Hey welcome to my…gym?

The other day I headed out of my house for a long walk and as I walked down the street in the direction of the bayou, the closest thing we have here in Houston to the countryside, one of my neighbors was driving past and stopped to say hello. A retired gentleman, somewhat older than myself, he said that he was headed for the gym, he then proceeded to tell me it was quite a nice facility, that I should consider joining myself. It’s actually a part of a very large church close to our neighborhood. I replied that I get enough exercise walking the streets, and although I did not say it aloud I don’t have the extra funds for such things. “That’s a shame, this place is really nice, you don’t even have to be a member (which he is not by the way) to join.” A member of the church that is. Interestingly enough, he is not the only neighbor who goes to that gym; as I have had a similar conversation with another neighbor, who neither attends said church. We said goodbye, he off to work out at the gym located in the big church, and myself off to walk the bayou and pray, my heart broken that this is what we’ve come to.

Today it is not uncommon for churches to have gymnasiums, work out facilities, coffee bars, theaters, and more classrooms than the high school I attended. Many sanctuaries today look as though theatrical architects had designed them, and this may indeed be the case. Instead of worship services where the light of God shines in and exposes our hearts: congregations are now sitting in the dark while the stage is lit up like a Broadway show. Please hear me out, I am a musician myself and have assisted God’s people in expressing their hearts to Him for years. I have always seen my job and that of my fellow musicians, as servants simply assisting those who want to worship God in spirit and truth. So please, this is not simply a rant about all that is wrong in American Christianity, not that I would shrink back from such an exposé. However, I’m wanting to look at something much deeper, the fact that all this is commonplace to us: speaking of workout gyms in churches, spending more money on lighting than missions and having multiple services for the convenience of parishioners. The fact that this doesn’t even raise an eyebrow, much less a broken heart, speaks volumes as to where we have arrived. God’s people used to be a separate people, unique, and simple. Simple in the truest meaning of the word: effortlessly uncomplicated and uninvolved. These are the characteristics we find in individuals and in the congregations of the New Testament. I am sure that they had to deal with where to meet and how to use and distribute their finances. Yet we hear nothing of building programs, evangelical campaigns, or mission boards. What we do see are men and women: gone for God. They were in the world but not of the world and content to remain so. Every time the church sets out to compete with the world, it winds up looking and operating just like it. There was a time when God’s people met in out-of-the-way places, which was all they could afford, shunned by the world still in some ways feared by them.

“Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women.” Acts 5:12-14

This example of the New Testament church is quite different from what we see today. It is true that there were a great number of both men and women in the church. I refuse to use the word mega in describing any church, as there is just no humble way to say it. Although there were great numbers added to this church, many outside of it dared not join, for they stood in awe of them knowing that a great cost was involved. Furthermore they held them in high esteem for they knew these were God’s people. So you see the issue is not of size but of substance. It is possible to reach a sizable congregation; nonetheless it is my belief that the large gatherings of the New Testament times and ours are quite different. Those of the church in the book of Acts were a people willing to forsake all, who beheld miracles at the hands of the apostles and who, without a printed New Testament, knew their God. Many churches today are a people willing only to forsake 45 minutes on a Sunday morning to the preacher on a big screen. A people who may in theory know their scriptures; yet have not intimate knowledge of their God. The New Testament church was a people of prayer, patience and suffering. Today’s church is a people of quick prayers, quick answers and a so-called victorious life, whose main aim is the subversion of suffering.

You see it is not our form that is wrong, but our faith. I speak not of systematic faith or a system of beliefs but a genuine, grounded and growing trust. A trust neither in an institution nor simply in an historic Jesus, but rather in the very person of Jesus Himself. Recovery is not simply a matter of changing forms by having home church, barn church, or balloon church. It does not really matter if our righteous rear ends are on pews or comfy chairs, whether we have an ecclesiastical orchestra or one person with a badly tuned guitar. It is not in trying to recapture the form of the New Testament, but the focus is on their hearts and the reality of the person of Jesus in their gatherings.

We must get back to Jesus. Please, I know that even a declaration such as this can be turned into a cliché, yet it does not strip the statement of its truth. We must not simply converse and teach about Jesus; we must get back to a very real and vibrant relationship with Him. A relationship based on true interaction, grounded in grace and infused by the Holy Spirit, rather than one based on head knowledge, theological theory and PowerPoint principals. In Ephesians four, Paul admonishes the Saints that they have not so learned Christ. His choice of words are interesting and intentional: he did not say learned about Christ or learned of Christ, but learned Christ. The absence of the proposition speaks volumes. For he knew they had not learned about someone or of someone, but they had learned Jesus. Time spent beholding the majesty of Jesus is of greater value and produces greater effectiveness then all that our theological institutions could ever produce.

The Way Home

If we are interested in real recovery and renewed discovery of Jesus, then it is always good to begin at the beginning. To look back to the epicenter of your walk with God where there was a narrow path you had to take. You had come to realize that there was only one way to God and it was through his son Jesus. You had to see the cross in all its devastation and the resurrection in all its glory. You had to lay down your life, to lose it and find the one He had for you. At the time of your conversion you may not completely understood all of this, yet looking back it is clear that this is what brought you home and this is what will bring you back. We must be willing; the church must be willing to see that it is only through the reality of the person, not just the doctrine of Jesus, which will bring her home. We must be willing to let the cross have its devastating work in our lives, separating our will unto His. In a society programed to win we must be willing to lose our lives: putting aside our programs if necessary and shelving our pet doctrines if need be. Members may leave, support may dwindle and all may indeed be counted as lost. But we will win Christ and maybe, just maybe, the church will taste true and everlasting Christ centered victory.