Making Church Messier

“It’s time to reclaim the church as something to which we belong rather than just an event venue.”  Those lines which appeared in an article in the Jan/Feb. (2019) issue of Christianity Today grabbed my attention. The writer told of walking to church one Sunday in his town past a little boy playing in the street. The boy asked, “Are you going to a party?”  The answer was- “Yes, we are! But we call it church. Go ask your Mom if you can come with us.”  The little boy went to the ‘party’ that day and within months his entire family, which was by social standards dysfunctional, became baptized participants in the Christian life of that congregation.

How do you see your church? Is it a place to go for an event or is it a place where your ‘family’ gathers to worship the Lord and share life? The New Testament uses familial language constantly when speaking of the Christians. They called one another brother and sister. They shared their possessions. Luke says "all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.”  What was the result of this new family of faith? “And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved." (Acts 2:44-47, NLT)

“Church” should look more like a family gathering than a concert!  The Church exists to call people into a new life, to make followers of Jesus, and to create a new society of people who love each other. That is not, sadly, the way most American churches function in 2019.  I believe that the American church has made a terrible error in trying to become an event venue, putting on a religious show, using décor and ‘culturally relevant’ images to attract larger crowds.

Pastors become salesmen, evangelism becomes marketing, and Jesus Christ becomes the ‘product’ neatly packaged in ways that comfort without asking too much of those who fill the building. The article referenced above rightly says that these ‘churches end up competing with each other for attendees just like businesses compete for customers.’  

When you go to the house of your sister, with all the family together, you expect that there will be goofs, cranks, noisy kids, and opinionated uncles in the house. Part of the delight of family are all those personalities and because we love them, we welcome them, even delight in their quirks!  When we come together as God’s family, we too should expect something less than a smoothly orchestrated event that will not make allowance for that person who is ‘different,’ or who weeps, or laughs, or sings off-key, or says things that are socially inept.

Peter offers us this vision of the church family. "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms." (1 Peter 4:8-10, NIV)

At FDC (FaithDiscovery.com) we are attempting to encourage people to join a Life group, not because it’s ‘’fun” or because they need more things to fill up already packed schedules. We know that true Christianity is not just practiced with creeds and Communion in a sanctuary, it is lived in the middle of life – in times of birth and death, beginnings and endings, successes and failures. Life Groups help people to get past the event idea of modern church so that they will become brothers and sisters in the family of God.

Here is a word from the Word. My prayer is that the Spirit will cause us to hunger to know one another, to encourage each other beyond the handshake on Sunday morning. "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other." (John 13:34, NLT) "Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2, NLT) "Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds." (Hebrews 10:24, NLT)

Love deeply. 
Let love remove all offense.
Be generous in giving away your personal comfort.
Go to serve, not to be entertained.
And, you will please the Lord and grow into something far richer in life than just 'going to church.'

The Truth About YOU

“Let me tell you the truth,” is not a phrase that generally prefaces a pleasant conversation. Often ‘the truth’ is that person’s perception of some failure. Sometimes, however, what follows are words that encourage us, that remind us of what may have forgotten while under pressure.  In the last three years since Bev went home to Heaven a friend in my life consistently lifts my eyes to hope. The “truth” that is offered particularly helped me not to drown in grief in those critical months after Bev’s death.  “The truth” has reset my perspective so that I can see God’s plan and press on days when it seems that there is only chaos and disappointment.

In the opening of his letter to us, Peter tells the truth to us! Inspired by the Spirit, his words are healing and hopeful. Sometimes we tend to skip the opening lines of those New Testament letters, as if they were just stock greetings, but they are so much more than just than that. Look! "This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the lands of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, and Bithynia. God the Father chose you long ago, and the Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed Jesus Christ and are cleansed by his blood. May you have more and more of God’s special favor and wonderful peace." (1 Peter 1:1-2, NLT)

Go back and look at those words that I put in boldface. Chosen! Holy! Cleansed!

God, in His omniscience, is unbounded by time. He lives in eternity. Let this fact amaze you as you ponder that He knew of you before you were even conceived and made it possible for you to become His beloved child. Why? Because we were lovely? No. Because we did something remarkable? No. He acts according to His own purposes to bring us to Himself, acting on us through His Spirit, drawing us to Himself. “Chosen” is no reason for pride as in “I am better than you because I was chosen for the team.”  If that is how you read this word that Peter uses, you have entirely missed the point. We draw great assurance from the fact that He has opened the door to knowing Him, that He is at work to bring us ‘home’ to His family. Are you living as a ‘chosen’ one, responsive to His invitation to daily grace?

When we receive His gift of grace, by faith, there is a change in us. We start to become holy. There is a caricature of ‘holiness’ that persists among us that sees it only as an exaggerated kind of ‘nice,’ a mild-mannered, inoffensive, naïve person. The word is richer in meaning. To be holy is to be ‘set apart’ for the purposes of God, to understand the high calling of being useful in His hand. People who grasp their purpose, who have a clear understanding of their abilities, can become focused and greatly effective. 
Tom Brady, the QB of the Patriots, (that is an American football team, by the way) is single-minded in his pursuit of excellence. He is intense, spends endless hours honing his skills, and refuses to be distracted by the things his fame and wealth could afford him. In a sense he has made himself ‘holy’ for the sake of football. It shows in his accomplishments.

God calls each one of us to serve Him as holy people. The Spirit gifts us with abilities and opportunities and if we understand that we are to be ‘holy,’ we answer His call. Don’t confuse the call to be ‘holy’ with a call to vocational ministry. Not all of God’s people become pastors or church workers, but ALL have a place in Christ’s work in the world. Are you presenting yourself to Him as one who is holy?

Peter reminds us that we are clean through the blood of Christ!  Are you paralyzed by regret? Are you a captive of guilt or shame, held back from fully loving and serving the Lord because you feel unworthy, or because you can only remember some past sin or present temptation?  Sin is real.  We should not try to excuse or ignore those things that are shameful, but those things can be left behind because of the Cross of Christ. There He took our guilt on Himself and presented His with forgiveness and restoration.  Sinful?  Yes, "that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11, NIV)

It is time to believe the Truth about yourself.  The enemy of God and good is a liar. He works hard to present us with distortions about God, about the world, about ourselves. God offers us the Truth. Will you accept it, live in it, and know the blessings found in Him?

Here is a word from the Word. "To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32, NIV)

The Truth will make YOU free.

__________

O Come To The Altar

Are you hurting and broken within

Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin

Jesus is calling

Have you come to the end of yourself

Do you thirst for a drink from the well

Jesus is calling

O come to the altar

The Father's arms are open wide

Forgiveness was bought with

The precious blood of Jesus Christ

Leave behind your regrets and mistakes

Come today there's no reason to wait

Jesus is calling

Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy

From the ashes a new life is born

Jesus is calling

Oh what a Savior

Isn't he wonderful

Sing alleluia Christ is risen

Bow down before him

For he is Lord of all

Sing alleluia Christ is risen

Bear your cross as you wait for the crown

Tell the world of the treasure you've found

Chris Brown | Mack Brock | Steven Furtick | Wade Joye

© 2015 Music by Elevation Worship Publishing (Admin. by Essential Music Publishing LLC)

CCLI License # 810055

A Gift We All Can Give

When I am privileged to pray for others, it is one of the joys of my life. Yesterday I joined hands in a circle of a grieving family members and asked Jesus to be their Comfort; and felt His Presence. When I stand alongside of the bed of someone in the hospital, I know I am there not just to visit and talk about life, there is a moment when we pray together, and I lift them to our Father.  Often, when I awaken in the small hours of the morning, I remember friends, family, people in the congregation and quietly, there in the darkness, I pray for them. In this way, I give a gift we all can give to others.

Before you think me a saint, let me hasten to add, that I could and should pray much better than I do. I admire those who find it possible to spend hours before the Throne of God. I pray here and there, in short entreaties, sometimes in tears, sometimes in song, often ‘in the Spirit’ as I slip into a heavenly language understood only by my God.

How and  whenintercession.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with praying for your own needs. God invites us to bring all of our requests to Him, as a child would come to her loving Dad.  But, there is a joy in serving as an intercessor; coming before God on behalf of another. Since Jesus Christ’s coming, the act of intercession is no longer restricted to a few persons.  He has made us, John explains, "priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen." (Revelation 1:6, NIV)

you pray, (and I do hope that you pray!) remember that form of prayer called

A story from Abraham’s experience, told in the 18^th chapter of Genesis, teaches us something of this kind of prayer.  The Lord revealed to Abraham that He planned to destroy Sodom because “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous." (Genesis 18:20, NIV) Abraham steps up on behalf of the city and engages the Lord in a conversation that looks like bargaining. " Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?" (Genesis 18:23, NIV)  “Will you destroy the city if there are 50 righteous in it?” And, so it goes, until Abraham reaches the number 10! Boldly he appeals to the Lord on behalf of the righteous in the city. While there is much mystery in the whole interaction, the greatest lesson is that there is a valid role for us in praying for others, those who cannot rescue themselves.
 

Prayer does change people and situations. Sometimes it is instantaneous; often it is incremental.  Just because prayer does not always work like throwing a light switch, let’s not quit, or assume that ‘it will all work out regardless of prayer.’  In the mystery of prayer, God invites us to become advocates of His will and purpose in our world.  Does He know what we tell Him in prayer? Of course, He does, but yet He asks us to come and to make our requests known.  Still, He asks us to agree with Him, to earnestly pray for “His will to be done and His kingdom to come.”

One of the by-products of genuine intercession is what it produces in us. When we are praying for a nation, a city, or even our family – not ritual prayers, not tired prayers, but those that come from our true concern – those prayers create concern, love, and engagement. We become people who are aligned with God, first in our hearts, then in our actions. Our loving, sincere prayers offered on behalf of those who are ignorant or apathetic towards Christ, make a difference.

Are you a faithful intercessor? Don’t gauge the effect of your prayers by your emotional intensity or by results seen in the next moment. Be consistent, be authentic, letting your prayers reflect the child-like faith of which Jesus speaks:   "Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.” (Mark 10:15-16, The Message)

Be a priest on behalf of your world! When you go before the Lord, bring them to Him, seeking His gracious mercy. Amazing things can happen.

Here’s a word from the Word. May the Spirit make it a call to action for each of us.

"Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with." (James 5:16, The Message)

________________

Here As In Heaven
(Elevation Worship invites us into Gods’ Presence)

The atmosphere is changing now

For the Spirit of the Lord is here

The evidence is all around

That the Spirit of the Lord is here

Overflow in this place

Fill our hearts with your love

Your love surrounds us

You're the reason we came to encounter your love

Your love surrounds us

Spirit of God fall fresh on us

We need your presence

Your kingdom come your will be done

Here as in heaven

A miracle can happen now

For the Spirit of the Lord is here

The evidence is all around

That the Spirit of the Lord is here

Chris Brown | Mack Brock | Matthew Ntlele | Steven Furtick | Wade Joye

© 2015 Music by Elevation Worship Publishing (Admin. by Essential Music Publishing LLC)

CCLI License # 810055

One Choice that WILL Change 2019

Elie Wiesel survived the worst of the Nazi regime including being imprisoned in one of their concentration camps and losing many family members to the horrible death machinations of that evil cabal. He was, at first, embittered, cursing life itself. Later, he realized that the one thing the Nazis could not steal from him was his response to life. He wrote about the importance of a choice we can all make. “When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.”  In my own life, having experienced many disappointments along the way, I know that how I choose to respond remains my choice.  There are reasons I could complain bitterly. But, there are many reasons to be thankful, too. I choose gratitude! 

On this first day of a New Year, I write to encourage one of the most critical decisions we can make. We can find reasons to thank God, even in the dark days. We can learn to appreciate the people that surround us, expressing our thanks for the ways that they make our lives richer.  Paul points us to the fountain from which thankfulness overflows.  True gratitude that changes our lives goes far beyond self-control or censoring our words. He says that when we are "rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught,”  the result will be that we are “overflowing with thankfulness." (Colossians 2:7, NIV)  In the losses that I have experienced, I have told myself a thousand times, “Jerry, there is nothing happening to you today that caught God by surprise!”  Beyond that, I am assured that He is always working for good – for me, for His Kingdom – in my life. 

No, am not a fatalist, nor do I believe that everything in my path of life happens because God made it happen.  I suffer as a result of my own foolish and/or sinful choices. I experience difficulties that flow into my life because others make foolish, sinful, or selfish choices.  That is why I do not join those who tell us to thank God for everything. But, by His grace, I will choose to thank Him IN the MIDDLE of the messes as much as in the great successes. In that surrender of my will, in the dethroning of my ego, there is a grace of gratitude that grows as a fruit of the Holy Spirit’s life that can flourish. The Word is simple and clear - "No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NLT)  I pray for a better grade in gratitude and thus, a better life in 2019.

So, let me put it to you - Does gratitude flavor your life? Are the words that fill up the air and your first thoughts shaped by an attitude of appreciation and gratitude?  Looking back over the past year, what grade for gratitude would you give yourself?  Want a better estimate? Ask your spouse or a trusted friend for a grade!  In the ordinary situations of life are you more prone to gripe and complain over minor inconvenience or have you learned how to let go of self-centeredness that blocks true gratitude?

Let me suggest that you join me in a prayer of praise, true worship, heart-deep expressions of your thankfulness for His love, on this first day of the year.  May the light of Jesus shine brightly in us as we break the cycle of complaint, replacing our gripes with ceaseless thanks.

Here is a word from the Word.

"This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.

From the house of the LORD we bless you.

The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us.

With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

(Psalm 118:24-29, NIV)

________

10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)

The sun comes up it's a new day dawning

It's time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing when the evening comes

Bless the Lord O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name

You're rich in love and You're slow to anger

Your name is great and Your heart is kind

For all Your goodness I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

And on that day when my strength is failing

The end draws near and my time has come

Still my soul will sing Your praise unending

Ten thousand years and then forevermore

Worship Your holy name

Lord I'll worship Your holy name

Jonas Myrin | Matt Redman

© 2011 Atlas Mountain Songs (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

sixsteps Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055