A cult?

I started thinking the other day what would today's Church think of the early Church. I came up with it quickly and couldn't quit chuckling about it all day. In all seriousness, I believe the early Church would be labeled a cult. You know, the things we all worry about our friends and family possibly being fooled by.

I actually had a small discussion about this with a fellow member of my church. I wonder what our families would think if we sold all we owned. If we lived with the rest of the Church, and came together at least once a day to worship, would we look a little insane? Would our churches think we had lost it if we stopped having someone preach and instead asked the people to share what God has laid on their hearts? We would go into a gathering without a plan, singing whatever songs expressed our thoughts. The Church would care less about the materialism with which it's plagued in our country and care more about each other's maturity, our neighbors needs, and loving our enemies. We would join in communion every day, and employ other traditions and symbolism while striving to keep these practices pure and not rote.

My church right now is involved in remodeling extensively. I feel as though this money could better be used to meet people's needs. I understand the prostitutes gift of love consisting of pouring out perfume on our savior's feet instead of selling to feed the poor, but I really don't see how updating our church to seem like the dry, businesslike place which resembles corporations, is going to glorify God.

That is the Church's ultimate purpose: To glorify God. If the Church isn't producing mature christians who reflect God's glory then it's worthless, except to our enemy. I believe Satan loves the churches of America because we encourage mediocrity of spirituality. We've become content to let the pastor do any connecting with God we might think is necessary. Yes, our pastor should guide us, but they shouldn't be the only one crossing the river.

In glorifying God, a true relationship with God must be nurtured and the first step is prayer. Prayer had dissappeared from America's churches. This is how we must return to our first love. God must once again take first place in our lives.

True worship should be played out in our lives. We automatically worship whatever is first in our lives and only by placing God there do we truly worship him. Feel good songs, chants, and raucous praise do nothing for God if they aren't backed by love for him, and if love is the motivating factor these acts are transformed miraculously to a gift to God, as are all of our actions no matter how mundane.

I'm going off on a tangent now so I'll save this for another day. NeWayz, the question was, would the early church model seem like a cult to our devolved way of doing church?

Sacrifice

So I've been reading Christ Plays in 10,000 Places. Good book. Anyways, it's got me thinking about sacrifice. Eugene Peterson (the author) says the Eucharist(Communion) is only properly seen in light of the sacrifice Jesus gave us. True. Easy stuff. He then goes on to say sacrifice is our only proper response to Jesus' sacrifice. Again true. Again easy stuff, except that practicing this sacrifice isn't so easy.

Sacrifice is amazing really in so many different ways. Literally, we give pieces of ourselves to others, for others. An article on Relevant magazine's website put it a little more in perspective for me. The author said there are two reasons we choose our careers in America. One reason is money, as mentioned in a previous post our favorite life filler. The other is happiness, as in having a job that we love to do. We as Americans love to think fulfilling our own lives is the best thing that can be done. We even do this in our spirituality.

The author of this article proceeds to let everyone know there is a better reason for choosing our path in life. I use this phrase instead of career because I believe the only career we have is following Jesus. So the author says instead of pursuing money or happiness, we should pursue sacrifice. I have to agree. People who have made the most impact for Christ have given up their lives for his better cause. Some have given up the chance to make millions. Some have given up the chance to play professional sports (it would make me happy). Some have left the comfort of their own country, been placed in dangerous situations, and even refused to leave those situations because the people to whom they were ministering didn't have that option.

I'm not saying you must stop working. Paul claimed he was a tentmaker. This makes me assume this is what he did to be able to eat. I've only seen it mentioned once, though, which leads me to believe there were more important things in his life. Probably the things which he talked about all the time. He sure mentioned the church a lot, and I don't mean the building. He actually mentioned sacrifice a lot. One of his favorite things to say was that he died to himself for Christ. I think he may have been on to something.

I think the remedy for what is ailing The Church, is sacrifice. It seems the early Church put this into practice quite well. They sold their houses, even their possessions, and gave all of it to The Church. That's sacrifice. They gave up their time, every day, to gather to break bread and remember why they were there. They went to foreign cities and observed strange customs, all for the glory of God. And many were added to their numbers each day. The Church today claims to want to save souls. It claims to want people to hear the gospel. Unfortunately, in America, we seem unwilling to do what is necessary to accomplish these goals. We must sacrifice. Daily. We must stop targeting the middle and upper class since they reject us on a daily basis. We must start having meals with those who have nothing. It might help remind us that we have nothing. All we own is not ours. God gives and God takes away. Why not help our Father and sacrifice what we have so that he may be glorified to others?

Fishing

So I've started fishing lately. I love it. I get up early (5:30 a.m.), pick a spot with a friend, and start casting. The problem so far this year is that I haven't caught a thing. Well, other than snags, trees, rocks, and about anything else you can find in a lake other than a fish. So I started thinking. Jesus might have been onto something when he said he'd make us fishers of men. I mean, I know they used different methods of fishing then, but it still works darnit.

I start by waking up, getting dressed, and breaking out my equipment. I then, must find a spot I believe will be conducive to catching fish. I settle down and start throwing out a lure, hoping this is something they will like to eat. After casting a few times I decide if this spot is a viable option for catching fish or if I might need to move further up or down stream. If I'm getting a few nibbles I can discern fairly well that the spot and the lure are probably good for my purposes. If nothing is biting I usually will try a few different lures before moving on to another spot.

There will always be times when you fish and don't catch a thing. There will also, almost definitely, be times you catch so many fish you know there was something other than you that made that possible. So it is in life, when fishing for men you will have times you spend so much time and so much energy trying to catch someone but you just can't get them to bite. There will be other times, though, where you will feel like you didn't even need to be there; the fish would have just jumped into your boat without any offering other than "here is my boat."

Just as in fishing, I believe you must prepare to fish for men. Being awake helps the preparation, and I mean this in a spiritual sense as well as in the physical. I get dressed by praying and listening to the words of God. It protects me from spiritual sunburn (going into a situation unprepared). I check my equipment, which I believe Paul does a great job of illustrating with his Armor of God.

Many times, finding the proper spot to fish is the key behind how successful your endeavor will be. If you don't find a place where these men for which you are fishing congregate, you will never get the chance that they will notice your lure. You will continue casting, oblivious that there are no men gathering here to even glance upon what you are offering. Yet, if you find the proper arena in which to cast your lure, you will be rewarded with many interested men.

If you find no interested men, you must first try offering your message in a different way, because where some men will scoff at a minnow they will engulf a frog. Not all people will respond to a message that tells them they are worthless. Some will only respond to a message that God has made them worthy. Sometimes, though, you will find a spot as Jesus did in his hometown which will not respond to you no matter how you offer you message. As Christ told his disciples, you must brush the dust off your feet and move on to the next town.

I write all these words to say this: Jesus is your fishing map, your river guide, even the reason that we fish. So in all your endeavors in fishing for men, make certain you have your map/guide, and don't despair if you catch nothing one day, because there are just certain spots at certain times that will be unproductive for you. You will catch the fish Jesus asks you to, though, as long as you keep fishing.

Prepare to Suffer

Are you ready to suffer? It's inevitable, suffering that is. We're all human, we've all fallen; therefore, we all will suffer. The real question I wanna ask, though, is how do we respond.

It seems to be in the American culture, we like to run from it, avoid it as much as we can, even when we are already suffering. We block it out with alcohol, sex, drugs, or our favorite American fix-it-all Money. We stare at a screen that makes pictures so we don't have to think about anything. We call every friend we know so we don't have to be alone with our selves and our thoughts. We stay out till we're asleep so we don't have to deal with our problems haunting us as we lie in bed. Then, we wake up with only enough time to rush around and get to the places we need to be. Yet, in all reality, we suffer through it all and the full force will catch up to us.

I've read that eastern religions, sometimes including my own, embrace suffering. Some of these religions claim all life is suffering. If this is so, we ought to embrace life as what it really is. Unfortunately, these religions start out with the best of intentions and end up loving the suffering. Suffering becomes a pleasurable thing for them. If pleasure were what we're seeking this would be great. The problem is that this pleasure only covers the surface. It doesn't reach to the depths of our souls.

So the only response to suffering is to seek God. The answer to any problem is God, not because he solves these problems necessarily, but because he is the answer to our only problem. Our only problem is being void of God. Suffering is a tool. A tool that God uses to shape us. A tool which when used by our hands distorts and disguises what it touches, yet when used by God helps us realize our only problem. Everything is suffering without God, nothing is truly suffering if you have the only thing you truly want-GOD.