I believe in the church

I've been thinking a lot about Church lately. Now you'd expect a pastor to be thinking a lot about Church-it's kind of his job. If he didn't think about Church, you might question whether he cares about it. Because honestly, what we think about most, is what we care about the most. Is that why Paul told us to think about things that are lovely and admirable and excellent and praise worthy (Philippians 4)? But that's not the purpose of this article.

Instead, like I said, I think about Church a lot.

 

Here at Christ Community Church, we are currently in a series, entitled, "How We Have De-viced Our Devices". It's a creative play on words. Let me explain. We recognize there are things in our life that we would call vices—things in our life or about ourselves that we wish we could avoid, overcome, or stop doing. Things like smoking, drinking, gambling, swearing, stealing, etc. Those are called, vices. But, when we look at our phones and all of the things that happen on our phones that produce negative experiences, we tend to overlook those. Shrug them off even, or explain them away. For example, think of social media and all the negativity that can happen on these platforms. Now, I know there can also be amazing things, absolutely. But are they worth the pain, frustration, and anxiety they cause? Despite that, we find ourselves going back to these platforms. Remember the days when buying a house required calling realtors or driving every street to find the houses for sale? In this day and age, we can go on Zillow and look at hundreds of thousands of houses! Why could that become a negative thing? It can create a sense of jealousy and envy or dreamscrolling! But we don't see those as negative. So, we have in a sense, De-viced our devices.

 

So, in this series at church, we were talking about the early Church in Acts 2:42-47. There was something different about them. They didn't buy into the consumer culture. They didn't buy into the distractions that come with our technology. Instead, they lived to worship God regardless of the cost. And they were content with just simply chasing after Jesus.

 

And this is what I think about. Do we chase after Jesus? I'll ask you. Do you chase after Jesus?

 

You may respond and say, Rick, "That's hard to answer. The culture was different back then." You're right. You might even say, "It was simpler back then. Therefore, it must've been easier to follow Jesus." But if we take a moment to just actually think about that, we would know that that was the furthest from the truth.

 

Let me explain briefly. The early church existed at a time of the Roman empire. They had made crucifixion a science. They literally crucified thousands upon thousands of people.

You might not know that most died over the course of days by way of dehydration or starvation. Or even worse, predators such as birds would peck at them and wild animals would eat at their flesh until they died. Just as an aside, we often see Jesus on the cross, high and elevated. But those being crucified were actually done so at eye-level, allowing people to continually spit on them, mock them, and scorn them as they were being crucified. It also allowed for dogs and other small animals to eat them while they were on the cross. I know, gross. Sorry if I ruined your lunch. But again, I digress.

 

Back to the point. The early church lived their lives daily being in fear of the Romans, and rejected by the Jews. Being a Christian made them politically, socially, and spiritually ostracized. It wasn't easy to be a Christian in the first century. And yet, they found so much joy from being a follower of Jesus. Acts 2 says that when they met together daily, with glad and sincere hearts, they praised God. Wow! But how? How could they find so much joy and sincerity of heart, praising God in the middle of such a difficult period of time? And what can we learn for our lives through that experience?

 

While, I don't have an answer so to speak, I do have a thought. What would happen if we chose to allow God's Word to tell us how to think rather than modern technology? How would our lives be different if we were more obedient to the Bible than to our device? Now before I come across preachy, this is the struggle of the pastor, too. We can so easily become obedient to our calendar on our device. It becomes projects over people and preparing a message over ministry. We understand it's not easy to balance the pressures of this life. Believe it or not, we're human, too!

 

I will just give you the titles of the three messages of this series and let them sit and simmer in your heart. Then, let the Holy Spirit guide you as you think about how Church is supposed to operate. Part 1 - Don't Think of Discipleship with a Digital Mindset. Part 2 - Don't Think of Community with a Consumer Mindset. Part 3 - Don't Think of Worship with a Worldly Mindset.

 

I have great hopes for the Church of Jesus Christ. The question is, do you? And how will you be part of living out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30-31; Matthew 22:37-39), and the Great Empowerment (Acts 1:8)? How will you make your church a place where people find an authentic Jesus, where He brings truth, hope, and love? Or are you just expecting your pastor to do that, or will you be a part of the solutions needed for the church to thrive in the coming years? Will you reject the values of this culture of this world to pursue and live out the values in the cultures of the kingdom of God?

 

I've been thinking a lot about Church lately. I really have. And this is what I've come up with.

 

I believe in the Church. And | believe in us. Why? Because WE are the Church.