If You Don't Like It...

Leave!

How many times have I heard the suggestion?

More than a few.

And, honestly, at times, it's not such a bad piece of advice.  Don't like the job you are in?  Being mistreated by the boss and co-workers?  Look for another job.  Don't like how a particular organization you belong to is handling their funds and the decisions they are making?  Pull your stakes.  Have a circle of "friends" who use you and make demands upon you without taking your needs into consideration?  Leave.  Find new friends.

Many times, it's better than being miserable in such places.

I wish I could say these were the circumstances I've heard the phrase, "if you don't like it, leave" uttered most. 

But, it isn't.

Usually, I hear that phrase mentioned in regard to the church in this fashion:

If you don't like this decision...this policy...this ministry...how we do business...my preaching...the music...how we reach out...leave!  And don't let the door hit you on your way out!

I understand the temptation to utter these words.  I've run across a few trouble makers in the church who I would like to give this bit of advice to--people who I think the church would be better off without.

But that's the key to the whole issue--people "I" think the church would be better without.

And in the church, it's not "I" that counts but God.  Who does God want in His Church?

The obvious answer is everyone.  God desires everyone to worship Him, be in a relationship with Him, and be a part of His people--not apart from them.  But how difficult is that?  How difficult is it to deal with someone who seems overbearing, opinionated, self-righteous, demanding, pushy, etc.?  Well, look in the  mirror and ask that question again.

The fact of the matter is, at certain points and times, we can all act in this manner.  We can all come across as demanding, pushy, overbearing, opinionated, and self-righteous.  We all have our set of fundamentals that we adhere to, and sometimes we get pushed to where we will not move one more inch.  At that point and time, it would be easy for someone to look us straight in the eye and say, "If you don't like it, leave!"

But I do not think this is at the heart of what Jesus teaches.  I might be wrong, but I do not think Jesus ever asked anyone to leave.  I don't think He looked someone straight in the eye and said, "My friend, I don't think you should be a part of what I am trying to accomplish.  Why don't you head to the local tavern and have a glass of wine and find something else to do?"

No.  Jesus invited folks to come along with Him.  And if someone was being pushy or arrogant, Jesus put them in their place and fast, but always leaving it open for them to continue on in the journey.  (Remembering Peter in the Gospel lesson a week or so back who wanted to tell Jesus He shouldn't suffer and die.  Jesus said, "Get behind me Satan for you are setting your mind on earthly things not heavenly things.  He didn't tell Peter to go away.) 

In fact, as I remember (again, I could be wrong.  I'd have to read the Gospel's again), the only place Jesus suggests inviting someone to leave is if they sin against you and they do not listen to you, you and two witnesses, and then the church.  There is literally a process that bends over backward to keep people in the church and not kick them out.

Such is the nature of being Jesus' disciple, I think.  The easy way is to break fellowship with someone we don't like.  The easy way is to tell them to take a hike.  The easy way is to say, "Find some place where you will be happy and leave us the h-e-double hockey sticks alone."  But Jesus never asks us to do what's easy.  He asks us to do what is right.

"If you don't like it, I'm sorry.  Let's see if we can work it out together.  If we cannot, let us depart in peace so that our relationship may never go to pieces."