Are Theme Churches Biblical? - Ask Pastor Tim

This is a good one to end with.

James just sent me this one today.

"What's the Bible say

about all the new theme churches?

Cowboy and biker?"

The answer? Nothing.

It says nothing about biker churches.

It says nothing about cowboy churches.

Now, yes, nothing specifically,

but let's just think a little bit.

One thing that does strike me

from Scripture is this:

The Bible never, never, never

indicates that we should have

more than one kind of local church,

except for geographical reasons.

You hear what I'm saying?

There's nothing in Scripture -

by the way, this doesn't just come down

to cowboys and bikers.

This comes down to
denominations as a whole.

The Bible gives us no platform

for Methodist churches
and Lutheran churches

and Baptist churches, and etc.

The only reason for
different local churches

is exactly that - locality.

Geography.

And that's interesting,

because think with me here.

You had some churches

that had Jew and Gentile issues.

What would be an example of that?

(from the room): Galatians.

Tim: Galatians had the Judaizers come in -

very possibly.

The Roman letter,

he's very specifically speaking

to Jew and to Gentile in
different portions of it.

But you know what's never said

to any of those churches?

You ought to divide up

and have a Jewish church
and a Gentile church.

Let me tell you something else.

The Corinthians were never told

to divide up and have a rich church

and a poor church.

Do you know what else?

Even in the book of Revelation,

when you had five of the seven

that are unhealthy,

Jesus never told the people

inside those churches

to basically pack up and
go start a new one

or pack up and move to wherever.

I find that very interesting.

Very interesting.

Now I know things have played out

the way they've played out.

I know we have different denominations

because we have different
ways of interpreting Scripture.

And I know it would be very hard

for Baptists to church plant or whatever

if you've got a Presbyterian over here.

I recognize there may be issues

that they would not be able to get past.

I recognize that there needs to be

a fight for doctrinal purity,

and if we have to move away

from something where
that purity does not exist,

I recognize that.

But what you need to recognize is this:

Jesus calls for unity.

He prays for unity.

And there is not a single
example in Scripture

where you had in one locale

two different churches
functioning side by side.

Now somebody might say,

well, didn't they have lots of churches

that met in houses?

Wasn't there a lot of that going on?

Okay, there may have been.

But nowhere are we called

to basically divide these things up.

The thing that comes to my mind

was what Paul said concerning Corinth

when you had some
people following this guy

and some people following this guy.

And he said this:

Is Christ divided?

That's the question we need to ask.

Is Christ divided?

And we could say, okay, what's wrong

with a cowboy wanting to start

a cowboy church?

Is there really anything wrong with it?

I mean, come on, they're all
going to wear their cowboy hats,

and they're going to wear their boots,

and they're going to sing
country-western gospel.

Is there really anything wrong with that?

Or who cares if somebody
wants to start a biker church?

I mean, don't bikers need to be saved?

And somebody might even quote:

We need to become all
things to all people.

Right?

What I find interesting about that text

is Paul says to those who
are under the law,

I became as one under the law.

To those that are not under the law,

I became as one not under the law.

(incomplete thought)

But you know what's interesting?

He's speaking to the Corinthian church

and he didn't say, therefore Corinthians,

divide up.

He didn't say that.

Somebody might say Hudson Taylor -

Hudson Taylor grew his hair long

and he dressed like the
Chinese to win the Chinese.

So if I want to win bikers,

I better get me a Harley.

Right?

Look, I would say this.

That if I was formerly a Harley rider

and God saved me,

might I have a special place in my heart

for those guys?

Yeah, I might.

Could I maybe feel a bit
more comfortable among them?

Yeah, I might.

One thing I would just say is this:

We don't want to get to the place

where we wouldn't evangelize somebody

because they're not a biker.

And would we want to get to the place

where if we started a biker church

and somebody came in
that didn't have a bike,

that we're going to look down on them?

You see, the thing that
makes me uncomfortable

about cowboy churches and biker churches

is I think one of the dangers is idolatry.

Look, you don't want

your desire to have a Harley

or your desire to have cowboy boots

to somehow trump your willingness

to love all Christians no matter
what stripe they may be of.

(incomplete thought)

Look, the very same thing

that causes me to cringe when I hear

there's black churches and white churches,

or I hear there's an Indian church

over in Houston.

We had people visit us one time

when we were at Fatty's

and they said they heard
about us on I'll Be Honest

and they came over here.

I think they may have come over here

maybe for business,

maybe they came just to see the church.

But I asked them about
where they went to church

and they went to an Indian church,

like not red Indians like Apaches,

but Indians from India kind of church.

And I don't like that.

And I remember Ryan Fullerton

speaking out against the fact

that there were Gypsy churches in Romania.

And I think rightly so.

It's like why are we
dividing God's people up?

I know this,

that from the very get-go,

I prayed for a racially
diverse church in Grace.

And you know what?

It tests our love.

There are times when you have to fight

through difficulties

and you have to fight through prejudices

and seek to love each other.

But this is what Jesus was praying for -

unity among His people.

And I think we need to strive for that.

I would just say this,

that you know is there a place

to dress like Hudson Taylor

if you want to win the Chinese?

I think there is.

I think there is.

But you know, he did not -

you know how they had the bald front

and the ponytail in back?

If you read Hudson Taylor's biography,

he was a shiny white guy from England.

His head would get burned
all the time in the sun.

Wearing their shoes was
extremely uncomfortable for him.

He did this to win souls.

He didn't do it because
long hair in a ponytail

was an idol to him.

We just need to be honest.

We need to be honest about our cowboy hats

and our cowboy boots

and about our Harley Davidsons,

because if they become an idol

and we basically are creating

a church around that idol -

see, that's different than him

getting a hairstyle that
he would not have gotten

if it wasn't for the fact he
wanted to win souls,

and wear shoes that
he would not have worn.

They were almost like Dutch wooden shoes.

They were super uncomfortable.

They talked about how they hurt his feet.

James: And it wasn't a subculture.

It was the main Chinese culture.

Tim: Right.

So, yeah.

Well, any other comments on this subject?

Probably a good time to stop.

Okay, well, let's pray.

Father, I pray for these
men and these women.

Lord, make us discerning -

truly discerning,

biblically discerning.

Help us to be able to separate.

Help us to be able to
tell one thing from another.

Help us to be able to interpret things

in light of Scripture

and apply Scripture

to all the practicalities
of our everyday life.

To know how they apply,

to see, to discern.

Lord, help us by constant regular use

and exercise applying Scriptures

to become very discerning people.

Wash us with the water of the Word.

Sanctify us by Thy truth

into that image,

that perfect image,

that beautiful image of Christ.

We pray in His name, amen.