Obsession

 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  Matthew 22:37

I have a quote written down in my prayer journal from an unknown source. It reads, "I love hot coffee and donuts, but if they are the measure of a successful church, then we are lost. Jesus paid too high a price for this to be our obsession." It's a wonderful and true statement, but the word that took hold of me was "obsession." In our lives as followers of Jesus Christ, just what is our obsession? Who and what are we obsessed with?

What, in the average evangelical church is it that we are preoccupied, obsessed with? When boards and committees come together to plan ministries, what is it that they feel has to be present in order for them to be successful ministries? What is it we feel we cannot do without?

This is not a tirade against coffee bars, or multi-use sanctuaries, multi-faceted youth ministries, or a number of other features of the 21st century western church. I'm not advocating a return to how we did church a few decades ago or to do away with any of what I've listed above. What I'm asking is, when we come together, what place does Jesus Christ and His Presence, His worship, His Lordship and Majesty have?

I think we have become so obsessed with "designing" a church and ministry that contains all the elements we think will make it successful and well attended that we no longer have Christ at the center of it all. We are taking for granted that He'll be there and that He'll be pleased with all we've done to give people access to Him. We craft our ministries and our worship services with everything in mind but Him. We seek to create a welcoming atmosphere for people and miss the question as to whether this atmosphere is welcoming to Him. We've lifted what people may desire over and above what He does. We've become obsessed with doing this and we are missing Him in the doing of it. In the church, your church, what is it that you feel you must have and that not having it will make for a much lesser church experience for you? If we're missing all of the above amenities and all that remained to us was Jesus Christ and His Presence, would that be enough?

Matt Redman, a noted worship leader in the 90's felt that the church he led worship in had become more in love with the music performances than they were with the Jesus they were singing about. After talking with his pastor, they decided to forego any musical worship at all for several months. The fellowship came together, prayed, meditated, and proclaimed His word. There was no "performance" at all. All the focus was on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The result was a church re-energized in their love for the 3 in 1 God, and the writing by Redman of the classic song, The Heart Of Worship, which begins with the lyric, I'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all about You Lord, it's all about You. Perhaps you need, we need, our churches need to do the same. May we truly be all about You Lord. All about You.

Blessings,
Pastor O