You are currently browsing the monthly archive for March 2007.
Or opiate for the masses? Those famous little suggestions by those who don’t accept the idea of God or Christianity in particular. It’s not really a bad question, although it is poor statement. Poor because it assumes the people you disagree with are unintelligent, unthinking drones. Never an accurate assumption.
But is Christianity a Crutch?
Yes and no in my opinion. I think it’s more difficult to live as a Christian, -especially as someone who believes in and follows the Bible. For one thing, the standard in the Bible is much higher than anyone lives. Whether we are talking about divorce or drinking or homosexuality, the Bible is much more strict than the world. In fact, to live as Jesus lived means sacrificing our own desires and self-centeredness. To live as Jesus lived means turning the other cheek, blessing our enemies, and putting others ahead of ourselves. It’s not easy to live as a Christian.
Paul would write: “If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” -I Corinthians 15:19
Why are Christians to be pitied if they turn out to be wrong? Because (in Paul’s case and anyone else who actually practices what they preach) Christians could have lived life for the moment, could have indulged in many of life’s pleasures, could have done whatever they wanted, but instead left everything and followed Christ. They sacrificed, denied themselves, and held themselves to a standard the culture around them ignores and fights.
It’s not easy to live as a Christian. Christianity is not a crutch in life because it doesn’t make life easier. Christianity isn’t the opiate of the masses because following what the Bible says inspires and challenges, it doesn’t pacify and put to sleep.
Unless the sermon is really boring or something.
No Christianity is not a crutch or an opiate until you face death. It’s much, much, much easier to die as a Christian. It’s much easier to be at peace when peering into eternity -as a Christian.
Perhaps we’ve convinced ourselves and we are fooling ourselves? Perhaps we simply refuse to give up delusional hope? Or perhaps when a person has sacrificed, sweated, and bled for his/her beliefs; perhaps when a person has faced the arguments, the derision, the pull of the world to leave his/her beliefs and reject their faith; perhaps when that person arrives at death’s door, they not only believe because their parents told them to, but they believe because they’ve lived it, experienced it, and watched it work in their life! They’ve walked for years with the Savior who died for them and now feel confident He won’t suddenly leave them in death.
When you’ve put in the sweat, blood and tears…. maybe by that time, you believe because… well…. you know it’s real already.
It’s easier to die, not so easy to live…-from my perspective as a Christian.
This has a lot of meaning for me tonight. My father is fighting cancer and the prognosis the doctor gave him today was bleak. About 18 months. Every time I call him I usually say, “How ya doing?” And the reply is always, always the same:
“I’m blessed,” says the man with 18 months to live.
Should I be panicking? Should he be? Should we be getting 17 more doctor’s opinions, traveling to Mexico for experimental treatment, or taking the chance that the aggressive chemo with a 45% success rate will work and add one whole year to his life? Or should he trust the same God he’s always been trusting, forgo the harsh treatment and enjoy his final years believing in his heart that God may baffle the doctors (as my father has seen many a time) and extend those years?
Guess which one he’s choosing? Yeah. He’s leaving it up to God. It’s worked before, many times, and even if God calls dad home…and soon… well dad has no doubt in his heart what awaits. He’s been following this Jesus for a long time. He has been kneeling at the cross long enough to be convinced.
Life is harder as a Christian. A real one anyway.
Death isn’t.
Dear Brian,
i just read your article regarding drinking, and i thought it was fair minded and appreciated what you had to say. i was wondering if you could send me some follow up thoughts regarding the idea that; if people want to have relationship with me than they are responsible to let me know if i have offended them or not. Is it always my responsibility to support the weaker brother (re: more than just alcohol issues of course), b/c brother that will get taxing. Maybe your answer is, as a leader i aught to at least try, if so that makes sense to me, but i would like to hear further thoughts on this. I guess i see the opportunities for me to offend somebody is a great opportunity to also have relationship with them and begin to work out the offense, not to say that i should sin so grace may abound, but simple be open to how my freedom affects others.
Also if there is something that has already addressed this in your article i won’t be offended if you suggest that i simply refer back to the article.
thanks for your time.
Comment by eddie eccker | March 18, 2007 | Edit
You bring up a good question because it’s very easy to say “don’t do something that may cause your brother to stumble” but in real life you often don’t exactly know if you are or if you aren’t.
Usually this will lead Christians conclude they should never drink or do any other offensive thing because they just never know. If that’s what you conclude, that’s fine. The problem to watch for though, is the tendency to condemn Christians who don’t do things the same as we do. Imagine that right? Typically a Christian sees another Christian take one drink, they conclude immediately that Christian is causing people to stumble, and they judge him/her for it.
In fact, a Christian the other day said, “Any time a non-Christian sees a Christian with a drink in their hand, they conclude immediately he’s a hypocrite! That’s the way all non-Christians look at it.” Therefore any Christian with a beer in his/her hand is doing wrong in their opinion. So says the Missouri Baptist Convention in fact…
Well, that IS what Christian’s tend to believe, but I actually took a poll of non-Christians, and while it wasn’t scientific, not a single person said they thought the Christian would be a hypocrite if he had a beer. About half said they’d respect him more! Worth considering.
Anyway, here’s the stuff I think is important to keep in mind: First, the word “stumble” in the Bible where it talks about causing your brother to stumble, literally means “entice to sin.” It does not mean, they get huffy and self-righteous about it. Think Jesus and Pharisees when Jesus was in Matthew’s house. Jesus didn’t much care about the offense He gave the Pharisees.
In Romans the Bible says if it causes your brother distress and you drink or eat around him anyway, you’re not doing it in love. Interestingly, even the non-Christians I talked to about this said they didn’t think someone should drink around an recovering alcoholic because it really bothers them. That’s the principle in Romans, if it really bothers your brother, don’t be flaunting it.
Second, I would keep I Corinthians 10 in mind. (the whole conversation Paul is having starts somewhere around chapter eight) In chapter 10, Paul first lays a huge guilt trip on these guys for not just eating meat sacrificed to idols but doing it in the idol’s temple! It seems logical to apply that to drinking by understanding there’s a huge difference between having a glass of wine or beer at Applebees with your meal, and having a beer in your hand at a drunken party, or a bar, or at the lake when everyone is getting plastered. Just the sight of it makes people conclude drunkenness and we don’t want people to think we are getting drunk! That is flat out sin. So as a rule at our church, we ask our leaders (whatever they believe about drinking) to absolutely not drink alcoholic beverages in situations that WILL be seen as partying or drunkenness. If you’re in a bar, drink a Pepsi!
(Why go to a bar? Maybe because the football team you love is on the big screen, and maybe because you like to play pool, and maybe because you’ve got some non-Christian friends you wanted to spend some time with and share your faith. And maybe because that’s just the sort of thing Jesus would do… go places the “religious” folk wouldn’t.)
Well, right after Paul lays a guilt trip on these guys for eating meat sacrificed to idols in the idol’s temple, the Bible then says:
1Co 10:27-29 If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’ sake. But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you,”
Based on the above, I think the Bible here is telling us to not make a big deal out of things, BUT if the person or people we are with has a problem with something, and points it out, don’t do it. In other words, we just need to listen and pay attention to their attitudes and opinions. Like the verse says, if the guy makes of point of telling you it’s food sacrificed to idols, then don’t eat for his sake. So I think the Bible is telling us to pay attention to the other person and I would personally err on the side of caution in regards to drinking. If someone put a drink down in front of me, I’d probably say “You know I’m preacher right?” He might say, “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.” To which I’d reply, “I’m not offended, in fact taking a drink isn’t a sin, but I didn’t want you to think I was a hypocrite!”
And if I’m offered a drink by a waitress, and I don’t know what the guys around me would think, I just order Pepsi. Because living in America, a lot of people freak out about it, and if I don’t know what they believe, I’d be a bit reckless to drink in front of them.
As for people who don’t know you. I don’t see how we can cause them to stumble or even grieve them since we aren’t any different than any other person they don’t know at a ballgame -BUT… considering our culture here and people’s attitudes, I find it easier most of the time to refrain just in case someone who does know me would be there. It’s that err on the side of caution thing again. (and I REALLY like Pepsi anyway)
Besides, usually, I can show non-Christians I’m not a judgmental preacher by going to the ballgames, and playing that game of pool with them at the bar while drinking a pepsi, and by not being “too good” to hang with them or visit their house, or play cards with them. They find out I don’t condemn taking a drink, and even though I don’t drink, they appreciate the fact I don’t condemn them for it.
You don’t have to clean up before taking a bath, and you don’t clean up a person BEFORE he/she comes to Jesus Christ.
Would I ever take a drink? If it wouldn’t cause someone to stumble, wouldn’t grieve a brother, and I was thirsty…
and it wasn’t Lite Beer… then maybe.
The Bible says if we delight ourselves in the Lord He will give us the desires of our heart. It means either God will put desires in your heart that HE wants you to reach for, or He will help you find or accomplish the desires and dreams you already have.
Probably a little of both don’t you think?
Here’s what I’m getting at: If I asked you for the vision of your church, you’d give me a statement or a slogan. And those things are fine and dandy but without God, they’re pretty much just vague ideas. Those really aren’t visions anyway, they are mission statements.
If I asked you for the vision you have for your life, it’s a little easier. First, it’s just you, not 50-10,000 other people so there is no one to argue with this over, -except maybe your wife or husband…. But there’s no board meeting to present your “vision” to.
Second, if I asked you the question, you probably have an image appear in your mind where you see yourself doing something, or accomplishing something, or having something…
And that is what a VISION is. Something you see. It’s a picture you hope comes true.
Well the thing is, we probably don’t think about a VISION or a PICTURE of what we want to be or where we want to go, either with ourselves or our church, we just say some nice things.
But two things need to happen. First, give your vision over to God and begin to think about the details in that picture. What will it be like? Where would I be living? What skills would I be using? How would I use them? Ask God for help in SEEING these things.
Second… Trust God for the final results and enjoy serving Him right where you are on this journey. It’s going to take time, might as well have fun along the way.
I mean, what WOULD you have to be doing, what would you have to know, what skills or education will you need to do what your dreams will require? If you look closely at your vision, you should be able to see some of those. Begin to work on those things, today, believe in God for the results tomorrow, and leave the results -whatever they are- up to Him.
While you can’t guarantee with your own actions that you’ll succeed, you CAN prepare for God to bless you with the desires of your heart. Honor God by your actions, submit to God and His timing, and leave the results up to Him.
Or as the Bible says one other place… Humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up.
Here it is. A lightning rod quote:
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Pace said: “Pace told The Chicago Tribune Tuesday that “I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts.”
Followed by Senator John Warner, a Republican, who said this:
“I respectfully but strongly disagree with the chairman’s view that homosexuality is immoral. In keeping with my longstanding respect for the Armed Services committee hearing process, I will decline to comment on the current policy until after such hearings are held.”
Honestly, I’d rather not focus here. It’s a given that there are things which are right and things which are wrong. We may disagree on some of those things, but most of us agree right and wrong exists.
Most of us. None of us live like there is no right and wrong. Show me a person who believes there’s no such thing, and I’ll point out they still get mad when someone cuts in front of them in traffic, or when the McDonald’s drive-thru forgets to put cheese on a cheeseburger again, or when they pay hundreds for medical insurance only to find out the insurance company refuses to help as promised.
Oh we might say we don’t believe in right or wrong, but no one lives it. We all want to be treated fairly, to have promises kept, and the judge to rule in our favor.
However, we want THE JUDGE, God to rule in our favor, too. And by the way, we would like to tell him what the rules are. Today God, our rule is: Homosexuality is not immoral. Got it?
I’d rather talk about how much God loves and God forgives, because surely we would at least agree that we aren’t perfect. The Bible says point blank that no one is perfect and everyone is a sinner. The whole point about Jesus dying on the cross was that he had to pay for your sins and mine, and everyone else who has ever lived. Everyone has sinned. We’ve disobeyed God. On the inside, we are a constant struggle to do the right thing, or do what suits us the best. The worst people in the world are those who conclude anything they want is the right thing. They are the dictators, the wife beaters, the murderers…. whatever suits them, whatever makes them happy or makes them feel good…. is right. No matter who it hurts.
On the other extreme are the people we consider the best the world has to offer. The Mother Teresa types who give up pleasure and comfort and sacrifice for the sake of others.
There are times when I do a great job of sacrificing for God and others, and times when I’m just thinking about me. Guess which one usually involves sin? Sin, is basically selfishness after all. It’s putting me and my needs ahead of others, and ahead of what God told me to do or not to do.
Is that what practicing homosexuality amounts too? Sin? Disobeying God? Selfish actions?
According to the Bible?
Sure.
In places like Romans 1, the Bible includes it with a general description of other forms of sexual immorality and to be sure, it’s no more or less of a sin than any others. God says it’s wrong in Levitcus 18:22 as well.
But let’s be real here. The Old Testament punished adultery by death. Jesus didn’t mention homosexuality but He did condemn adultery. He did condemn ignoring the poor and needy. Before we get to pointing out the sinfulness of others, let’s be mindful of our own shall we?
The New Testament makes it very clear that we ALL have an inward struggle to control ourselves and deny ourselves in order to obey God. I don’t know how much of a choice it is to be a homosexual or not. I do know that depending on you, and even depending on your brain, some of us have less of a choice than others regardless of what sin or behavior we are talking about. In short, we are all drawn toward certain behavioral patterns to one degree or another. And whether you struggle with this commandment from the Bible, or this other one, or that one over there… None of us have ever lived perfectly or can simply snap our fingers and be free of all carnal desires and temptations. Nobody.
And while we don’t have much choice in regards to living perfectly according to the Bible (at least not 100% time right?) we do have one choice; one big choice we can make no matter if we are homosexual, heterosexual, immoral, goofy, whatever… That choice is Jesus Christ who hung on that cross for all of us. Accept Him or not? Believe or not? Jesus. He paid for everything we’d ever do, everything that God considers or counts as wrong.
So is committing a homosexual act a sin? Yeah, it’s one of many sinful things people do. The real answer, however, is that Christ died for all my sins, and will change me from the inside out to be more and more what He wants me to be through the power of the Holy Spirit. I don’t need to be perfect to come to Him, I just need to recognize I’m a sinner.
The tough thing is allowing God to define what sin is and isn’t (instead of defining it ourselves) but the great thing is, He loves us and has provided a way of forgiveness and healing.
If we’re not too offended to accept it.
Wanna see a cannon ball baptism? Click this
All I can say to that is …. sweet.
But about baptism in general…
for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. – Galatians 3:27
Baptism started for the Jews after they returned from their captivity in Babylon. That was a long time ago, back when books like Nehemiah were written. They returned from captivity in Babylon, rebuilt Jerusalem, and about that time began to baptize the Gentiles who converted to Judaism. For them, it symbolized a person’s commitment to leave their former nation and their former way of life, and to be purified for service to God.
Years later, John the Baptist started using this Jewish tradition of baptizing Gentile converts, only He used it for everyone who made the commitment to renounce their sins and commit themselves to God. John also baptized with the idea that Messiah was coming so He was preparing them for the Messiah.
Jesus continued the same practice – even getting baptized himself, and had His disciples baptize people as well. Eventually, according to the book of John, more and more people started coming to Jesus to get baptized…
Although as John 4:2 says:
Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples,
Jesus didn’t baptize personally, just like the apostles including Paul didn’t like to baptize people themselves. I imagine if they had, people could claim their baptism meant more than someone else’s.
“You got baptized by Bill over there? Well, Bill might be a good guy, but I was baptized by Paul!”
“Paul? Paul ain’t nothin. He’s a dork.”
“I got baptized by Peter!”
“Oh yeah? Jesus over here baby.”
Even today, would you rather get baptized by some no name guy or get baptized by Rick Warren himself? Would you rather get baptized by a preacher or priest, or just some regular Christian?
In the Bible, the more famous you were, the less likely you would baptize anyone so it wouldn’t cause a problem.
Paul would even write in I Corinthians 1:13-15:
“Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name.”
In God’s family, any of you who are members can induct someone else. All of you who belong to Christ, all of you have clothed yourself with Christ, can take someone else to the changing room and show them the garments of repentance. Why not? You should know where they’re hanging.
It’s not titles that make the difference, it’s the fact that Jesus lives in you, Jesus works in you, Jesus sometimes speaks through you, and Jesus can baptize through you as well. You don’t need a seminary degree no matter what the guys with seminary degrees say.
Or do you think that only the 12 apostles baptized 3000 people on the day of Pentecost?
The Book of Acts records baptism after baptism, salvation after salvation. The Holy Spirit was poured out on group after group. There are always a few questions that come up, and hopefully, we can find a few answers.
Was it immersion or sprinkling? The word in the Greek means to wash, to make fully wet. In the Old Testament, the corresponding Hebrew word nearly always meant -to dip. The priest would dip his finger in the blood of a sacrifice (Lev. 4:6), a hyssop would be dipped in water (Num. 19:18), to dip bread into vinegar (Ruth 2:14) to dip the end of a staff in honey (I Samuel 14:27), and Naaman who dipped seven times in the Jordan River (II Kings 5) which also referred to this as “wash in the Jordan,”
To the Jew, the idea of dipping or washing was what baptism would be all about. It was more than sprinkling.
God told Naaman to go wash or dip seven times in the Jordan. I don’t know about you, but when I tell my kids to go wash and they come back merely sprinkled… they have to go back and do it again.
Nevertheless, there aren’t strict instructions in the Bible on how to baptize, but getting thoroughly wet, like we do here at our church when we immerse someone, fits the Bible’s examples and it represents the idea of washing away my sin. When someone comes out of the water it symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus and living a new life. Or… like Romans 6:4 says:
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
So that’s why we do what we do, but the real point isn’t the method of baptism, the point is what it represents.
I made a decision to belong to Jesus. Just like the Gentiles would be baptized when they converted to Judaism, just like the people who came to John the Baptist would make a commitment to leave their old life of sin behind, and just like the people on the day of Pentecost who heard the message of Jesus and became His followers… when you realize you’re a sinner, when you make the decision in your heart that Jesus will be your Lord and your Savior, when you decide that you are willing to leave everything in your old life, in your worldly life behind to follow Jesus, then you are ready for baptism. It’s a public display of your commitment.
As Albert Barnes (one of the great commentators on the Bible) wrote:
He who comes to be baptized, comes with a professed conviction that he is a sinner; that there is no other way of mercy but in the gospel, and with a professed willingness to comply with the terms of salvation, and to receive it as it is offered through Jesus Christ.
You see, I get baptized because I’ve decided in my heart that I’m going to follow Jesus. Baptism shows the world that I’ve joined God’s team.
It’s a humbling experience to go under the water, but that is indeed what we must do. Humble ourselves. Great and small, intelligent and less intelligent, popular and unpopular, all go under the waters of baptism, all have confessed the same Jesus as Lord and Savior and all have made the commitment in our hearts to turn from sin and belong to this family, this Church, this Savior who hung on a cross between two thieves and even at the darkest hour, gave one of them the promise that he would have eternal life… why just one? He was the only one who asked.
It’s that Jesus who we have clothed ourselves with…
Starts with one step? Yeah, and stays with the same routine for a long time. Same step after step after step after step… I get so wound up figuring out how to go a thousand miles, that I don’t enjoy the walk. And like it or not, you can’t get where you want to go without taking those measely little boring steps.
People come to our church and gawk at the tech stuff we have, and the building arrangements, and the set up for children’s church, the youth center etc… But we didn’t build Rome in a day. We bought this piece, and that one, and later we thought this other one would be a good idea, then we redecorated that thing over there, and then someone needed this video thingie so we bought that….
And now we have this big set up, but we just bought the thing one piece at a time. We started small like anyone else.
Now this actually goes with everything… this little bit of philosophy that God smacked me with today…
You’ve got to enjoy the walk.
I already knew this when it came to other things. Years ago I started playing keyboard and I wasn’t any good, but I didn’t care. I was having too much fun just playing. We got a band going about that time in the High School youth group and we were horrible! But… we didn’t care. It was too much fun. Every week we played, and every week we enjoyed ourselves.
Somewhere along the way, it’s hard to tell when, we actually got good. Very good.
So I’m going to start enjoying the walk. Start enjoying the preparations for THIS Sunday, and start enjoying the process of planning sermons, and start enjoying the weekly interaction with everyone that I’ve got to do. Truth is, I DO enjoy those things, but I worry about the stuff in the future. I don’t enjoy the journey enough. And you have to, or you’ll give up too soon. I sure will. But if you enjoy the walk, notice the scenary, take time to enjoy the experiences along the way, I think eventually you may turn around and find yourself at your destination.
Find the things that are fun to do.
Find the things you dream of doing.
Find the things that inspire your passion, and do those things. Work on those things. Don’t worry if you stink, just enjoy trying.
Why not? You only get one life. No sense trying to make it go by faster. Enjoy the journey!
How many church members does it take to change a light bulb?
Change a lightbulb? I have you know, my GRANDFATHER put that lightbulb there! What? Do you want to get some new CONTEMPORARY light bulb? Probably one of those twisty, flourescent things that costs twice as much and doesn’t come on immediately right? If those regular yellow bulbs were good enough for God, then they’re good enough for us. We’ve always used those regular bulbs and we’re not going to change with the culture. We’re gonna stand for the Word of God! Besides, you’d have to get a ladder to change that bulb, and we don’t have the funds to buy a ladder. And if we did have the funds, we certainly would have more important things to do than changing something that doesn’t need to be changed. No sense causing division and strife over something as small as changing a light bulb!!!!!!
You know, the older people in church get all the flak for being against change, but the truth is, we are ALL afraid and resistent to change.
And yet, nothing changes if nothing changes.
But if I told you that church could be a place where you’d find the best friends, where you could learn more than you ever have, where you’d find more support and love than ever before, and you would never get burned out, never be over-committed, never feel like you couldn’t ask a question or give an opinion… and THIS church would never hurt for volunteers, do every facet of ministry without over committing anyone, and grow like never before…
would you consider
just consider
changing?
If you did, you might end up being a little like this church.
I didn’t write this, but it makes a great point. With all of our prosperity in America, we’ve lost something. So has the church…
“While at home the Johnsons turn to television or newspaper for local news, and now “real time” global news as well. Samaritanship is seldom covered on the news (unless of course, a young man helps an elderly woman across the street and she falls in the process, then sues the man). Because sizzle is what sells, the newspeople tell Bob and Karen that the neighbors around them are predominantly crooks and murderers, even though only a relatively few Americans are actually severely immoral and devious. This serves only to intensify the Johnsons’ fear. They install alarm systems, keep their doors locked at all times, and require their children to play in the backyard, which is surrounded by a six-foot privacy fence.
When the Johnson go out for routine errands, they seldom encounter or relate to actual, real live people anymore. They get gas at a station where there is no attendant. Bob just sticks his credit card in the automated machine, fills his gas tank, and takes off, not speaking to single person in the process. Like most banking experiences these days, the Johnsons’ experience is an automated one. (In some banks in America, you’re now charged a $3 fee to talk to an actual person.) When the Johnsons venture out to the Large mall fifteen minutes away, they find themselves surrounded by a multitude of people, but they know no one. People seem to work hard at avoiding conversation.
Because their experience outside the walls of their home seldom involves meaningful human interaction anyway, the Johnsons are discovering that it’s more convenient to do their banking and shopping on the Internet. Yet, while it’s more convenient, the reality is, it’s not helping them with their boredom and loneliness.
Once a year the Johnsons venture out to the local amusement park. They even made the “great American Dream” journey out to Disneyland. At these places they are literally surrounded by thousands of people. The parks re-create little townlike structures that seek to give you the impression that everyone is kinfolk or a close family friend. Yet, there’s no denying the truth: The Johnsons know no one, and they spend much of the day standing in long lines, uncomfortably close to people they know nothing about. Happily, the theme parks have provided strategically located TV monitors to enhance the waiting experience, so that people can ignore each other more comfortably.
When the Johnsons go to work, they go in opposite directions. They had never given much thought to the location of their work in relationship to their home. With high-speed freeways, initiated by President Eisenhower in the 1950’s, and automobiles allowed to travel sixty-five or seventy miles per hour on these freeways, who really cares anyway? In the Johnson’s metropolitan area, the freeways have HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes for cars with more than one person in them. On those many evenings when Bob and Karen are both stuck in a freeway traffic jam on their way home, they often think just how nice it would be to hop over into an HOV lane -after all, no one else is using it.
On many evenings, the Johnsons overestimate how many errands they can run with their fast-moving metal homes on wheels, with the result that they find themselves eating fast food in the car. Bob has had so many dining experiences in the car that he has pondered buying a car equipped with a foldout dining table to go with the six cup holders already installed.
Everything and everyone in the Johnson’s life is disconnected. Their church experience is no different. The Johnsons enjoy the sermons, but they had really hoped for a deeper sense of community. They thought they might experience community through their small group, but now, after a year, they’ve begun to miss on averaged one of the two monthly meetings because they just can’t fit it into their schedule. Their hearts are in the right place, but their electronic palm-held calendars just can’t work it out. While the once a month gathering doesn’t add up to a meaningful experience for them, in reality the every-other-week thing didn’t do it either. What they hoped would be the answer to their search to belong has turned out to be yet another world to manage -one that feels contrived and forced.
The Johnsons are beginning to contemplate checking out another church. They are unable to pinpoint exactly what they think is wrong with the church they’re in, but in America, if you have any kind of inkling that your needs are not being met, you tend to move on. So in time the Johnsons will just slip out the door, never to return. Maybe someone will make a phone call, or they may have one encounter with a well-meaning church member about their whereabouts, but essentially their absence will go unnoticed. And their search for satisfaction continues.”
That was an excerpt From “The Connecting Church” by Randy Frazee….
Church has become part of the problem in making everyone too busy, AND Church has been too afraid to challenge people with real answers to a real need. We’ve jumped at the chance to meet all these other needs that people have, creating more and more ministries to take care of this person and that one…
But when are we going to take on society itself and challenge us to change our very culture so that people find meaning and purpose and COMMUNITY? When will the church quit pulling people 27 different directions in five days, and start meeting the need of our lack of family time, our lack of real deep friendships, and our lack of actually becoming like Jesus?
There’s too much accomodation, and not enough challenging. The unwillingness to do something different needs to be confronted with the reality of our ineffectiveness.
Having said that…
Maybe every church should start over from scratch from time to time. You know, like formatting a hard drive.
