Recently I watched the Revival Hymn, which is a 30 minute video made of audio clips from various pastors who saw revival. One of the pastors talks about how Christianity has become muddled by humanism. Humanism is the thought that people exist simply to be happy. Therefore, Christianity has been warped to portray God as a ticket to eternal happiness and not the all powerful God that He is. This pastor talked about how God sent him to Africa to reach the heathens there. When this man got there, he found out to his dismay that they were perfectly happy in their ways and didn't want God. When he was in his room, this pastor was telling God how he was so upset that God had dared send him to Africa. God's response was, "I didn't send you to Africa for their sake, I sent you there for My sake."
The Church is the Body of Christ, so we should be moving and doing things to bring God glory. However, it seems like we spend a lot of our time, effort, and money on things that bring us glory. We build big, beautiful buildings and we have pastors who worry about how big their paycheck is. This isn't at all about glorifying God.
In SEND we learn about Life Shapes, which are shapes that help explain ways that followers of Christ live. One of the ones we focus on the most is the Triangle, which breaks down our relationships UP with God, IN with other believers, and OUT with people who aren't yet Christians. In churches, it's very easy to focus on the UP and IN and just become a country club, or a place to be involved for the status. We're just bringing ourselves glory by being a country club and this needs to stop.
We need to stop focusing on building our churches and pulling people in with gimmicks. Christ NEVER tells us to build His church. He tells us He will, Jesus just commands us to make disciples. This means we need to teach each other how to have a relationship with God, reach those outside of the church, and also continue to build disciples. As a part of discipleship, we need to be real with each other. That's the only way we can hope to build relationships with those who aren't yet Christians and bring God glory through that.
God's given me this vision of seeing my hometown, Ypsilanti going through a revival. It seriously makes me cry every time I think or pray about it. I want nothing more than to see God moving in the lives of the people. I would even give up my favorite bar if it got shut down because of this. I have a vision of the strip club closing and people filling their lives with Christ. I think that God will bring revival with or without me, but I want to be a tool that God uses to bring revival.
As a part of this vision I see God using the churches to find and remember those who are lost and forgotten. As a Christian, we need to listen to God's voice in finding people to reach. God is always preparing people for us to reach out to, but we need to know where God is sending us. I had a meeting with a guy named Tom today and he said that he plays tee ball with God. He just waits for God to put the ball on the tee so that he can hit it. This is such a good way to describe how mission work should be.
How can we reach others? By asking God to open up opportunities for it. At work my manager isn't a Christian, but he asks me questions about God sometimes. I've been praying that God would continue to open the door in my boss's life. Sure, this means bringing up Christianity to my boss, but if I truly love him, wouldn't I want him to know God? Wouldn't I want my manager to bring God glory? Who has God put in your life to bring into a relationship with Him? Who has God put in your life to disciple? If you could please join me in praying for my boss, I would greatly appreciate it!
What does this mean for the Church? This means actually learning how to make disciples and how to be real with each other so we can reach those around us. It also means having an attitude where we want to bring God glory over bringing ourselves glory. Is what you're doing really bringing God glory? God deserves all of our time and effort, because He is worthy.
You're wrong about the purpose of The Church. God doesn't need us to give Him glory, He's God, He doesn't need anything from us.
ReplyDeleteEphesians 3:10&11 "His INTENT was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rules and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." (emphasis added). The purpose is to display the manifold wisdom of God to the angelic hosts both holy and evil. If we believe that the purpose of The Church is the great commission or us giving him praise and glory then people become the focus, it reflects on men not God.
Genesis 3:4 "You will certainly die,' the serpent said to the woman. 'For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil." As we can see from this verse, Satan doubts the wisdom and goodness of God telling Adam/Eve that God has kept this "knowing good and evil" from them.
1 Peter3:18-22 "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits - to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now save you also - not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand - with angels, authorities and powers in submission to Him." The angels watch us to understand the character of God. We were created to show God's character to the holy angels and the demons who do not have free will. We were created to provide proof that He is good. The mystery of this plan was that Jews and Gentiles would be part of The Church together. This was the "curve ball" no one but God saw coming. Our purpose is to reflect the goodness and wisdom of God in that through free will we all have the opportunity to be with Him for eternity and by doing so prove to the heavenly hosts - both good and evil - that He is good and wise. That is the purpose of The Church, to show the angels and demons the greatness, goodness and wisdom of God's character.