Community and the Centrality of Christ...
After taking a couple days to look at fatherlessness (which is about a lack of community) I wanted to come back to this discussion of community as the church.
When we talk about church, we most likely mean the building our congregation worships in. I know when my kids talk about "going to church," it means driving over to the church building proper. However, the conception the early believers had was far different! They didn't have a building, they didn't have paid staff, they didn't have respect or tax exempt status, and yet that was when everything was "on fire" (yes, I did just use that pun, try not to kill me for it!) as the Spirit had just come down and they were "adding to their number daily." What made the church grow then versus now? Was it better cultural relevancy? Was it their social justice pursuits in aiding those "who had need"? Was it passionate people? Was it great coffee? Or is there something we overlook?
I lean towards the overlooking part. Yes, they were passionate. Yes, they were relevant because they spoke into the world they lived in. Yes, they did a great job meeting needs and showing love. No, they didn't have anything comparable to Metro Coffee (or it's evil corporate clone, Starbucks). But, we can have all of that and see a church never grow. Why? Why don't we see people coming to know Jesus with life-changing intimacy each day as they did? Are people not as open to spiritual issues today? That last question should have made you laugh if you watch TV or read papers/magazines or surf the web or are anything other than an Amish farmer because you can easily see the spiritual hunger out there. The answer isn't in changed times/cultural milieu. What then are we missing?
I mean, there's a whole school of thought devoted to "How to grow your church." So why don't we see it like they did in Acts 2? I would venture to say we've lost our anchor in the most important part of the church, Jesus Himself. You might think, "Dude, Matt's lost his rocker today. Church is always all about Jesus." But I would say, "Dude, we've so made church all about everything besides Jesus." Think about it: outside of Easter, when was the last sermon (or whatever we call my Wednesday/Sunday things) that was about who Jesus was and why it matters? Or even add Easter, when was it? Was it last Sunday? Was it a month ago? Was it last year? Last decade? The answer might scare you if you honestly think about it.
I mean, our last several series haven't been particularly about Jesus. Characters is about people and the characteristics that we can learn from them, Pause was about making right choices, Fabulous Life is about stepping up to the plate and being who God made you to be today. None of those is particularly Jesus centric. yet the very name of our faith should tell you something: Christian. The word doesn't exist without Christ, but how central is Jesus to our conception of church? I know, this is heavy stuff. Lots of thinking involved, but I want you to think about how central Jesus is to your life. If you look back through His-story (and yes, I mean history but want you to see that history is His story), you see that every revival began with some rediscovery of who Jesus was. Not only that, but the discovery was made when someone came face to face with the ultimate question: "Who do YOU say I am?"
Because the answer to that question makes all the difference in the world. So, as you think about being together as a "church" how do we corporately (meaning together) answer the question? Tricky, huh? You can ponder that for a while, but let's back up and ask you the question: Who do you say/live/think/believe that Jesus is? Take some time and answer the question fully, it makes all the difference in the world...
When we talk about church, we most likely mean the building our congregation worships in. I know when my kids talk about "going to church," it means driving over to the church building proper. However, the conception the early believers had was far different! They didn't have a building, they didn't have paid staff, they didn't have respect or tax exempt status, and yet that was when everything was "on fire" (yes, I did just use that pun, try not to kill me for it!) as the Spirit had just come down and they were "adding to their number daily." What made the church grow then versus now? Was it better cultural relevancy? Was it their social justice pursuits in aiding those "who had need"? Was it passionate people? Was it great coffee? Or is there something we overlook?
I lean towards the overlooking part. Yes, they were passionate. Yes, they were relevant because they spoke into the world they lived in. Yes, they did a great job meeting needs and showing love. No, they didn't have anything comparable to Metro Coffee (or it's evil corporate clone, Starbucks). But, we can have all of that and see a church never grow. Why? Why don't we see people coming to know Jesus with life-changing intimacy each day as they did? Are people not as open to spiritual issues today? That last question should have made you laugh if you watch TV or read papers/magazines or surf the web or are anything other than an Amish farmer because you can easily see the spiritual hunger out there. The answer isn't in changed times/cultural milieu. What then are we missing?
I mean, there's a whole school of thought devoted to "How to grow your church." So why don't we see it like they did in Acts 2? I would venture to say we've lost our anchor in the most important part of the church, Jesus Himself. You might think, "Dude, Matt's lost his rocker today. Church is always all about Jesus." But I would say, "Dude, we've so made church all about everything besides Jesus." Think about it: outside of Easter, when was the last sermon (or whatever we call my Wednesday/Sunday things) that was about who Jesus was and why it matters? Or even add Easter, when was it? Was it last Sunday? Was it a month ago? Was it last year? Last decade? The answer might scare you if you honestly think about it.
I mean, our last several series haven't been particularly about Jesus. Characters is about people and the characteristics that we can learn from them, Pause was about making right choices, Fabulous Life is about stepping up to the plate and being who God made you to be today. None of those is particularly Jesus centric. yet the very name of our faith should tell you something: Christian. The word doesn't exist without Christ, but how central is Jesus to our conception of church? I know, this is heavy stuff. Lots of thinking involved, but I want you to think about how central Jesus is to your life. If you look back through His-story (and yes, I mean history but want you to see that history is His story), you see that every revival began with some rediscovery of who Jesus was. Not only that, but the discovery was made when someone came face to face with the ultimate question: "Who do YOU say I am?"
Because the answer to that question makes all the difference in the world. So, as you think about being together as a "church" how do we corporately (meaning together) answer the question? Tricky, huh? You can ponder that for a while, but let's back up and ask you the question: Who do you say/live/think/believe that Jesus is? Take some time and answer the question fully, it makes all the difference in the world...
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