What's unique about church?
I want us to reflect for a few moments on the whole church thing. Church is obviously important to us, but why? What’s unique about church? What niche does it fill? You know, we have the local YMCA. We have the Fit Club. We have dozens of sports leagues, public schools, day care centers, and after school programs. What does the Church offer that’s unique from these things? And let’s not forget places like White Oaks Mall, the various eateries around town, the coffee and donut shops, the libraries, the theatres, the auditoriums, the country clubs, or even the local bars and bowling alleys. How is the Church to be like some of these places? How is the Church to be different?
If you were explaining what’s distinctive and special about Christian relationships to a non-Christian friend, what would you say? Is someone just as likely to have the same quality relationships down at the local gym, at work, at the bar, or at the mall as they are with other Christians? Tragically, in many cases the answer to that question can be a resounding YES!
What's wrong about today's churches?
We’ve all seen how the Church can become like a business- Church, Incorporated. We can develop this mindset whereby we come each week and punch the clock and go through the motions of whatever job or tasks we’ve been assigned. We can become consumed with keeping all the plates spinning, building up a clientele, keeping the customers happy, and doing whatever it takes so they will keep returning to church.
We can become overly focused on things like buildings, maintenance, schedules, calendars, financial statements, policies, legal matters, plans, and administration. It sends chills through my spine to think of all the impersonal ways we "do Church" and how these things can be a universe removed from what Christ intended.
We’ve all, no doubt, seen how the Church can become like a country club. Church can become a place for superficial interactions. These are the kind of interactions where we are mostly interested in seeing everyone, shaking hands, slapping our pals on the back, sipping coffee, socializing, recreating, and being entertained. We know the country club atmosphere all too well. There is no real commitment to one another. Relationships are a mile wide and an inch deep. The focus is on being nice, putting on a smiley face, pretending to be someone we are not while hiding who we really are. We are feigning deep spirituality and faking deep relationships.
Of course, church can also become cold, lifeless, and institutionalized. Church can be mostly about dressing up, putting on our Sunday best, being pious, doing Church, being religious, mechanically going through the Sunday motions- song, sermon, song, sacrament, prayer, offering, benediction, stand up, sit down.
I want you to meet someone who can teach us a lot about what the institutionalized church can be like. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce Hokey Pokey Elmo! (Note to reader- Hokey Pokey Elmo proceeded to do a couple choruses of the "Hokey Pokey". Put your right foot in and take your right foot out. Then put your right foot in and shake it all about!) I know it seems over the top, yet that is exactly what church can become! It can become this goofy, hokey, meaningless dance we feel obligated to suffer through every Sunday.
The Church should not be created in the image of the world.
I think I have experienced just about every side of church that exists. And I dare say that if we aren’t careful and even sometimes when we are careful, we can become guilty of re-creating the Church in the image of the world. The Church isn’t a business. You aren’t the customers or shareholders. The elders and deacons aren’t the board of directors. The pastoral staff aren’t the employees. The preaching minister is not the chief executive officer. The treasurer isn’t the chief financial officer.
The Church isn’t a country club. Yes, we should enjoy being together. Everyone enjoys a cup of coffee and warm conversation. We all need to smile and greet one another and welcome newcomers. Believe me, few things are as important. But is that as deep as our relationships run? Can we be real with one another?
The Church isn’t an institution. Institutions are notorious for becoming cold and impersonal. They are riddled with traditionalism. It's not enough to read the Bible. We must only read out of the sacred, authorized version. It's not enough to sing and rejoice. We must only sing a certain body of songs and only use certain instruments and only follow a particular style and a distinct order. It's not enough to pray. We must pray liturgical prayers. We must only pray the Lord’s Prayer. We must drop our voices two octaves and speak in Old English. And God forbid if anyone smiles, or enjoys themselves, or claps, or raises their hands. Actually, Hokey Pokey Elmo is too charismatic to be accepted in most churches.
The Church should be a community of humans sharing life with one another.
Our biggest challenge as Christians is breaking free from man’s re-creations of church. The Church isn’t a business, a country club, or an institution! The Church is a community where people stop pretending and stop being superficial and feel free to take off their masks. The Church is to be a community where people can show their humanity and be real and begin sharing their lives together. They can begin one-anothering each other. Loving, serving, praying, understanding, forgiving, accepting, greeting, confessing, teaching, encouraging, rebuking, giving, and sacrificing for each other.
Jesus Christ was never passionate about church as a business. He was never passionate about church as a country club or institution. But he sure was passionate about church as a community. Community is what excites and energizes, not the other things.
Jesus chose to build a community of close friends.
One of the most astonishing truths the Bible reveals about Jesus is that he chose. Of the tens of thousands of people who flocked to his side, he chose just twelve disciples. They were Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot. Of the twelve disciples who gave up everything to follow him, Jesus chose just three, Peter, James, and John. Together, they formed a kind of inner circle. But even of the three disciples, Jesus still chose. The Bible tells us that John was the one whom Jesus loved.
So tell me, why did Jesus feel a need to choose? Was he only looking for leaders? Was he only concerned about his building his eternal kingdom? Or could it also be that Jesus was building a community of close friends with whom he could share his life. Giving, but also receiving?
When God created Adam his first statement was, "It is not good for the man to be alone." Genesis 2:18 (NIV). Not only is it no good for man to be alone, it is also no good for God to be alone. Have you ever considered the fact that God exists in community? This is what the mystery of the trinity is all about. The Godhead includes the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are a triad. In Genesis all three exist and work together. As the Son of God, it was part of Jesus’ very nature to surround himself with a community.
Jesus shared life with his brothers.
The fact that we are created in God’s image says something about our need for community as well. Yes, he needed leaders. Yes, he needed followers. But he also needed brothers. He needed friends. He needed people with whom to share life. It is not good for man to be alone. This is just as true today as it was in the beginning.
I want you to notice something else that we don’t often think much about. I finished reading The Da Vinci Code recently which is basically a conspiracy theory about how the Catholic church made up Christianity as we have it today. One of the falsehoods Dan Brown tries to pass off as fact in his book is the notion that the New Testament gospels mostly conceal Christ’s humanity. In truth, nothing could be further from the truth. It is immediately obvious that Jesus deeply shared his life, his humanity, with the disciples.
In the gospels, we find him hungry in the wilderness after forty days of fasting. We find him being tempted by Satan and being ministered to by angels. We find him exhausted and retreating to solitary places in order to escape the demands of the crowds. We find him praying, searching for strength. We see flashes of his righteous anger and his disappointment over the dullness of the disciples. We find him amazed by the faith of the Roman official. We see him weeping over the city of Jerusalem and at the death of Lazarus.
At the end of his life we find him in the garden of Gethsemane. And notice the vivid detail we have about those final moments. Mark 14:32-34 (NIV) says, "They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I pray.' He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,' he said to them. 'Stay here and keep watch.'" In Luke 22:44 we're told, "and being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."
The fact that we even have the gospel writings says something about Jesus. He opened himself up to the disciples. He invited them into his inner life. He was unafraid to show his humanity and divinity! He was known. He was real. Those disciples took notes and recorded his entire life for us to read in our Bibles. Jesus chose because he needed and desired community!
The church stops becoming a community when we stop sharing our lives together.
Do you know why church becomes a business? Do you know why church becomes a country club? Do you know why the Church becomes institutionalized? It is because we stop sharing our lives together. It is because we stop wanting to be a community and we don’t take the time to know and be known by others. It is because we don’t choose ourLifeGroup. We don’t choose our twelve.
It is because we don’t choose our triad. We don’t chose our three friends with whom to grow deeper, confess our struggles, be accountable, and draw strength from. It is because we don’t choose that one to love. That close friend who sticks closer than a brother, who follows us through our darkest moments and never leaves our side.
Instead we withdraw and avoid deep relationships. We linger in the crowd. We remain anonymous and unknown. We excuse ourselves because of family and work. We busy ourselves. We proudly dismiss our need for community. We go it alone. And the results are predictable. We die spiritually. We slip deeper into sin. Our religion leaves us empty and isolated, alone, cut off from any meaningful relationships. We have hundreds of acquaintances, but no close friends. We get a slap on the back from our pals, a firm handshake and a cup of coffee, but no lasting connection.
What’s wrong with Christians today? It’s our lack of passion for community. That passion existed in the Church in the beginning. Acts 2:42-46 (NIV) tells us how. "They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
Are you becoming part of the church community?
Perhaps some questions would be of help to us this morning. When is the last time you met with other Christians outside of Sunday morning to discuss and gain a better understanding God’s word? When was the last time you devoted yourself to someone or something beyond yourself or your immediate family? When is the last time you broke bread in the home of another Christian or sat down and really prayed with another Christian about real issues and real life? When was the last time you made a deep sacrifice for another Christian? Selling a possession, liquidating your assets, giving to a real and legitimate need they had? When is the last time you met together in a home outside of Sunday morning in order to worship and praise God, enjoy fellowship with other Christians, and share a meal? When was the last time you really opened yourself up and shared your life with others, just as Christ did with his disciples?
Think of the life we miss out on because we refuse to share our lives! It really is time for us to choose community over isolation. Look around you. This is the crowd. This is corporate celebration. This is the anonymous mass. If you only interact with the Church for one hour in this setting every week you are missing out on ninty-five percent of what this Christian community has to offer. The life is in the Lifestage Bible Fellowships, where you can be known and meet and choose those twelve Christians with whom to grow deeper. The life is in the Life Groups, where you can get into homes, forge lasting relationships, pray deeply with other Christians, find encouragement and strength, gain wisdom, give and receive, and meet real needs.
We have Lifestage Bible Fellowships and Life Groups for all ages. What’s good enough for God is even better for us.