The Roots Series by Stephen Best Copyright 2011
‘You want to be with me because I fed you’ (or because of what I did for you). This was Jesus comment to the crowd that followed him to Capernaum (Jn. 6:26), after he had fed the five thousand. He had filled their hungry stomachs with bread, and they wanted more.
In his words is the subtle yet painful reality that people desired him for what he could give them, and for how he made them feel. Unlike the disciples, the people were not interested in giving up everything to follow Jesus. They were simply following him because of the frills.
Church Hopping
Unfortunately things haven’t changed very much. Many Christians attend churches simply because it offers them some kind of benefit other than ‘Life in Christ’. The benefit can vary from something as simple as soft chairs to something as common as youth ministry. These benefits may seem trivial yet many Christians base their church attendance and experience on what a church has to offer, thus the term church hopping.
Regardless of the benefit, it is symptomatic of a Christian mindset that views the church as a faceless organization, and the believer as fickle consumer. It conveys the idea that church is a service industry obliged to meet consumer demands, and believers as its self-seeking customers. If one church fails to satisfy one’s wants, there is always another one down the road that might. I find this disturbing and can only imagine how this must grieve the Holy Spirit.
Thirty plus years of ministry has shown me that what some Christians look for in a church, are generally the same things why they leave a church. Generally they will search out a church that meets their criteria of music, Sunday school, youth ministry, or a Sunday service, and equally will leave over their disapproval of the same things. At times their disapproval will spawn serious offenses and frustrations that if left untreated, emerge again with the next church that disappoints them. Although this seems petty and shallow, it is often the case.
Is there anything wrong with comfy chairs and a dynamic Sunday school? Of course not, and who wouldn’t want the best for our backs and children. It’s nice to have something for everyone. Besides, isn't the church suppose to offer all this stuff?
When we stop being the biblical church and run after what we think makes up the church, we are in a truckload of trouble. When church amenities take precedence over Christians acting responsibly to the Lord, or when we are benefit driven over unity driven, the church has strayed from its original directive and it now serves itself.
Jesus Will Build It
The church that Jesus was building was straightforward and mobile with no gimmicks. It was intended to thrive under any economic condition or political administration. In it’s design was a Holy Spirit ability to endure, sacrifice, and overcome. Their love and service to each other, their ability to rise above difficulties, and their modeling of Jesus in their everyday lives identified them as the church. They lived effectively and genuinely by being less self-absorbed or more outgoing.
Concerns for the children, teens and elderly, the women and the men, the mothers and the fathers, the poor and the lost, the married and the singles, the widows and the orphans were met with united prayer and action. Everyday the early church spontaneously and genuinely gave themselves to the Lord, and to the care and development of their church family. It did not depend on a Sunday service, a church program or a pastor. It was Holy Spirit driven in every individual believer. Everyone was engaged in the Lord’s work in a simple way.
While many of us recognize that the church is people, we still struggle to free ourselves from an organizational – consumer mindset. We have become too familiar with getting rather than giving. Although we admire those who live simple and suffer for Christ’s sake, we on the other hand don’t want to be one. After all, we have mistakenly learned that God’s blessing means bigger and better, more and never less. It was Paul who said, “I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little.” (Ph. 4:11 MSG)
Giving Rather Than Getting
The crux of the matter is that we Christians frequently think like the world, and especially when it comes to matters concerning the organized church. Unlike JFK’s memorable words, we think of what the church can do for us, and not what we should do as the church – and we’re okay with that. This however must change.
We get a clear image of the church in Acts 2:42, when they committed themselves to following God’s Word, shared meals and various interests together, remembered the Lord around the bread and wine, and when they prayed and worshiped together regularly. This in essence was the church, and the Lord was so pleased that he added more people to them every day.
The church is at it’s best when it’s love for Christ is demonstrated through their love for each other, and when pettiness, frustrations, and vested interests are exchanged for a genuine sense of fellowship and mission. This is the church that Jesus is building, “a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.” (Mt. 16:18, MSG) Hell itself is threatened as the community of believers genuinely commit themselves to the Lord.
New Motivation
The cross of Christ is the place of new beginnings for the church. While it speaks of forgiveness and a new destiny, it also speaks of a new motivation for every believer. The self-seeking heart that caused Adam’s separation from God was nailed to the cross, and a new heart of laying-down one’s life was imparted. The church came forward as sacrificial people willing to contribute, be involved and be responsible. The ‘Sunday morning Christian’ or the – ‘what’s in it for me thinking’ was now on the other side of Calvary.
Born again believers are the church set free from self-indulgence, insecurity, guilt and fear – to serve each other with the greatest love and respect, Gal. 5:13. When God’s people seek to serve themselves they cease to be free, and are no longer living in the life of the Holy Spirit. The church turns inward and is self-serving when options, convenience, and special features become the focus. In effect it becomes a club. On the other hand, the life of the Spirit is a life of love and sacrificial service. Where you find love and service you have found the church that Jesus is building.
People’s frustration with the church is obvious considering everything we have made and expect from it. To recapture the essence of the church we have to go back to the cross and see our self-interests and concerns nailed there, and that we are fitted together. We have to see that a new life in Christ means saturating ourselves in God’s purposes first, and not worry about missing out on anything.
When we seek him, Christ will take care of our everyday concerns and matters of the heart (Mt. 6:33). If the church hasn’t a Timeless Treasures Group or a Rock of Ages Worship Band, it will be okay. If we lack resources and customary programs, it will still be okay. Around the world God’s people have survived on less. We need to remember that the testimony of Jesus has been successfully shared from one generation to the next through imperfect and unrefined churches, which have solely relied on the supernatural ability of the Holy Spirit.
