Christianity: it’s supposed to be on the edge

Revelation 3:15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.


So after finishing the posting right before this one I realized ”the church” in its broadest sense isn’t always able to bring itself to be “all things to all people.” Sometimes it can loose sight of what the church is meant to be in attempting to be all things to all people.

Here is what I mean. First, how many congregations in an attempt to attract and keep people by having golf leagues, softball leagues, quilting clubs, adventure clubs, field trips to sport outings, scrap booking clubs etc. There’s nothing inherently “wrong” with any of these. Matter of fact I’ve participated and promoted one or two myself (not the quilt club though). The problem is: it’s pretty easy for some folks to “hide” in these activities and never learn to share their faith with someone who doesn’t know Christ. It’s easy to be a member of a church by participating in these activities and never be challenged to grow spiritually. We might be all things but certainly not for the purpose of saving people and equipping people to share a life saving message.

Secondly, we can become so caught up in living “the Christian life” that we risk socially cut ourselves off from non-Christians. We do anything but become “all things to all people so that we might win them to Christ.” Instead we provide all things for all us insiders so that we don’t have to deal with that “sinful” world out there. We find a Christian dentist, insurance agent, attorney, mechanic, painter, doctor, furnace repair guy and so on down the line. Eventually, if we are not careful, we can get to the point where we would not even think of going to lunch with anyone other than someone “from church.” We want nothing but a “nice” church where our kids get raised in a nice hermetically sealed environment where they are taught, de facto, to segregate themselves from the “unsaved sinful unclean” world because that is what their parents have done.

Churches die or become spiritually dead because they exist for the churched rather than the unchurched. There is a wake-up call going on for the church in our generation: we are not called to seal ourselves off expecting the unsaved world to come to us. Shame on us when our church buildings for all intents and purposes are nothing more than a fort for “the saved” rather than an oasis for those who are dying. The church must relearn to exist for the unchurched instead of for the churched. We shouldn’t expect “them” to be ready to instantly be like ‘us” because we appear to have an attractive Carnival Cruises Christian lifestyle.

The Great commission’s operative word is “go”. The church as a whole in the 20th century sent some people out, but by and large their greatest trademark became “waiting . . . for them to change and to come to us.” That goes against the grain of who Jesus is.

Is it any wonder that most people who are not Christians have no reason to mingle with the church because there is nothing genuinely attractive about it in terms of being relevant to them offering a life changing relationship and hope in a broken world?

Stay close to Jesus . . . but go where he wants you to go out there!

REG

P.S Would you rather sit at a church board meeting deciding what color to paint the narthex listening to a side conversation on the latest gossip or would you entertain talking to someone who has a deep hunger for spiritual things but needs to talk about it on his turf at the local pub?

Chameleons for Christ

Ever notice I come up with some rather bizarre titles to these blogs?

A chameleon is a little critter I’m guessing is a member of or relative to the lizard family. He’s noted for his ability to change his body color to match his environment so that he will blend in.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:22 . . . . I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

Coupled with the verses preceding that, this verse means that Paul is willing to adapt to the ethnic/cultural/social environment he steps into in order to convey a relevant message of hope to them. He becomes like them so he can blend with them and relate to them. He’s a social chameleon for the gospel of Christ.

What is the first thing that a missionary does before entering a foreign mission field? Learn the language and the dialect of the region they are going into. The second? The culture. The third? The history. The result? They know the heart language of the people.

Paul was way ahead of the game when it came to knowing the heart language of the variety of cultures he invaded. He was perfect for the job. Given his background he could: speak Greek and Hebrew because of his multicultural parents; mingle with the philosophers because of his superb education, relate to the Pharisee (he was one before his conversion) mingle with the blue collar workers (he was a tent maker by trade). He had the qualifications to cross a lot of boundaries that not everyone was privileged to do. He had the ability to mingle with a lot of people and know their heart language.

Well how does that relate to you and me today? What if we are not “called” to go to the foreign mission field? Can this passage of the Bible still have relevance to us? I believe it does.

Even if you find it difficult to cross socio/economic or ethno/cultural lines, there are still things about who you are that make you a unique persons to talk to a unique group of people. Your age can be a common denominator. Your social activities as well. Are you a soccer mom? Then you have a “tribe” you can relate to! Are you sports enthusiast? Then you have multiple tribes to relate to.
Lost a loved one recently? Then for a season there will be others who grieve that you can relate to. Cancer survivor? Then there is someone to talk to. Victim of a violent crime? Somebody needs to hear your story.

How has God uniquely equipped you to be “all things to all people?”

Stay close to Jesus

REG