I have spent much of this week running here and there, just trying to keep up really. But also in the center of my mind I kept thinking on the message that Josh Heaston delivered this past Sunday. The challenge that Josh put out there, really came down to this: “Will we BE the Church and not just GO to church?”
Listen to the description of the church author Jerry Cook writes in his wonderful book, “Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness”…..“The Church is people, redeemed, filled with His Spirit, equipped to serve, meeting needs everywhere in Jesus name.” In another place Cook says this, “Among other things, I’m saying that we need to direct the church away from professionalism and into the hands of people who do not know what they are doing. I can say from firsthand experience that this policy is both scary and at times, utterly ridiculous, but always, in my mind, necessary.”
Really what Jerry Cook is saying is that Christianity is not to be a “spectator sport” and John Wimber would agree saying--“everybody gets to play!”
On Sunday, Josh reminded us that living like this could cost you time, energy, and money but to hear the stories he shared you have to say it’s worth it don’t you? And one cool side note here is, never one time did Josh call me up to ask for help as he reached out to his friend. We would have been glad to help, but he saw himself as “the church”---and the church was simply at work.
I can remember one story John Wimber told about a guy who came running up to him one Sunday morning, pretty flustered. He said, “I tried to call the church all weekend long! I had a friend who needed some help, needed a place to stay and I couldn’t reach anyone at the church to get him help.” John calmly asked, “Well, what did you do?” He said, “I got him a room!” John replied, “Well it seems to me the church did respond. You helped him didn’t you?”
When will we, as “the church”, embrace the idea that we ARE the Church and just maybe God has strategically placed us in our neighborhood, on our job, at this school, or in the right store at the right time to be used to bring the gospel to someone in need? Now as soon as I said, “bring the gospel” I lost some of you because you assumed that includes preaching at some one. I love what St. Francis said a very long time ago, “Preach the gospel everywhere you go…..and sometimes use words.” I am not talking friendship evangelism, servant evangelism, or power evangelism; I am talking about living as “light” and “salt”, just like Jesus said.
I have to quit writing because I feel like my head and my heart are about to explode! Here is what I see…..I see a Church Body that cannot be contained in a building! I see people who will not settle for going to church! I see people who are not willing to let someone else pray for the sick when they are right there, ready! I hear the stories of a couple of moms working on reaching into a school to help some teens who need simple things like soap, shampoo, some newer clothes….I see an engineer going to the juvenile detention center, not because he can really relate to those young guys but because God has put them on his heart!….I see a group going to the “Salvation Army” Rehab Center, not because they all have had drug and alcohol problems but because they have found the very people Jesus loves! I see a ladies prayer group that would not only pray but then would go out and touch people everywhere they went. They saw people healed, held the hurting in their arms, brought hope to the hopeless….Oh man, let me catch my breath here!
Now, let me quickly explain Sunday mornings to you…..
We don’t refer to Sunday mornings as our “service” times, at least we shouldn't! Sunday is about CELEBRATING! Celebrating God and what He has done this past week and what He is going to do this next week. We gather together as a Church Body on Sundays (and at other times) in a spirit of celebration--to worship, train, and fellowship (encouraging one another)--so that we can be "rested and restored" to then go back out into a lost and hurting world to “serve” others there.
I told Josh this morning at breakfast, that Sunday was a tipping point for us and as I think about it right now I see a glass being tipped over and all its’ contents being spilled out….
(Tip us over Jesus…tip us over!)
Bill
No comments:
Post a Comment