We Need More Christian Instigators…In a Good Way

Instigate:  To stir to action or feeling

There is a song by Montgomery Gentry called “There’s One in Every Crowd”. While the song is about a guy in a bar, the message in the song just resonated with me about what seems to be missing in our Christianity today.  Some may be cringing at this point, but hang on. Part of they lyrics…

Golden Tee, shuffleboard, pinball, he’s got the score

that everybody around here’s tryin to beat,

he’s a six pack up when he walks in,

tells the band crank it up to 10,

then he’s up dancin on his seat…

There’s one in every crowd,

brings the party in us out…

there’s one in every crowd, and it’s usually me,

hey ya’ll, hey ya’ll, hey ya’ll, there’s one in every crowd

Now for those of you who don’t know me, I spent years in the bars, on both sides of the bar. While some of you may have never run in these circles, the words to this song are familiar to me. It is talking about the guy who gets the party started, the person who gets the rest of the crowd in the mood to have a good time. He is the person who gives others permission to let loose a little, as the words say he “brings the party in us out”.  He doesn’t mind being a little on the edge, out of the ordinary, letting other people see him having a good time.

It seems that we, in the church world today, have gotten so “private” with our faith that we are not instigating anything in our world today. If the guy in the bar can encourage people to drink a little more, dance more, yell a little louder, experience life more intensely, then certainly we can have the same quality for doing good. We need some more Christians who can walk into their workplace, their homes, their communities and, yes, even their churches and stir up something good.

Firstly, and don’t roll your eyes just yet, we need Jesus to “bring the party out” in us. Jesus didn’t come to give us a cold list of rules to follow or a nice packaged religion to digest, He came to cause us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. When Christ enters our life, the first order of business is not to get us to stop doing certain things, but to spur us to fall in love with God more passionately, more sacrificially, more joyfully than we ever have. And He does that each day. What is the first fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in our life?  Love. Next? Joy. Next? Peace. As God works, he instigates these things in our lives- drawing the work of the Spirit in us, out of us for the world to see.  The Spirit is an instigator, one who is a cause of good, stirs up Godly things in our lives, drives us to realize how high we can fly in Christ, how deep we can love in the Lord, how joyful we can be in this world, how much peace we can have that passes our understanding.  God instigates that in our lives…. Jesus said…

John 10 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Jesus does not enter our life to drag us down or demoralize us or cause us to feel bad, He enters to bring about God’s greatest good in our life. That is what we have to do for this world, help them to see, feel, understand and experience the abundant life that Jesus bring into our life.

The Bible gives us several passages that encourage us to be instigators, people who help bring out and draw out something good from others.  Listen to these words…

Matt 5 14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Heb 10 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

God has placed something within us and His expectation is that we are to use it to instigate others to love Him, follow Him, praise Him and embrace Him.

How do we do this?  The verses above give us two key ideas…

1) Show up- don’t get out of the habit of being around. Be around the world, so that they can see Christ in you. Be around the church so you can encourage. The church has shut itself in- both on Sundays and during the week. We cloister behind our church walls and do little ministry outside of the building, which is really sad. Rather than seeing the church as a gathering place, we need to see it as a launching pad for ministry to the community and world around us.  It’s not that people don’t care about the church, but how can they care if the church is never seen or heard outside of the existence of its’ building.We don’t show up in our workplaces, people may barely know we go to church much less ever hear about how we love God and how much good God does for us. We may be there physically, but not spiritually.

2) Do something- Be engaged- let your light shine before men. Stir up others to do something good.  We can’t just stand on a street corner, rather we must be on the street corner with a cup of cold water to offer the world. The world must see our good works, the church must feel the prayer, the pat on the back, the good word of encouragement. So many today live their Christian lives in theory. In essence we say, “I agree with love, but just don’t ask me to do it.”  We cannot instigate anything if we are passive, lethargic and apathetic (and those three words would capture much of the church today).  You cannot experience the abundant life by thinking about it, Jesus didn’t just teach on the love of God, He showed it to others. He healed, fed, listened, touched- He did something.  Maybe you or your church can’t do everything, no one can, but do something- instigate some good in this world.

It is unfortunate, but mostly what we know and have experienced about instigating in the church is all negative. We have seen those who instigate by gossiping about the lady going through a divorce… instigate by criticizing the pastor… instigate by complaining about the music… instigate by ‘being concerned’ about who’s using the church building… instigate by worrying about all these new people in the church… you get the idea.

Consider that when you get done instigating people to talk about one another, be critical of church leadership, shut out new people or cause division within the body over trivial nonsense about buildings and budgets, you have managed to accomplish the work of the thief (John 10:10 above)- you have stolen the joy from those who are leaders, killed the spirit of the church and destroyed the peace of the Body of Christ. And you still have not stirred up anyone to love and good works or anything remotely related to letting the light of Christ shine in this world.

So one day you are standing before Jesus and he asks, “so what did you do on earth?”

“Well I got people to stop listening to that preacher because he challenged us to love our neighbors and I got my way when we kicked out that drug addict support group from using our church building and I made sure that we didn’t have any of those undesirable people from our community….”

And Jesus said, “well that’s just what I would have done”?   I think not. His response might be a little more along the lines of “I put my love in you and this is what you did with it? You discouraged my brothers and sisters?  You caused pain in my body? You rejected the hurting and needy?”

Just as we have seen it work negatively, it can work more powerfully if we use the power of words and actions for good.

God pours His love, His righteousness into us. What’s coming out of us?  Are instigating others to love God deeper? Are we causing the world to be drawn to Christ by the good that we are doing to honor our Heavenly Father?

The church needs to take on the thought that we not just here for us- but to inspire, encourage and give others the permission and cause to love God.  We may not bring the party the way the world does, but what God offers is so much more than a night on the town, it is eternity with Him, the fullness of joy, everlasting peace… starting now, today, a day to stir up, instigate the kind of good in this world that God has instigated in us.

There’s one in every crowd,

brings the love for God in us out…

there’s one in every crowd, and it needs to be me

Are we presenting church or Christ to the world?

I was driving this past Sunday to speak at a church when I came across a church sign. In big bold letters underneath the church name was the message…

Expository Preaching

I would guess if you polled a large number of church members, probably less than half could give you an accurate definition of expository preaching.  Even if they could define it, could they really tell anyone the benefit of it? I wondered even if the people in that church, who boldly advertised expository preaching, could tell you what it is… and if they talked to their friends by telling them that their pastor preaches expository sermons, did they expect their lost friends to understand what it meant?

That whole thing just got me to thinking about the message the church is trying to speak to the world.  Before I became a follower of Jesus, the church was something that I really didn’t pay a lot of attention to. It’s not that I didn’t like the church or the people who went to church, it just really was not that important. Why?  Because the only thing that seemed to be important to the people I knew that went to church were things that were not important to me. There was more talk of theology or what kind of church they went to. It all just seemed very disconnected from what was going on in my world.

I would not have understood expository preaching…nor would I have cared. I would not have understood what a KJV only church was… nor would I have cared.   I would not have understood what contemporary worship was…nor would I have cared.  And let’s just be brutally honest, why would a lost person care how church people do church?  They have nothing invested in it and they have no preferences.

Say you were into opera, and came to me and asked, “Do you prefer Opéra buffe, Opera buffa or Opéra comique?”  First you would get a blank stare from me because I could not tell you (without looking this up on the internet like I just did) what these all mean or what the difference is between them.  While you may be a passionate fan of Opera buffa, I would probably just smile politely and nod a lot as you told me how it was better than the other kinds of opera. Now imagine how the world reacts when it sees the signs, billboards, and gets the postcards that proudly proclaim that we sing contemporary worship music or that we “sing old hymns” or that we teach the “whole counsel of the Bible” or that we are a “traditional church family” (all of which I have seen lately).  Take a moment and think like a person who did not go to church growing up (like the majority of people today) and don’t have a church vocabulary, what would these things mean?

The only people who really understand most of our vocabulary is us. While these things may be important to us, and they may be important theologically or culturally to us as a church, who are we trying to reach with these messages?  The only people that we could reach would be other church members that already have an understanding of church and our unique environment. So that then begs a question, is the church only trying to reach the already churched?  Are we seeking to swap sheep, bringing in wayward or disgruntled church members from a sister congregation?  Since we are broadcasting these messages to the world at large, and people already knowledgeable about church are the only one who understand or have preferences…

Are we presenting Christianity to the world or our methodology of doing church?

Let’s shift gears for a second and look at the way that two of the great apostles presented Christianity to the world around them.

First let’s take a look at Peter. In Acts 2 Peter is preaching to a group of Jews, people familiar with the law and the prophets. In his message, he takes the time to quote the Old Testament and uses their base of knowledge to lead them to Christ. Look at how Peter’s message ends…

Acts 2:32-36 (NKJV)

^{32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. 34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”}

Secondly, look at Paul in Acts 17 talking to the men of Athens in the Areopagus. Look at the language he uses and the references that he makes. Where does he start? God is the creator of the world. Genesis 1:1. Why?  Because they did not have a foundation, a base knowledge  of who God really is and what it is that He requires of us. Paul’s message comes to a close this way…

Acts 17:30-34 (NKJV)

^{30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” 32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.}

The people had not heard of resurrection nor did they fully understand what it meant, but that did not prevent Paul from preaching the resurrection and Lordship of Christ. His message is different than Peter’s, comes from a completely different perspective, but it ends in the same manner- Jesus was raised from the dead and is the Father’s appointed ruler of the earth.  Both Peter and Paul however ended up with new followers of Jesus.

I believe the point we are boiling down to is simple and straightforward. The church needs to stop spending its’ time, effort and energy advertising the way we do church to a lost world who neither understands or cares how we do church, and focus on communicating the only message that matters- Jesus came for us, died for our sins and was raised again on the third day to now be both Lord and Savior to all.

The lost and backslidden world does not have need of church methodology, how we do church is really our business, they need the offer of grace and forgiveness. How we package the message should be unique to each group of believers, but we need to understand the world we are communicating to. I just want to make one more point here that I find interesting. We often believe that our style of worship is either attractive or repulsive to the people that visit our churches.  In fact, I just talked to a gentleman this past weekend who thought maybe his church should do contemporary music to attract the young people.  As I looked around the church, there were less than a handful of people below 60.  I shook my head and asked him a question, “could you genuinely, and passionately, worship God to contemporary music?”  “No, not really.” “Then you would not attract young people with contemporary music” “Why not?” “Because people are not attracted by music, but they do recognize people that are genuinely, authentically, and joyfully worshipping God.”

Our methodologies don’t impress as many people as we think they do. Our genuine love for God, which causes us to worship with passion, care for one another sacrificially, help the hurting unconditionally, and live in harmony with one another continually…. well that stands out from any brand or style that we may stamp on our church.  Take a quick look at Jesus’ ministry, and while he was purposeful in what He did, He encountered people where they were and loved them with an unusual and amazing love. He taught more powerfully than the scribes. He loved more deeply than the religious leaders of the day. He cared for people more tenderly than the people of the day. He loved beggars that other people passed by. He touched lepers that others avoided. He cured people that the world had given up on. That was how he “packaged” the message, by genuinely living out the love of God.

It is the same reason that I am not a big fan of canned approaches to evangelism in which you have to memorize a script. I am not selling a product. If I know Jesus, then my task is to talk about the one I love and who loves me. I don’t have to memorize a script to tell people about my wife or my kids or even my favorite football team. The words come from a heart in love, a heart passionate about those I care about. The world is not really interested in our pre-packaged, follow the script, this is just the way we do it, kind of Christianity.

A pastor friend of mine is having a special event this weekend for children called Kidz Rock.  There are a lot of people signed up to come. Why? Because they have put this together to love on children, to try to reach children with the gospel. He has purposefully and intentionally invited other churches, and not just those of his own denomination. The doors have been thrown open wide for people to come, be loved on and to hear the gospel, individually and as a group.  The promotion is not just of his church, but of the love of God for children. His vision is to take this event to other churches, in other areas of town, in order to reach children there as well. That is kingdom growth thinking.

God’s business is to make disciples of the nations. It seems as if we are more concerned about our packaging than our product. Churches of all kinds, shapes and sizes are growing today and reaching people. We have heard the stories of the liturgical churches who are reaching young adults, the large traditional churches that are baptizing many, the medium sized contemporary worship church that has an exploding children’s ministry, or the home based church start that is reaching a community. That is how we do it. That is a method. But these churches grow because they actively share the love and grace of God, not necessarily their methodology. The lost world does not need a method, and frankly methods won’t really attract them. The Bible tells us that Jesus will build His church, that no one comes to Christ unless the Father draws him, that if Christ is lifted up He will draw men to Him… God is doing the work, the church is the receiver of those God brings.   If we are growing a business, then our packaging is important, if we are seeking to expand God’s kingdom, then Jesus becomes most important.

Now once we reach people, will they all find their place in our church or will they all serve in our church? Probably not. Maybe we reach them, but they go to the contemporary church down the street. Would that be alright with you? But again, is it our greatest concern to present God with a large church roll, or is it our aim to bring people into His Kingdom and allow Him to place people into the Body of Christ as He pleases.

People may like more modern music or the feel of being led in a liturgy, but ultimately what makes a disciple of them is not methodology, it is the gospel.  The Southern Baptist Convention has been talking for over a year about a Great Commission Resurgence among its’ churches. This is a noble goal and a needed emphasis, but if it turns into another program to add to our methodology, it will just be another case of smoke without fire. The church, all Christians, need to think about the real message we are communicating to the world. Are we trying to sell our church to the world or are we truly sharing Christ.

If we can get to the point that we are emphasizing the love of God toward the world that Jesus emphasized, we will not be as concerned about what kind of church we are in, or how we do church.  As I have had the freedom to travel to different churches and areas over this past year, this question keeps coming back to me…

Are we so focused on methodologies in order to shield us from the fact that we are just not that in love with Jesus and not that in love with the world we live in?

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.