This was the devotional thought I gave tonight with much trepidation. I was worried I might be boo'd off the podium. But apparently it made some sense and wasn't too ranty.
You may not like what I’m going to say tonight. I don’t like
some of it. Recently I’ve been feeling that there’s a lot more to this
Christian Life than what I’ve been living. Is this all God has called us to be?
In our often works centered Christianity we talk about the need to DO more. But
what Christ has for us is to BE more.
He doesn’t call us not to steal. He calls us not
to want to steal.
He doesn’t call us to refrain from impure actions.
He calls us to refrain from impure thoughts.
He doesn’t call us not to kill. He calls us to not
insult and hate and look down on.
He doesn’t call us to worship Him. He calls us to
be pulled so strongly to him that we can’t help but worship Him.
He doesn’t call us to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless,
heal the sick. He calls us to be filled with compassion so great that we can’t
help but serve those around us.
What keeps us from being more? I can tell you that for me it
is: Fear. Insecurity. Complacency. Laziness.
I’m perfectly comfortable in my life. Good family, good job, plenty of stuff.
And doesn’t Jesus accept us just as we are? We just sang
“Just as I Am.” Yes, he does, in all our sin and imperfections, he welcomes anyone
into his kingdom. But once there, we are not done. The new addition to the body
is just beginning the journey, she has not arrived. The destination is being
transformed to be like Jesus. That’s a long way to go.
What else holds me back? I am burdened by legalism. I am
burdened by traditions held up as law that do not permit growth or change. I
truly appreciate Jim’s lessons on Dependable Doctrine. As much for what he has
not said than what he has said (though he’s not done yet). And his lessons on
the Spirit, calling us to broaden our horizons and let the power of the Spirit live
in and work through us. I am burdened when I want to be more, but those around
me are just fine where they are. We have been complacent too long. Our heritage
of restoring the New Testament church is done; somewhere along the way we
figured we got close enough.
I’m burdened when I see our young people leaving the church
in such great numbers. I worry for my own sons. Am I leading them in the right
way? Our youth are not leaving because we’re not teaching them the right lists
or memory verses. They’re not leaving because we didn’t pray enough before
dinner, because we let them watch too much TV or play too many video games.
They’re not leaving because they don’t know the stories. They’re leaving
because they’re not part of the story. They’re leaving because when they ask
the tough questions, we have nothing beyond trite sayings, traditions, and
doctrine to offer them. They’re leaving because they see the church as an
organization rather than an organism. They see a religion based on rules rather
than a relationship. They see groups of people treated as second class citizens
of the kingdom. They see a call to uniformity rather than unity. They see “Just
As I Am” to mean “Just As Long As You’re Like Us”.
I want to be more… and yet I don’t. I don’t seem to want to
take the steps necessary to be more. At least I haven’t taken those steps yet.
Change is hard. Growth is hard. Snakes shed their skin. Butterflies leave the
warmth of their cocoon. Birds fly out of their mother’s nest. What Christ has
called us to be is hard. And sometimes we have to leave the warm (or extra
chilly) confines of this building, to make it so.
I heard a statement recently that has stuck with me. “God
didn’t give the church a mission. He gave the mission a church.” God put all of
you here to help me be who he wants me to be. More than what I want, more than
what I am. As a community, what are you doing to help me be more than what I am
now? What are we doing for our young people, for the deaf, for the ladies, for
the people of this community to help us all be more?
