One of my concerns for the Church is about the generation that is being raised-up today and the generations that will follow them. I wonder if in our selfishness that we are really looking out for the best interest of those that will follow us. Are we willing to learn their language, the forms of communication they use, the style of teaching that works best, etc. Or, is our attitude that of, if it was good enough for me and my parents then it is good enough for them. Once, I was in a setting with pastors and future church leaders and I heard a conversation taking place between two older women. The conversation went something like this, 'Can you believe that churches are allowed to have dance in their services? Why doesn't someone in authority put an end to such worldly practices. I know, and what about those churches that are doing this contemporary music instead of using the old hymns just to attract these younger people. They let them come in with tattoos, piercings, not dressed right for church, and long hair. Somebody needs to do something about these pastors who aren't following the old ways.' As I was listening to this conversation a righteous indignation began to rise up in me and I could not remain silent. As I began to address these two women in love and grace the room got very quiet. I addressed all of their complaints about pastors like me. We are trying to touch this younger generation for Jesus. As for me I did not care how they came dressed for church I just wanted them there so they could hear the Word of God. It was not my job to get the outward appearance right my job was to wash them with the Word, to love them, lead them to Christ and disciple them. If that meant dance could be used as a form of worship so be it, David danced. If that meant that we used more contemporary songs great, I was for all that. As long as we never compromised the Gospel we should do whatever it takes to reach these young people. I will admit I could not resist one last zing, a lot of the songs that are in the old hymn books are not scripturally correct and many of them are not glorifying to God but about what we got, that many of the more contemporary songs are using scripture in their chorus.
The other thing that concerns me for future generations is, are we leaving them a biblical model to follow when it comes to loving the Father, and following Jesus? We have not shared the full counsel of God. So often times we only teach on aspect of the truth of God's Word. What we teach often times is more about what makes us feel good about ourselves rather than where we fall short and how do we, through the Holy Spirit, go to the next level. Are we teaching them that we are truly a priesthood of believers serving both God and others? Or are we more concerned about how God and others can serve us meeting our needs? Are we concerned about the consequences of our actions on future generations?
One of the most selfish examples statements in the Bible belongs to a good king, Hezekiah. In Isaiah 39 Hezekiah shows the Babylonian envoys all of his riches and armament. Isaiah goes to him and declares to him that all of these treasures will be carried to Babylon along with his sons who will be made eunuchs in the king of Babylon's palace. His response is very telling, "At least there will be peace and truth in my days." In other words, so what. No repentance, no sorrow, no contrition just, so what, I have had mine. I am afraid that is the attitude of some in the church towards younger generations, I have had mine and I am not concerned for their future. Paul said there were many teachers but few fathers, let the fathers and mothers of this generation rise up and declare that we are concerned for future generations and we will do what is necessary to see the kingdom of God expand through prayers and ministry.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
What Will You Do?
Many in the Church are praying for our pews to be full and that there will be a great revival in the Church. Believers are praying for all types of people to begin filling the Church including those that are poor, hurting, broken, addicted, spiritually blind, in other words, people like those in our community. My question to the Church is, what are we going to do when those that we have been praying for begin to show up at our place of worship? Yes, we say that are churches are open to everyone but do we really mean it? What if they have a bad odor about them, have spent time in prison, been a prostitute, or God forbid, are involved in homosexuality? What will our reaction be? Will it be Christ like or will it be like some folks who told me I had a choice between them or mentally and physically challenged men from a group home?
If the disciples are any example of how we will do with the multitude then we might not fare well when the least of these are among us. Jesus had been preaching to the five thousand (sounds like a successful evangelistic event) and the day was done with no food or lodging in the immediate area. The disciples told Jesus to send the multitude away. Imagine, telling Jesus what to do. (I might be guilty of that one on occasion.) It can be argued that the disciples just did not have enough faith to feed the five thousand but I would like for us to consider another plausible explanation. What if they just did not want to bothered with the responsibility of meeting the needs of the multitude? They would have been inconvenienced, it had been a long day and they were tired, they might have had to give out of their own pockets, and maybe they were satisfied that they and their family had what they needed from Jesus. In other words, my four and no more. In many ways the modern day church in the United States has abdicated its' responsibilities to the least of the these and put the responsibility on the shoulders of the government. It is easier to pay taxes or give to those serving the poor rather than getting directly involved with those that are not like us. We might even be spiritually righteous and say that they got in to that position because of bad choices so let them get out of it. If I can make it so can they mentality. One of my all time favorite reasons for not helping the poor is that it is not my calling. I even once had someone say to me, brother Carl, (watch out) you will be giving out more in resources than you will be bringing in and you cannot grow a church like that. We have all kinds of reasons, just like the disciples, to send the multitude away. I would argue that Church is anointed for this very thing (Luke 4:18-19). As we are open to this anointing we will have the opportunity to meet needs of those that Jesus went to the cross for so that they may have life and life abundantly. No more excuses, what will you do when the multitude is before you. So you will know, I did enjoy worshipping with my friends and brothers from the group home for a long time until they moved to the other side of town.
If the disciples are any example of how we will do with the multitude then we might not fare well when the least of these are among us. Jesus had been preaching to the five thousand (sounds like a successful evangelistic event) and the day was done with no food or lodging in the immediate area. The disciples told Jesus to send the multitude away. Imagine, telling Jesus what to do. (I might be guilty of that one on occasion.) It can be argued that the disciples just did not have enough faith to feed the five thousand but I would like for us to consider another plausible explanation. What if they just did not want to bothered with the responsibility of meeting the needs of the multitude? They would have been inconvenienced, it had been a long day and they were tired, they might have had to give out of their own pockets, and maybe they were satisfied that they and their family had what they needed from Jesus. In other words, my four and no more. In many ways the modern day church in the United States has abdicated its' responsibilities to the least of the these and put the responsibility on the shoulders of the government. It is easier to pay taxes or give to those serving the poor rather than getting directly involved with those that are not like us. We might even be spiritually righteous and say that they got in to that position because of bad choices so let them get out of it. If I can make it so can they mentality. One of my all time favorite reasons for not helping the poor is that it is not my calling. I even once had someone say to me, brother Carl, (watch out) you will be giving out more in resources than you will be bringing in and you cannot grow a church like that. We have all kinds of reasons, just like the disciples, to send the multitude away. I would argue that Church is anointed for this very thing (Luke 4:18-19). As we are open to this anointing we will have the opportunity to meet needs of those that Jesus went to the cross for so that they may have life and life abundantly. No more excuses, what will you do when the multitude is before you. So you will know, I did enjoy worshipping with my friends and brothers from the group home for a long time until they moved to the other side of town.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The Imperfect Church
I always like to read church signs because it is a way of gauging where a church might be on some issues. Some churches post the same tried and true messages while others might be a little bit more daring in their messages. I have always viewed the church sign as a way to communicate with the community and possibly challenge someone's thinking. Based on the positive and negative feedback received we did succeed at challenging people to think about the message.
Today, I saw a sign that tells me that a church and or pastor is honest about where they are as a body. The sign said, "If you are looking for a perfect church keep driving!" This church is being honest about not being perfect, how refreshing. While pastors are generally honest about their church not being perfect, I am not sure that others really believe that there is not a perfect church out there, somewhere, just waiting to be discovered. The reason for this belief is that people seem to be going from church to church, never settling down, rarely making a committment to the pastor or the church, always looking for the newest, latest, greatest church in town. Today's Christian seem to be like the ones that Jesus was speaking about when He referred to the ministry of John the Baptist, "John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light." (John 5:35 NIV) For a time John drew large crowds but when the message confronted the hearers in their own sin then his popularity began to wane. Like a great preacher John always pointed towards Jesus, even at the cost of his popularity.
When expectations are not met, roaming Christians move on to the next fad in the Christian community, leaving behind a bewildered pastor wondering what happened. Often times the newness and excitement of a ministry wears off, the light is not shining as brightly, the honeymoon is over, and it is time to find a new ministry where we can achieve another spiritual high. There are millions of reasons why people move from place to place but unless there is heresy, the Word is not being preached, immorality in the church or God says you are done and you are sent out, there are very few legitimate reasons to leave a local body. (The one exception would be if the environment of a church is toxic and your spiritual well being is at risk then run, telling the pastor why.) One of the flimsiest excuses for a church member is the tried and true, I am not being fed. I once heard a young man say that about our pastor and I told him that if he wanted to be fed he needed to pull a chair up to the table and eat because it was being served. I could go on and on with the excuses for leaving a ministry because I have heard so many over the years but you get the idea.
Because so many are moving from church to church we are fooled into believing that we are growing the church when in reality we are just swapping members. Until we are honest with each other about the imperfections of the church nothing will change. Until the roaming stops it is difficult to develop mature believers leaving the church weak and ineffective. Let us be in honest is stating that there is no perfect church just imperfect people trying to serve a perfect God.
Today, I saw a sign that tells me that a church and or pastor is honest about where they are as a body. The sign said, "If you are looking for a perfect church keep driving!" This church is being honest about not being perfect, how refreshing. While pastors are generally honest about their church not being perfect, I am not sure that others really believe that there is not a perfect church out there, somewhere, just waiting to be discovered. The reason for this belief is that people seem to be going from church to church, never settling down, rarely making a committment to the pastor or the church, always looking for the newest, latest, greatest church in town. Today's Christian seem to be like the ones that Jesus was speaking about when He referred to the ministry of John the Baptist, "John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light." (John 5:35 NIV) For a time John drew large crowds but when the message confronted the hearers in their own sin then his popularity began to wane. Like a great preacher John always pointed towards Jesus, even at the cost of his popularity.
When expectations are not met, roaming Christians move on to the next fad in the Christian community, leaving behind a bewildered pastor wondering what happened. Often times the newness and excitement of a ministry wears off, the light is not shining as brightly, the honeymoon is over, and it is time to find a new ministry where we can achieve another spiritual high. There are millions of reasons why people move from place to place but unless there is heresy, the Word is not being preached, immorality in the church or God says you are done and you are sent out, there are very few legitimate reasons to leave a local body. (The one exception would be if the environment of a church is toxic and your spiritual well being is at risk then run, telling the pastor why.) One of the flimsiest excuses for a church member is the tried and true, I am not being fed. I once heard a young man say that about our pastor and I told him that if he wanted to be fed he needed to pull a chair up to the table and eat because it was being served. I could go on and on with the excuses for leaving a ministry because I have heard so many over the years but you get the idea.
Because so many are moving from church to church we are fooled into believing that we are growing the church when in reality we are just swapping members. Until we are honest with each other about the imperfections of the church nothing will change. Until the roaming stops it is difficult to develop mature believers leaving the church weak and ineffective. Let us be in honest is stating that there is no perfect church just imperfect people trying to serve a perfect God.
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