“Are you saved?”
“Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?”
“Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?”
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
Now, which of these questions is actually in the Bible?
Only the last question, from Acts 19:2.
Interesting that the other three questions have been commonly used in various “Evangelism” training resources.
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Not so common.
Why is this?
It’s a whole new world, beginning with the first day of the new creation.
The resurrection of Jesus, the first day of the new creation, and the power that follows- Alleluia
Can't get any clearer than this…
Let me understand…
Last night, President Obama said this. ”…we must also reaffirm that the United States is not –- and never will be -– at war with Islam. I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims.”
O.K.
Check.
I got it. This is not an Islamic thing.
Then I read this. ”After bin Laden was killed in a raid by U.S. forces in Pakistan, senior administration officials said the body would be handled according to Islamic practice and tradition.”
All right, now I am confused. I know Osama bin Laden is not a Muslim leader. We’ve been told this about a million times. Trouble is, no one told him that. For example, here is how he bookends just one of his “talks” to the American people.
“Praise be to Allah who created the creation for his worship and commanded them to be just and permitted the wronged one to retaliate against the oppressor in kind…And Allah is our Guardian and Helper, while you have no Guardian or Helper. All peace be upon he who follows the Guidance.”
So, I guess he is a Muslim leader, after all, or at least a leader who is a Muslim. Or at least he thought so. This is confusing.
This kind of confusion can’t happen for someone who follows Jesus. A Christian doesn’t have any support if he is calling himself a “Christian” and he is using his faith as a blanket criteria to strike out violently against his enemy. Jesus talked about “forgiving your enemy,” “praying for your enemy,” “turn the other cheek,” and all the rest.
Nothing about “retaliating against the oppressor.”
Those who followed Jesus followed his lead, and didn’t strike out violently against some of the worst oppression the world has ever known: First century Roman Imperialism. In fact, one of the top leaders in the early Christian community, Jesus’ right hand man said this, “Honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2:17) (!!)
The fact is, you may call yourself a “Christian” and use violence in the name of your faith, but you don’t have any support to do so. Jesus wouldn’t claim you as one of his own because the teachings and model of Jesus and the Church he designed forbid using violence in the name of your faith. There is no confusion about this.
(This is not about Christians serving in the armed forces and such. That is another topic. One’s faith obviously informs the decisions one makes in life, including being a soldier. But, this is not a criteria of any “Christian” governing system)
That’s why it is impossible for there to ever be a Christian nation, or a Christian army, or any such thing. Jesus, and the New Testament Church that followed, didn’t leave us with any system of government. In fact, there is no Christian ideology which can be used to rule as governing law.
Now, let me be clear, individual Christians have a system to guide our lives. Its called, “Following Jesus.” Sometimes we might even refer to it as law. It is called the “Law of love,” based on this teaching of Jesus.
You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27)
There is no confusion about the Christian faith on this topic.
That’s why you are never going these words coming from an American President.
‘…we must also reaffirm that the United States is not –- and never will be -– at war with Christianity.’
Think about this deeply.
Yesterday I talked about why 20+ year olds are scarce in churches. The number one reason they aren’t in our worshipping communities at its most basic:
“They don’t want to hang out with us.”
But, why?
Here are the usual suspects given for why “post-modern” young person aren’t connected to your churches. There are hundreds of books and thousands of conferences that are basically rehashing most of these “reasons” most of the time.
You could add to this list, but you get the picture. We can make observations about every one of these “reasons,” (and who knows, maybe we will…) but they all miss two obvious points.
First, no matter what you do as a congregation, young people are probably not going to show up to your worship services (let alone on your church campus). They don’t wake up on a Sunday morning (or Saturday night, for that matter) and suddenly say, “I think I need to go to church.”
We do a disservice to the people of our church communities if our “evangelism strategy” solely consists of, “Invite someone to church.” We set people up for failure from the beginning, if success means, the people they invite show up.
Now, that’s not saying someone will never respond, “OK, I think I will,” and then come.
I’m not saying don’t invite.
I am saying we live in an age where going to church is not on too many people’s radar, let alone people in their 20′s! If this hasn’t become obvious to you where you live, it’s “coming soon to a theatre near you.”
No matter how awesome-
the church buildings/ campuses/ worship services/ preachers/ programs/ bands/ dance troupes/ high wire acts/ espresso machines/ manicures and pedicures/ miniature golf courses on campus
are…
no matter how annointed, and how they are the epitome of excellence-
everything you do “in house” is, by default, not going to be very condusive to connecting with potential followers of Jesus.
Again, you may get Christians from other churches to come to yours (even highly devoted young people in their 20′s), but real Kingdom expansion?
Not likely.
So, the first obvious point is this:
The “church” goes out to the people.
I mean, if Ariel can figure it out from “Little Mermaid,”
“I wanna be where the people are…”
so must we.
I’ve got lots more to say about this, and can even witness to what this might look like in your community, but not yet.
The second obvious point? Let’s get personal. It’s all about you. It’s all about me.
Ask yourself this question,
“Am I the kind of person someone wants to hang around with?”
Now, a tougher question,
“Am I the kind of person a non-Christian potential follower of Jesus wants to hang around with?”
Now, even tougher,
“Am I the kind of person a non-Christian potential follower of Jesus in their 20′s, wants to hang around with?”
It starts with you, personally. It starts with me.
Unless you are the kind of person someone actually likes, I don’t care what you say or do, most people aren’t going to spend much time with you.
And because the “church” consists of a bunch of “you’s”- that is a challenge.
The reverse is also true.
If someone authentically likes you, if you are someone they actually want to spend time with, that’s a huge Kingdom step.
So, how obvious can this be, huh? And how rare anyone actually starts right here at the source.
So, here is tremendous nugget I can give you that has the potential of being an influence for eternity on someone else, even in their 20′s:
“Go out to where the people are and be the kind of person someone wants to hang with.”
Unless we start with ourselves personally, and unless we get out more, nothing else is really going to matter much in the long run.
Now, give me your $500 evangelism conference fee.
Or, maybe I’ ll just give you this for free.
And I’ve got more…
Most of us have seen the statistics of involvement in church communities from a generational standpoint. Something like 4% of all 20-30 year olds attend church on an average weekend across America. 4%.
If you happen to have lots of 20 year olds involved, praise God. Whether they are highly motivated Christian kids who came from other churches and choose to connect with yours instead (that doesn’t increase the Kingdom, but at least they are involved), or if the young people in your church were not Christians but have been reached through your community, even better. Yet, the fact is, you can have the most dynamic ministries for the younger generations in the world, and the percentage of those actviely involved still remains the same, 4%.
Why?
Is it about the style of worship services?
Is it the music?
Is it the preaching?
Is it the look of the campus?
Maybe it’s all of those reasons. Or, maybe it’s none of them.
If we use an “Occam’s Razor” approach, where “one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything,” in other words, “look for the simplest answer,” then here goes:
For whatever reason, 20 year olds don’t want to hang out with you. At least not hang out with you at worship.
And if you are in your 20′s and your church community has lots of 20 year olds, I don’t want to ruin the party, but they don’t want to hang out with you at worship, either. If they did, it wouldn’t be 4%!
So, where do we begin?
Let’s check in tomorrow…
Most of us have seen the statistics of involvement in church communities from a generational standpoint. Something like 4% of all 20-30 year olds attend church on an average weekend across America. 4%.
If you happen to have lots of 20 year olds involved, praise God. Whether they are highly motivated Christian kids who came from other churches and choose to connect with yours instead (that doesn’t increase the Kingdom, but at least they are involved), or if the young people in your church were not Christians but have been reached through your community, even better. Yet, the fact is, you can have the most dynamic ministries for the younger generations in the world, and the percentage of those actviely involved still remains the same, 4%.
Why?
Is it about the style of worship services?
Is it the music?
Is it the preaching?
Is it the look of the campus?
Maybe it’s all of those reasons. Or, maybe it’s none of them.
If we use an “Occam’s Razor” approach, where “one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything,” in other words, “look for the simplest answer,” then here goes:
For whatever reason, 20 year olds don’t want to hang out with you. At least not hang out with you at worship.
And if you are in your 20′s and your church community has lots of 20 year olds, I don’t want to ruin the party, but they don’t want to hang out with you at worship, either. If they did, it wouldn’t be 4%!
So, where do we begin?
Let’s check in tomorrow…
Who was the worship band at the largest Christian worship service ever? I have no idea.
What was the theme of the sermon that day? Don’t know.
What was the offering? Why?
What is worship? By definition, “Ascribing worth.” Claiming worthiness.”
The worthiness of whom? The church? The pastor? The band? the choir?
Worship is about ascribing worth to God.
That’s it.
Good to remember for those of you who were disappointed because you didn’t see the crowds you wish there would have been this Holy Week and Easter. Your sanctuary wasn’t overflowing. I don’t take this lightly as some of you are my dear friends. You may not even mention it.
Or, as happened at LIFEhouse, it’s good to remember that worship is about Jesus, not how many people show up, when your attendance this last week was bigger than you can remember. More guests than ever. I don’t take this lightly because some of those guests were invited by our community, and some sent by God. But, when we talk, I probably won’t mention it.
Because, really, for all of us, only two things matter.
1. God is praised.
2. Someone starts a journey to a new life rather than choosing the death of life without God. I’ll guarantee that happened everywhere you proclaimed the risen Lord.
So, if you had 10 people in worship or 10,000, Christ is still risen; And that is still a big deal.
Oh, and by he way, American Idol had almost 50 million in attendance last week.
Aw, they probably had better music…
The largest refugee camp in the world just turned 20. It is near Dadaab, Kenya, and populated by over 330,000 refugees from the civil war in Somalia. Well, the war is still going on and so the refugees remain. A child born in the camp in the beginning, is now an adult who has never really had a country.
There are millions of refugees in camps all around the world. Why single this one out? The only reason I am singling out this one is because I didn’t know it was there. Now I do.
Lord have mercy.
