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A Church on Every Corner

Sunday, April 10th, 2011 | Author:

Israel is a luxuriant vine; He produces fruit for himself.  The more his fruit, the more altars he made; the richer his land, the better he made the sacred pillars. Hosea 10:1  NASB

More/ better – According to Hosea, affluence produces an increase in religion.  There is no better example than America.  American Christianity has invented a word for its preoccupation with religious expansion.  The un-churched.  That’s right.  We don’t worry about transformation and community.  We worry about getting people into church.  Church is big business and marketing techniques and advertising dominates the American religious landscape.  I wouldn’t be surprised to find churches praying for another terrorist attack so that more people would flood the pews as they did after September 11th.  We worry about churches that are no longer “competitive.”  We want to make sure our church grabs the biggest market share in the area.  Heaven forbid that we should ever consider combining offices, staff or services with all those other denominations in our neighborhoods.  No, we must have a new building campaign so that we can attract the biggest congregation possible.

God has something to say about all this religious frenzy, this penchant for greatness.  God’s evaluation of the situation comes in the next verse.  “Their heart is faithless.  Now they must bear their guilt.”  Proliferation of congregations is not a priority of Scripture.  The fever-pitched mania about church planting and church growth is not a biblical concern.  God is able to do more with one man abandoned to Him than with a million Sunday church attendees.  Affluence may produce an increase in religious organizations but it seems that affliction produces true devotion.  In Hosea’s time, Israel’s prosperity produced many new religious sites but from God’s perspective, those sites didn’t make one bit of difference.  The people substituted location for love of each other.  The community collapsed from consumer consciousness.

There are approximately 450,000 churches in America.  That’s nearly a half million buildings that need to be paid for, maintained and managed.  What nation on the face of the earth at any time in human history could ever afford such expense?  Apparently, only in America.  Even with 450,000 churches, that is only one church for every 625 people in the country.  What kind of impact would the Body (not the church) have on those 625 people if all that money, time and effort were redirected toward righteous living?  What would America be like if the Body spent its resources on being Good Samaritans rather than good ushers or singers in the choir?  Perhaps we will live to find out.  If affliction brings commitment to God rather than to a building, perhaps God will bless America with affliction as it has never known.  He did the same for Israel.

Oh, yes, the Hebrew words translated “more” and “better” are ravah (to become many) and tovah (good, better).  “Mo’ better” in Hebrew might be ravah tovah.  Hosea uses the alliteration to get our attention.  Mo’ better isn’t always God’s purpose.

Topical Index:  church, affluence, affliction, un-churched, Hosea 10:1

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Derailed

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 | Author:

Consider my affliction and my travail; and forgive all my sins. Psalm 25:18

Consider – David isn’t like me.  At least he’s not like me in his wholehearted cry to the Lord.  We may share other things.  His faults maybe my faults, but God Himself recognized that David continued in faithful direction even if he was derailed once in awhile.  I am more like the description of the spiritually impoverished man in Abraham Heschel’s words, “We do not refuse to pray.  We merely feel that our tongue is tied, our mind inert, our inner vision dim, when we are about to enter the door that leads to prayer.  We do not refuse to pray; we abstain from it.  We ring the hollow bell of selfishness, rather than absorb the stillness that surrounds the world,”[1]

I want to pray.  I want to listen to the voice of my God.  I desperately need His comforting reassurance, the symphony of His care.  At times my concerns for those I love overcome my trepidation, my unworthiness, and I stammer affirmation of His sovereignty.  I know He cares.  I know He even cares about me, but I feel His silence as if a vise closed around my body.  Why?  God has not abandoned me.  I have failed Him.  When I am derailed by circumstance, emotion or temptation, I miss the mark of His blessing.  I find myself on a spur, switched to another direction.  I cease to pray because I know that I am not on the main line and I don’t know what to do about it.  How often I need to remember Brother Lawrence’s straightforward approach to sin.  Repent, accept the unwavering grace of the Lord, trust His word of faithful comfort, and get back on the track.

David is able to ask God to “consider” his affliction and travail.  This is a noble word from a broken heart.  Ra’ah (to see) is metaphorical for looking into the heart of a matter.  No one hiding from the Lord would ever ask to be considered.  Adam did not want the Lord to consider him.  He wanted to cover his shame (which was not nakedness, by the way) and hide.  I am much more like Adam than David.  But David is a son of Abraham, and so am I.  There is hope for me too.  Even when I hide, God asks, in surprise, why I am not standing by His side.  He expects me to be there.  That is my destiny.  He is always surprised when I do not fulfill the purpose for which I was born.  His surprise is my shame.  I don’t want to be like this – afraid to pray.  I want conversation with Him.  I want to be known, but because I know my own faults and failures so well, I simply can’t imagine that there is a God who could love me in spite of them.  And the cancer in my imagination, that tumor of disbelief, really shouts out how little I actually trust Him.  He promises to forgive me when I come in contrite humiliation.  It is only my distorted sense of rebellion and unworthiness that prevents His promise from affecting my life.  It isn’t that I want to pray but am unable.  It is that I refuse to pray because I am unwilling.  I am unwilling to admit that my failure is not grounds for His rejection, that there is no inverted pride in spiritual distance and that He loves me when I do not love Him or me.

“Consider.”  Lord, look at me.  Yes, I know you will often find things I detest, things I do not want to see, things I pretend are not me.  But look anyway.  And peel away the layers of my resistance.  Remove the scales so that what I know may become what I see too.  Let me see me as you see me.  Consider my afflictions.  They start here, in me.

Topical Index:  consider, affliction, ra’ah, see, Psalm 25:18

[1] Abraham Heschel, Spiritual Audacity and Moral Grandeur, p. 340.

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Understanding the Paradigm: Inevitable Consequences

Monday, January 07th, 2008 | Author:

“In this world you have affliction” John 16:33

If you knew the whole picture, you might change your mind.

Christianity as commonly presented in the Western world is a religion of reward.  We hear about the blessings of being a Christian.  We are exhorted to enter into the abundant life, to experience God’s gracious provision, to be successful examples of purposeful living.  We parade our own versions of celebrities before fawning audiences.  Admired, powerful, important, perhaps wealthy, we hold these men and women up as shining symbols of the full Christian life.  Now, I ask you, who wouldn’t want to be a Christian like that? All that life has to offer here.  Then you die and get even more in heaven.

But this doesn’t seem to be Jesus’ point of view.

“In this world you have thlipsis“, says Jesus.  The Greek word means crushing, back breaking, heart stopping affliction.  It’s trouble with a capital T.  It’s the squeeze when you are caught in the vise grip of circumstances that don’t go your way.  Thlipsis is a scary word.  It brings on images of pressure, evils, distress and calamity.  It’s the boxed in, no exit loss that Job knew only too well.  Jesus says that you (plural – meaning all of his followers) are going to have the privilege of experiencing Job’s encounter with the devil.  As a follower of the Way, you are in for the ride of your life – and it’s not going to be fun and games.  Remember what Jesus said to Peter.  “Satan has asked permission to sift you like wheat.”  That is not good news.

Please notice that Jesus does not say, “Some of you will have a few hard times”.  Notice that Jesus considers thlipsis to be the inevitable consequence of discipleship.  This is not optional.  It is to be expected.  If you are following Him, you are at war with the world and the world will come after you with all that it can muster.  Don’t spiritualize this.  Jesus doesn’t say that you will have spiritual persecution.  He doesn’t restrict the agony to just being religiously mistreated.  The world is your enemy and it will use anything possible to break your hold on God’s way of life.  Just ask Job.

This is not the “gospel” we hear from pulpits today.  No wonder.  Who would sign up for a life of hardship and crushing distress?  Most pastors are quite aware of the detrimental effect that such teaching would have on attendance.  So, we give the more accommodating version, the one where being a Christian is really nothing more than a better plan for personal success and happiness.  We preach the gospel of the really good news – you can have God’s help to make everything fabulous.  Just settle the eternity issue and let God give you the life you always wanted here and now.

Of course, Jesus’ point of view is shocking.  You were not designed for satisfaction here and now.  This world is not the place where you will find your true destiny.  As James Bond said, “The world is not enough.”  God made you for eternal purposes.  If you fix your attention on fulfillment here and now, you never understood the paradigm.  If you thought that God would reshape a world antagonistic to His holiness so that you would discover tranquility and success on this side of the grave, you have been duped.  The world is your enemy.  Did you imagine that the enemy would grant you God’s  desires?

Jesus’ point of view is radically different.  In this world, in the world at war with God, you are going to be treated like an enemy combatant.  You can expect to be shot at, ambushed, betrayed, bombed, strafed, wounded and blitzed.  That’s what it means to be at war.  Whenever you discover that you have set your agenda on finding a nice peaceful hide-away in this world, you are moving across enemy lines.  God is not interested in making peace with the world.  If you live with the goal of finding peace and harmony in this world, you are not on the track God is taking.  If all you want is “a little peace of mind” (thank you, John and Paul), then your attempt to find inner tranquility will only be one more stop on the journey to emptiness.  God designed you for deliberate holy restlessness.  Only He can fill the bill.  And if you thought that His intention was to give you heaven on earth, you never understood what heaven really is.

Wait!  Don’t despair!  Jesus has one more vital piece of intelligence to offer you in this battle.  He has overcome the world!  It is not possible to escape thlipsis – crushing affliction – in this world, but it is absolutely certain that you can have peace in the midst of the battle.  Jesus promises peace.  Why?  Because the world has been defeated.  Jesus has overcome the world.  It is no longer the last word on the subject.  It will no longer hold its prisoners captive.  No matter how bloodied you are in this battle, you win.  Even if you die, you win!  Nothing can prevent you from reaching your God-determined destiny and purpose because He will gather you to Himself after the battle is done.  You will find your reward, not here, not now, but with Him.

Shift!  Stop being seduced by the false gospel of earthly gain.  Take up your armor and fight!  This world is not your home.

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