exiles – words that describe the Father, Son and Spirit as defender of the forsaken and shunned.

Exile of the faithful

If you know the Scriptures, you may have thought of exile as a punishment, or consequence, for disobeying God. In the Old Testament, exile happened to God’s people as a nation when they had obstinately, for generations, forsaken and betrayed him. The Lord himself said:

And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies. (Ezek. 39:23)

Yet also, people throughout time have experienced a different type of exile – an exile resulting from their faithfulness to the Lord. It may be physical, but it is, foremost, social and spiritual.

Hebrews 11 names a number of ancient people of faith, including Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob. It says:

All these died in faith, having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. (Heb. 11:13, 16 NAS)

Peter wrote his whole first epistle to people uprooted and estranged for following God.

The apostle John experienced the exile of the faithful. In fact, he wrote Revelation while living in exile. Introducing himself in Revelation 1:9, John didn’t belabor the fact, but he did acknowledge it:

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

Even before he experienced physical exile, John wrote candidly of the spiritual/social exile that Jesus told his followers to expect:

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15:18-19)

They will put you out of the synagogue. (John 16:2)

Hated by the world

Reading Peter’s words, and John’s, you may wonder if all this really applies to you. You may not see that “the world” has anything to do with your current sense of isolation.

Maybe, rather, the church has become bewildering to you. Maybe leaders you trusted and people you respected are acting in ways that do not reflect who Jesus is, nor what they profess to believe.

Maybe you’ve spoken up, certain that Christians you know will respond like Christ. Instead, people have ignored, minimized, ridiculed or misrepresented your concerns. Maybe also they’ve turned on you, censuring, falsely accusing, shunning.

Or maybe you’ve watched injustice happen to others. Maybe you’ve observed Christians banding together to treat individuals or whole groups of people terribly, without any sign of remorse. You’ve watched them turn on anyone among them who appears to threaten the status quo.

Pause. Take a deep breath, and consider again Jesus’ words in John 15: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

Jesus said that the world hated him. So let’s press into that. Let’s ask: Exactly who hated Jesus?

If we read the Gospels with that question in mind, the answer is both stunning and clear.

On the crucifixion day, at the moment the cry went out to choose Barabbas or Jesus, pretty much everyone “hated” Jesus in that they chose something or someone else over him. Most people, including most of Jesus’ own disciples, chose not to risk ostracism and persecution by standing with him.

As Jesus died in their behalf, disciples, crowds and government leaders chose against sharing in his sufferings.

But for all of Jesus’ ministry except that final day: The crowds were drawn to him. They liked the miracles, yes, but they were also drawn to Jesus’ teachings and to the authority with which he taught. The outcasts loved that he saw them, included them and treated them with respect. The government leaders didn’t particularly care what a renegade Jewish teacher did. The disciples left everything to follow him.

Only the religious leaders hated him with a vicious, determined-to-get-rid-of-him hate. And they weren’t just any religious leaders. They were the leaders entrusted with representing the one true God. They were the ones most fully prepped by God himself to recognize and welcome his Son.¹

When Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first,” he knew: The very next day, the hatred of the religious leaders would lead to his crucifixion.

Soon, persecution by the same leaders would break out against Jesus’ followers, and the faithful would be scattered.

Ravaged by the wolves

But more: Jesus and Paul both warned that, in future, the biggest threat to following God would come from the least expected place of all, from within the church.

Jesus said:

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. (Matt. 7:15-16)

Paul said:

I know that, after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and won’t spare the flock. Some of your own people will distort the word in order to lure followers after them. Stay alert! (Acts 20:29-31 CEB)

Wolves would arise among those who identified as Christ’s – savage wolves, that would not look ferocious at all. They would say what sounded right. They would come across as gentle, caring, good. They would appear for all the world to love God and serve people.

But they would care only for themselves.

Under the guise of good, they would feed their appetites for admiration and power. In Jesus’ name, they would build systems that manipulate, divide, oppress, abuse.

Under the guise of sharing the Gospel, defending the truth and building the church, they would mislead, devour and decimate the flock.

Jesus and Paul foresaw clearly. Christian history is filled with accounts of the persecution of the faithful by people supposed to be leading them. So are the headlines today.

Kept by God

The Lord has much to say to exiles scattered by toxic church systems, much that we explore in other Key Truths posts.

For now, dear one, if any of this hits home with you, please know that it’s right and good:

In the midst of all that, please remember this promise, and this blessing. Even when they may seem most impossible, continue to breathe them in.

Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus.

May everything good from God be yours!

The original version of this post was published July 28, 2018, under the title, “To the exiles scattered.” It was, and is, the first post in the seven-post series by the same name.

Image by Hans from Pixabay

Footnotes

In this blog, “religious leaders” are not the same as godly leaders. Religious leaders only counterfeit godliness. See, for example, 2 Timothy 3:1-5. ↩︎

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Healing from toxic church – seeking what is precious, and truly God