If Christianity were a football game, then going to church would be the huddle.

So after church is over, you’re supposed to go out on the field and make the plays.  If all you do as a Christian is go to church and sit on the bench, then you really aren’t helping your team out.  It’s time to get up and go for the win.  Leave it all on the field.  THEN, when you stand before the Judge on that great day, you can hear “well done…”

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How do you act in church?

How do you act everywhere else?

Why would you act any differently in church than you do in the rest of the world?

Do you think God can only see what happens inside the church building?

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Christians are supposed to be the salt of the Earth.  We’re supposed to add flavor and and have the curing properties of salt and act as spiritual disinfectants in the world.  If you’re not doing that kind of stuff, you’re like salt that has lost its flavor.  And what good is salt without flavor?

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There’s a song that goes:

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly leaned on Jesus’ name.

Refrain
On Christ the solid rock I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.

I think some people live that out.  Their hope is truly in Jesus and not in the world.  And because of that they take the mission Jesus gave us, of making disciples, seriously.  But there are plenty of others who might say they stand on Jesus when they really just stand on their own opinion of Jesus.  And many of the people like to keep their religion indoors and just have a country club kind of church where only people who fit in already are welcomed.  And there are tons of individual churches who keep themselves safely hidden behind their closed doors and cut off from everybody else and there isn’t even a chance for unity in our mission to save the world.

Any church that is an island to itself is missing the point:

Ephesians 4:11-16 [Jesus] is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.  Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.

Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth.  Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.  Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

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Have you ever tried reading the book of Revelation in the Bible and gave up because it was just too weird?  It’s a book full of symbolism and wild imagery that confuses a lot of people.  Some people probably find it more difficult to get through Revelation than the genealogies of the Old Testament.

Part of the reason for this cryptic language is that the book was written to be purposefully confusing to those in power in the Roman government.  Revelation was written in the midst of persecution against the church by Rome, and it talked bad about Rome and about the Caesars—especially Nero.  And since Nero already hated the Christians, John wrote this book of prophesy he encoded it so that the early church would understand it without incriminating anyone who might be carrying a copy.

That means the book was written for Christians to understand.  And if you can shift your perspective just a bit to the view of the Christians in Rome it might help make a little more sense of the book for you.  Like so much of the prophesy in the Bible, the prophesy in Revelation is meant to relate directly to the original ancient readers AND people in the future (like us).  So a lot of the prophesy in Revelation already came true in ancient Rome, but there is still a lot left to happen that we are waiting for.

Of course, with all the confusing pictures and prophesy aside, there is still a basic message that anybody can understand.  God very clearly tells the church where they need to improve if they want to be ready for judgment.  And that’s something that every Christian today should pay close attention too.  If any of the warnings God gave to the ancient churches of Asia Minor can be applied to your life, you might want to think about taking them personally.  God expects anybody who wants to survive his judgment to adhere to the same standards.  So Revelation is a very worthwhile book to read if you care about your own future.

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I always think it’s funny when grownups tell kids not to run and play in church because they’re in the “House of God!” As if God is getting upset that kids are playing. “Hey you kids! Stop having so much fun, or you’ll make God mad! He’s trying to take a nap like the rest of the people listening to the sermon, and if you wake him up he’ll be as grumpy as I am!” What a goofy thought, that God’s house is a church building–as if God was sitting all by himself during the week, and finally got to see everybody on Sunday morning. “So how was your week everybody? Did you do anything fun?” People come to church thinking they’ll get something from God there. They pray and sing, and sometimes they dance and talk like crazy people. Others just sit there and act like scarecrows in pews. But so many of them transform into completely different people as soon as they get back home. All the ‘God’ stuff seems to evaporate like drops of water on a hot skillet as soon as they leave the church building.

But everybody (even non-church people) know that Jesus is supposed to live in your heart. So shouldn’t the life of any Christian be consistent whether they are at home or church or work or school or wherever? If we have God in us at church, we ought to have the same God living in us when we walk out the door. Right? God’s house isn’t a church building. It’s the pure heart of a Christian. And if God is really living in somebody’s heart, it ought to show through–all the time. If you say you have God in your heart, but he doesn’t show through in how you live your life all the time, maybe it’s because you don’t have God in your heart. Maybe what you really have in your heart is your own made up god. So when you go to church and act like he’s in there on Sundays, is it just a show?

I know these are pretty harsh questions, but don’t you think they are important ones to ask? Do you really believe you can have God in your heart and live like the Devil? I would think this is one thing you’d want to make sure you had right. What else in life really matters compared to whether you’re really following God or just following your own evil desires? Jesus asked the same question…”And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?” Matthew 16, Mark 8, & Luke 9

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So there are plenty of examples of bad churches in this world. We’ve all seen people who give God a bad name. They either teach things that are completely unbiblical or they lead people astray just for money or they are complete hypocrites teaching one thing and living another. It makes me so sad every time I hear of a pastor who got caught stealing from his church or sleeping around or doing drugs or anything like that because they are supposed to be the leaders of the church. But the pastor isn’t the only one who should be a good example. The church (the whole church) is supposed to be holy. That means Christians aren’t supposed to live like the rest of the world. They are supposed to have pure hearts and live righteous lives. By the power of God, they are supposed to be obeying his commandments–all of them. That’s what Jesus said proves who loves him…”Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me” (John 14)

So what makes a good church is when the people who are members are living just like Jesus did. If you are a Christian, I challenge you to live like it. Read what Jesus tells you to do, and if you love him, obey him. If you aren’t a Christian, I challenge you to challenge your Christian friends to put up or shut up. If they don’t live out what they teach, point out their hypocrisy. If they do live out what they teach, then listen to them. They know what it means to have new life (to be “born again”) in Christ.

The reason I did this talk was because we welcomed a new member to our church that day, and I just thought it was a nice chance to talk about what it means to be part of a church.

Enjoy!

PS. I gave this talk when it was snowing outside, and it totally reminded me of a Bible verse about snow. You know how clean and sparkly everything looks after a fresh snowfall. The Bible says no matter how gross and nasty our past looks, God can make our heart look as clean and pure as newly fallen snow. We have to choose to stop living with evil in our lives and start obeying God, but when we do, God says you get a fresh start. Isn’t that cool?! Check it out in Isaiah chapter 1.

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Did you ever wish you had super powers?  Did you ever imagine what it would be like to fly or bend steel with your bare hands or shoot lasers from your eyes?  If you could pick any one power, what would it be?  I think superheroes are cool.  I like Superman, the Incredible Hulk, the X-men, and just about all the rest.  And it’s been great to see technology get to the point where artists can make the amazing things they do on the movie screen look so real.  Big action movies like those where the good guys fight to save the world against evil are the best things to see at the theater!

So what if you could really be a superhero?  What would you do with your powers?  Would you use them for good or for evil—to save others or to serve yourself?  What if you really could have super powers?  What if you really did have a special ability written into your DNA or your spiritual make up?  What if you were meant to be the hero fighting to save the world from evil?

Well, maybe—just maybe, you are.  Listen to this and think about that idea:

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It’s not an Ordinary Nation.

The word ordain comes from the word order.  That’s what it means.  It can be like an order that a boss gives a worker or like putting things in alphabetical order.  When a church ordains a pastor.  They do a little of both.  That’s what happened to me.  My church made me a part of the leadership team along with other elders and deacons.  With a team committed to serving God with wisdom and humility the things that get done and the decisions that get made will be done with order and not disorder.  I also got orders from my Boss to step into this role and to serve the people of God’s church.  So I’m taking my orders to teach and to serve.  This talk is just a response to being assigned this new role.

But a pastor is just 1 role in the church.  Everybody in the church is supposed to be using their gifts to serve God as a team.  So what does it mean to serve God?  And how should we look at our own role as part of this team?

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Have you ever felt passion for something?  Do you feel a drive for anything in life?  What sets you on fire?  What really motivates you?  There are all sorts of things that we’re told we have to do out of responsibility…pay your taxes, vote, mow your lawn, obey the Golden Rule, go to church on Sundays.  But when it comes to religious stuff and all the things we are called to do as Christians, what God really wants is passion.  He wants to use the energy and drive that you have naturally and use your passion to accomplish great things!  He wants to give us all a mission from God that will set our hearts on fire.

This talk focuses a lot on youth and seeing kids and young people as an important and valuable part of the church.  Young people aren’t the future, they are part of the present, and we should treat them as such.

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