“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart” (Acts 7:51).
“No one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment and a worse tear results. Nor do men put new wine in old wineskins” (Matthew 9:16-17).
Let’s start with an intriguing quote from a great churchman. …
“The church recruited people who had been starched and ironed before they were washed.” —John Wesley
Not sure of the context of Wesley’s quote, but I like it because it so accurately sums up the situation of a small contingent within every church. Now, I have to say this conjures up memories of my childhood. Mom did her own washing and ironing, and often, to starch a shirt or blouse, she would soak it in a bucket into which she had mixed up the dry starch with water. These days, anyone starching at home uses a spray, I expect.
There’s nothing like a great starched shirt. I love them. Alamo Cleaners of River Ridge, La., does them for me. My wife loves me but not enough to do that!
Now then, some church members have been starched and ironed before they were washed. A great metaphor! But what does it mean?
“Starched and ironed” means they are now:
—prim and proper,
—firmly set and fixed in their ways,
—but they are missing something essential: an experience with the living God by the blood of Jesus Christ. Scripture promises “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7). But these people have bypassed that experience for one reason or the other.
As a result, they are:
—rigid and not flexible.
—pretty but not functional.
—self-righteous but not actually righteous.
—legal but unloving
—pharisaical and proud of it.
They have convictions and plenty of them. Unfortunately, none that have anything to do with grace but everything to do with law—with rules and regulations, with prohibitions and requirements, expectations and qualifications.
Pity the church that has the unwashed inflexible in leadership positions.
Anyone wondering why and how this could happen should pay more attention to the ways of humanity. It’s not leadership qualities you have to demonstrate in order to be elected to a place of authority; it’s strong convictions about things. Even if those convictions are wrong-headed. The fact that you speak up and speak out and take a stand convinces the weak and passive among the membership that you are a force to be reckoned with. Since no one else wants the job, it’s yours.
That’s how it happens that pastors end up having to deal with boards and committees and officers who are opposed to anything having to do with grace. They are fiercely opposed to what they consider weakness in the more spiritually minded, and “intend to put this church on a firm business-like basis.”
Before they will help the needy, all kinds of requirements must be met. Before you can join their church, you must agree to a long list. Before you can be elected to anything, there are plenty of hurdles you must surmount.
When the unwashed inflexible are in control, God help the church.
People who have been starched and ironed before they were washed have no compassion for the needy of the world, no vision for the unreached of their community, and no patience with the compassionate visionairies who do!
