The One Thing

What’s the one thing church should focus on?

Many church members expect a church to serve them, meet their needs and sync with their schedules. One Christian even said, “A large church should offer lots of programs and stuff for us to do with other Christians.”

Wow. That sounds more like a cruise ship than a church!

Providing free services indefinitely to contented Christians is not a church’s mission. Nor is it to be the community nanny for members who care little and contribute less.

By some estimates, only half of regular church attendees volunteered to serve in the past three years. A third never supported their church financially. They’ve missed the point!

Sadly most churches--no matter the denomination--all end up with the same mission: “To take care of our members, their children and the real estate.” It may take 10 or 20 years, but it happens unless a church refocuses on the one thing they should be doing.

“Well, hold on just a minute! What should a church be doing?”

Good question! Maybe we should check with our founder.

Jesus Christ was known for humility, compassion and serving others. He was also known for his boldness and righteous indignation. Yes, he loved people but became very angry when religious types thought they had God in their pocket and manipulated others to do their bidding.

Do you remember the Pharisees of Jesus day? In “The Pharisees Guide to Total Holiness,” author William Coleman describes the often-criticized sect. They actually began with a sincere love for God and a devotion to serving him.

Over time, the Pharisees’ devotion turned into intolerance, bigotry and narrow-mindedness. To their credit they were very religious. But they took a nation God intended to be a spiritual lighthouse and made it a club for members only.

If we’re not careful, the same thing can happen to our churches. In some it already has.

Jesus made his mission clear. He “came to seek and to save what was lost.” His heart and passion were for hurting people. People whom he said were like “sheep without a shepherd.”

His goal was to bring them into the Kingdom of God and give them eternal life. That was the purpose of the cross and resurrection. It’s one reason we celebrate Easter!

Do you call yourself a Christian? Then what is your purpose and passion? If you are more concerned about your wants and needs, you are out of touch with your leader, Jesus Christ.

Want to get back on track? Read the Gospel of John and The Acts of the Apostles again. Ask God to show you his purpose for your life. Decide if you’re willing to sacrifice your comfort and preferences to reach your world with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Then tell your church leaders you want to see the church get back to its main mission of connecting lost souls to Jesus. (Expect to see shock on their faces!) Volunteer to help.

Watch as your life--and your church--gets more exciting!

If you’re a church leader, avoid the temptation to cater to complacent Christians. Then challenge the church to get back on Jesus’ mission.

Remember--the church is the only organization that exists primarily for those outside of its membership! We must build bridges to people and help them connect with God.

Churches are often about many things. It’s time we get back to the one thing.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Believable Hope

Is the USA “the hope of the world”? If so, we’re in big trouble.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love my country. It has a lot going for it.

But to say this country is “the hope of the world”—as a politician did several weeks ago at a national convention—is a little over the top.

Talking about hope is all the rage this election cycle. And hope is a good thing. But if our hope is in the wrong thing it will be a sad thing. A disappointed hope.

In his book “The Audacity of Hope,” Presidential candidate Barack Obama sees a future that involves repairing a “political process that is broken” and restoring a government that has fallen out of touch with people.

Amazon.com asked Obama to summarize the main idea of his book in a follow up interview. He said it was, “Get involved in an issue that you’re passionate about.”

Passion is good but, unfortunately, passion by itself doesn’t save the day. We live in a day of political polarization. The right and the left are full of passion. But they seem more intent on destroying each other than on governing effectively.

Now hold it right there for just a minute. If that’s the case, where can we find hope?

What people desperately need is the true Man of Hope. And according to the Bible, Jesus Christ and his church are the hope of the world. Jesus is the real deal.

The hope offered in Christ is a peace that Jesus said is “not of this world.” It involves a complete reconciliation that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet—reconciliation with God and with our fellow man.

The hope offered by politicians and governments is the absence of conflict. “Peace” treaties don’t actually bring peace. All they bring is the cessation of war. Ending hostilities doesn’t automatically end conflict. Anyone that’s been in a schoolyard fight knows that.

To end conflict requires changing the human heart. And the only hope of changing the human heart is the gospel or good news of Jesus Christ.

The good news is that, even though we can’t meet God’s standard of goodness (the Ten Commandments), God provided a way for us to be forgiven. And what a plan!

Jesus Christ met God’s standard perfectly. But on the cross he took sin’s punishment as our substitute. God accepts that and forgives us when we repent and turn from our sin.

Then the Bible says, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.” And if you have ever met someone who is truly converted, the change is remarkable.

What about the church? In the New Testament book of Acts we see a church focused on serving God and serving others. They proclaimed the simple gospel of Jesus Christ: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” Lives were changed. Needs were met.

What the church does that’s unique is offer Jesus Christ to the world. And when people turn to Christ they find hope where they were hopeless.

In the church people find a community that accepts, loves and encourages them to be all that God made them to be. When a church is working right it’s an amazing place!

No church is perfect. But we have a perfect Savior, Jesus Christ. Through faith in him we have peace with God and man, joy in our hearts and the forgiveness of sin.

All of that plus God’s promise of eternal life--now that’s a hope you can believe in!

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Mirror Image Churches

Do you love what you see in the mirror?

Falling in love with oneself is called narcissism (nar-si-siz'em). It’s named after Narcissus, a hero in Greek mythology that fell in love with his own reflection.

You might think a church wouldn’t be like that. And it shouldn’t be. But it’s easy for churches to convince themselves they’re serving others while focusing on what they like.

Now hold it right there for just a minute. How can Christians be self-serving? Aren’t they supposed to love Jesus and love others? Of course. But it’s easy to get sidetracked.

It’s like this--once we become a child of God through faith in Christ, we’re a part of his family, the church. Christians join a local church to worship God, serve him and serve others.

Many Christians begin well but soon make church about them. It turns into what THEY like: THEIR traditions, THEIR music, THEIR Bible translation, and THEIR kind of preaching.

When some Christians see their church, they see a reflection of themselves. Like looking in a mirror. They can’t get enough. They’re self-absorbed. Narcissists. They love their church.

“Well what’s wrong with that? Doesn’t Jesus love the church?” Yes, he does.

Jesus loves the church so much he died on the cross to make it possible. Through his death our sins are forgiven. Then he cleanses us spiritually to make us part of his church.

The problem is with us. We’re not supposed to fall in love with our church to the point we think, “It’s all about us.” We’re supposed to love Jesus first and love others second.

Sadly, some Christians really believe church is all about them. They say, “Our church is the best one!” And they think, “Our church is the only one that’s right. The rest are all wrong!”

The Bible challenges that attitude with this question: “Did the Word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached?” Answer: Obviously not--so lighten up!

Instead of focusing on what WE like, we should ask what JESUS likes. The church is supposed to be HIS church anyway. It’s not our church. We should ask, “Is GOD pleased with our music, our worship, our hearts and our attitudes? Are we doing what HE wants us to do?

Our “brand” of church isn’t Jesus’ main concern. His heart is for lost, hurting people. Listen to what he said about himself: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Jesus left his Heaven and came to our earth so we could have a personal relationship with God. And he calls us to follow him. To leave our “heaven.” To go to a lost, hurting world and build relationships that introduce people to Jesus. To show others how much God loves them.

Do we, as Christians, prefer the comfort of our traditions to the challenge of reaching our culture with the gospel? Are we afraid to change our church so it’s more welcoming to others?

If you’re not a Christian, remember God loves you. Jesus came to show you God’s love. He came so you could be forgiven for your sins and live in the freedom of his love. Keep seeking God until you find him in Jesus! Then find a church that puts Jesus first.

Christian friend, let’s make church about Jesus again. Remember that Narcissus wasted away and died because he couldn’t stop admiring himself. There’s a lesson there. The church that focuses on itself fails to become all God wants us to be. And that church will die.

Are you willing to set aside what you prefer? To make church about what God wants? Because when the church is working right, it’s the hope of the world. And right now our world needs the hope we have in Christ more than ever.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Lone Ranger Christians

One of my favorite Halloween costumes was the Lone Ranger. He was a childhood hero.

Popular on television in the 1950s, the Lone Ranger was a fictitious Texas Ranger. The lone survivor of an outlaw ambush, he was nursed back to health by Tonto, an orphaned Indian he once rescued. The Lone Ranger made a career of righting wrongs and capturing outlaws.

But the Lone Ranger worked alone--without the aid of organized law enforcement.

One man can make a difference, but he can’t live a fully productive life by himself. The truth is, we all need other people. “No man is an island,” said the English poet John Donne.

The Lone Ranger’s adventures made good TV but he’s a poor example for Christians.

Now hold it just a minute. What’s wrong with a “Lone Ranger Christian?”

Lone Ranger Christians don’t think they need the church or anyone else. They believe they can get along just fine by themselves. One once told me, “I can worship God on the tree stump in my back yard just as well as on a church pew.”

Often they became loners because, like the Lone Ranger, they were “ambushed”—usually by well-meaning church folks. With their feelings hurt, they retreat to a hermit-like faith.

“Why should I go to church?” they ask. “Everyone there is a hypocrite!”

Let’s be honest. Church folk sometimes say and do hurtful things. Unfortunately every Christian is not a perfect example of their faith. But that’s no reason to give up on the church.

Jesus took the religious leaders of his day to task for their poor application of Scripture and failure to obey God. But he still attended worship regularly. With the hypocrites.

New Testament churches were full of problems. There were church bosses, false doctrine and people living in sin. But did the apostles give up on the church? No—they worked hard to help it become all God intended it to be: the Hope of the world.

Most of the New Testament is written proof that the Apostles of Jesus Christ were not willing to write off the church. Time and again they wrote to correct problems in the churches and to encourage Christians to live out their faith.

The church is not a museum for perfect Christians. It’s a repair station to fix problems.

Sylvester Stallone, who played Rocky and Rambo in the movies, told a group of pastors, “Living without the church is like working out without a trainer. You need to have the expertise and guidance of someone else. You can’t train yourself. I feel the same way about Christianity.”

“The church is the gym of the soul,” Stallone continued. “Pastors are like trainers that guide you through difficult times and take you to places you don’t believe you can go. A lot of people say, ‘I can do it on my own, I have a one-on-one relationship with God.’ Well, it’s not quite the same…The more I turn myself over to the process of believing in Jesus, listening to His Word and having Him guide my hand, the more I feel as though the pressure is off me now.”

The Lone Ranger was the classic Western at its best. But it was just fiction.

The reality of Christianity is not about “Lone Ranger Christians.” It’s not just about us. The early church “devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Community is necessary for the church to be the church.

God’s advice through the Apostles was pointed and direct: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day [of Christ’s return] approaching.”

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Fabulous Fakes

Fakes are all around us.

There is fake butter (margarine), fake sugar (artificial sweetener) and fake coffee cream.

My first time on a movie set, I was amazed at how much was not what it appeared to be. Rocks, props and much of the set were all fakes. But they looked real and fooled the camera.

Many movie stars and other wealthy types wear fake copies of their expensive jewelry so there is less risk of robbery. The fakes look authentic and fool all but an expert’s eye.

So it shouldn’t surprise us that most churches have Fake Christians—people who look, talk and act like real Christians, fooling the church. Fabulous Christian Fakes, if you please.

Whoa! Hold on just a minute—fake Christians? How can there be fake Christians?

Jesus predicted that among his followers there would always be fakes--people who would be hard to tell from genuine believers. Judases. Later the Bible warns the church to look out for false leaders and teachers whose only goal is to gain a following and reap financial rewards.

One Christian leader recently stated his personal opinion that just fifteen to twenty percent of members and attendees at most churches were true Biblical Christians.

Well how can you tell if you are a “real” Christian? What’s the evidence?

Does walking an aisle and praying a prayer make you a real Christian? Does catechism, baptism, church membership or any other experience show you are truly a Christian? If you claim to be (or someone says you were) “saved” or “born again,” does that make it real?

Many evangelical church groups refer to true believers as “saved” or “born again.” They take these terms from the Bible. Jesus said, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” He went on to describe a spiritual re-birth resulting from faith in him.

In the New Testament book of Romans God says, “If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The context makes it clear that being “saved” is from sin’s effects, consequences and punishment.

So the first part of being a Biblical Christian involves putting faith and trust in Christ for salvation and forgiveness from sin. It also involves a turning away from sin and towards God.

But this internal act of belief always results in an external change of behavior.

Jesus said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Others should be able to observe in Christians the same compassion and the same selfless, sacrificial love Jesus showed.

The Bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” It’s not complete perfection but an obvious transformation--a changed life.

God’s Word warns Christians, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” The proof of believing is in the doing—out of joy and not duty.

Many people in America claim to be Christians. Some attend church occasionally. They tell themselves, “I believe in God, I pray and I go to church. I’m a Christian.” What’s sad is that they have settled for a ritual instead of a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Often they are sincere, well meaning religious people. But their faith is a fake faith.

What they need to do is to humble themselves, trust Jesus with simple childlike faith and receive him as their Lord and Savior. Then they will want to please God, read his Word and allow it to change their lives. And God will change their desires, their habits and their speech.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Hope or Hype?

When the church is working right it is the Hope of the world.

When the church is not working right it fails the world. It’s just a lot of hype.

Many churches ceased being the “Hope of the world” years ago. What’s sad is that most of the members didn’t realize it. These churches gradually became “Christian Clubs” with songs, rituals and gatherings that focus inward instead of outward. They served themselves, not others.

Hold it right there for just a minute! What does a church that’s “working right” look like?

To answer that we must turn to the Bible, the only authoritative Word of God. There, in the New Testament book of Acts, we find the answer. It’s a vibrant growing group of people focused on worship, God’s Word, fellowship and serving others. They proclaimed the simple gospel of Jesus Christ: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” Lives were changed.

The result was that “everyone was filled with awe” and the church grew incredibly fast.

What a church! It was the “happening place” in Jerusalem. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of it? Broken lives were put together, desperate people found help, the fearful found peace, empty people were filled with purpose and those overcome with sorrow found joy. Wow.

Sadly, most Christians have settled for a church that is so much less. In some the worship service is the most boring hour of the week. Where is the awe and excitement? What happened?

What happened is that man tried to “improve” on God’s plan for the church.

Some just stopped taking the gospel message to others and focused on fellowship.

Other groups strayed from the simple gospel of Christ. Instead of teaching forgiveness for all our sins is a gift of God, they taught you must believe in Jesus Christ AND follow all their laws, ordinances and rituals. Rather than salvation by GRACE, it was by “Good Works.”

Some even went so far as to say, “The most damnable, heretical doctrine ever proclaimed by man is 'saved by grace.’” Amazing--since that’s how God’s Word says we are saved from sin!

The Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Once we understand that forgiveness and a new life are a gift from God, everything changes. The joy and freedom that result from faith in Christ are indescribable! Money and things, while still necessary, lose their luster. They are no longer the main reason for living.

People whose lives are truly changed by the gospel want everyone to have the same joy and freedom they have in Christ. The love of God in their heart gives them a compassion and love for others—just like Jesus. Life is no longer just about them and the desire for things.

A Church, with leaders and people like that, is an oasis of hope in a hopeless world.

When a church is “working right” lives are changed forever, prejudice is overcome, failures are forgiven, selfishness is reduced, compassion grows, and real hope becomes a reality.

The solution is for people to return to the message and mission of the church in the Bible.

If you are not a part of a church like the Bible describes, change yours or find one that is!

The church I pastor is not, nor is any church, “perfect.” But we do have a perfect Savior, Jesus Christ. Through faith in him we have peace with God, joy in our hearts and the forgiveness of sin. We have Jesus, the Good Shepherd, to provide, protect and lead us. All of that, plus God’s promise of eternal life--now that’s hope!

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Heart Trouble

The heart of a problem is sometimes the problem of the heart.

Let me explain. Maybe you’re one of those people whose parents made them go to church as a child and hated it. I was not. So I’ve always wondered what that was all about.

My parents brought me to church before I can remember. They told me that when I was three years old I asked God to forgive my sin and for Jesus Christ to be my Lord and my Savior.

Since I was so young I had no memory of that event. But I do remember repeating that decision during a church service when I was older. I wanted to remember my commitment.

I also remember that I always loved church. Sunday was my favorite day of the week. The songs, hymns, Bible Stories and lessons connected with my young heart. I looked forward to Vacation Bible School every year. When I finally got to go to Church Camp and Youth Group, I was thrilled.

Here’s my guess. If you went to a spiritual life-giving church that taught the Bible, but you hated it and felt rejected, it may have been a heart problem.

Well, hold it just a minute. Aren’t some churches to blame—sort of “bad apples?”

Sure. Churches can be cold, legalistic and judgmental. That’s possible. But don’t give up on church just because you went to one that didn’t meet your need. The solution is to keep looking for one that does—a church where you can meet with God, people live their faith, the Bible is taught, and Jesus Christ is Lord. I didn’t give up on apples just because I had a bad one.

But if the problem wasn’t the church, it may be your heart.

Some folks who attend church have no interest in God. They are self-absorbed takers. Their only interest is whether or not it’s an enjoyable experience for them. Sadly their attitude keeps them from finding the fulfillment they’re looking for and which only God can give them.

It may be you are looking in the wrong place. I encourage you to start looking for your fulfillment where I found it: in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

When you do, you’ll discover that God is real and that he is not rejecting you at all. He doesn’t reject anyone who comes to him in faith. Because of our self-centered emphasis on pleasure, we reject him. God isn’t hiding from us. The reality is that we are hiding from him.

The greatest discovery of my life was that God loved me, was seeking a personal relationship with me and wanted to forgive all my failures and give me a fresh start.

Jesus said that God seeks worshippers who will worship him in spirit and in truth. He said, “whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” Jesus also told people, “Your sins are forgiven.” He alone can forgive our failures, even when we cannot forgive ourselves.

When we have problems with our physical heart, we go to a heart specialist. We listen to the diagnosis and then take appropriate action. We value the specialist’s advice.

If the problem is spiritual, go to the one who understands the human heart and soul. God alone has the treatment that works every time it’s tried. His advice is invaluable.

Maybe you’re skeptical. Then listen to Jesus’ challenge: “If anyone chooses to do God’s will he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” Then he added, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” He meant himself.

The heart of our problem is the problem of our hearts. The solution? Believe the right message about the right person: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of the world died for your sin.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!