MORE JESUS, PLEASE: THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD – Troy Anderson

MORE JESUS, PLEASE: THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD

Troy Anderson

If you set a glass of hot water and a glass of cold water on the counter and leave them for few hours and come back, what will you find? Two glasses of room temperature water, right? What are we all required to do at home on a regular basis that most of us don’t really enjoy? We need to clean, correct? Nothing can maintain a state of order or a higher temperature than its surroundings without an external source influencing it. The same is true for us and the church. When you take Jesus out of the church it quickly starts resembling the world.

I have been thinking about the influence that the church has had on the world which leads me to looking at the influence that the world has had on the church, and where we are today.

The Early Church

Scripture and history gives us a clear picture of the early church. Everywhere Paul and the apostles went they preached the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus and the mercy and grace of God. Yes, they had to teach new believers how to live in obedience to God but that always followed the sharing of the gospel and acceptance of the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. They never went out into the world to change the world without Jesus; the goal was to bring Jesus to the world and let Jesus change individuals.

The world reacted to this by persecuting, threatening and killing these Christians which led to them turning to and trusting Jesus even more.

The Dark Ages

When Christianity became a protected religion under Constantine and then the official religion of the empire under Theodosius I, we start seeing a drastic influence on the church. If you are going to govern nations and empires in the name of Christianity you need to change your beliefs to match your political goals. If you are going to force people to practice your religion you need to change your religion to match the society and its priorities. Jesus had to be pushed aside because the more immediate need was governing people in the world instead of leading people to Jesus. The Catholic Church was much more of a means to govern but doing so in the name of Christianity didn’t leave any room for the Body of Christ to exist.

The Reformation

After over 1,000 years the church and the world had become indistinguishable; they were the 2 room temperature glasses of water that, when consumed, couldn’t be told apart. There were certainly individuals over time that through the Holy Spirit tried to bring Jesus back into the church but they were usually killed for their efforts and the “church” was successful in minimizing the damage these people did. Until the reformation caught on and the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth was again preached to the people, the word of God was used to preach the mercy and grace of God rather than a tool to control people.

Today in America

There are many worldly influences on the church in America and one of them is political. Many in the church have taken on some causes to fight against very specific sins that it feels pose a threat. Two of these have been to fight against abortion and homosexual marriage. The fight has been so consuming in some cases that the goal of the church seems to be to rid the world of these sins instead of sharing the path to the forgiveness of all sins. How about prayer in school or Christian symbols in society? We fight so hard for our right to pray in school as if this affects our ability to walk with Jesus, that this becomes the goal instead showing others the power of prayer. One of my favorites is Christmas vs the holidays, a Christmas party or a holiday party, merry Christmas or happy holidays – what the heck is the difference and why do we care what others want to call it? First of all what is Christmas really about? Let’s take a look:

Many of us attend a company Christmas party. What is this about? We usually consume too much alcohol or just overeat while having a good time with friends and coworkers. Are we focused on Jesus or on ourselves? We teach our kids to make their Christmas lists of all the things they want. We shop, shop, shop and eat, eat, eat. We watch movies about everything from Santa to the cheesy movie about the workaholic that discovers the true meaning of Christmas – love and family. Then we finish it off with a get together, dinner, presents and usually attend a church service at some point in there because, after all, it is all about Jesus, right?

We also have all the new age churches that are attracting flocks of people by being all about acceptance and tolerance and feeling good. All faiths and beliefs are welcome because after all, that isn’t what is really important; it’s about coming together to make this world a better place.

What’s my point?

I am not against Christmas parties or political involvement, relationships and civil service are important things but they should not be confused with faith or our personal relationship with Jesus. Faith should guide us and shape us but should not become the hammer to convince others that our priorities should become theirs. Share the good news of Jesus with love and patience and let people’s new found faith guide their paths instead of trying to force others to walk our path without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the way, the truth and life and through Him there is eternal life. It is not our mission to rid this world of sin but to share with the world the path to the forgiveness of sin.

I sense that the enemy is using righteous causes to distract the true church from our source of power and truth and our real mission. Bring the gospel to the ends of earth. I don’t think we should fight against the separation of church and state, I think we should encourage it. We suffer from too much of the state influencing the church and not enough Jesus. More Jesus, please!