Love in Action

Here are some thoughts from Pastor Brent Ingersoll of Kings Valley Wesleyan Church...

"Do you ever stop and ask yourself if the Church in North America is affecting lives the way it should be? Do you ever wonder if we are reaching the world around us in the same kind of way we read about in the New Testament? There is no question that the church is a strong (or maybe a better term would be loud) presence in North America, but I often ask myself, is the noise we are making the type of noise Jesus would be making?

When you step back and look at the areas in which Christians are making the most noise, it tends to be in the areas of waving our Christian/moral flags at the world around us. It seems as though we (the evangelical church) are spending more time and energy on fighting homosexuality and abortion, than we are on feeding the hungry, healing the sick, giving love to the unlovable, hope to the hopeless, money to the poor, being strong for those who are weak, befriending homosexuals instead of condemning them, adopting babies instead of picketing the young, confused mothers who abort…. getting the picture? There is no question the church is making some noise in our culture, but is it the same noise Jesus made?

When you look at the noise made by Christ, and the apostles, it was out of action. It was their lives that spoke for them. I sometimes wonder if somewhere along the line, we stopped realizing that loving God and Others is the greatest command, and we replaced it with moral rules and regulations. God never intended for you or me to be able to live up to His moral standards without Him (true morality comes after we know Jesus). So why is it that we are teaching the world (who doesn’t know God) to live to what we know to be God’s moral standard, instead of pointing them to Jesus out of love. Are we getting things out of order here? If the only noise that we the church are making is out of waving our moral flags, I dare say that we are missing the point. A lot of us wonder why the church is starting to lose its voice in America (Canada)…. I can’t help but wonder if it’s not from years of yelling.

Ponder this: What would the world be like if the church stopped focusing what everyone else isn’t, and just started living as who WE ARE. I wonder if through our loving actions, we would be creating the most undeniable, contagious, noise to the world we live in. I wonder if THAT noise would make more people WANT to be like us?

Actions always speak louder than words, and the noise that unconditional love makes….. is… undeniable!"

Well said Brent. For a young guy just out of Bible College, this is an incredibly thoughtful article. I like what you have said my friend.

Weak christianity

Virginia Tech students of all faiths gathered this afternoon for a service designed to give strength and comfort and possibly some direction for the future. Surprisingly, the best speaker of the day was George W. Bush. And the Muslim leader spoke well, referring to approopriate passages of the Koran and speaking of Allah. The Buddhist representative also spoke well, referring to her religious writings and leaders. Then the Jewish leader read from Ecclesiastes and spoke of God. Only the weak, christian leader failed to read from his Bible or to mention the name of Jesus.

The weak politically correct version of christianity that he represents is embarassing for it's silence on anything overtly Christian. It was clear that the Muslim was a Muslim, the Buddhist was a Buddhist, and the Jew was a Jewish believer. But the christian may have been almost anyone from anywhere. It was obvious that he wanted to offend no one and he certainly succeeded in that. But every Christian present in that room must have wondered if there was not more than safe, politically correct musings to be offered in the face of such tragedy.

God help us to be clearly Christian and unashamed of the Word of God or of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. The Muslim was clear, the Buddhist was clear, and the Jew was clear. And they were unoffensive and kind. They did not compromise their beliefs to be more acceptable to the audience. Let's be clear and strong in our expressions of our faith. Let's not be weak and vacuous. Let's boldly declare Jesus as the source of our life and comfort and the hope of all mankind.

Ananias & Sapphira

Does this story in Acts 5 puzzle any of you? I really don't get it. What purpose was there in the death of these two liars? There has been no follow through on God's part in this kind of thing. No liars have died lately. In fact, there is no record of this ever happening again. It did strike fear into the whole church but how long does fear keep us in line? Not that long in my experience.

I wonder if the whole point was not the punishment of these two so much as that we had best just tell the truth in the church. It would be kind of outrageous if every time someone sinned, they dropped dead. That could not have been the message that God wanted to send. And does He really expect people to tell the truth all the time? How many people would be left in our churches?

I wonder if the whole point is that the church should be the safest place on earth to tell the truth. Sadly, I don't think the church is prepared for truth-telling. We would be more likely to want people to drop dead if they told us all the truth. But, I believe that telling the truth will bring life. Lying always brings some kind death. What do you think?

Embarassing The Kingdom of God

The question was asked: "Is there anything in your life that , if brought to the light, would cause embarrassment for the Kingdom?" Fortunately, the person being questioned could answer a NO to that question. But the question caused some reflection on my part. What causes embarassment to the Kingdom anyway? Does our human frailty and ability to sin really cause embarassment or is it how we handle our sin and frailty? Do people really expect believers to be sin free? Is it our responsibility to protect the Kingdom from embarassment or is it to simply flesh out the Kingdom in our daily lives?

My reading of the New Testament leaves me with a certainty. We are a mess. They were a mess. Paul had to rebuke the Corinthians for getting drunk at the celebration of the Lord's Supper. In fact, not only were some getting drunk but others were gorging on the food and making it impossible for others to have even a taste. Now, that's a sin.

Here is an interesting observation from my own life. When I admit to my weaknesses and failures in a sermon, it seems that people respond very positively to that honesty and even find hope for themselves when they realize that I am still forging ahead in spite of my failures. I remember, as a young pastor, thinking that I had to have it all together: a great prayer and devotional life, no sins, sweet spirit, strong witnessing, and a whole host of expectations that would exhaust me to even think about now.

When I read that Jesus came to us full of grace and truth, I find myself wondering if we are missing something. We understand grace for salvation alright. But what about grace for the daily grind? Do we not need grace daily in our lives? Is salvation an event or a process? Are we being saved? If so, do we not need grace every day?

Now, I know the argument that follows any serious discussion of grace. We are going to create a weakened Gospel with too much focus on grace. People will get the impression that sin is no big deal. Carelessness and spiritual sloth will result. But I wonder. Has the law ever given anyone strength? Have you ever done better because you worried about embarassing the Kingdom by your sins or failures? I haven't. In fact, just the opposite. Preoccupation with sin leads to sin. Worrying about how well I am doing does not strengthen me at all. It puts the focus on me and when that happens it is hard to walk in the Spirit. I tend to walk in the flesh when I get into spiritual navel-gazing.

But when I experience His overwhelming grace, I find the ensuing gratitude the most motivating force in my life. Worrying that I may cause embarassment to the Kingdom is not helpful. Expressing the Kingdom of Grace and experiencing the Kingdom of Grace is very helpful.

I wonder if people would be a whole lot more impressed with us if we were just honest about sin and failure. It happens. Let's not get all excited about it. God's grace and mercy, forgiveness and peace are available 24/7. Would we live better in the freedom to be honest and open about our weaknesses and flaws? At least I think so. What do you think?

One More Final Effort

How many times have I started a blog site? About five. This may be my sixth and final, final attempt. Here's hoping that google doesn't go belly up or decide to get out of the blog business. Just yesterday I was informed that my latest entry into blogville was no longer the rave. Now someone else is getting all the traffic. So...
Why blog at all? Well, I suppose it is an opportunity to think out loud and give you a chance to examine my thoughts and respond. I sure hope you see my blogs that way. Not everything I think becomes or reflects my final position on a subject. Please allow me the opportunity to dialogue with you on some things. Push back. Argue. Disagree. Agree. Enhance. But don't accuse me of something until we have blogged a while. Thanks, I'll be back with some rant or question soon....