He still walks among the lampstands

The gospels tell us that zeal for His Father's house consumed Jesus (John 2:17). What consumes us? Of the people that gather in our churches every Sunday, how many of us are consumed with zeal for God's house? How different would our world look if we were consumed with zeal for God's house? What brought about this statement about Jesus? He walked in and was disgusted and enraged with what the temple had become, "a den of robbers (Matthew 19:46)."

Basically, the temple had become a market place. The religious leaders had turned the sacrifice system that God had created to atone for their sins (until He sent His perfect Lamb) into a way to turn a profit. I can't think of anything we do in church purely to turn a profit, but there are many things we do to benefit ourselves instead of bringing glory to God. Our worship services, our activities, even our "outreach" projects many times are more focused on making us feel good or stroking our consciences than truly worshiping.

Scripture teaches over and over that true worship is sacrifice. What do we sacrifice to worship today? An hour of our time? A portion of our sanity trying to get to church on time? Some of our money- if there is any leftover? There are people all over the world that literally sacrifice their lives to worship God. They know what zeal is. They are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to get to church. They will suffer extreme situations to be able to worship and fellowship with other believers. We get antsy if the service is too long or the temperature is not just right.

God has humbled me over the past few days that I am zealous about many things, but God's house has taken a back seat to many of those things far too often. I have several friends that are involved in church plants in some form or another. I have often looked on their situations with jealousy because they seem to be in places that the Spirit of God is moving in mighty ways, and they are seeing Him change people's lives constantly. I have been called to a traditional church, and many times I have wondered why when it seems like everything for my generation is leaning towards church plants. This week, I got my answer. Jesus still walks among the lampstands. The churches that have been established for decades-no matter how stagnant- Jesus is still zealous about them. How exciting would it be to be in a church where the light is just about to be extinguished, maybe Jesus is on His way over to remove the lampstand (Revelation 2:5), then all of the sudden that little flame starts to grow. Jesus stokes the fire a little. Then it grows more and more, and the next thing you know that fire is roaring and the lampstand is a beacon once again! Full scale revival is possible in our traditional churches!

Here is the issue-for something to be revived, it has to die. We have to die to ourselves if we want God to breathe the breath of life into our churches again. We cannot let our opinions and desires run the church anymore. We have to give God the reigns back. We have to be people and churches that God wants to display his name. God will not bless a church that does not bless Him. We have to be willing to love people the way Jesus did. We have to see ourselves and others the way Jesus does. We need to understand that there are no degrees of good and bad...acceptable and unacceptable. There are two situations. Sinners in sin and sinners redeemed. Jesus came to save the sinners in sin and He wants to change the redeemed. What would Jesus's congregation look like? It would not be filled with the pretty church people. It would be the poor, the outcast, the diseased, the possessed, the sinners, and every now and then a wealthy, clean religious person. If we loved people the way Jesus did, wouldn't our congregations look similar?

My prayer is that I will see people through Jesus's eyes. I want to be overwhelmed with compassion and love. I want to be consumed with zeal for my Father's house. I want to be part of a revival in my church! Jesus, stoke the fire! 

Because He Is Not One Of Us

It is amazing to me that I can read through Scripture and see things that I have never noticed before! I found this little jewel today.

"Master," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us." "Do not stop him," Jesus said, "for whoever is not against you is for you."  Luke 9:49-50

This little scenario is tucked right after the passage where the disciples are arguing over who is the greatest. Sometimes our arrogance amazes me! Some days I don't know why God even bothers with us. Thank goodness it is not up to me, because I would have wiped us all off the face of the planet! Before we start wagging our fingers at the disciples, let's think about ourselves for the moment. How many times have we looked at people in other Denominations, churches with different styles of worship, Sunday school classes, even- God forgive us!-different races and said, "You are not one of us; you are not welcome here." Most of us may have never said it out loud to someone, but most of us have thought it at one point or another. We may even go so far as to think that they should stop what they are doing because they are not doing it the way we are doing it. Jesus basically said, "You are going to have to learn to work together as a body; if they are not working against you, learn to work with them." What a lesson for our churches today!!!

In the movement of contemporary, casual worship services we have divided our church even further. No matter which side you land on, there are issues either way. I have heard of congregations where the members would not let someone preach unless he wore a suit. I have also heard of memebers of contemporary congregations say they would not listen to a pastor if he wore a suit! He is not one of us... If we could learn that none of us are perfect and there are points of doctrine and tradition that we all have wrong, we would find such joy in the diversity of the body! We need to start separating what really matters and when people are working against us.

One of my favorite bible teachers calls them spine issues and rib issues. The spine issues are those things that are crucial to our faith-the things that separate Christianity from other religions. The rib issues are personal opinions and personal preferences. We have made the rib issues spine issues and divided ourselves to where we are fighting each other and not moving forward. We will know the answers to all of the issues when we get to Heaven, but maybe we need to agree to disagree on some things and move on as a unified body of Christ. If we can learn to do this, maybe we will see for ourselves what Jesus prayed for in John 17:21 "that all of them may be one, Father."

Radical Jesus

I was studying today when Jesus told His disciples that He must suffer and be rejected and die. (Luke 9) After, He told them that whoever wants to follow Him must take up his cross daily. I thought about that for a minute. I thought it must have been quite a surprise to hear that their leader would suffer and die. We know it was particularly distressing for Peter who stepped out of the will of God to rebuke Jesus. Then I thought, Wait! Jesus didn't say He would die on a cross! He just said that He would suffer and die. The thing is, we have probably heard hundreds of sermons on taking up our crosses, but I just dwelled for a moment on how that statement would have come across to the disciples. The cross was reserved for the most heinous of criminals- murderers and thieves...not good, religious people. What Jesus was telling them was, your life is about to make no sense to you at all. Punishments for people that have been reserved for the scum of the earth are about to be chosen for your teacher, and eventually you. How did they feel when Jesus told them, to be his followers, they must take up a repulsive instrument of torture and death and carry it around with them-what is He talking about? We look a the cross now and see it as beautiful, holy, revered, but they were on a different end. From now on, when I think about taking up my cross, I will have a deeper respect for the life Jesus has called us to. It is not just a metaphor. We are to take up the death of our flesh. We are to put to death our opinions, wants, and desires-daily. If we learn to do that, we will be His followers. The funny thing is, the more I follow Him, the more I realize that my desires deserve to be put to death. They are sinful, wordly, and only lead to destruction. The only way to walk in freedom and victory is to desire what He desires for us. Jesus, thank you that you change my heart and you help me want the things that you want for me! Help me take up my cross everyday and bring glory to you as one of your disciples.