I have been doing a lot of reading and meditating lately about the Kingdom and our role on earth as followers of Jesus. I will say this has been the most challenging months that I can recall spiritually, as I have been and continue to examine my heart and look at the world through the eyes of Jesus. I have gone from the mentality of being the “King of Comfort”, as it is well put by the band Delirious, to a focus of how I can inconvenience my self for the advancement of the kingdom.
I look at what the American definition of church is and have a hard time finding things in scripture that supports what we do. In America and in other places we have built these buildings and called them a church. We expect the lost to come to us. Like all of a sudden the lost is going to wake up on a Sunday morning and sacrifice time to sleep in, golf, or whatever people do on Sundays to hear a hip band and hear someone tell them that they are living life wrong. Churches have gotten desperate over the years and have tried some marketing ideas such as, billboards, Movie Theater advertising prior to the movie, ads on some radio stations. I know of a church in Ohio that advertised a money give away on Easter Sunday.
Has the American Church Hit Rock Bottom?
Rock bottom is a term that you hear a lot in the substance abuse arena. It refers to a person who has been struggling for years with addictions and ignored every one that reached out to help. The person usually looses friends, job, their house, good health, and other important things before they realize that the addiction is not worth it anymore. At this point they reached rock bottom and at times will get help, however many continue down the same old path till they die.
Is the church reaching rock bottom? Let me explain what I am talking about before you think I am some of off the wall nut job. The church for many years has continued down the same path. The church, referring to the body, has adopted what the American culture teaches, which is ,it's all about me and my convenience first. Think about it, how many so-called “followers of Jesus” live pleasing their desires first then will attend a service once a week, if it works out, and go on confessing that they are Christians? Meanwhile, through out the week they neglect the needs of others, filling up their lives with things that in the end do not matter, and for some reason they feel that is acceptable. The church is addicted to what the culture teaches and they are failing God miserably. The church needs to reverse this train of thought. We are not called to blend in with the culture of the day and fit Jesus in somewhere. We are called to change the culture around us into a Jesus Culture at all cost.
The Church is to reach out; in fact, the Bible clearly states we are to GO! We should not build a building to sit and wait for people to show up. Now do not get me wrong I am not saying that having a service is wrong, in fact, they can be great things for growth, community, and in some cases people find Jesus. I am saying that church is what goes on after the service; however look at what we clutter of lives with through out the week. Many of us work at least 8 hours a day and then afterwards its appointment after appointment, getting kids to practices or games, some work an extra job, and others just don’t do a thing, which is another issue. We clutter up our lives with meaningless things, things that hinder us from being the church, things that hinder us as parents from teaching our kids how to be the church. The churches addiction, to American culture is prevalent and there needs to be a change.
I am not meaning to come off like some killjoy. I understand that kids will have their sports or activities they want to be involved with, and appointments do come up. I am saying that the church needs to approach all things with the mindset of how am I going to glorify Jesus and further the kingdom through this? How am I going to impact other for Christ while I sit and wait for my son or daughter to get done with practice?, how am I going to teach my kids to be aware of opportunities to reach out to team mates or at their schools?
The Church has been ignoring its calling and continues to go down the same road, which leads to being inactive and to the world it does not look any different. The church hitting rock bottom is not that far off.
If you sense your life is too full to do what Jesus commanded us to do, then chances are, it is. Personally, I am making strides, however it can be difficult because of our sin nature. I fail and in no way am I going to sit here and act like I got it all together. But I will admit I am more aware of our calling and sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. When I fail I get upset and will ruminate about for a while, but I guess I would rather fail, while pursuing Gods calling, than fail continuously not in the pursuit.
