I know that’s only twenty-four years but that means for twenty-four years when I’ve grown, matured, learned, and changed so much we’ve stayed the same and constant for the most part. Where is our growth, our maturity, our education, and our change? Nowhere. It is non-existent. The world around us is changing vastly each and everyday inexorably. In 1986 when I was born nobody had computers yet twenty years later I, a poor college student, am writing this on a portable notebook computer while laying down in my bed. Huge difference. I can go online without having to plug anything in when twenty-four years ago nobody had internet. The church of America however is still unswerving. It’s ridiculous to even think that we as a church are still the same.
It’s said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If this is true, all of us in the church today are insane. We continue to do the same thing over and over again yet we expect a different result than the time before. Yeah we may changed things here and there to try to become “relevant” to the society around us but we never truly change the way we do worship, preach, prayer, counseling, or even just fellowship. We’ve been doing it the same way since I’ve been alive.
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”
C.S. Lewis
Where is the thought for the next generation. The next generation is not the same as before and we need to understand that. We keep putting all this emphasis on publications and multimedia but the generation of tomorrow, more than anything, wants community and friendship. This generation listens to their friends much more than they do their families. They have a seeking and yearning for genuine friendship and relationship.
We must put our focus on what the next generation really needs. It’s not the mega churches of yesterday that will reach the youth and young adults of today. We are not impressed with big buildings and large gatherings. We want reality, we want genuineness in our world. We’re tired of the politics behind everything. We’re tired of the lack of community in out communities. There has to be so much more.
What I believe the problem to be is we get so focused on ourselves and us getting fed that we forget about those coming up behind us. The church is not a feeding grown for those in it. It’s a feeding grown for those outside of it. Yes we get fed but we need to give our food to the hungry, to the thirsty of the world. We don’t need a message every single day or week of our lives. We at some point need to take responsibility for our own faith and seek God for ourselves, not through a pastor or priest. We need to seek God on our own behalf and hear the word of God from him, not from another man. If God can speak to a “pastor” then he can speak to me. We need to get this selfish mindset out of the church and take the focus off ourselves and put it on the lost and those that will come after us. If we were doing our job the world would not be at the worst place it has ever been.
I’m not saying having state of the art stuff is bad or that trying to attract people is wrong, but when do we stop that from being our focus to just focusing on getting in to the inimitable presence of God? I believe relevancy to be of a dire need within the church. I believe often times though that churches become so focused on relevancy that they forget to focus on the true presence of God. I’m sure all of you have been to the seeker friendly church where as soon as you walk through the door people all over you with this almost sickening over excitement to see you, and when the service starts it’s not about truly stepping into the presence of God but instead trying to create pleasurable atmosphere filled with stimulation of emotions rather than conviction of the Spirit.
We need to make sure our priorities are in order within the service. Yes, we do need to be seeker sensitive and we do need to be relevant to the culture around us. However, we must not compromise our beliefs and our God for this sensitivity and relevancy. When it all comes down, God, his presence, and his conviction are much more important that making sure we’re germane.
We have this idea that comes from 1 Peter chapter 2 of the Priesthood of all believers. How does that play out in the Church today? It doesn’t. We have this idea that the Pastor is supposed to be the one shepherd over the flock of congregants in his church. First off when did the Church come to belong to a man? Second if there is a priesthood of all believers doesn’t that mean that you and I have just as much right to preach, baptize, and offer up communion amongst the body? The idea of the Pastor in the NT was not a man who would lord over us but a variety of people who took on the role of shepherding. There is supposed to be a multitude of shepherds amongst the Church not just one over each part of the body. Also the job of the Pastor was never to be a office but a job shared by many. In fact it wasn’t until the second century that the idea of one bishop rule came to pass. There were elders who played the roles of overseers and shepherds but these men stood on equal ground. There was no (and never was supposed to be) a hierarchy amongst the Church. When did the idea of the clergy/laity stray from relationship? From Ignatius in 107 A.D. Ignatius said this “All of you follow the bishop as Jesus Christ follows the Father… No one is to do any church business without the bishop… Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be… You yourselves must never act independently of your bishop and clergy. You should look on your bishop as a type of Father… Whatever he approves, that is pleasing to God…” Does this sound like a kingdom of a Priesthood of all believers? Does this sound like what was trying to get across in 1 Peter chapter 2? NO! Yet this is what we follow today! We may not want to look at it that way. We may want to try to read into scripture and get what we want to hear but in the end this was never the intention Christ had for his Bride.
In the OT we get the story of Israel being a theocracy and they said to God we want a king here on earth like all the other nations. God says you have me what more do you need? They say, “listen we want a king.” So God gives them Saul and we all know the story after that. Haven’t we done the same thing with the Church? God made us the Church and put each man directly under Christ and a Priest with Christ having all lordship. What have we done? We said Christ isn’t good enough we need men to step in and be a mediator between us and God. We gave these men the title Pastor and in that lost the idea of us being living stones but dead ones who no longer function as the priesthood of all believers but as the priesthood of some who our a lords over us. We created a hierarchy in clergy/laity relations and lost what it means to be the true Bride of Christ.
When was the last time you heard the message of the cross preached? Easter? Maybe one other time this year you heard your pastor touch base on it? Yet this is the whole foundation of our faith. We should remember it everyday but not just the cross the resurrection as well. That’s why were free. That why we can walk in the presence of God. That why we do have faith. that’s why we do have hope. That’s why we can have an intimate relationship with our heavenly father.
Going to Isaiah 53 “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, by his wounds we are healed.” Jesus went to the cross to take up our infirmities. On that cross he took upon himself our cancer, or gonorrhea, our hepatitis, our malaria, our HIV or aids, our allergies, our any ailment you may face or see he took those.
On that cross he took our sorrows, our hurts, and broken hearts. On that cross he took up our sin. He became a murderer, a prostitute, a child molester, a rapist, a liar, a thief, a crack addict, a drug dealer, a gang-banger, etc… He did that for you. He went to the cross and Bled the blood of all of us. He was beaten to the point his own mother couldn’t recognize him. Shards of glass, bone, and rock ripped his skin clear off his bone. He didn’t even look like he was in human form.
He was than placed on a wooden cross with a crown of thorns that dug so deeply into his skin blood poured from his brow down covering his face. When laid on that cross a nail was driven into either hand going through the tendons and bone. Another nail was taken and put through his feet. The cross was than hoisted up so that he would breath in the thin air until the point where the oxygen would not come into his body and he suffocated. While hanging on that cross he was stripped naked and spat on. He was mocked and laughed at the whole time.
He did that for you. So that you may spend eternity with him in paradise. So that you would have freedom from the bondages of this world. Why don’t you dwell on that daily? As disgusting and as vile as it seem it is so sweet, so beautiful. That is what our focus should be on but in shouldn’t stop there. Because come three days later the tomb they placed him in was empty. He was revived, he was resurrected. He was our savior. He had saved us once and for all time. Cogitate on the salvation message daily. Don’t ever let it leave the fore front of your mind.
Another problem I see is denominations in 2 Timothy 3 it says “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what they are itching to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” Doesn’t that sound a lot like denominations. Instead of going after truth we go after what we want to hear we chase myths. I know your thinking “I do go after truth not myths.” Maybe YOU do.
The average Christian goes where they hear what they want to hear. Plus doesn’t each denomination have there own myth about the Holy Spirit, about eschatology, about once saved always saved, about baptism, about baptism of the Holy Spirit. Each denomination, fellowship, or church as there own belief and or myth about these things. Pastors preach on these things not knowing the truth because the word of God is unclear on the issues.
We have fallen into what Paul warned Timothy about we have substituted the truth and sound doctrine for what we wanted to hear. We would rather suit our own desires so we build denominations and fellowships each having a great number of teachers to tell us what we are itching to hear. We have fallen into the trap.
Lets put our differences aside and just love God and love people. That is the whole message of Christ. We can do just that due to what Christ did for us on the cross and completed through his resurrection. The church today hurts so many people as well. How many people have you heard say that they were hurt, burned, scared, or bruised by the church? I know countless people like this. We are so judgmental and self-righteous as a body that we hurt people time after time. I’ve been hurt by the church.
When we do these things we turn people away from Christ. I’ve been told that because I like to smoke a cigar or drink a cold beer from time to time that I can not become a credentialed minister. It destroys my witness so I’m told. Not to brag but me and a great friend of mine named Colby witness more and see more people saved than most of my other friends. Even though both of us like to drink here and there and smoke an occasional cigar. That’s not good enough for “ministry” though so I‘m told.
It hasn’t destroyed my witness if anything it empowers it. People in the world feel accepted by Colby and I. They feel loved appreciated and not condemned. So many of these people have told us they felt condemned and judged when they walked through the walls of the church. They feel comfortable around us though.
I’ve been rebuked probably a million times for my language. I cuss every once in awhile. Why continue to rebuke me for such a small thing? Is it not the Spirits job to convict not mans? All man does is bring upon condemnation only the Spirit can bring true conviction. It’s not the condemnation or judging that brings people to a place of repentance anyway it’s the loving kindness of Christ that does so.
That same loving kindness that drove him to the cross. The cross that took away my condemnation, shame, and guilt. The cross that brought upon my freedom, grace, and mercy. It’s crazy to me also that the church looks so much at smoking, drinking, homosexuality, and what we call big sins yet we ignore Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours our lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”
So more than God hates drinking (Which isn‘t a sin in itself only when you get drunk), smoking (which isn’t even mentioned in the bible), or homosexuality he hates haughty eyes (pride), lying (don’t we all do that one), devising of wicked schemes, false witnesses, and what I believe is the biggest in the church today a man that brings disunity to the body.
Why do I think the biggest one we deal with is disunity amongst the body? Anytime you gossip, rumor, lie, or argue with somebody you have then sent the whole body into disunity. Your talking about people, lying about them, arguing with them. All those things bring upon disunity. Plus remember how I was talking about denominations earlier. Well when we put differences in the way and break off into our own little sect in brings a huge amount of disunity.
I heard it said that Sunday morning is the most racially segregated time of the week. That’s disunity. We aren’t even unified amongst the races like every other part of our society today. There are churches out there that are racially mixed, but they are few and far between. It’s sad. You say me drinking and smoking destroys my witness. What about the fact we have learned to integrate our churches. That should be the most racially integrated place you could be. Sunday morning should be the most integrated time of the week not the least.
Outside of that though we haven’t been able to create unity inside our local church. How many times do church splits happen over something small and insignificant? How many times does a local church lose members because of gossip or rumors about them are running ramped? It’s terrible that the church is not a safe haven but another place to be ridiculed, talked about, laughed at and lied to or about. Everyone in the church, I believe, is guilty of causing some sort of dissension which is detestable to God. Yet we don’t fix it instead we look at the “big” sins such as smoking, drinking, cussing, homosexuality, lust, abortion, scandalous décor, or even just listening to secular music.
Now I’m not trying to bring condemnation to anyone. That’s not my focus or job I’m just trying to put things in perspective. God is a God of grace. Grace is given freely walk in it. Don’t abuse it but accept it. Allow it to transform your life. God’s grace is so powerful it takes away our sin. God because of grace takes our sin and throws it in the sea of forgetfulness.
Another problem I see today amongst Christians is that we expect the world to come to us instead of us going to them. If I were to walk into a club tonight I would be judged, condemned, and probably end up having a meeting with a pastor, but isn’t that where Jesus would be?
In the book of Matthew Jesus just called Matthew to follow him. Matthew did and they ended up going to Matthews house for dinner. While there many tax collectors and sinners came and joined them because Matthew himself was one of them. When the religious leaders (pastors) saw this they asked Jesus disciples “Why does your master eat with people such as these, these sinners and tax collectors?” Hearing what they had said Jesus replies “It is not the healthy people that need doctors sick people do. Go and learn what this means for I require mercy not sacrifice.
Jesus went to the world he didn’t wait for the world to come to him. Where is the world? At the club, at the bars, at the beach, at your work, at your school, at porn conventions, at the grocery store. GO TO THEM! Talk to people. Go to the bar and talk with the people there. Go to the club and witness to the people there. Talk to the person in front or behind you at the grocery store. Go out to lunch with co-workers or classmates. Help out ministries such as XXX-Church.Com who goes to porn conventions and witnesses to the porn stars and buyers there.
Go to the world. They won’t come to you. Yeah same people come hear and there, but to reach a city you have to go to them. Twelve men two thousand years ago turned the world upside down by going out to it. How many members are in you church? 50? 100? 1,000? Turn the world upside down and flip it back again a few times. Just go do it. Don’t wait for it to happen. It’s your job it’s your commission. Do it.
