We live in fascinating and exciting times. Not everyone sees it this way though. The church has become increasingly marginalized. The Church has reacted to this marginalization in a couple of different ways. One way is to simply ignore it and continue to do the same thing over and over, in the same way, and hope things turn out better. This "blinder" approach is the favorite of mainline churches. If things don't turn out better, they simply blame others... blame people for not being "smart" enough to see that the music and hymns that have been sung for centuries is really for sophisticates and therefore there are not many of those left anymore; therefore we can't make a difference. I've seen this in churches that use Latin phrases to describe certain parts of services and expect people to fumble around trying to hold books, finding there way around. I've seen this in the way buildings have been built, resembling the architecture of the 15th century. I love museums, but I don't think I want to live in one! I heard once pastor at a mainline pastors gathering say, "we are the church for smart people." He wasn't very smart in saying that, but I let the irony pass.
There are others who think that theology needs to change to keep pace with a changing world. Not too long ago someone phrased this way of thinking as "generous orthodoxy." This is the new way for many denominations as they hope to reach out to a larger percentage of the population. Unfortunately for them, this isn't working any better than the "blinder" approach. Not many people want to be involved in something that looks more like a social service agency than the church. Isn't there a better way?
Last Sunday I talked about the more excellent way. You see, I believe that the change in society is being engineered by God himself. It's not an accident that the church has become marginalized. God's hand is all over this. He is calling us to reclaim who He created us to be. I've mentioned that we may have more in common with the First Century than the Twentieth Century. If this is true, we need to examine what those faithful men and women did and how God used them to change the world.
It doesn't take more than a quick read of the Acts of the Apostles to see that the church changed the world. Starting with 12 men and growing to about 120 people on the day of Pentecost, the church grew to 3000 in one day. That didn't happen because they found 3000 "smart" people, or they decided to lower the bar to fit culture. No, that happened because they were totally, completely "sold-out." These people not only put God in first place in their life, they had completely surrendered to Jesus.
What would happen if we were to do the same thing? I will reflect on this over the next few weeks but let me say one thing about this: if God is truly calling us to live like an Acts 2:42 church, are we willing to do that? Can we trust Him with everything- our calendar, our money, our family, our lives? Is Jesus worth it?
I want to live this way. I want to know Jesus more completely. I want to follow him by completely surrendering. The bar is pretty high but it is definitely worth living ones life this way. I'll close today by asking you: will you do the same? Can we be the kind of church that God wants us to be? Not the kind of people who wear blinders; not the kind of church that waters down the Gospel. But the kind of Church that is full of people who have sold out to Jesus. Totally surrendered to Him!
