Clay in the Hands

Yesterday, I briefly preached on the importance of doing more in your faith community than just sit for an hour on Sunday morning.

In most churches, the next step is becoming involved in a small group.  It is in this smaller group that you will really dig into Bible study and begin to understand what God has given us in the Word.  It is also here that you will become part of a real community – not a perfect community but a real community.  You will begin to build relationships with these people and learn what it means to do life together.  In a small group you will also have opportunity to minister to one another and hopefully, outside your group as well, meeting needs and impacting the world.

So it is probably not hard to see that I am a big proponent of the small group ministry in churches.

But today, I want you to think “next step.”  I want you to think, “today.”

I ended the sermon yesterday with a quote from Ed Stetzer:  “the biggest sin in the church today is that we have made it OK to come and sit for an hour on Sunday and call that Christianity.”  If this quote hits you like it does me, what are you going to do with it – today?

How will you live out your faith on Monday . . . Tuesday . . . Thursday?

Think about it today – I’d love to hear your ideas!

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I have had a little booklet sitting on my desk for a few months.  It is on a stack of books – my “To Read” stack.  I have had good intentions – it didn’t get chunked or shelved – its still in my stack of things I know I need to read.

This little booklet came in the mail and I thought, “Cool, a free book!”  But as I looked it over, I got the impression that it was just a teaser to get you to buy the real book.  So that turned me off and I put it on my stack.

Last weekend, I had a long conversation with a friend who is currently reading through the book and based on our discussion, I decided I needed to get the book and read it for myself.

Before I give you the title, let me warn you, it should be  rated MCA – Mature Christian Audience only.  Why you might ask?  Because it will mess you up if you are not willing to have the church you grew up with analyzed and dissected.

I believe that David Platt, in his book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream, is on the right track.  I have not finished the book (just picked it up yesterday afternoon), but it doesn’t take long to figure out what David is trying to say.  He says that we have taken the American Dream and approach to life and applied it to the church.  Here is what he says in one section of the book,

We Christians are living out the American dream in the context of our communities of faith.  We have convinced ourselves that if we can position our resources and organize our strategies, then in church as in every other sphere of life, we can accomplish anything we set our minds to.

But what is strangely lacking in the picture of performances, personalities, programs, and professionals is desperation for the power of God.

When is the last time you saw the power of God evidenced in your church?  My fear is that, as ministers and leaders in our churches, we have done just as David describes here – we have bought into the idea that God has gifted us with the ability to “grow” the church and by building structures and strategies and programs, we are serving God.  While, there is truth to that idea, what we have so often left out is any room for God to show up.  It is the attitude that we can do it.

David also says that along the way we have “missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable.”   He goes on to say that we are “settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.”

How radical is your faith?  Are you completely dependent on God – or is your faith more safe, more sterile?

Jesus said “if you will follow me, you must deny yourself and take up your cross daily.”  Is that your faith?

I’m not convinced it describes mine – but I want it to.

Think about it today!

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Last night, my youngest son was doing homework and he asked me for a little help.  I have to be honest, there is very little homework these days with which I can actually help.  He asked me to define a deferent society.  I had to admit to him that I had heard the word but could not recall what it means.  So we looked it up together and I learned that it means mutually respectful – a tendency to yield to the will of another.  So a deferent society would be one in which everyone gets along because each person would be equally concerned about others’ feelings and desires.  Sounds good to me.  Unfortunately, sin has thrown a kink in that plan.

But it got me to thinking about the family of Christ followers – the church.  Surely, as believers, we could realize such a community.  Unfortunately, as followers of the Way, we are not immune to sin and selfishness.  We allow our own desires of getting ahead and getting the things we want to supersede our relationships.

Possibly even worse is when we allow our beliefs to drive wedges in our relationships within the family.  This morning I was reading in Romans 14 (yep, I’m still in Romans) about a different kind of problem we face in the church.  The problem of being judgmental – of drawing our circles of what is acceptable smaller and smaller – until we are the only ones left inside.

Paul says this in Romans 14:1-4

¹ Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. ² One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³ The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Accept him whose faith is weak and don’t pass judgment when it comes to issues that are matters of opinion.

Now I realize that the issues I deem as disputable may not be issues someone else sees as disputable.  But what I understand Paul to be saying is that we should have respect for others and their opinions.  Ultimately, it is God that we will all answer to anyway.

If the church could truly grasp this concept and begin to live it, I believe we would see a community of mutual respect and love, just as Jesus intended.  That would be a deferent community – one the world needs – one for which people are longing.

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One of the best movies I have seen in recent years (yes, years) is To Save a Life (for more info on the movie click here).  It is a story of a high school senior who comes to realize that there is more to life than being popular and having fun.  He and a childhood friend had become estranged.  He had gone the popularity route and his friend had been left behind and shunned.  After years of being alone, the friend took his own life.  At that point, the main character realizes that there has to be more to life than what he is experiencing.

He begins to give God a try – trying out a youth group in a local church.  But there he finds a bunch of kids who are just playing at being Christ followers.  In one scene, out of frustration he asks the youth pastor why the church is full of of fakers.

That scene still haunts my thoughts and burdens my heart.  Why?  Because it is true.  People are hurting and even dying all around our manicured lawns and pristine buildings while we sit inside and play Christian so that we can feel better about ourselves for another week.

Wow, that was harsh!  But please understand my heart in saying it.  God has no plan B.  God’s one and only plan is for Jesus followers to be salt and light in a world that is tasteless and dark.  If people are going to be drawn to God then Jesus must be lifted up and if Jesus is to be lifted up, that must happen through us – the way we live, the way we love, the way relate to others.

I realize, if you have even made it to this point in this post, that I may have offended you to the point that you never visit this blog again.  I certainly pray that is not the case.  Rather, my prayer is that every person who reads my ramblings here would take this as a challenge to be real.  Jesus would rather have followers who are passionate – the lukewarm are of no use to him (Take a look at Revelation 3:15-17).

God has created the church of this generation for this particular time and place.  Are we as a church doing what God expects?  Are you as a Jesus follower doing what God expects.  It’s time to be real.  Don’t be a faker.

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The other day I was looking through the upcoming concert dates for one of the bands I heard at Rock the Desert two weeks ago.  As I was scrolling through the venues, the name of one of the churches caught my eye – The Third Reformed Church.

Now, many of you know me personally and thus probably know that I have somewhat “unique” sense of humor.  As I read the name of the church, my first thought was, “Third time’s the charm – maybe they got it right this time.”  I mean, how many times does a church need to reform before it gets it right?

After repenting . . .  I began to reflect on the idea of a church needing reform.  Honestly, I think if a church ever thinks it has “arrived,” then the folks probably ought to shut the doors and find a new place to socialize.

The New Testament refers to the church as a body.  I am no anatomy expert but I am pretty sure that when a body stops growing and changing, it needs to be buried because it is dead.

The church should be seen from the same perspective.  The church should never stop growing and changing – adapting to the environment in order to minister in a relevant way.  (Now don’t hear me say that the message should be changed – just the way we minister)  Just as individual followers of Jesus are in a constant state of being formed to be more like him, the church should also understand that she is being formed and reformed as well.

Maybe every church should consider putting “reforming” in its title.

Something to think about.

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