a) God can do it anywhere - why go half way round the world?
b) Surely there are better things to be doing - like projects and pastoring and stuff
c) They will end up being so 'heavenly minded' they are of no 'earthly use'
d) It looks strange to people outside the church
e) Consumer Christianity is the scourge of the modern church
f) All these flights can't be good for climate change
So why does God ignore these potential pitfalls and bless people any way? Here's what I've been thinking:
a) God can do it anywhere....
....but He's not doing it here, like this anyway. And I want it here. Heck, I want it anywhere. As I stated in the previous post in this series, I want the Kingdom of God to do whatever the King wants it to do. Go where you have to go to find Him. Do what you have to do.
"Seek the LORD while he may be found" - Isa 55:6
b) Surely there are better things to do......
....better than meeting God? Better than hearing His voice? Better than His presence?
Think of all the projects I could be running and organising. Think of all the people who I could be listening to their problems. Think of all the events I could be hosting. Think of all the resources I could be making. Think of all the good I could be doing.
But God doesn't just want me to DO good. He wants me to BE good.
To be good news not just organise it.
And what use is all this stuff if God isn't in it and graces it with His presence? Zippo; Zero; Zilch.
"Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere" - Ps 84:10
c) They'll end up being so 'heavenly minded'.....
...... they'll be of no 'earthly use'. I'm struggling to think of where it says in the Bible that we need to be of use to the earth. The separation of earth and heaven, of natural and spiritual is such a strange modern concept. Is it even possible to be too 'heavenly minded'?
You can live purely inside a Christian bubble.
You can have no understanding of the outside culture.
You can use too much religious and over spiritualised language.
But can your mind be too heavenly?
Well..... nope.
"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." - Col 3:2
d) It looks strange to people outside of the church.....
It looks strange to those people INSIDE the church!
Glory of God + desperate people + fallen world= a whole lot of weird stuff
As someone said last Sunday, and I paraphrase - we don't need another good powerpoint, we need more power.
Tidy in the graveyard. Messy in the nursery. And even messier in the delivery suite. Where there is life there is mess. Where there is a Holy God there will be things that can't be explained, rationalised and put into neatly organised theological boxes.
e) Consumer Christianity is the scourge of the modern church....
...not quite. The scourge is not those that receive too much - it is those who don't give out. Apathetic Christianity is the disease. Lazy Christianity is the curse.
There are plenty of those who just come on a Sunday for a bit of light entertainment. Those who might rate the church solely by how much they enjoyed the service. Yet it is not the enjoyment of a gathering that is wrong. Nor is it ever consuming what is God is giving.
Food is good for you - but if all you ever do is eat and never got off your backside and worked or exercised then you get fat and lazy and useless. Same with church.
f) All these flights and car journeys can't be good for the environment.....
...well go plant a tree
"The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." - Gen 2:15
So I'm still saying:
"More"
dg
5 comments:
Thank you Dave for another inspiring and clearly reasoned post. I love this "FOR" series.
Some of what you say I had already thought of myself; the rest rings true to me and makes me wonder why I hadn't already seen it.
It makes me reflect on my experience in the 90s in a church that was into the Toronto thing when it happened. They shut down all their evangelistic and outreach projects for about a year to focus on seeking God's presence and power. IIRC more people came to faith than ever before, just because that's what God's presence does. Supports your point (b).
Also, they had a big emphasis on people giving testimonies, but they kept reminding everyone that the testimonies weren't supposed to be about what an amazing experience you had had, but about how your life had changed as a result, because we tell a tree by its fruit. So, in support of your point (e) I would say that someone who's experienced a genuine, life-changing encounter with the presence of God doesn't need telling to give out. It spills out of them anyway as a result of what's happened to them; as long as they keep experiencing God's presence, they are too full of life to be lazy.
thanks ruth!
Very thought provoking and sense making again Dave. You'd make an awesome preacher!
Rock on man!!
Dave already IS an awesome preacher!
From Hitchmo - blogging in California
thanks hitchmo...
hows the wine in california?
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