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Friday, March 2, 2012

If Jesus had a Church...

What if Jesus came to your hometown and planted a church?  Would you go?  Rather, would you make that your home church? We all know we must answer yes here, if we want to feel like good Christians but the answer would probably, more realistically, be no.

Okay, here’s the scenario…
You live in a town that is already very religious.  The gospel has been preached here for years.  There is a church on nearly every corner. There is a Baptist Church just around the corner from where you are now.  A Methodist Church is two streets away.  There is a Lutheran Church, or maybe two, at the center of town.  There is a Catholic Church, and now even a Non-Denominational Church, which is usually code for ‘Charismatic’ or 'Pentecostal'.

You may have already found your place. Perhaps you grew up in your church and plan to be there until you are carried out ten toes up.  Perhaps on the other hand, you’ve tried almost every church in town and so far haven’t found one that suits your tastes or worship style.

In recent years ‘church’ has become a place of preference.  We all seem to gravitate toward some place that suits us. Preaching styles, congregation size, Hymns or Praise and Worship songs, stuffy or free, spirit filled or seeker friendly, are but a few of the choices that are available to church goers.

If Jesus had a church…? Wait let’s call him Pastor Joshua, since Joshua is another translation of Yeshua (Jesus). If Pastor Joshua came to your town to plant a church, who would attend? Well I guess it really depends on what his church would be like.  Would that church be a place that you would want to make your home church?  I seriously doubt it!

Most of us would visit once or twice, but wouldn’t stay. Why?  We wouldn’t attend regularly because, like it or not, most of us are either too set in our religious ways or too in love with the world around us.

Here’s what it might look like at “Pastor Joshua’s” church.
There would always be large crowds of transients just passing through, because many would come to see the miracles.  Yes, miracles! Pastor Joshua has a ‘gift’.  It has been said that in his services blind people have gained their sight, deaf people began to hear, and even a few dead people have come back to life… Well, that’s what I’ve heard anyway, but we would have to go see for ourselves.

The crowds would also love the feeding program. Food always draws a crowd, you know it as well as I do.  He and a few guys who came to town with him to plant the church, have been known to give thousands of hand-outs when he suspected people were hungry.

He is very direct though, maybe even too rude with his bold statements. Most don’t really like that in a preacher.  The rumor is that a little while back, he was having a discussion with some of the greatest theological minds at a top seminary nearby.  When they spoke about their great faith in God and what they believed it took to have fellowship with God, he actually called them hypocrites right to their faces!  Yes, it was the most educated pastors in town which he scolded, in public, and to their faces.

Speaking of education, He doesn’t really have much.  He used to work in the construction business and doesn’t really have a degree, or any formal bible training for that matter.

He hangs out with a pretty bad group of people too. He has been seen in the street with prostitutes. He sometimes eats dinner with some really sinful people, gluttons and drunks. He has friends who work for the IRS, not just auditors but those who going out and ‘forcefully’ collect taxes that are due.  Actually, some of the guys who are helping him plant his church are sailors, who used to work on commercial fishing boats.  We all know what their language can be like.

When he preaches he tells a lot of stories.  His style is like that of a teacher, and he preaches kind of long sometimes.  He is extremely black and white in his views, even narrow minded. He says that there is just one way to get to heaven and believes that all other religions are false. He talks a lot about sin and even Hell.  Aren’t we kind of past all that stuff?  People seem to like the feel good stuff better, but he doesn’t seem to care.

He may have some anger issues too, because once when he was visiting another church he got so angry that he turned over a bunch of tables in the foyer where some guys were simply trying to sell some things to make a living.

Here’s the clincher, He seems to have delusions of grandeur.  He believes that he is actually the Son of God.

No, if a pastor like Pastor Joshua came to our town to plant a church most of us would think he was a lunatic.  We would steer clear of that church saying: He’s too dogmatic, he preaches too long, he is intolerant, and the list of complaints would go on and on.

If Jesus had a church there would only be a few in membership, and they would probably be a pretty radical and rigid group.  If Jesus had a church most of us wouldn’t like his message, or his bold personality, or his doctrine.  We’d stay right where we are, where we can feel comfortable and hear the kind of sermon we like.

If Jesus had a church it would be over on Narrow Way, just off Broad Street, and we don’t really like that part of town.

Oh, by the way, Jesus does have a church.

5 comments:

  1. Creative! A good read...thanks for sharing!

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  2. W O W !!!! & A BIG OUCH! Very Well Said!!!!!! I have to say thank you for breaking down & reminding me of my responsibility as the body of Christ (the Church). Believe it or not - I was sitting in the church parking lot talking to someone last evening and this was our discussion. Stop playing church and be the church that God has called us to be. There is no good excuse good enough to not be about our Fathers business. Thank You Pastor Jerry for giving up the uncompromised Word time after time - I am thankful that we have a building we worship in and should be treated like a refueling center - the real work is outside of those walls. The instructions you challenge us with Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday after Wednesday, will look radical to some, rejected by some, and mocked by others - but God is there to direct us to move forward - not to stop and mark time.

    There is a saying "if the shoe fits, tighten up the strings and start moving." It's time to lace them up - get the knots out of the strings (your feelings out of the way, excuses not good enough, waiting on someone else to do what God has called you to do); don't try and get someone's attention by tieing the strings together, because when you move, you will fall flat on your face (you know you tied them together - the attitude of wanting people to feel sorry for you because you don't have WHAT....? meaning you recognize what you are currently doing is not like Jesus (that's that spirit inside of you - get over them and grow up) Body of Christ, Stop the Pity Parties. Parties sounds like a good idea to you - but pity parties are usually disasters. It's your party and you don't even want to be there.

    My prayer today is: Lord, my shoes are tied, my knots are out " (ie. "Putting on the whole armour of God..." ). Whatever happened yesterday - it's done - show me your way today.

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  3. I've wondered, in the past, how Jesus would carry out His same ministry if He had three years in our contemporary day. You've nailed it when applying it specifically for the church!

    Since you are asking "me" to apply it to my life, here's my answer...

    It's quite obivious I come "short of the glory of God" compared to this proposition. Our Christian Body is as strong as the weakest link...meaning I have much work to do.

    I extract five actions for myself when reading this scenario:
    > I must not only hear God's Word, but act on it.
    > I must believe I am able to do more than He did - He promised that I could - and then do those things
    > I must transform my mind beyond this societies' cultural paradigms to the way God thinks
    > I must think less of my needs and more of others
    > I must maintain a very close relationship with my Father

    Well, there's my mandate for the rest of my life...

    Thanks for the challenge!

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  4. Good reading...God Bless you!!! Thanks for sharing pastor Jerry

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  5. Powerful message Jerry! It is something that will make all of us stop and think! Thank you!

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