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

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.