Complicating Christianity to Death

There has been a run lately on simplification. Companies are simplifying their business and streamlining their organizations to get a grip on costs. People are simplifying their time and finances to get a handle on the pace of their lives. Even churches are simplifying. One of the recent popular books in the Christian world is called Simple Church by Thom Rainer. A good friend has recently published a book called Simple Discipleship (a recommended read).

There is good reason for this…our world has gotten more complicated. Even while our world has desperately tried to make our lives more comfortable, more appealing, more satisfying, it has made it harder to live a happier life. The world has afforded us many more choices, in everything, to supposedly be able to get what we want, yet we seem to be more unhappy.

We have cell phones with gobs of minutes, yet who of us is happy with having to listen to voice mail six times a day and then get buzzed in the middle of a movie because someone is texting us about the latest video they posted. Not to mention the stress that occurs if we lose our phone or if the phone doesn’t work.  That does not make my life simpler, easier or more enjoyable.

We have cable with hundreds of channels, many of which are targeted for all our tastes.  We have movie channels, food channels, home channels, game channels, sports channels, sci-fi channels, fashion channels, even Christian channels… Yet it seems two things inevitably happen- either there in nothing on to watch between the 259 channels we have or all of the shows we want to watch are scheduled for the same time.  That does not make my life simpler, easier or more enjoyable.

Think of your local grocery store. At our house, we buy food to feed 6 people for two weeks. We cannot just walk into the grocery store and buy food. We need a battle plan. We have to plan meals, search out coupons, look at sales, as well as read labels and compare prices. Have you ever looked at how many different cereals there are?  You could spend a day just shopping for cereal. While I don’t mind saving the money, this does not make my life simpler, easier or more enjoyable.

Unfortunately, this same idea has crept over into our Christianity.  Our Christian walk has become very complicated and cumbersome.

But listen to what Jesus said…

Mark 12 (NKJV)
28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” 29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Now, don’t over think this. Jesus said there are two commandments which are the greatest of all. So yes there are commandments that are more important than others. The two greatest things that we are to do are:

1) Love God with everything that is within us

2) Love people

If you have been around church much you would believe that the greatest commandments might be….

* Attend church

* Help in the nursery

* Participate in church activities

* Give to the offering

* Don’t drink, dance, chew, smoke, listen to certain music, watch certain movies, or associate with those who do

* Dress right for church

* Don’t run in church

* Be dignified

* Don’t change anything

You can mix and match these to fit your situation. Maybe in your church the greatest commandments are: Thou shalt know how to act in church and the second is like it, don’t change anything. (you can even make up your own if you like!)

It is interesting to hear what the scribe says in verse 33, that these two commandments are more than the sum of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices, all the ceremony and stuff that at that time comprised worship. The same is true today, love for God is more than the sum of all the do’s and don’t of a Christian lifestyle.  Yet you would not think so in today’s churches.

Now some of this may sound a little harsh, particularly for those who grew up in church, having heard these things from the time you could hear. I want you to think of those who have no relationship with Christ. Do they see a Christian faith alive with love and joy and power? When they come into the church, what do they see or hear are the most important things. Now hold on tight… is the greatest commandment to read our Bibles?  Is it to have a quiet time?  Is it to go to church? Is it to pray? Is it to evangelize? For those just coming into the church, these are the things we are told to do repeatedly- have a quiet time, pray, don’t miss church, participate, give….but you know, I believe we have missed a level, and in doing so have drained the life out of modern Christianity.

We have complicated our Christian walk with too many do’s and don’ts and have left out why we are to do them. Why do we spend time reading the Bible?  For information about God? No. So we can, as we read about God, fall deeper in love with Him.  The way we often present it, we are to read the Bible as a command, for the sake of reading the Bible and gaining Bible knowledge. I have met plenty of people who know the Bible, but have no real deep love of God. In fact there are a lot of lost people who can quote the Scriptures, but they have no relationship with God at all. So they have done something Christian, but have they obeyed the very first thing that Christ told us?

What I am getting at is that in our modern version of Christianity, we have said that loving God is doing and not doing a bunch of things, and all of these things make our Christian life complicated… but love is not things. Love is a choice I make to give myself to another for their greater good.  I love God, therefore I want to read the Bible, so that I know God better and serve Him better and can better share Him with the world around me. I love God, so I pray, to talk with Him and hear from Him and to lay myself out before Him so He can mold and shape me. I love God, so I worship, to express to Him how great, awesome and wonderful I know He is.

This is what Jesus said, “if you love me, you will obey my commands” (John 14:15). Love first, obey second. We have gotten it mixed up. In many cases our whole focus is on obedience. The greatest command is not to obey, but to love. Loving God will lead to obedience. Yet we have made obeying commands, whether they are God’s commands or our own man made commands, the first order of business in Christianity. And that is complicated and puts burdens upon us.

Listen to it this way. I love my wife. Because I love my wife I have no problem doing things for her. If she needs help getting something out of her car, or needing me to run an errand for her, or after a long day rubbing her shoulders- no problem. Why? Because I love her. Now if I did not have love for her, yet I did those things, it would be work, it would be a burden, chores to do for her. I may complete them, but I would not draw much joy or happiness from them. But because I love her, I derive joy out of making her happy. Listen to the words from I John 5:3…

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Our love for God is never meant to be a burden, but a joy. Ask yourself this, “Is my Christian walk feeling more like a joy or a burden?”

When we get it backwards we create a walk with God that is full of the burden of guilt and stress. We focus so much on the activity of Christianity that we leave out why we do these things. The do’s and don’t become the goal of being a Christian, which heaps burdens on us that we cannot carry. When carry out this train of thought so far, you get… “If you don’t read the Bible, I don’t know how you can love God”, I heard a pastor on the radio say.  It made me want to, well, let’s just say disagree. Could you say that to a group of persecuted believers in China? No. Many of them have no access to Bibles, so would we say that they can’t love God?  They love God, Bible or no Bible. Many of them have refused to recant their faith in Jesus Christ and have been sent to prison or killed. Why? Because they loved Jesus Christ even unto their death.

What we have done is taken our local expression of Christianity and made universal truth out of it.   It is no wonder then that many people walk through their entire Christian walk and feel nothing. We agree with the Christian lifestyle, we do the Christian things, but we don’t feel any love for God. We sense no passion for God, just duty, just chores we do so we can feel better about being a Christian. We may have obeyed the letter, but we have killed the spirit. We have complicated the uncomplicated message of Christ- greatest commandment= Love God with all you got.

Imagine for a moment a group of people that were simply in love with God– not their church, not their denomination, not their version of what people should or should not do, just deeply in love with the Lord. Wipe away all the church stuff you have experienced, and let your mind wonder about that group of people, purely in love with God and who He is and what He has done for us….

Now think about that group of people…

How would they worship?   If you began your answer with a type of music… you have missed the point. They would love God, sing aloud and give God glory. Worship would be about God, because we love God.

How would they pray? If you thought of words, especially praying in a way that you do not normally speak, then you have missed the point. They would pray as if they were talking to a God they loved. They would tell God they loved Him, they would say they were sorry for their sin, just like you would with someone you love.

How would they minister? If you started with certain programs, then you missed the point. They would minister, whether to one another or to the community, with deep love for the people that they are around. It is easy to hate people, dismiss people, talk trash about people, but the greater walk with God would love people. Why? Because we would see people through our love for God, and love them as well.

I long for this. With this new perspective God has given me over these months, certain things about the church these days just does not make sense. We are so tied up in stuff, things, attitudes, preferences, wants, power… trying to do  things “right”…that we have missed the very first thing Jesus Christ said we should do- love God with all your heart… and I see a church that is not alive with love for God, but dying because of a lack of passion.

Strip away all the stuff and challenge yourself with this question- Am I loving God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength?….

If I am not obeying the first and greatest of all the commandments, is all the stuff  I am doing really pleasing to God?

Is God famous?

Celebrity fills our American culture. We love our movie stars, singers, American Idols and others. Each industry has its’ celebrities. Business has its’ entrepreneurs, CEO’s and super investors. Sports has quarterbacks, home run hitters and slam dunk champions. Politics has its’ president, chairmen of committees and the up and comers. These are people that are known not only in their field, but known by the general pubic as well.

Famous people are looked up to, loved, hated and detested. Being a celebrity does not equal well liked. In fact the worst thing that can happen to a celebrity is that no one cares about them not that people hate them. In Brad Paisley’s hit song Celebrity the lyrics ring true…

“I’ll make the supermarket tabloids,

They’ll write some awful stuff,

But the more they run my name down,

the more my price goes up”

For a celebrity, almost any publicity is good. It is an indication that people are still paying attention to you. People are interested by the things that you do, enough to read them in a magazine or search you on the internet.

What is fame though?  It is simply being generally known by people. In our culture fame is not an indication that you are good or talented or funny or smart. It simply means that you are known. The Rolling Stones are famous for their music. Marilyn Manson is famous for being theatrical and causing a stir. Mother Teresa was famous for being compassionate. Billy Graham is famous for preaching the Bible. Jeffrey Dahmer was famous for murder.  All famous, without regards to morality or talent, just famous, well known people in our culture.

But how does one become famous?  You do something notable that  people talk about.

The Beatles sang a song that people liked. They told other people, called the radio stations to play the music, bought the (in those days) records… and before you know it, everyone knows the Beatles.

Tom Cruise got a role in a movie, people liked him, they liked the movie, he makes another movie, people go see it… and before you know it, he is a famous movie actor and lots of people know Tom Cruise.

There is a difference however in what you are known for. Julia Roberts is famous for making movies, for acting.  Her fame is tied to portraying someone she is not. Nothing wrong with that, it is her talent. She is not famous for being a great person.  I don’t know, maybe she is a great person, but it is not what she is known for.  Kenny Chesney is famous for singing songs, great songs. I like his music. But he is not famous for being a great person. That is not what gets his music played on the radio and sells out concerts everywhere, it is his talent for making music. Now he may be a great person, I don’t know, but it is not the reason he is known.

We love celebrity. Look at how many TV shows, and networks for that matter, that are dedicated to celebrity. Celebrities make the news– for having babies, for getting divorced, for saying strange things, for… well for stuff that if you and I did it, no one would really notice, except maybe your mom. We think we know celebrities. From the tabloids, books, TV interviews, articles or gossip columns, characters they play or the public persona they have,  we have put together a mental picture of who these people are, and we love or hate them for it.  But how well do we really know them?  Hardly at all.

Think of the people that really know you. Who are they? The people that live with you, share in your life, support you through the tough times, listen to your hurts, celebrate your joys, know both the mundane and the dramatic in your life… people that share the everyday of who your are. Very few people know celebrities that way. And frankly, if we did know them that way, we might feel a lot different about them.

Now let’s ask a question… is God famous?

I mean is he a well known throughout the world. And not just known in name, but known, famous, for being full of love, grace, help, hope and mercy.

Now don’t get all turned around and theological, I know that God has made Himself known to all the earth and that the whole earth is full of His glory… but is He famous with the people we encounter every day?  I am not trying to be irreverent, well maybe just a little, but I want us to think about the culture that we live in and the God who is great enough to be known for who He is.

Listen to the prayer of the prophet Habakkuk, and think about the world we live in today….

Habakkuk 3
¹ This prayer was sung by the prophet Habakkuk: ² I have heard all about you, Lord, and I am filled with awe by the amazing things you have done. In this time of our deep need, begin again to help us, as you did in years gone by. Show us your power to save us. And in your anger, remember your mercy. (NLT)

Habakkuk, in essence, says that “God you are famous for your awesome miracles that you have done in the past..”.  If you were to ask the average person on the street, “what has God done lately that has caught your attention?”  What do you think the answer would be?

I would imagine most of you are thinking the same thing I am– the man would shrug his shoulders and say, “I don’t know” or “nothing” or “I am not sure”.  So why, to this man, would God not be famous?

Because we, His people, have not made Him famous….

Habakkuk says that He stood in awe of God’s works, of His awesome deeds. How did He know them?  Someone, a “fan” of God, told Him, in such a way that caught Habakkuk’s attention. Let’s pause for a second and ask a question, “when was the last time that you were awed by God, that you were amazed at His power or love or forgiveness or patience…?”  Just like all the people that are famous, they had fans who talked about them to others, encouraged others to listen or watch, defended them when someone didn’t like them, they were more than casual onlookers… those fans became “evangelists” for their favorite movies stars or singing groups. Don’t believe me?  Try going onto www.wordpress.com and type in the name of a celebrity- see if there is not at least one blog that is dedicated to showering praise upon them.

The church is on earth to, in a sense, make God famous. To share His great love, power, and mercy with the rest of the world. If we don’t talk of His great works, who will make His power famous?  TV?  Radio?  If we don’t speak of Him in a positive way, talking about His sacrificial love, who will make His love famous? Twitter? Blogs?

You might be saying, “yea, but who would believe us?”  Does it matter that everyone  believes you or that  just one would believe you?  If we are waiting for the day that everyone will receive the work of God and believe our witness to His love and power… then we are waiting for a day that will never come. It didn’t happen for Noah, Elijah, John the Baptist or Jesus, but it never stopped them from sharing God’s greatness, to make Him famous among the people… and neither should we. Our culture will never 100% buy in to God’s greatness, but neither do they all agree that Peyton Manning is a great quarterback or that U2 is a great band or that Titanic was a great movie. So let’s not wait until all the reviews are in before we sing God’s praises out in the world.

Habakkuk says, “I have heard of your awesome deeds…now we need you to do some of those things you are famous for today, in our day come down in power.”  What an amazing prayer. He knew who God was well enough to believe that God was relevant and needed for today. God’s fame, from times past, drove Habakkuk to God in need of His power and His mercy today. Why?  So God can be famous in our day.  I would love that!

Would it not be an awesome thing if God’s latest work was on the lips of everyone in town- “did you hear what God did…”.  I join Habakkuk in praying that prayer for us, that God would work in such a way, and we would share His awesome deeds, that people everywhere would be aware of more than His name, but that He would be famous in the world over for His love, compassion and power.

I have no ax to grind with celebrities, but truly they don’t add deep meaning to our lives, except to entertain us for a while. Yet we talk of them all day. God has everything to add to our lives, including love, joy, peace and eternity. Yet we barely speak above a whisper in a world that desperately needs what God offers.

Lord,

In this time of our deep need, begin again to help us, as you did in years gone by. Show us your power to save us. And in your anger, remember your mercy.  And we Lord will increase your fame as we talk of your awesome deeds and share your great love.

Have we confused preferences with righteousness?

My rights. My choices. My vote. My voice. My opinion.

Do these things sound familiar in our culture?  We have groups in our cutlure who are screaming for their voice and views to be heard. We have gay rights, womens rights and labor unions promoting worker rights. We have disenfranchised voters, minority groups, and political parties. We have a media that is run on polls, a web full of blogs promoting personal views and preferences. Expressnig our opionion, no matter how ridiculous or off beat it may be,  has become a personal cross for many people.

Do we also see these same concepts at work in the church?  You don’t have to be around the church long  before you see the same things taking place. Preference seems to be the order of the day within the workings of the church, just like you see in our society.  Ask any worship leader, do people have musical preferences? He will laugh…or cry, but he will affirm that church people have preferences.  Ask any church treasurer, do people have preferences on how the church money is spent?  He might have a panic attack, but he will affirm that church people have preferences.  Ask any pastor who is trying to do something new in a church, do church people have preferences?  He might ball up in the fetal position, but he will affirm that church people have preferences.

So, what’s the big deal? Everyone has preferences, right?

The big deal is that in the church we often confuse our preferences with righteousness. Our preferences have become our standard. The only one who’s preferences are perfect and right is God… and none of us are Him. Let’s take a look at these two concepts.

Preference-

The selecting of someone or something over another or others.

The right or chance to so choose or make personal choices

Righteousness-

holy and upright living, in accordance with God’s standard. The word “righteousness” comes from a root word that means “straightness.” It refers to a state that conforms to an authoritative standard. Righteousness is a moral concept. God’s character is the definition and source of all righteousness (Gen. 18:25; Deut. 32:4; Rom. 9:14). Therefore, the righteousness of human beings is defined in terms of God’s standards. Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary. Rev. ed. of: Nelson’s illustrated Bible dictionary.; Includes index. Nashville: T. Nelson.

Now, let’s ask again, what is the big deal about preferences? The problem comes when we confuse our personal choices with the morality of God’s perfect character. In other words, “I like” equals “God likes”.  We might say it another way, if I don’t like a certain style, a certain song, a certain way of doing things… then obviously God does not like it either. Worse yet, sometimes people don’t even take into account whether or not God likes it, the only things we care about is that I like or don’t like it.

Some may still be asking, what’s wrong with that?

Let’s take some time to look forward, to the day that we will all face our Lord. Now imagine yourself bowing before Jesus and breaking out into song (with all respect to Frank Sinatra)….

And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and ev’ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way,
“Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way”

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

Now imagine Jesus’ reaction to you… does He applaud?…does He laugh?….does He have a quizzical look on His face? or is He saddened by your thought that doing it your way was so important to you?

When Jesus walked the earth, He made it clear that what He did, what He spoke and the plan that He was fulfilling was not a matter of choice, but a matter of following the Father’s direction. Listen to these words…

John 8   ²⁸ Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. ²⁹ And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” ³⁰ As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

Simply put, you cannot always do the things that please God, as Jesus did,  and choose all of your preferences at the same time.  Something has to give. Someone has to back off of their “side”. Unfortunately the same thing that is said of God is often said of us- “with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)  God does not change, in character, in love, in righteousness. Some of us are the same, we never adjust to follow God, we just have our ways and our opinions and that is just the way it is.

When we refuse to bend to God’s rightousness and yet still want to feel right with God, we are left with only one choice– To create God in our own image.  We don’t want to change to be like God, so we change God to be like us. As we mentioned before, God likes what I like, thinks like I think, hates what I hate, tolerates what I tolerate, excuses what I excuse and is happy about what I am happy about…. all the time.

Let’s bring this down to a practical level…

1) In worship…. if we emphasize our preferences:  fight to have the kind of music we like, refuse to sing a song because we don’t like the tune, only give an offering when we feel like it in the amount we want to give, criticize those who don’t dress like we think they should, complain when the service “runs over”…. when we fight to get it our way, who is the worship service really about?  That would be us. When we exercise and enforce our preferences, it stops being about God and starts being about us. Last time I checked God still had the idea that He, and He alone, was worthy of worship and that worship, imagine this, is supposed to be to Him, for Him and about Him.

I was reminded of something this week, which caused me to rewrite this part of the blog. Check out Hebrews 10:19-25. It spells out the priorities that God has set for worship…

* Enter into God’s presence… on His terms, through the person of Jesus Christ

* Draw near to God… not through your presence in church, but through faith. I don’t draw near to God by following man made rules or preferences, but by humbly approaching God in reverence and awe.

* Have your heart clean…you can’t worship on your terms with your sin filling you, be forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ

* Believe… worship is loving God, trusting that He really is as awesome, wonderful, powerful and merciful as He says He is. Faith is not having my wishes fulfilled, it is humbling believing that God has the right to have His way.

* Stir up one another for good works… Here is the killer- if we are enforcing our personal preferences on everyone else, are we really considering anyone besides ourselves?  Are we stirring anyone up to love God more and serve Him more willingly?  No. In fact, whether we realize it or not, our constant complaint and unhappiness because we are not getting our way often makes those around us spiritually miserable and emotionally drained.

* Keep at it…don’t forsake gathering together, even if there is something there you don’t like. Can you imagine what would happen if God took that attitude?  What if God decided not to show up because we were doing something He did not like…let’s ask a simple question, if you are not invited to the party, do you show up?  If worship is about you, God is not invited and He does not share top billing with anyone…

2) Serving God

We are called to serve God “acceptably” (Heb 12:28). If there is an acceptable way to serve God, who gets to set the standards for service? Does the servant tell the Master how he is going to serve?  Does the employee tell the boss what he will and will not do?  Can you imagine walking into your bosses office and telling them, “I know you want me to do this project this way, but I have decided that I am going to do it this way”.  You might be employed at the end of the day, but just barely.

God can call us to do anything He wishes. Anything. Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God says, that when you call Jesus Lord, you give Him the right to your life anytime He wishes.  Somewhere along the way, we have come to believe that serving God is for our pleasure and at our pleasure, God should be happy to accept whatever I decide to give Him… and I will be righteous for it. Friends, we can’t do what we want and then demand that God bless us and give us good standing with Him.

So what is the proper place for our preferences?

First of all, they are subject to God’s commands and character. I can’t say, “well I am just that way”, and expect God to be happy. He calls us all to change and adjust ourselves to His ways and His heart. A preference does not override a command. The problem is we are very aware of our preferences, but often unaware of God’s commands.

Secondly, realize that preferences work within the framework of God’s commands and character. God created each of us as individuals, as such no two of us are completely alike.  God makes it that way and likes it that way. But He expects you to use your individuality to serve Him, not use our individuality to enforce our individuality.

Thirdly, preferences are meant to work with God and with others. We have taken preferences to new heights in importance, seeking to place them above others and God. God has designed the body to work with each other and compliment each other. If your perference is hindering the work of the body, then it is not a matter of everyone changing to adjust to you, but you suppressing your preference for the greater good.

Lord, you have made us all individuals, and we are greater that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. But we confess we have taken our individuality too far, and forsake many of your commands and sacrificed your body, your church, in our pursuit of our own preferences. Forgive us where we have lacked obedience to your ways, where we have confused our preferences with your righteousness. Bless your work within us Lord and help us to be more and more aware of how you wish us to live.

Missing the Big Picture of Christianity

Without the Big Picture of Christianity, we don’t have Christianity, we have a small business operation with independent owner/operators borrowing a brand name.

We have all heard the saying, “you can’t see the forest for all the trees”.  In other words, you can’t see the big picture because you are focused on all the little details.  The church seems to be stuck in this mode today, focused on all the little details and missing the big picture of Christianity.

Listen to Jesus’ words in Matthew 23, read it slowly and see if you recognize the “forest” and “the trees”.

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. ²⁴ Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! ²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. ²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

These are some of Jesus’ strongest words recorded. Can you tell that He is not really happy?  Can you sense that He is aggrevated that they are missing something important, something that they should see?

The trees:

* you pay a tithe of mint and anise and cummin

The forest (the big picture):

* but you neglect the weighter matters of the law like mercy, justice and faith

The trees:

* cleaning the outside of the cup

The forest (the big picture):

* you don’t clean the inside of the dish, the heart and soul

The trees:

* outwardly appearing righteous to men

The forest (the big picture):

* inside you are full of corruption

Jesus said that missing the big picture because we are focusing too much on the details was like straining out a gnat, but swallowing a camel. I have always liked this verse because of its’ vivid picture.

The law (Lev 11:41-43) prohibited the Jews from eating anything that swarms, such as gnats. The Pharisees would be very diligent to strain out their drinks with a cloth to make sure they didn’t swallow even the smallest gnat. Yet Jesus says that despite all their effort, they were swallowing an equally unclean animal- a huge camel (Lev 11:4).  If you can recognize a gnat, how do you miss a camel?  Because you can’t see the forest for the trees!

Let’s bring this down to the practical level. What have we been fussing and fighting about in the church world lately? What gnats have we been straining at and what camels have we been swallowing?

* Straining at the gnat of church music and swallowing the camel of a lack of worship. Having been involved in church leadership for over 17 years, I have heard enough about church music to last me a lifetime. What is interesting is that most, if not all, of what is said has to do with personal preference. “I like”, “We should”, “I don’t like”…. and you can fill in the blank. The huge camel that we are swallowing is that worship is not meant, and never has meant, to entertain our preferences.

“Worship the Lord your God” is the Biblical phrase. We have translated it, “worship about God that I like”. In other words, we like that idea of singing about God, praying and a good Bible message… but the key phrase is “we like”. The gnat has become the big issue. “We should sing hymns”, “I like contemporary music”, “I don’t like drums”, etc, etc.. We have even proudly catagorized ourselves this way- “we are a contemporary church”, “we are a traditional church”… and we often look down our noses at those who do church differently.

Let me ask a question that I have posed to many people… if this Sunday you went to church and the temperature of the room was just right, your seat had not been taken by someone else, the service started on time (and ended on your time), the music had all your favorite songs, the pastor had a (short) encouraging message that you liked and all your favorite people from the church were there…wouldn’t that be lovely?  What’s the problem?

Where was the worship? Where was the focus on loving God and giving Him glory? That service would appeal to all your preferences and bless your little heart, but would God be happy? Does God really care if you sing a hymn or a contemporary song? Is He concerned about the beat or the melody or is He listening for your heart to love Him? We have swallowed the camel of worship, of truly giving God His due on His day. Shove your preferences aside and take your time of worship and spend it loving God.

The lost are not impressed by our music, they can go many different places and hear good music. They are however impacted when the people they are around sincerely are loving God and glorifying God in their presence. When God’s love, God’s power and God’s forgiveness are lifted up, people can be moved and can be influenced to consider inviting Christ to be a part of thier life.

* Straining at the gnat of church and swallowing the camel of people. “I love my church”… that’s nice, but what do you love? Have we fallen in love with the church as a group of people? Do we love the programs? Do we like the “feel” of being a person of faith?  The gnat is that our love is misdirected. The church is in love with itself, rather than with God. How can we tell?

The church, in its’ essence is a continuation of Jesus’ ministry on the earth. What Jesus did, the attitudes He had, the priorities that He maintained are to be the focus and function of the church.  Yet look at the priorities of the average church– take care of our people, maintain our buildings, keep all of us happy. Now, where do you see these things in Jesus’ ministry? Jesus was out among the people, He loved the least and the lost. He didn’t command his disciples to “make church buildings and keep everyone happy”.  Do you realize that Jesus never made it a priority to keep everyone happy?

Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites, because they were. It offended them, but he didn’t apologize. Jesus told Peter he was being used by Satan.  He didn’t have a difference of opinion with him, He told it like it was. Jesus told the disciples that they lacked faith. Jesus spoke and many of his disciples stopped following Him, and He never apologized for it nor did He try to go back and “get those folks back in church”(John 6:60-71).  In fact He asked if the 12 wanted to leave as well.

Why? Because Jesus had established His priorities- to seek and to save the lost, to teach God’s word, to work God’s work and to share God’s love with everyone. How is it then that so much time in church is spent on budgets, buildings, the use of buildings, complaining about who is visited and not visited… all while our community, people, goes unloved, uncared for, and spiritually lost, unconnected with God?  Because we are straining at the gnat of church, doing everything to keep ourselves happy and satisfied, and swallowing the camel of love for our community.

Let me give you a real life example. I was pastor at a small church who had been struggling for years. We were having a Wednesday night business meeting to talk about a remodel to our fellowship hall for more youth space. Two weeks prior we had a night set aside to visit our visitors, had 3 attend. The Wednesday night before the business meeting we were having prayer, had 11 attend. Night of the business meeting to discuss facilities, had 27 attend… what were the priorities of that church?  When I pointed this fact out to the church leadership, they all shrugged it off as if this was standard operating procedure. The sad thing was that they were right. The “important matters” were the facilities, not people, not God’s priorities and passions.

Take Jesus’ own words- you tithe mint, but neglect justice, mercy and faith. The church encourages people to give. We print it each week in the bulletin- how much we gave, how much we should be giving each week to meet budget and how much under or over budget we are. But look at your average church budget and what is the vast majority of money spent on?  In nearly every church budget ananlysis that I have done, a small percentage is spent on the community, while massive amounts are spent on maintaining property for church members, programs for church members and yes, even staff members who the church expects to serve them.  Do we spend to keep ourselves happy?

Let me just ask one question- if Jesus were in charge of your church budget, where would He be spending the money? Have we empahsized giving and neglected justice for our community, mercy for the least of our community and spreading faith in our community?

There are numerous other issues we could look at, and will in future blogs, but I want to make one last point.

Jesus spoke the words in Matthew 23 to the Pharisees. This group was one big thorn in Jesus’ side, a constant opposition to His message and ministry. He said they were straining at the gnats of small issues but missing the big picture of God’s priorities. Could it be that our generation of Christianity is a generation of Pharisees? A generation of the church that is focused on the trees of preferences and minor issues while missing the forest of loving God and loving the community Jesus died for….and before you get self-righteous about this being true about other people, think about yourself and how you hold to your preferences and your way of doing things.

I have taken stock recently and I encourage you to do the same. What really are just the trees, the gnats you are straining at? Instead, embrace the forest, the big picture of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. All of us have preferences, but have they become huge camels that we swallow while we fail to love God and others?

If tomorrow you faced your God, would you tell Him about all the songs you liked, the buildings you maintained…  how about the people visiting the church you never spoke to or never connected with because you really didn’t care… or the gossip you spead about a church leader who was doing something that was not your preference… are you going to tell Him that you did it your way…or are you going to tell God how you left that church because it changed too much when they started reaching “those people”…are you going to present God with all the gnats and camels?

Instead I have determined that I want to present him with love, mercy and faith…big parts of God’s big picture.

 

Don’t Settle for Less…

There was a TV commercial several years ago for a carpet cleaning company, can’t remember their name, but their tag line was screamed by the owner at the end of every commercial… don’t settle for less. The ad proclaimed the benefits of their cleaning system, the great price and service of the company, and if you hired anyone else, well, you just weren’t getting the best carpet cleaning.  I didn’t realize carpet cleaning was so serious. I guess to carpet cleaners it is, and when you are in a competitive business environment, you have to try to separate yourself from the rest.

Nobody really wants mediocre.  When you go out to eat, do you want to pay for a bland, average hamburger or for a just alright steak. With the prices that you pay for eating out, something special, something tasty, that is what we want. What about life, are you shooting for mediocre?  Are you gunning for just getting by?  Unfortunately, that seems to be where a lot of people are at, just wanting to get by, pay the bills, don’t make waves, don’t look for trouble. We talk a lot about success, but success costs. Winning is not easy. Triumph does not come to the lazy and unprepared.

With that said, I want to ask a question. Jesus called to His disciples, “Follow Me”. Meaning, follow my faith, my ways, my habits, my lifestyle, my loves… and with Jesus it was not just “do as I say”, but “do as I do”.  Was Jesus mediocre? 

Mediocre would have been a life in which He, did a little work, taught a few things, but never really made a splash. Growing up in the 1970’s & 80’s, I like to watch the show on VH1 “One Hit Wonders”. The show often features bands from that era who had one good hit, something that topped the charts, and then they were gone. They didn’t even stick around long enough to become a fad. One song, One hit, and done. What if Jesus had just turned water into wine (http://www.biblestudytools.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?word=John+2&section=0&version=kjv&new=1&oq=&NavBook=joh&NavGo=2&NavCurrentChapter=2) , and then been finished. Interesting yes, notable maybe, forgettable definitely.  I love the way the King James translates John 2:11 when talking about this first miracle of Jesus.

This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

Beginning of miracles, this was the start of something great. Something that would change the world. Something that would, well, not be mediocre. Wow, He just turned water into wine… and then He… and then He… and then He.  John carries this theme to the end of his book, where he makes an awesome statement about Jesus.

John 21: 25   Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Wow. After recording Jesus turning water into wine, healing the blind, raising the lame, forgiving the sinner, and oh by way, being crucified and raised from the dead… He did many other things as well, a lot of them.

Spiritually,  I have struggled with this recently.  What if I get to heaven and instead of “well done, good and faithful servant”, I hear, “Well, I guess that was alright”.  What if I look Jesus in the face and He says, “You know… it could have been a whole lot better…”. I have never really thought about that, and there is nothing really in the Bible about average. We have the triumphant, approved by Jesus, smiling upon them… and then the condemned.  We all know about the bell curve.. the smaller percentages on each side and the massive number arching high in the middle.  The middle, among the masses, not differentiated from the others, just lumped together with the rest.  Come to think of it, the Bible does speak of the lukewarm, the ones who are neither hot nor cold. Jesus says something very strong about them, “they make me want to throw up”. (Rev 3:14-16).

The average get to hide in the masses. We are not out front to be seen. We are not placing ourselves out on the edge for people to see. No, that would bring scrutiny to our lives, and we don’t want people to look too closely. Then again, we are not part of “those people”, the obviously bad, the ones who stick out because of their gross sin. We like it in the middle, we feel comfortable being the great unnoticed. Problem… Jesus never went unnoticed… His disciples did not go unnoticed.

The church today seems to be in the middle. Not really noticed or cared much about by the world. Could it be that we are not doing anything or being anything in order to be noticed?  I hear people in the church complain that “people don’t come to church”.  Well, if you are an average part of the world, what is there to motivate people to make a special trip on a Sunday to church or better yet, why make a decision to follow Jesus, if you are just as average as they are?

It’s time we got tired of average. Tired of plain Jane church and began to seek to be noticed, to stick out of the crowd. Jesus did, and yes it painted a target on His back. But we have to remember, large crowds loved Jesus, followed Him, enjoyed His ministry, and they did the same with the disciples. Thousands followed Christ on Pentecost and the years following. It was only one crowd that crucified Him. Is there danger in being mediocre?  I believe so. Danger that we won’t be a part of God’s mission here on earth. Danger that we will live so securely that we will not live by faith. Danger that we will live a purposeless, bland existence and miss out on God’s plan for us. Danger that we will never see God’s hand move, because we didn’t want it to… that would draw attention.

The church has even taken to taking shots at each other when someone sticks out. Try being a church that is growing and baptizing people… other churches will resent you, say  that you are not doing things “right”. Worse yet, people within the church will complain about things “changing”. In other words they have been pushed out of the middle, and don’t like it. All the while they have not seen the hand of God touch their community or their fellowship for a couple of generations. I have heard it for seventeen years… and I am not ready to settle for less. God has placed me in an unusual position, or rather without a position, but sometimes clarity comes with  a change of perspective– and from here, average is not something desirable.

Lord, make us less happy with the middle. Give us faith to step out, step forward and be a people and a person that is willing to be different from the rest. Help us to be like Jesus, who looked for opportunities to show your glory and your power and most of all your love. Help us not to fear the masses, but to love them enough to risk.