I love the church, but I don't go to church. I believe the church is the hope of the world, but I can't step foot in a church. I want everyone in the whole world to join the church, but I will never be a "church attender" or a "church goer." On the other hand, I've never "skipped church," nor will I ever "miss church." Confused yet? These are strange words from a pastor, of all people. Now try this one on for size: You don't go to church either. You never have and you never will. It's impossible...and I'll tell you why. Church is not something you go to, attend, miss or skip. Church is something you are.
A few weeks ago, during Spring Break, I took my family camping, and we left town at about 11:15 on Sunday morning. The next week I was back with the people of CrossPoint and I told them what I had done. Then I gave them a test to "see if they were paying attention." I said, "Ok. True or False? Last Sunday, your pastor skipped church and went camping." "True!" most yelled. "False!" a few proclaimed. I said, "False! How can I skip something that I am? That's like saying I skipped Harrison! The truth is," I added, "last week, the church went camping. Last week the church went to Disney World. Last week some of the church gathered to worship. And some of the church slept in!"
I am on a journey to see church differently than I did growing up. Rather than seeing it as a sacred building or an organization, I'm beginning to see the church as the body of Christ, a living, breathing, re-presentation of the love, mission, power, grace, ministry and person of Jesus. I understand He is not here in a one-person-bodily form any more. He ascended to be with our Father after promising something even better than him walking the earth: his Holy Spirit, multiplying him in every way, in and through as many people as would believe and receive.
I have not always recognized the importance of how we use the word 'church,' but words affect how we think. How we think affects how we live. If you and I think of church as something we go to or attend, I'm afraid we may fall prey to a clever scheme of the enemy. Satan knows that if we put more value on taking our place in the pew on Sunday mornings than living out the body-life of Christ on a daily basis, he will render us ineffective to change the world. Ever had this thought on a Sunday afternoon? "Man, that was long and boring today, but at least I can feel good about doing what I was supposed to do!" Yeah, me too. I'm concerned that we've been had.
Last year about this time, I stopped by a large church (excuse me, a church's gathering place) in a nearby city to invite the pastor and the men of his congregation to a men's retreat. I explained that the weekend would begin on Thursday evening and would end on Sunday at noon, that it would help men grow in hearing the voice of God and that we would be leading men into freedom from the lies they had come to believe about themselves that hold them captive. I voiced our desire to help men discover what God had specifically put in them to bring Him glory and that would allow them to experience being 'fully alive.' I conveyed we would be sharing how to recognize the schemes of the enemy and would teach men how to fight in spiritual warfare. I also told him that men, in past weekends, had left the retreat with a deeper intimacy with God that led to a greater love for their wives and children. The pastor put down his notepad and said, "I've got a real problem with an organization that would take men away from their church on Sunday."
I attempted to explain how it would benefit "his church" if men had an experience of waking up and coming alive with a passion for God, but it was as if he couldn't hear what I was saying. "It's just kind of pet peeve of mine," he said, "when people miss church to attend some Christian event. Now, I let the kids miss when they went to camp, but I didn't like it!"
When I left his office, I thanked the secretary, and walked away grieving. I confess feeling, angry, bewildered, and judgmental. But even as I write this, I have to check my pride and look at my own life. I've spent many years of ministry trying to get people to come to someTHING rather than inviting people or leading people to experience the daily life of God.
In Matthew 18:20, Jesus says, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Is he saying that is the only time he is present? Of course not. He is always with us. He's describing people coming together for the purpose of re-presenting him to the world in a given situation. He's describing how his "body," his "church," will experience him doing the kinds of things through them that we see him doing while he walked the earth. Wherever Jesus walked, he brought and expanded the kingdom of God, that is the realm where God's will is done. The sick were healed, demons were cast out, and most importantly, people experienced the transforming love of God, realizing the truth of how good and loving and grace-full God is. I think we've been duped into thinking going "to church" is the point. I'm becoming convinced that this deception has severely dampened the joy of living out Christ's life as his body and has limited how much the world experiences Christ through us.
What if we began to think of what we do on Sundays or Wednesdays , not as church, but as a gathering of the body, the church, to celebrate the goodness of God? What if we saw our "services" as times for the body to worship, to be encouraged, to be reminded of the reality of who we are as new creatures in Christ, and to be equipped for works of service as described in Ephesians 4:12? What would happen if we each had a few fellow Christ-presenters that loved one another so deeply, who would bear with one another through hurtful experiences, and who shared life so intimately that we never felt alone in anything we faced? I really believe that the lost would begin to see us living a life that they would give anything to experience, and that we would begin to experience a joy and abundant life that is beyond our wildest dreams.
No comments:
Post a Comment