Church Protected, Mission Ignored! Part-1

 

“And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” Luke 23:45 ESV.

Any religious building today is considered as the sacred place. Religion is more often connected to the religious facility, irrespective of a religion. It is the same with Church buildings too. People turn violent if their religious structures are affected in any ways. The incidents of riots in history as a result of attacks on religious structure has cost so many lives, and we are all aware of such incidents. People are always willing to sacrifice themselves for their religious place and building because they believe it is the dwelling place of god. Usually, people are attached to the sentiments of a religion, rather than the actual essence of it.

Churches are no different. Today, with thousands and thousands of denominations all over the world, Christendom is fragmented and divided in many ways. Christians are holding on to the denominational and Church sentiments more than the mission God has entrusted to the Church and individuals.  People who are part of the Church are blissfully convinced that they are going to meet God. The members of the congregation today are willing to do anything for the church building and programs of the Church, but rarely demonstrate their obedience to Christ’s mission. Church mission is converted to activities and programs inside the four walls. Churches are called as sanctuary and the decorum of it is meant to portray and convince that God lives inside the Church building and therefore frequent visits can transform their life issues.

Let me state the significant observation the Bible records about the most noteworthy incident which happened when Jesus was on the cross of Calvary. “And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” Luke 23:45 ESV. This incident is conveniently ignored, but it has so much to say about the temple of God and the new definition of Church. There is no more the holy place inside the temple, however grandeur it may be. If you read the Bible carefully, Jesus was already claiming Himself to be God in many ways, but people were not willing to accept Him at all. In one instance, He makes this powerful remark. It says in Matthew 12:6, “I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.”.  Jesus wanted to convince the Jewish people that He is the God of the Temple. In other words, He was saying the ‘place’ has been moved to ‘person’ already and the most holy temple is substituted by Jesus Himself. But they weren’t willing to accept this fact.  They wanted to remain comfortable with the Temple and its ritual than the God of the temple and follow Him. They wanted to continue holding to the concept of the most holy place, the sanctuary, because it can be used to exercise power, and more importantly money.

Jesus’ prophecy regarding the temple which was recorded in the Bible was fulfilled in 70 A.D. Luke 24:1-2, ‘As Jesus left and was going out the temple, his disciples came up and called his attention to its buildings. He replied to them, “Do you see all these things? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.”. But sadly, today Christendom is trying to give all the importance back to the Church building and ignore what He has already replaced with. He introduced the new term Church and that too on the person ‘Jesus’ rather than on a place. Christianity is radically different than any other religion. Church can happen anywhere and in any setting. The day Christians realise it, the beginning of revival is going to be certain. Why do you think the Christians are not serious about being the Church and be part of the movement? It is just because the people are made comfortable staying true to the Church activities, like paying the tithes and offerings (Luke 18:12), and all other things become superficial.

To be continued.

Click here You can follow on Twitter

“Do something for the Lord”

 

Anytime when Christians are not living up to the standard of God’s expectations, they end up living with cheap alternatives. Religiosity will overtake and have full control of them. Today, Christians are part of Church institutions where mere visits and offerings are felt like a great service to God (Luke 18:12). And in addition, when they happen to be huge financial contributors for the Church, then the Church sees them as a great resource and a pillar of the Church. Most of the decisions of the Church are taken only with their approval. The church looks at them as a faithful dignified member of the congregation.

We are in a time, with no scarcity for counterfeits, superficialities and dilutions. Christendom is overflowing with it. Unfortunately, Churches fail to clear the heresies and mess. Week after week, sermons are delivered from the pulpit customized to suit and entertain people’s ears, and eventually lull them to Christ’s mission in all sense. Do you know what people are hearing too often? “Do something for the Lord.”. I am hearing it, since ages. The moment people are given a choice to do something for the Lord, they end up doing nothing or do whatever “they” feel like and call it service to the Lord. And most of the time this “something”, happens to be a church program that satisfies all.

Why do people downplay the Great Commission and the substitute Great Commandment (Matt 28:19; Acts 1:8)?  Was Jesus ambiguous in His Mission and in His Commission? Not at all!  It is the Churches and Christian leaders constantly in the limelight who are using the Great Commission to their benefit. And how are they successful? They just have to convince people that they are reaching the nation on their behalf and that they have to be part of the mission by committing to give offering and be relaxed from their responsibilities. And then to spiritualize it,  they are asked to pray along with paying.  A tele-evangelist, probably a millionaire, was pleading for money saying, “Your support helps us to go to the end of the world with the gospel.”.  In fact you would get to hear this from many who are in the forefront. It is possible that they are actually reaching out in big numbers, but they fail to engage the lay person towards the unfulfilled mission.

In many cases the Churches, Christian leaders and celebrities are freeing people of all the crucial mission responsibilities. The failure to the obedience to the Great Commission is because Churches in most cases have robbed the congregation members of Christ mission and purpose, and substituted with an alternative. Hardly a lay Christian has an audacity to share the gospel today. The need to present the gospel is never demanding and rarely compelling. People have no clue how to present it.

Christians are coaxed into thinking their attendance and positions in the Church by themselves are the fulfillment to Christ’s Mission. Paul in the book of Romans declares, “But not all obeyed the gospel”. Romans 10:16. And in verse 15 of the same chapter questions, “And how can they preach unless they are sent?”.  Yes, it is so true that most of the Christians are not sensitized enough or educated enough to lead a person to Christ. The other problem is most of them are never sent. I don't mean to tell you to send all people to some towns and villages but at least be informed enough to share the gospel to people under their influence. They forget that their workplace and other regular area of engagement in their daily life is a mission field. Sadly, they are misled into thinking that supporting a place 1,000 or more kilometers away from their home is a mission field.

There are no alternatives to the Great Commission. Every single person who finds Christ is commissioned to be a witness to the gospel,  preach the gospel and make disciples. Therefore, doing something for the Lord doesn’t directly or indirectly lead a person to Christ. It is a false mission. There are no ambiguities in the gospel and in the Great Commission whatsoever. Both the clergy and the laity, in other words pastors and lay people need to get this right. Can we commit our obedience to reach out?  Church, can you start sending or releasing your people for the sake of the gospel. Let's not forget, everywhere we turn we encounter people without Christ, especially in a country like ours. Therefore, our doing “something” cannot save a soul from eternal fire, but our clear message of the good news, will.

 

Click here You can follow on Twitter

When noticeable goes unnoticed!

 

We can either be the best example of Jesus in this world or a bad model of Christ’s teaching. Contradictory lifestyle is a result of superficiality and dishonest commitment towards God. When we want to follow God and at the same time satisfy our noticeable and sometimes unnoticeable selfish intentions to please the world, we end up living a life of contradiction. As we get used to it, our conscience is undisturbed, providing us with justifying reasons to hold on to that lifestyle.

In the book of Romans Chapter 2 Paul points out the contradictory behavior of the Jews and condemns them for being the reason God’s name is getting blasphemed (Romans 2:24). This is so true even today.  Beside people’s personal reason for rejecting God they give themselves valid reason to be offended by other Christians and yet live a contradictory lifestyle. Somehow we become the reasons for their offense.

Let me direct your attention to Romans 2:22, where it says,  “.. You who detest idols, do you rob temples.” Well I don’t intend to list out the contradiction concerning the Jews in this blog, but definitely want to draw all your attention to the contradictions sustained by the Christian world.  Sometimes our zeal for the Lord is so compartmentalized. Yes, you heard it right, compartmentalized. Many are upset on general evil the Bible condemns,  but overlook other evils brooding in their heart. And the sad part is that it finds approval to act on it.  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in one of the writings states, “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of you and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every man. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

Today many Christian leaders can be so loud in their condemnation against all idolatries but still be comfortable to make Church an enterprise for a sustainable financial return. It doesn’t hurt them at all. The Mission of Christ continues to suffer because money covertly becomes a goal for the Church’s existence. The mandate of Christ in many cases has become a nice philosophy to mobilize funds and to do every other thing, beside actually reaching out to people with the good news. And Paul is right when he raises the question. It can be easy to detest the idols and still rob the church. Then in the days before Jesus the temple structure was seen as a holy sanctuary to a larger extent. But then the temple of the Lord was destroyed in 70 A.D fulfilling the prophecy of Jesus which was accused by Jesus for turning it into a business center. But today in the new testament era when God redefined the temple it culminated to a movement, a gathering, an assembly of believers coming together for a grandeur purpose. But when the grandeur purpose is robbed, we all stand condemned. Just meeting the pharisee’s legalistic requirement of not missing the Church gains importance.

Church leaders ensure that their congregation’s faithfulness is shown in the way they render their offerings and ensure that they don’t lose anyone. And the people are happy that they are fulfilling the church obligation i.e., by attending the Church and paying the tithes. Is this all the purpose of the Church? Today, by all means the purpose of reaching souls with the gospel is robbed. Just because you are pious in one activity doesn’t give you leverage of disobeying another Biblical requirement and most importantly, the Great Commission. Christians, Pastors and leaders be watchful that your Church is not robbed of its essence and the purpose and merely existing as a beautiful structure. 

In case you missed to read the last blog, "Price in the hand of the fool"  CLICK HERE

 

Click here You can follow on Twitter