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SOME THINGS
YOU HAVE TO BE THERE FOR
Some years ago when I was turning
bluntness into an art form, this lady stopped me on the street.
"I watch your church on television every Sunday." I
thanked her and said, "What church do you belong to?"
She said, "Oh, I don't belong to any. I just watch it on
television." I said, "Well, if you don't go to Heaven,
maybe the Lord will let you watch it on television."
The chief of a volunteer fire
department near Houma, Louisiana, resigned the other day. Danny
Richard had moved with his wife to Minnesota where she had taken
a job as a psychiatric nurse. The local paper said he had expected
to continue running the fire department by long distance using
the cell phone and e-mail. After five months, he gave up and resigned.
Some things cannot be phoned in.
An anonymous note found its way
to my desk recently. "Pastor," someone had written,
"why don't we put our worship services on the Internet. That
way, people can watch no matter where they are and there will
be no grumbling about the times of the services or length of the
sermons." I responded in our church bulletin: "This
has already been done. It's called television." Millions
of church members across America stay home on Sundays to watch
their pastor of choice: John Hagee, Robert Schuller, Charles Stanley,
Joyce Meyer, David Jeremiah, or any of a hundred others. But it's
not the same.
Octogenarian Lillie Backstrom
approached me one Sunday at the end of a service. "Pastor,"
she said, "I'm as deaf as a post. I can't hear a thing. But
I just have to come. There's something special about being with
my friends in God's House."
I am forever puzzled by people
who call themselves Christians but feel no need to join a church
and take an active part in its worship and ministries. After observing
this phenomenon for a few decades, I've arrived at some reasons
why many who call themselves believers stand aloof from the church.
1. They want to do Christianity
their way. By remaining "a church of one" they are able
to behave as they please and believe what they want. There's no
preacher to listen to, no leaders to submit to, no jobs, no guilt,
and no offerings. Their anthem is the Frank Sinatra theme "I
Did It My Way."
"Let us consider how to stimulate
one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling
together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,
and all the more, as you see the day approaching." Hebrews
10:24-25
2. They want the blessings of
the Christian life without the responsibilities. Spreading the
gospel, supporting missionaries, ministering to the needy---that's
not for them. Their theme? A country gospel song of some years
back: "Jesus and Me Got Our Own Thing Going."
Jesus said, "Why do you call
me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? Luke 6:46
3. They do not want to bear the
scandal of Christ. If a person becomes active in a church, people
might start thinking of him or her as a Bible-thumper, a Jesus
freak, a religious kook. True, Jesus was an outcast during His
time on earth and His followers are frequently aliens and misfits
to this world, but that is too much for them. Jesus as Lord? Not
hardly. "What A Friend We Have in Jesus" will do just
fine.
"Therefore, let us go out
to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do
not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is
to come." Hebrews 13:13-14
4. They are in rebellion against
God. Of course, not one in a hundred rebels will ever admit it.
They camouflage their rebellion by dislike of the pastor, anger
at the denomination, or resentment of some leader. But, mark it
down in big letters: anyone who willingly disobeys God's commands
lives in full defiance of Him, even when they disguise their alibi.
They sing the country gem: "That's My Story and I'm Sticking
To It."
"A new commandment I give
to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. By
this, all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you have
love for one another." John 13:34-35
5. They want to go to Heaven but
miss out on none of the world's pleasures. This double-mindedness
rages as an epidemic in party cities like New Orleans. The endless
merry-making draws in carnal church members by its superficiality
and counterfeit joy. The Mardi Gras krewes and gentlemen's clubs,
the casinos and taverns---all offer escape from life's realities.
Once in a while, when real life rears its head and intrudes into
the consciousness of party-goers, they drop in on the local church
just long enough to reaffirm that their fire insurance policy
is paid up. "Torn Between Two Lovers" is their theme.
God says: "My little children,
love not the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves
the world, the love of the Father is not in him." I John
2:15
It's all right not to go to church.
If you are an unbeliever, God does not command it or expect it.
Believers and only believers are considered part of the family
of God on earth, and are commanded to worship together, help each
other, pray for each other, and to carry out His work on earth.
If you are able-bodied and not
in church on Sundays, you will understand then why people assume
you are not a believer.
"Choose you this day whom
you shall serve." Joshua 24:15
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