The fate of modern churches
is saddening. Listening to those around me, I hear things that shake my
trust in church. 'You can't get stuff from them,' 'Ministry takes all
you can give and then casts you away when it has taken all it can and
moves to the next person,' are but two of the comments that make me
say, 'hey wait! This is church?' Church is love. Love
is waking up at six in the morning to get dressed and drive to the
building to set up the sound system and rig up the lights so the mood
is set. Love is
standing before others with sweaty palms and teary eyes to tell what
Jesus has done. Love
is singing yourself hoarse to the glorification of the Lord... when
no-one else will. Love
is giving up a chance to hear what the preacher has to say to look
after loud, rowdy children. Love
is staying up all night to write your sermon and then chucking it out
the window to make way for an all day worship session. Love
is walking out into the savanna to tell natives the grace of God.
Love is God, God is
love, church... is
God's love made human. If the church
is God's love made human, why does the church take all its members
have to give and never gives anything back? Love is giving, so why
doesn't the church give to its members as much as its members give to
it? If love is grace, why is church so high maintenance?
Look at the early church, back in the time of the Roman Empire. That was church, not the pretty thing we've made it. They helped each other, they shared their home and food with each other. Even in prison, they danced and they sang and they spat in the devil's face saying, 'God is with us, what in heaven, hell, and all that is in-between can you do to me?' Us? we meet once or twice a week and we pour all we have into a never ending well that never does run wet. Oh, no, you heard me right. Our well that 'never will run dry' is what we pour ourselves into and it never yields anything but exhaustion. We pour our fire into others who soak it up but do not pour into us. Back in the early church, if you needed something, you got it. The thing is, we try to do that now, and the road only goes one way. That's not how it works. I give you something, you give me something, and we cycle through life. You want me to make you a video, you give me the time to make it without heckling. You want something on a disk, you give me the money to buy more and the time to make it. The early church would meet in wine cellars under cover of darkness because despite the soldiers walking about waiting to catch a believer on his way to church, they wanted to come together and learn more about the one who loves no matter what and grants forgiveness and a chance to change. We have the freedom to meet in broad daylight! We put up signs showing where we meet and we dress up an earthly building trying to pull others into the heavenly embrace of the Creator God and we fuss with the lights and the sound and the picture when really all we need is God and faith that He will show up and inhabit the praises of His people. If you speak of Him, He will come. You know the saying, 'speak of the devil and the devil will appear'? Let us change it around and say, 'speak of the Lord God and He shall come.' Ask His anointing, as His guidance and what you preach will fill a need. Tell what He has done and He shall come nearer to hear and touch your lips to speak it clear.
What is 'church'? Look at the church in the time of Rome and you shall see. What does it mean to be saved? Look to the apostles, and you will see what it is to be an evangelist Look to Easter, Ruth, Naiome, Rahab, David, Daniel, and so many others and you shall see what it means to be a man or woman of God. Read the story the bible tells and you will see the family of the Lord.
Now, the people I hear may just be grumpy, but you don't have to take my word for it. Go and examine what you call 'church' and then look at what the BIBLE says is 'church' and see how the modern world stacks up. I remember that some time ago, I said we were approaching a wake up call, that I felt, for lack of a better or less cliche term, a quickening in my spirit that my youth group was about to get a wake up call. It is not just my youth ministry that needs a spiritual wake up call, it is the Church. All 'believers' need a wake up call this age. How humbling, yet effective would it be if the call came from the children of the nation?
Well, Dad's tying my shoes together. Time to punch that trickster. Later!
Lil Bit.
I've heard people say things like that, too, about how church drains everyone and gives nothing back. But only from atheists or non-Christians. Never have I heard a Christian say things like that! My goodness! :O I really like how you described church as a whole, though: God's love made human. I've never thought of it like that but it's so true! Church is supposed to embody God's love for us, and we in turn are supposed to share that love with eachother in fellowship. I've noticed that church has always had its problems, though, way before the 21st century. Even in Jesus's time people were made fun of and persecuted for believing in the Messiah. Did you know that every single one of the disciples was a martyr? They were all killed by some persecution method (Peter, being hung upside down on the cross, Bartholomew, being skinned alive, Paul, being beheaded, etc.) Then as time went on, there were the days of Bloody Mary, as well as many other rulers (Nero, Herod, Trajan, etc.) where Christians were constantly persecuted for attending any sort of church. Church has never been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, haha. It seems that in this day and age we Americans are spoiled. Church has become a 'motions' thing where we complain about 'having' to go or become complacent to it. Why? Because there's no one stopping us! We can do whatever we want, whether go or stay home. We can say what we want, be the religion we want, and think what we want and no one will stop us. I think part of what made the early church leaders so passionate about church was that they knew they were the only means of preserving it. Everyone else had been martyred or was trying to kill them. Let's not forget the drama between the Protestant and Catholic churches for much of the middle ages. Although church has always been far from perfect, I am still shocked that you heard those people say that stuff about it! :O Oh btw, I don't think there's a Biblical character named "Easter" in the Bible, but correct me if I'm wrong. I'm going to guess you meant Esther, haha :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's a bit disheartening hearing those things. Pastor was just talking about being complacent in church this morning. And yeah, I meant Eshter, my speeling just suckz.(that was on purpose)
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