Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Porky Jesus / No idles before me

At the heart of our relationship with God, is the prohibition against Idols. Idols are manmade images that serve as the focus of worship and surrender. For most of us, we do not have a real issue with idols.

Through the decades some have tried to make a case that the things in our lives are or can become an idol. But I seriously doubt that any of you worship your car or T.V. or pet or anything else at the level that would offend God. For most if not all of us, these objects in our lives are not idols. They are merely indulgences and distractions. I am pretty sure there is no one reading this, who on a daily or weekly basis, spends anytime adoring a piece of metal or plastic that has electronic parts or a pet or a human partner for that matter.

The only idol that any of us come close to worshiping is ourselves. The only thing in the world that gives God a run for His money, is us. There is nothing in the world that can cause me to act in direct rebellion against God faster than me.

But even the idol factor is not the most damaging thing in the world. The most damaging and heretical thing in all the world is the idle factor. Far too many of us are idle…inactive, ineffective.

The Puerto Principle or as it is more commonly called the 80/20 rule, is what is destroying the fabric of our churches and our culture. The fact that 80% of the work and 80% of the funds come from only 20% of those in the fellowship is fatal. Literally! It is fatal. The influence and effect of the church upon America and the world is dead. The church is no different from the world and the world is spinning out of control and it is all due to the fact that the majority of the church is idle!

What if your heart was working at only 20%; or your lungs or kidneys or liver? You would be home bound and bed ridden if not hospitalized.

The church suffers from the fact that we are idle before God! We are branches without fruit, clouds without rain. We are a church of tares and not wheat.

God is calling the body of Christ to awaken, arise and function. The gates of hell cannot stand against the body of Christ if it is functioning in all of His power and glory. But if we are as a quadriplegic with only 20% of our body functioning, hell laughs at us instead of trembles.

The two great commands do not challenge whether or not we are focused on a figurine. To Love Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbors the way Jesus loves us, is a call to not be idle. It is a call to live, love and light this dark world in everything we do…and it is certainly a call to not be idle!

Don’t be an idle worshipper…do something. Bear fruit for the glory of God. kh

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Porky-jesus/ Membership

Do you remember the Member’s Only jackets of the Eighties? They had the cool stand up collar and the epaulets or shoulder straps. They were the bomb! They came in a small variety of colors. There was even a leather version. But the mystique was “members only.” They also had a marketing tag line, “when you put it on, something happens.”

The reality of course was that “Member’s Only” was a brand name not an identification for the person wearing it. Wearing the jacket did not make you a member of anything. The only thing it made, was profit for the retailer and the manufacturer. The jackets, like my silk shirts and very large bell-bottomed pants have, by the grace of God, gone out of style.

It is my opinion that the jackets were so successful not because they were so fashionably impressive, but because people loved the idea of membership. Give people the idea that having a membership is something that makes them better than someone else, or entitles them to something that otherwise they could not receive and they will line up. Sam’s, Costco, J.B.’s and others are cashing in on that idea!

I have in my pocket a card that says I am a Sam’s club member. I also have a Costco membership; it is great to be king! However, I do not carry any responsibility for either of those companies. I do not go in and ask how I can help. I do not clean windows or pick up trash or offer customers assistance. I am a member for my consumption. Sadly, that mindset is a part of the church culture.

For most, we see membership as something that makes us special, that gives us entitlements, that gives us power. Because I am a member I have a voice, I have a vote, I have rights! But that is a far cry from what Jesus had in mind.

The word member appears in Scripture as a translation of two different words. One means a place on the council, the other a limb or part of a human body. Guess which one is always used regarding members of the body of Christ? You guessed it. In the context of a believer it is always as a functioning part of the body. Church membership as we know it today in the local church has no Scriptural basis. It is a tradition that began prior to the Reformation and is a legal stipulation if not a hijacking of the imagery of the Book of Life.

We are not called to be members of a ruling body! We are called to be the arms,legs, feet, hands, ears, eyes and mouth of the body of Christ. There are no rights. There are responsibilities. My legs have no rights. They have a responsibility to remain attached and subservient to every other part of my body. They are to enjoy the benefit of being a functioning part of my body, enjoying the benefits of all the others parts doing their share. Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.

Until the local church realizes that it is the body of Christ and not a political or social organization we will fail to change our world. It is time that we abandoned the stockholder with rights and privileges mentality. It is time for believers to embrace the fact that we are to be parts that are responsible to the whole body. That we have the responsibility to do the right thing for the right reasons and that slaves and servants have no rights!

The next time you want to demand your rights and your voice in the church business meeting remember this; If Jesus had put His crucifixion to a vote, His very own disciples would have voted down their only chance of missing hell.

The world is waiting to see a local church whose members embrace their responsibilities instead of expecting their rights. Are you a member?

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Porky-jesus: Go-spiel

I am sure you have gotten them, the email identifying Barak Obama as the Anti-Christ. The one I received stated that the Scriptures revealed that the antichrist would be a Muslim in his mid-forties. Not real sure where in Scripture it says that, but the email said it did. And then there is Oprah, who according to the multiple emails I have received, is starting her own religion.

I remember when Ronald Regan was the anti-Christ. Then it was Mikhail Gorbachev. Then of course Russia was the force to be feared as the army of the Tribulation and Armageddon. Then the Gulf War came and the books came pouring out about how it was the build up to Armageddon. I am pretty sure Jesus has missed His second coming at least a couple of times. I don’t know why He keeps putting it off. But according to some very reliable Christian authors He apparently is not paying very close attention.

The modern church reminds me a lot of our little dog Elvis. If a bird landed in our backyard Elvis would get “all shook up.” If a dog came into our backyard Elvis was more than ready to bark a chorus of “you ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog!” I have seen his “temperature rising” over every little thing that came along. Seriously, we had a dog named Elvis!

The church is the same way. We get so worked up over the latest current event. I remember when the judgment of God was coming because of a movie “The Last Temptation of Christ.” Then Harry Potter was going to lead all of our children into witchcraft. Then there was of course the dreaded Di Vinci Code. Dan Brown should send a tithe to the churches in his area for what the church did for his book sales. And I guess we have not yet seen the fallout from “The Golden Compass.”

If I can go totally anthropomorphic for a moment…the Trinity must be rolling Their eyes at all that we get worked up about. I am pretty sure that the Kingdom of God is not worried about the scribbling of a few mortal authors. I am also convinced that God does not breathe a sigh of relief when someone steps us to confront the latest heresy just before the church caves in and all is lost.

I am very confident that when Jesus said the “gates of Hell shall not prevail” He was not overlooking the publishing industry or the next Johnny or Jane-come-lately. Maybe we would do well to heed Gamaliel’s advice, “keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is from men it will come to nothing” (Acts 5:38 NKJV)

Am I suggesting that we do nothing in the face of pointed and powerful attacks against the Gospel? No, I am just saying let’s don’t replace the Gospel with the Go-spiel. The word “spiel” means “plausible superficial talk.” The church is spending way too much time and money on the plausible superficial talk instead of the Gospel, the good news. We are not to try and drown out the world with more of man’s words. We are to turn up the volume and clarify the Gospel. Instead of writing books and Bible studies about the Di Vinci Code let’s prove that the Gospel is true, that Jesus saves and that nothing can stop us if we are following God. We need not fear the New York Times best seller list! The number one selling book of all time is the Bible, more than six billion. The next one on the list has sold less than one billion.

It is time for the church to start reading the greatest book every written and start living it loud and clear in our culture. The darkness is powerless; it merely exists in the absence of light. It is time we started loving, living and sharing the gospel in our daily lives. It is time we stopped being little barking dogs of the go-spiel. We must choose to live the light of the gospel so brightly and beautifully that the darkness never has a chance.

So the next time you feel compelled to send an email or write a Bible study or preach a sermon about the wickedness of the latest publication or celebrity, take a moment. Clear your head. Say a prayer and go be Jesus to somebody. Remember we have been called to preach the good news of the Gospel, not go-spiel.