Unless

So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”  John 20:25....."In our preaching, hearers need to see our Lord Jesus and touch Him."  Watchman Nee

I recently saw an article from a Christian ministry that was centered on all the people who have left the church, why they have left, and what needs to be done to bring them back. The article sprang from the writer asking a cross section of these people the above questions. I was amazed. Not because we shouldn't be aware of why people leave, but that we go to people to find out what it is they want from the church, and then try to figure out what the church can do to bring them back, to bring them in. This reminds me of something Henry Blackaby said about how many churches were polling the unchurched people around them as to what it was they would like a church to be about if they were to attend a church. Blackaby asked, "Why should the church go to the world to ask it about what the church should be?" Why do we always think the answers are in the ideas and attitudes of people? Why do we so easily go to them and not to Him?

This is not to say that the church is not without fault. It carries plenty of that. But our faults are not going to be rectified by finding new and pleasing ways to attract a crowd. That's a temporary fix that will always soon require an even better one a short time later. The church's problem is that in far too many ways, we have not presented a God, a Son, and a Holy Spirit that is real to those who come. We've resorted to fleshly means to attract people, means that the world always does so much better than us. They soon become bored and need something more stimulating. Something that the church down the road does better, or they just simply find it out in the culture. How can it be that in all our hand wringing over how to draw the people, we never seem to uncover the truth that is right before us? That the reality of the Living, Risen Christ in the midst of church provides an eternal attraction that nothing in all of creation can match. We keep building "ladders" in order to reach Him when His Word tells us that when we proclaim His glory, when we "lift Him up," He will, as His Word says, "draw all men (and women) to Himself?"

What would happen if in the church, a generation of preachers would be so saturated in His presence, so alive unto Him, that they could proclaim a risen Christ so real, so vibrant, so alive, that people could spiritually "touch and see Him?" Thomas said that he would not believe unless he saw Christ's wounds and touched them. When Christ appeared before him and he could do so, all Thomas could say was, "My Lord and my God." It will be the same when He "shows up" among us, and He will where we are committed to lifting Him up, proclaiming His glory, and offering no props, ladders, or attractions that are nothing but cheap tricks beside He who is the glory of God.

Anne Graham Lotz wrote a book entitled, "Just Give Me Jesus!" May we do so. May we give people Jesus, the real Jesus. We need nothing more.

Blessings,

Pastor O