Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him!
– Psalm 33:8
Sometimes I wonder if the church is too accommodating. You’re just fine the you are. Late, no problem, go right in. Busy this Sunday with (you fill in the blank), no problem, we understand, we’re all busy. We don’t use words that offend like Hell or sin or accountability. Make yourself… comfortable.
Have we lowered our expectations so much that we are in danger of offending God?
After all, a seeker sensitive mentality means the customer is always right. Ahhhhh, I think we are on to something here. We have mistakenly interchanged church ministry with a business model. Instead of desiring people to engage with Christ we look to fill seats. Instead of discipleship being a measure of growth we look at the financial health to gauge how the church is doing. To what are these standards compared and to whom are we seeking adoration from? Hard questions in a society that uses competition to push a worldly sense of success.
All this has to come down to the basic realization of the essence of the Church. The Church exists for three fundamental reasons. To exalt the Lord, to edify the body and to evangelize the world. If a church trades or substitutes any of these assignments is it really a church?
Notice that the responsibilities of the local church are also not dependent on human rational or worldly principles. For a church to be a church, factors like building space or location, finances, audio and visual technologies, free coffee or an established budget are not a requirement. Might these things help and be beneficial in ministry? Only if they are used to complement those imperative things that are held to the highest degree. Things like the proclamation that Jesus is Lord, the Son of God. Things like solid Bible teachings and a strict stance on the authority and importance of Scripture. Things like welcoming everyone in, but not freely accepting their sinful behavior or lifestyle. Things like discipleship and creating a culture that operates within the Truth and Love of Christ.
Let us also remember that the Body of Christ is made up of individual believers. That means these hard questions cannot only be asked about the church, but also about ourselves. Questions like, do I actually have a respect, a reverence and an awe of the Lord? Do we even know how that should look? That’s a hard one and ultimately, if we are honest, heartwrenching. Here’s another one, do I treat my faith like I can pick and choose how I live it out? This includes who I believe Jesus to be, the authority of the Father, the severity of my sin and what worship is. Also a hard and convincing question. But without the questions how can we ever come to the answers?
When Jesus walked this earth, though He was 100% human, but He remained 100% divine. That means He possessed all knowledge and wisdom from eternity past to eternity future. And yet, He was always asking those around Him questions. From those that He was closest to like Peter, James and John, to those He had a more brief interaction with, to the religious leaders that opposed Him, Jesus asked questions. Why? It wasn’t because He didn’t know the answer, but so those He was interacting with could be guided to the Truth.
In our churches and in our personal lives how willing are we to forego the worldly standard, the busyness, the distractions and the acceptable justifications to simply move to a place of respect, reverence and awe of the Lord? What are we willing to sacrifice and what are we needing to embrace to build our faith in a Christ consuming way?
Jason Metz, lead Pastor
