In Order to "Do," you have to "Be."

In my opinion, contemporary Christian culture has really gotten itself into a rut. It seems as though so much of the church, especially here in the US and in other Westernized nations, has lost sight of its First Love (Jesus), chosing instead to adopt and even idolize its own programs, institutions, titles, priviliges, and positions--the things that honor man and his traditions rather than God and His power. We use cheap gimmicks from the secular business world to "market" our faith, as though Jesus were a commodity rather than a savior. We've lost sight of the relational aspect of the gospel, and we mistakenly assume that what we do for God is more important than how intimately we know Him. We think church growth is a numbers game, and we're more interested in bringing someone to church than we are in bringing them to Jesus.

The modern church world is purpose driven, seeker sensitive, task oriented, and, compared with the example set for us in the book of Acts--totally ineffectual. We're an army in the culture wars, demanding a political platform so that we can convince everyone that we are right, and they are wrong. We're so afraid of tarnishing our image, that we won't allow God to move the way He wants to--we thrust Him into a box and assume that the plastic Jesus we learned about in Kindergarten is the real Jesus of the New Testament. Paradoxically, we tarnish our image every day in the public square, as we claim to be the gaurdians of "The Truth" while we exhibit no evidence of the signs, wonders, and radically transformed lives that ougth to follow those who make such claims. Clearly, things have gone awry, and if we are going to be free of this decay, we are going to have to quit settling for imitating the Church and begin learning to imitate Christ.

I believe the biggest reason for the general failure of the modern chuch world is this: it tries to imitate Jesus without first getting to know Him personally. Consequently, we have developed an intricate set of guidelines and regulations--some expressed, some merely understood--that we try to hold everyone accountable for. We worry ourselves silly and have huge disputes over things that could be easily resolved if we'd just go to Jesus about them. But, no--we have to look at our charts and diagrams and figure it out on our own. We mostly just do this so we can feel good about ourselves. But if we're going to live victorious, effective lives that truly bring glory to God, we are going to have to (as Pastor Jim said on Sunday) quit thinking of Jesus as just a historical figure and start approaching Him as a Person that we can know.

I've critiqued the modern Western church enough for one day, and you are probably asking "what does this have to do with my life?" and about to quit reading this. So let's make this more personal.

Have you ever tried your hardest to serve God, and found that you just couldn't do it? No matter how hard you worked, you always found yourself failing? Sure you have. Let's be honest--we've all been there. So let's look at an intriguing passage of scripture that may help to explain some of this better...

"Some Jews who went about driving out evil spirits tride to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, 'In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.' Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, 'Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?' Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding."
- Acts 19:13-16

Not exactly a great success story, is it? Now we know that Jesus explicitly directed His followers to cast out demons. This is what He did, this is what His disciples did, and this is what the early church did. So we have to deduce that casting out those demons was, in fact, God's will. They even did it in the name of Jesus! So why did these seven sons of Sceva screw up so bad? Simply put, they tried to do it in their own strength. They weren't speaking under the anointing, using Jesus' name with the power of one who truly had Him backing them up. They were simply "invoking" the name, thinking "maybe this will work," the same way a magician might say "abra cadabra" and pull a rabit out of a hat. Now, God isn't a big fan of being patronized in this way, but that's another subject. Basically, these people talked a big game. They did and said all the right things. But they were missing one key thing. They didn't know Jesus. They simply referred to Him as "Jesus whom Paul preaches," not "Jesus whom I know, who loves me, who is my Lord," and the demon just had a field day with that.

Let's look at one more example, this time from Jesus' ministry.

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, they came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
- Luke 10:38-41

Martha, to me, is a perfect image of the modern church. Busy, frantic, task-driven, and all the while, the Son of God is sitting beside us, just waiting for the moment that we will quiet our minds and allow Him to speak to us. Martha thought that by working hard and preparing, she would earn God's favor, but just the opposite was the case. Jesus' commends Mary for sitting at His feet and listening to Him speak--for taking the time to settle down and get to know Him.

To me, the most powerful part of that passage is these words: "only one thing is needed." Jesus didn't say "this is the most important thing, but don't forget about A, B, and C." Or "here's another thing to add to your agenda." If He wanted to say it that way, He would have. Instead, He says, quite specifically, that only one thing is needed, and that one thing is to sit at His feet, to be near Him, to understand His heart, and to become more like Him as He speaks to us His awesome Word. If I could say one thing to the modern church culture, I would say this: settle down, and sit at Jesus' feet for a while. You've made a mess of things trying to do it your own way. You've become a nervous wreck, thinking you are serving the Master when you're really just trying to make a good impression so you can feel good about yourself. Chill out. Be quiet. Let Him love you for a little while. Let Him speak to you. Let Him make you more like Himself. Let Him consume you with His Holy Spirit. Let Him set your heart on fire again. Come back to your first love. When you do this--the one and only thing that really matters--you will once again be the powerful representation of God's Kingdom on the Earth, and you will once again see the glory of God fully manifest. You are called to be a Bride, not a Butler, so learn to love your Lord once again, and He will make you beautiful, powerful, influential, successful, in His own time.

We live in a task-oriented society. Our economic and social systems are all driven toward one thing--the bottom line. Let's not let these things creep into our relationship with Jesus. Instead, let's focus on who we are in Christ, focus on who Jesus is, and learn to love Him. As we love Him, we will also learn to love others. We will find that it's only in Him that we can be complete and fulfilled, and we will no longer feel the need to strive after all these things that never satisfy in the long run. Only one thing is needed--to sit at Jesus feet. And in order to do great exploits for the Kingdom of God, our gaze needs to be fixed on one face: Jesus.