What If?

 We live in a consumer centered culture. That culture is geared towards seeking to satisfy all of our fleshly desires. We purchase the products that do the best job of appealing to those desires. The culture knows how to appeal to flesh.  Sadly, tragically, so does much of the church.

Jesus made it clear that anyone who would come after Him must, "Take up their cross and follow Me." This is not a message that will get much traction in the modern church in America. Francis Chan makes some deeply challenging statements on this. He said, "Churches are too busy creating what people expect rather than actually pursuing what God commands......What if all the church had to offer was the Bible, the cup, and the bread?" 

"What if" indeed! Why do we think we need so many props and gimmicks? Why do we so willingly pander to the consumer spirit that is rampant in the church today? I get it, we need to minister to people in effective ways and we need to have ministries that are completely built upon Christ to do so. There's no denying that, but why is He seemingly not enough when trying to do so. How have we come to depend so much upon appealing to the senses rather than appealing to the heart, through His Holy Spirit?

The Bible, the cup, and the bread, seem like little to offer until we dwell upon what is involved in the offer. In the Bible, we offer the Living Word of God. Christ is the Living Word. We offer Christ and all that is found in Him. The fullness of His Life. The cup is the offer of His blood and the New Covenant that His blood covers us with. Grace, freedom, victory, and all the power found in His blood. The bread is the food, nourishment, fellowship, and community found only in Him and nowhere else. To have these is to have everything, and if we have everything, why do we think we need all the rest? Why do we feel we must offer Jesus and something else? Why do we think Christ needs additives?

There's a simple but powerful video series on social media that shows a young man sitting down in a sanctuary with an open Bible, ready to worship the Lord. It then cuts to various churches and the means they're using to hold the interest of the congregation. Some are absurd. Some are hilarious. Many border on blasphemy. I would not want to stand in the shoes of those who must give account for them.

The church that bases their appeal on the criteria Chan proposes takes a risk. Yet, is it really a risk if it is based fully upon the Person, Presence, and Power of the Three in One God,? Upon the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?  May we, His church, His Body, dare to take that risk, which is really know risk at all when all we do flows out of Life, Presence, and Fullness. Jesus first, Jesus last, Jesus always.

Blessings,
Pastor O